The “Break it Down” Blog

Some history on me:

I was a devout Microsoft/Windows guy from Windows 3.1 days until Windows 98/2k. The incescent crashing and blue screens got old quickly so I started to dabble in Linux. I’ve been back and forth between the two since then appreciated strengthes and weaknesses in both. I got an iPod Nano as a gift at Christmas and thought it was slick. My initial impressions of iTunes and all the buzz around it was “this sucks”, because I didn’t understand it. I finally got the hang of it, but still didn’t love it. At Job’s keynote speech earlier this year when he unvieled the new MacBook Pros I ran over to the Apple store and placed an order my new MacBook Pro, what I thought was going to be my dream laptop (and first laptop).

Anyway the MacBook Pro got here and was fine. I noticed right away the most common issues:

• Unbearable heat
• Whining from the computer when the CPU when both cores weren’t under load
• The latch didn’t properly engage or disengage sleep mode
• AND the motion sensor would wake the computer up even if it was closed, meaning carrying it around in a bag all day left it “on” and dead by the time I went to use it.

No problem, I bought the 700 year AppleCare plan for $11 million dollars extra, so I called up Apple and scheduled a repair. The laptop was promptly repaired and sent back with two remaining issues that aparently are not issues or something:

• Unbearable heat (now not an issue since this is no longer a “laptop” but a “notebook”, sweet. Marketing: 1, Consumer: 0
• My laptop shuts off when it’s open and sleep mode engages wether it’s plugged in or not. So if you are in the middle of something and walk away from it open and come back, it’s actually off and needs to be turned back on. It doesn’t resume either, it just boots back up. I’ve reformatted three times total (once before sending it back, once right after getting it and once more). Each time the laptop behaves correctly for up to 2 weeks after the reinstall, then starts crapping out, almost always after an update is applied regardless of the update. I don’t use BootCamp, custom firmware/BIOS or anything fancy. This is all default OS X here.

So now I’ve got this laptop that I’m not that pleased with that has a running time of 2.5 hours under load (developing/running/debugging code) or 3 hours if I’m just pissing my life away online. So essentially I carry my cable around with my everywhere and constantly need to charge it. In my opinion (as a first time laptop owner) anything under 4hrs makes the laptop a “desktop” if you actually work on your laptop. You cannot get enough work done to be far away from a plug. I actually regret not getting a IBM ThinkPad with the 7-cell battery instead for roughly the same price I paid.

Anyway now that the laptop is crapping along, my iPod Nano, 6 months after I got it, has decided it’s docking port has completely failed. When I connect it to any computer (Tried Windows, Mac and a Linux machine), on any USB port with 2 different docking cables, if it makes a data connection the iPod goes into an endless cycle of reboots. I’ve tried resetting it and everything else. Unfortunately I cannot try “restoring it” because if it makes a data connection, like I said, it just reboots endlessly. If I wiggle the docking cable I can get it to make a power-only connection and charge the iPod, but that’s hardly useful. So now I’ve contacted Apple and that was sent out for repairs.

The fun part about that is I tried to fufill the repair request online, but the last step of the order was down. When the form tries to contact Visa to charge my card the $32 “Shipping and handling” fee (for a 4oz piece of equipment 1 state over), it kept comming back with “Operation timed out”. I called Apple and told them what was going on and asked if the associate could just put the order directly into the system. He said sure, and it would only cost me either $50 for a service call or I think it was $75 or $90 for a AppleCare plan for my iPod so we could give me phone support. I clarified with him that I didn’t need support, I just needed him to enter the request into the system because their online system was down. He wouldn’t do it so I had to wait a few days and try again. Not a huge deal, I understand company policies, it’s just annoying. So now the iPod has been sent off for service.

Now I wake up this morning to Apple’s new announcement that they infact confirm the battery problem in the MBPs and are offering a free replacement for up to 3 batteries. Hmm, so 3 pieces of Apple hardware in the last 6 months and all of them have needed to be services or replaced before 6 months old. Those aren’t great odds there. I can appreciate that plenty of you reading this probably have an iPod that you got 17 years ago or a MacBook Pro that you bought right after Big Bang happened, but seriously. I got 3 pieces of unrelated hardware from Apple (iPod, MBP, Battery) and all of them have been serviced or replaced in less than 6 months. Coincodence? Maybe I emit a low level hum that destroys electronics? Maybe the acid on my skin eats through metal and detroys Apple products… or maybe, Apple thinks product QA is for suckers?

I do want to point out that Apple customer service has been great (Except for that one phone call where they wouldn’t put my order through). So even if you do get a problomatic piece of hardware, the AppleCare plan seems to be the way to go with anything worth $500 or more.

Maybe it was just me and I have bad luck. I’d probably get another Nano if the other one dies again, but I wouldn’t buy a MacBook Pro again and I would never consider a Mac desktop now. But this is the process all consumers go through isn’t it? (Digg this)