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http://www.macfixit.com/
http://www.macintouch.com/
http://123macmini.com/

I'm gonna have to call bullshit. I've used OSX and Linux, and both have warts. Anyone who says a computer "just works" is a person who's learned to work around the warts of their system without having to actually think about the workarounds as workarounds. A site called "MacFixIt" would not exist if OSX "just worked" as you say it does.

There's a difference between having warts and being the tree man.

I'm gonna have to call bullshit. I've used OSX and Linux, and both have warts. Anyone who says a computer "just works" is a person who's learned to work around the warts of their system without having to actually think about the workarounds as workarounds. A site called "MacFixIt" would not exist if OSX "just worked" as you say it does.

well is it Apples fault OR is it MS Vista that has the problem . Apple would have debugged it on a vista box , But it is posable that a vista update killed it .By mistake or on purpose ,your guess is as good as mine.

Looks to me like a standard iTunes update. Crashing and breaking things left and right both on the Mac and PC. Lots of other reported problems besides the BSOD. Apple hasn't been having much luck (or skill) with either iTunes or Quicktime of late. Both programs have problemmatic updates (see previous link for morbid details if you're interested).

It's just not working for Steve these days. Maybe 10.6 will fix these issues on the OS X side, but I rather doubt it. Back up, test your restores and sacrifice the appropriate animal before upgrading.

Seems like you're not alone. I'm holding off upgrading until it's sorted out a bit more. FF2 works just fine for me, thankyouverymuch.

But, as I've said, they're going to shoot themselves in the foot if they keep to their dumbass cross platform practices. And their sneaky phone home stuff (read the very bottom of the link). And their lousy installer on OS X.

Not that I'm annoyed or anything.

I've been using OSX since oct 2000; I have yet to experience a screwup due to an OS software upgrade. I'm sure many other people feel the same way...

May I present to you my second favorite web site, Mac Fix It. Seriously, not everyone has problems with OS X, or XP or Palm or whatever. But as a recent switcher (and I still like Macs and OS X despite the glitches), it's much less stable and problem free than I expected. This is on bolt stock, 99% Apple Certified parts (I added my own HDs to my Mac Pro - they've been fine). Four Mac Books and a Mac Pro (along with a Linux server). The 7.4 Quicktime upgrade hosed Premiere Pro on two machines. I had to back out of the last security fix to get SSH to work again. Now, just as when I was responsible for an XP network, I don't touch an "update" until it's out for a couple of weeks.

YMMV.

Um, Macs "just work"?

I refer you to http://www.macfixit.com/

* QuickTime distortion in early 2008 MacBooks; Mac OS X 10.5.3 to fix

* Custom icons in the Dock disappearing

* QuickTime 7.4.5: app launching problems: try reinstallation

* Aluminum Keyboard Firmware Update 1.0 (#3): caps lock problems;

* Office 2004 11.4.1 can accidentally delete Excel

* Long passwords can cause iWeb publishing errors

Yeah. That's just a few from their homepage.

Macs don't "just work" anymore than anything else. They're computers. They break, and software is written by humans, who make mistakes.

With a Mac, It. Just. Works. Apple provides the hardware, Apple provides the software

and the patches when it doesn't work. Come on now. Get real.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Hell, just read Mac Fix it and weep (a lot of us Mac users do). Quit yer bitching.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Hell, just read Mac Fix it and weep (a lot of us Mac users do). Quit yer bitching.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Hell, just read Mac Fix it and weep (a lot of us Mac users do). Quit yer bitching.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Recent OS fix creates problems.

Hell, just read Mac Fix it and weep (a lot of us Mac users do). Quit yer bitching.

He can probably be helped... unless he's already installed the 10.5.2 update. Those of us that made that mistake are totally screwed.

System Preferences > Sharing, Turn on Screen Sharing, click Computer Settings..., check VNC viewers may control screen with password, enter a password, click ok. Here's a picture: http://images.macfixit.com/images/ScreenSharingFigure2.jpg . If you don't like Apple's VNC server, there's also VINE, MacVNC and quite a few other 3rd party VNC servers.

