MacBooks - Faulty Trio!

Fanboy

Well,

My journey with MacBooks, since the beginning of November has been terrible, at best.

MacBook 1 - 1.8GHZ Core Duo, 512MB, 60GB. After approx 17/18 days of use, i noticed the battery indicator had an 'X' in it. The unit was plugged in at the time. I went onto MacRumours forum, and it turns out that this is a common fault with tens of thousands MacBooks. Ironically, my house was broken into and this unit was stolen shortly after.

MacBook 2 - 2GHZ C2D, 1GB, 80GB. After two days, my enter, p, 0 and ; keys didnt work when laptop was on a table/desk. If you tilt the MacBook to 45degrees, they work. I search on forums again, and find, once again...this a common problem amongst Macbooks. Something to do with a logic board. Thankfully this happened within the retailers 14 day grace, so i got it swopped over straight away.

MacBook 3 - 2GZ C2D, 1 GB, 80GB. Battery lasts, i estimate..... 90 seconds on a full charge. Laptop is two days old. I've 'cycled' the battery numerous times. I don't need to

I gave Mac a chance, i love the OS when it works, but the hardware i've been sold is third-rate, at best. If it was a case of me being 'unlucky' then i wouldn't mind so much, but when you see forums with litterly thousands of posts on an issue, and many many more issues, its a case of shoddy hardware being distriputed. Back to Toshiba, and Windows for me.

K.O.Kiki

Erm... not all of those "thousands" of posts are of people actually complaining -- it's of people responding to posts, too (which would make this comment the 2nd in this here thread, but not the 2nd complaint).

And jeez -- those batteries are almost all Sony made as is -- did you not just think of bringing the *battery* back for an exchange?

weeder

these problems are not uncommon and may end up like this




ok well i cant find it but basically someone sent back 3 macbooks and put his kneee through the fourth one in a fit of rage there was blood everywhere

TempestSabre

Mac are machines and fail and break like any other. Kinda annoys me when people make them out to be almost flawless when that simply not true. In general they are no worse, and probably slightly better than other makes. Older Apple Stuff seems to be much better made. I've a mac here thats over 10yrs old has never needed anything physical on it fixing. Actually I tell a lie the D key on the keyboard sticks every so often. It from my sister playing games on it.

Sad Professor

Very unlucky there, Fanboy. I've used macs for years and - touch wood - have never had any major problems. And mac message boards will always be filled with people complaining, it doesn't mean everyone has problems with them.

Did you order all those macbooks from Apple? After 3 partially faulty machines they should be taking good care of you. I'd be telling all this to them. To be fair though most of your problems were with the battery which could have been replaced without getting a new machine.

Go back to windows if you like - but you're much more likely to experience problems there.

spidermonkey

i have my 17" imac g5 with about a year and a half, never had an ounce of trouble.
same with my ipod.

there is bound to be flaws in any new generation of hardware and software.
its just that apple have a reputation of "it just works" and as of late with everything there doing with the intel switch and spreading out into various other markets and media, there is bound to be problems.

compare osx with xp. because osx is written for specific hardware they can write the software to get the best out of that hardware, and release more new os's on a quicker turnaround than microsoft.
xp and vista has to do its best to work with 'chop shop' computers. and as such they have more, way more holes & problems in the software.

as apple slowly tighten the quality belt of its first generation products these problems will be sorted out. it'd be worse if it was software, then it'd be xp.

you were just unlucky, i remember once going trough 7 discmen back in 97 within about 5 days. they knew me by name at the end of it. **** happens its not the companies fault its the manufacturers fault

Fanboy

Sad Professor wrote:

Very unlucky there, Fanboy. I've used macs for years and - touch wood - have never had any major problems. And mac message boards will always be filled with people complaining, it doesn't mean everyone has problems with them.

Did you order all those macbooks from Apple? After 3 partially faulty machines they should be taking good care of you. I'd be telling all this to them. To be fair though most of your problems were with the battery which could have been replaced without getting a new machine.

Go back to windows if you like - but you're much more likely to experience problems there.

I've been dealing with a retail outlet unfortunatly. Bringing back just the battery wasn't an option with them.

I realise it may be a case of being unlucky, but if you get kicked in the nuts three times for trying something new, it's foolish to go back the forth time. Thats the way i look at it anyway!

I've had a couple of Toshiba's and a dell over the last couple of years, never had to ring support or get repair once!

It's alot of money (to me anyway) to spend on something, which could go bust in a couple of months. If i spend 1319 on something, i dont want it in the back of my head that it could be on the verge of falling into another one of apples 'known issues' at any moment.

Love the OS though. Can it be installed on a regular PC?

Sad Professor

I believe it can, but not properly. I wouldn't recommend it and it's not supported by Apple.

Fanboy, I'd really encourage you to give a mac another try. But this time try and order directly from Apple. Maybe order by phone and tell them some of your experiences first - they might give you a discount

OSX is worth the effort imo.

Urban Weigl

For what it's worth, you've been extremely unlucky. We have a MacBook in the office here, and I also have numerous friends who have MacBook's. Not a single one has developed any kind of issue, the hardware is usually good quality.

Statistically, as far as I recall, the only other major laptop manufacturer that produces more reliable laptops is IBM (now Lenovo, the ThinkPad range). At the end of the day though, Apple uses Intel motherboards and CPU's, Sony batteries, Samsung LCD panels (might differ from model to model), and Seagate hard drives. These components will have similar failure rates, no matter if used in a Mac or PC. For example, a Seagate hard drive won't suddenly be more reliable, simply because it's being used in an Apple product.

Trying to be helpful, give AppleCare in Cork a ring. Their number is 1850 946 191. I've only had to call them once or twice over the past few years, and I manage a small office with a bunch of Mac's. They should be able to courier you out a new battery within a couple of days.

Fanboy

So i followed Urban Weigl's advice and got another MacBook. All had been good up until now. I came home from work, went to turn on the laptop and it wouldnt turn on. The AC adapter was connected, but there was no light. Silly me i thought, it must not be plugged in. It was plugged in.

Another one dead due to ropey power manufacturing.

WizZard

Did you buy all of these from the same store? It's highly unlucky to have so many die for no reason...
Call Apple direct and deal with them only. They WILL take care of you if you detail what you've been through.

cornbb

Sorry to hear about your experiences Fanboy. I use Macs at work and a PC at home, the proprietory hardware has been one of the main things stopping me from switching to a Mac at home. I'd be happy as larry dual booting OSX and XP on some nice affordable generic hardware tbh. That'd be ideal but I don't think it'd ever happen.

Thumper Long

Urban Weigl wrote:

Statistically, as far as I recall, the only other major laptop manufacturer that produces more reliable laptops is IBM (now Lenovo, the ThinkPad range).

Well those days are gone, a company i deal with recently bought 11 new lenovo (IBM) notebooks and tablets and 9 of them are dead within a week, this covers 3 different models and all but 2 of the machine have different faults. I always recommended people to go with thinkpads but not any more they are only IBM in name.