Sorry, bit of a rant, but need to vent (brace yourself, it's long)
So after wanting one of these for year, I finally had the money to get one. Windows 8.1 was the last straw so I picked one up with student discount and 3 years free Apple Care.
In hindsight #1 was fine, but it seemed bugged to me (at the time I didn't know they were bugs within Mavericks) so I requested Apple take that one back and send out a new one. I took the opportunity to switch model as well. My custom built MacBook Pro was pretty much exactly the same as the high end one, just without a dedicated GPU. So I switched to that and got to keep Final Cut Pro.
#2 developed creaky chassis in the space of 7 days. In normal operation it would just release a nasty sounding crack/creak, mostly around the trackpad. I took it down to get it checked out and was twice denied service (it was an Apple affiliate store and they're allowed to fix them) and told to return it. So I did, because the problem did not resolve
#3 I didn't even boot this one. I unboxed it, inspected, saw the hinge was out of shape. The hinge was put in crooked so it stuck out from the unibody on one side. So I boxed it up and straight back it went
#4 Current one. Started off with the metallic ping noise from the base, but was the best of the lot so I kept hold of it. Then the trackpad started feeling loose in one corner. Like this guy's, but in the opposite corner
When that noise happens you can feel there's give in the trackpad that shouldn't be there, and the entire corner gets like that, but other times it will feel like there's nothing wrong. Talked to Apple support and described, they say it's normal and to go on my way. I ignored it, but the chassis creak is all over the bottom cover. Apply pressure and you'll hear it, or even just move the laptop when in use and you'll hear it go ping. That's not the only thing though, the hinge can creak when I move the screen to close it and on one side, the plastic hinge is separating from the lid assembly. If you put your finger there you can see it and feel it give way, but the other side is solid. Software-wise pretty reliable though, I've had two kernel panics (one unexplained), the Magsafe light ceasing to function, it wouldn't go from orange to green it would just go out (resolved) and the headphones jack mysteriously stopping (resolved).
The age of this machine? 8 months. Yeah.
Since I've graduated and haven't had lectures for a while (last term was just revision), this laptop barely ever moves and spends a lot of its time idle, so it's not been knocked about and still looks like new. There's literally the two tiniest of cosmetic blemishes which you can't see unless you inspect (caused by scissors and the MacBook's plug), but that's it.
I need this thing to edit videos, but at this point I am pretty much fed up. I don't even want to use it anymore. I feel like I can build a better computer, which I have done. Built my gaming PC about 10 months before MacBook #1 which now runs like a boss (all issues with Windows have been fixed). I've never had to return hardware for it being broken (apart from when I rebuilt recently and the USB 3 cable broke, but that's it) or not built to standard.
What are some alternatives to FCPX for Windows? Was considering getting it looked at/fixed (but they probably won't do anything) and then selling it on to the next unlucky person. Will miss OSX, the trackpad and retina if I did :/
Knew there was a reason I called this machine Gambit when I first set it (and the very first one) up. For some reason this one beach balled on me for half an hour/best part of an hour during setup
What are the chances this actually gets fixed or I get a working one?
So after wanting one of these for year, I finally had the money to get one. Windows 8.1 was the last straw so I picked one up with student discount and 3 years free Apple Care.
In hindsight #1 was fine, but it seemed bugged to me (at the time I didn't know they were bugs within Mavericks) so I requested Apple take that one back and send out a new one. I took the opportunity to switch model as well. My custom built MacBook Pro was pretty much exactly the same as the high end one, just without a dedicated GPU. So I switched to that and got to keep Final Cut Pro.
#2 developed creaky chassis in the space of 7 days. In normal operation it would just release a nasty sounding crack/creak, mostly around the trackpad. I took it down to get it checked out and was twice denied service (it was an Apple affiliate store and they're allowed to fix them) and told to return it. So I did, because the problem did not resolve
#3 I didn't even boot this one. I unboxed it, inspected, saw the hinge was out of shape. The hinge was put in crooked so it stuck out from the unibody on one side. So I boxed it up and straight back it went
#4 Current one. Started off with the metallic ping noise from the base, but was the best of the lot so I kept hold of it. Then the trackpad started feeling loose in one corner. Like this guy's, but in the opposite corner
When that noise happens you can feel there's give in the trackpad that shouldn't be there, and the entire corner gets like that, but other times it will feel like there's nothing wrong. Talked to Apple support and described, they say it's normal and to go on my way. I ignored it, but the chassis creak is all over the bottom cover. Apply pressure and you'll hear it, or even just move the laptop when in use and you'll hear it go ping. That's not the only thing though, the hinge can creak when I move the screen to close it and on one side, the plastic hinge is separating from the lid assembly. If you put your finger there you can see it and feel it give way, but the other side is solid. Software-wise pretty reliable though, I've had two kernel panics (one unexplained), the Magsafe light ceasing to function, it wouldn't go from orange to green it would just go out (resolved) and the headphones jack mysteriously stopping (resolved).
The age of this machine? 8 months. Yeah.
Since I've graduated and haven't had lectures for a while (last term was just revision), this laptop barely ever moves and spends a lot of its time idle, so it's not been knocked about and still looks like new. There's literally the two tiniest of cosmetic blemishes which you can't see unless you inspect (caused by scissors and the MacBook's plug), but that's it.
I need this thing to edit videos, but at this point I am pretty much fed up. I don't even want to use it anymore. I feel like I can build a better computer, which I have done. Built my gaming PC about 10 months before MacBook #1 which now runs like a boss (all issues with Windows have been fixed). I've never had to return hardware for it being broken (apart from when I rebuilt recently and the USB 3 cable broke, but that's it) or not built to standard.
What are some alternatives to FCPX for Windows? Was considering getting it looked at/fixed (but they probably won't do anything) and then selling it on to the next unlucky person. Will miss OSX, the trackpad and retina if I did :/
Knew there was a reason I called this machine Gambit when I first set it (and the very first one) up. For some reason this one beach balled on me for half an hour/best part of an hour during setup
What are the chances this actually gets fixed or I get a working one?