Unless there is a massive MS conspiracy, these people have used Leopard and they are posting it to a Mac only website:

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2007121710540526

There are so many bugs to report that we hardly get feedback from Apple when we report issues. We are being still good customers and reporting them and patiently keep BETA TESTING this paid OS. I am personally understanding to the fact that Leopard is more like OS XI (11) , Apple have taken very advanced steps to future especially enterprise/business. It doesn't change the fact that this version of OS is horribly buggy, looks like rushed out of door just to make couple of loudmouth Mac trolls happy.

Nobody is astroturfing, discussions.apple.com does not respond to my IP for weeks, it barely handles the load of feedback/disaster reports.

Also he has taken enough "overrated" beating from those little fascist slashdotter mods IMHO, they couldn't dare to flamebait -1 him since they know overrated is not meta moderated.

It doesn't fix Leopard issues though.

The article references a list of incompatible software There are 19 apps in all, two of them system-backup products (made moot by Time Machine?) and two are antivirus products (to scan for what exactly?) Compared to Vista, which was incompatible with far more apps (and hardware, including the Zune!), the upgrade to Leopard is smooth sailing. Really, the article is FUD.

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071030122926454

This list of problems is almost as staggering as Vistas issues. What's most interesting is that a number *Applications* don't work with Leopard.

At least Microsoft values backward compatibilty. Arguably Vista's internals changed significantly more than Leopard yet MS managed to maintain almost complete backward compatibility with old programs.

I mean, Photoshop 7 doesn't work with Leopard!?

Of course, what little hardware Mac has available is also having issues according to that list.

Better hope your hardware partners update their drivers!

Oh yeah !

And if you need more, you'll find more at
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=200710261517596

The best part: the icon on my firefox tab shows a tiny little bomb. Similar to those in the infamous mine-sweeper. Don't believe me ? go and try yourself !

Read how Apple's Quicktime 7.2 update went and caused issues on Intel based Macs. It broke some PPC apps on some machines. Also, Apple's pulled a DVD drive firmware update, after it hosed some hardware. Now, I'm a Mac tech and have only owned Macs, except for my old TI 99/4A but you can't paint Apple in polished gold all the time. They screw up things just like any other computer company.

Read how Apple's Quicktime 7.2 update went and caused issues on Intel based Macs. It broke some PPC apps on some machines. Also, Apple's pulled a DVD drive firmware update, after it hosed some hardware. Now, I'm a Mac tech and have only owned Macs, except for my old TI 99/4A but you can't paint Apple in polished gold all the time. They screw up things just like any other computer company.

Anyone hear about the Quicktime 7.2 patch yesterday, that, in some cases, breaks PPC apps running on Intel Macs?

Can we paint the lemmings rainbow color now? Or do they have to be all shiny and white for correct Macitude?

I actually hoped that Leopard would have case sensitivity by default. Case insensitivity, files like "makefile" and "Makefile" are considered the same is a pain, when using OS X together with other OS. I lost many files due to case insensitivity (i.e. back up a directory on OSX, then move things back). While it is possible to enable case sensitivity, there are still too many things which break when doing the switch on the boot drive and this is no surprise because many applications depend on insensitive FS. What about allowing the user to have certain folders to be case sensitive?

Since my wireless connections, on my dual G5 and my TiBook work just fine ..

Although a quick check at Mac Fix It does discuss the problem: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070318 234944267

Curious

SteveM

Because blogs are a way to reach audiences that are not reached through traditional marketing outlets

Yeah, because Apple has a real problem "reaching audiences." I mean, who ever heard of an iPod? They seem to think that TV commercials and word-of-mouth alone will sell the things.

they increase the amount of feedback you receive from your customers, and they provide a way to mine your user base for ideas.

If only there were some website where Apple could gather user opinions and feedback.

-- Brian Boyko
-- Professional Blogger.

It shows.

Sony also made the recalled Mac batteries...

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060824 111724500
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060825 081604956

Affected ranges of serial number prefixes are as follows:

12-inch iBook G4, battery model: A1061

ZZ338 through ZZ427
3K429 through 3K611
6C510 through 6C626
12-inch PowerBook G4, battery model: A1079

ZZ411 through ZZ427
3K428 through 3K611
15-inch PowerBook G4, battery models: A1078 and A1148

3K425 through 3K601
6N530 through 6N551
6N601

To see if your PowerBook or iBook is affected, visit
https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batterye xchange/.

Sony also made the recalled Mac batteries...

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060824 111724500
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060825 081604956

Affected ranges of serial number prefixes are as follows:

12-inch iBook G4, battery model: A1061

ZZ338 through ZZ427
3K429 through 3K611
6C510 through 6C626
12-inch PowerBook G4, battery model: A1079

ZZ411 through ZZ427
3K428 through 3K611
15-inch PowerBook G4, battery models: A1078 and A1148

3K425 through 3K601
6N530 through 6N551
6N601

To see if your PowerBook or iBook is affected, visit
https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batterye xchange/.

Ben Wilson is an editor at MacFixIt
Mike Breeden is from Accelerate Your Mac. He might run it, but I'm not sure.
All I really know about Nigel Kersten is that he wrote SirAdmin.

Meh. Not a sterling list...

> First of all, OS X is a UNIX based operating system

Mac OS X is based on darwin, which is based on NeXT, which is based on the Mach kernel and contains code from the BSD implementation of a 'Unix-like' operating system.

> (with a perfectly good user interface layer like no other UNIX has) t

Only systems which are fully compliant with and of course certified to the Single UNIX Specification qualify as "UNIX" (others are called "UNIX system-like" or Unix-like). MacOSX, is UNIX-like.

> that is rock solid in comparison to any other desktop OS, that supports all modern standards that 99% of the computing world expects on a computer.

Where is Gopher support (I have it on windows, linux)?
Why doesn't the FTP client that comes with the system support uploading?
Why is the IMAP implementation (in mail.app) worse than Outlook's and thunderbird's (See sieving script issues)?
Why isn't there ANSI support in the termianl application?
Why isn't there a usable java implementation for the platform (MacOSX's java framework is completely broken for standard java UI elements)?

> And does nearly all of its tasks better than a comparable computer running the latest Windows OS.

I guess these are lies:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/apr06/040506.h tml
http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_Boot_Camp_beta/4505- 3672_7-31826794-2.html?tag=nav
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060405 225344882

> Not to mention that you can run 99% of your UNIX programs on it.

Frigging hell, you've never had to deal with signals under MacOSX, or do all those terrible UI compatability hacks to get a GTK application working. It's a lot easier under Windows with CYGWIN.

> OS X. Because friends don't let friends run GNOME.

I don't like Gnome much either, tried KDE 3.5.2 (my prefered enviroment)? I find the entire desktop enviroment provided by KDE is quite adquate for most people's needs. Unfortunately MacOSX and KDE both fail at having a speedy browser (the default browser that comes with the system). This is where Windows wins.

This was on MacFixIt two days ago with some fixes:

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060411 100445524

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20050623 083556186

FireWire 800 cards for ExpressCard/34 slot on the way:

We do not have an estimated release date, but we are currently working on a couple of ExpressCard solutions (1394b being one of them). We, like other companies have an ExpressCard/54 cards and all we need to do is down-size them into the ExpressCard/34 form factor.

We expect to begin testing our cards within the next 2-3 weeks, and if all goes well, we could see production not long afterwards.

And FireWire is going to be around for quite some time.

As long as all DV and HDV cameras and decks use FireWire for DV transport, FireWire isn't going anywhere on Macs, including "consumer" Macs, since half of iLife (iMovie, iDVD), and the continuing major selling point for the SuperDrive, rest on the ability to get DV into the machine.

And no, USB isn't a substitute on DV cameras. USB is only included to transfer things from the internal memory card, usually still images and crappy digital-still-camera-like video. To transfer DV, you must use FireWire. (Now, could the industry eventually agree upon a collective standard mechanism for DV video transfer via USB? Will something eventually replace FireWire? Sure. But that's not going to happen for a long time.)

And indeed, ExpressCard/34 FireWire 800 cards are on the way, for people who really need FireWire 800:

MacBook Pro #4: FireWire 800 cards for ExpressCard/34 slot on the way

We previously reported that Apple has opted to omit the FireWire 800 port from its new MacBook Pro line. We also noted that various firms already offer ExpressCard FireWire 800 adapters, but there's a catch -- so far the cards are only available in the 54 mm ExpressCard standard, not the 34 mm standard Apple uses.

We've now received anonymous word from a major peripheral manufacturer indicating that FireWire 800 cards for the ExpressCard/34 slot are on the way.

The firm told MacFixIt:

"We do not have an estimated release date, but we are currently working on a couple of ExpressCard solutions (1394b being one of them). We, like other companies have an ExpressCard/54 cards and all we need to do is down-size them into the ExpressCard/34 form factor

"We expect to begin testing our cards within the next 2-3 weeks, and if all goes well, we could see production not long afterwards."

VirtualPC doesn't even run at all on intel macs, according to an MS press statement: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060110 120028762

if you are part of a linux community, you get help faster, friendlier and for free. and you after giving advice to others have even a good conscience of being helpful! ... but for the average "i-do-not-want-to-learn-but-it-must-just-work" user, you are perfectly right!

The Macintosh has a "community" as well. Most minority platforms do. Heck, there are even some places where Windows users can go to get advice. (Usually having to do with viruses and spyware, but still....)

Apple User Groups
http://www.macfixit.com/
http://www.macintouch.com/
http://www.macosx.com/
http://www.mac-forums.com/
http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=78

And then there are the comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups, and others.

See here for more info.

"They have high engineering standards which really shine through on the final product."

* You mean like PCI-Express? Which model is it on?
* How about a 1600mhz front side bus? Standard on Athlon 64.
* How about support for dual core chips?
* How about Apple motherboards that let you take today's great single-core chip and swap it out with a much better dual-core CPU in a few years, like the 939-series motherboards for AMD64 let you do? Which Apple mboard lets you do that?

Also, if their quality is so dang sparky, why do they offer 90 days of software support, and 1 year of technical support by default, the same as any Beige Box shop?

"It's all the little things added up which turns your computer from a hassle to a productivity tool."

Uh-huh: http://www.macfixit.com. Of course, maybe your idea of productivity is playing Solitaire.

Somehow I see Apple as being a willing participant: Article

I use a modified hosts file on my computer which sucessfully blocked the pop-up from the drudgereport.com website. For the last couple of years, I have used an ad blocking hosts file under both Linux and Windows. In my hosts files for both Linux and Windows there are several hundred advertising related URLs which are diverted to the 127.0.0.1 loopback address on my computer. Nearly every computer uses 127.0.0.1 as its loopback address. I use the "Mike's Ad Blocking Hosts file" and every few month I download an updated version of it from their website here:

http://everythingisnt.com/hosts.html

His website describes how to use his modifed hosts file in either Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac. I was using Firefox 1.0 running under Linux tonight when I went to the DrudgeReport.com website and did not get the pop-up. There was already and entry in my host file that block the z1.adserver.com URL that the DrudgeReport.com webpage uses.

After I started using the modified hosts file, I would frequently get empty pop-up boxes when visiting many websites. On many of websites their in-line advertisements that are embedded inside the webpage would appear as empty rectangles within the webpage. I use a slow dial-up connection and less advertisements make the webpages load significantly faster. From a privacy standpoint there might also possibly be some advantages to diverting many of those advertising related URLs to the loopback address.

The use of a modified hosts file was also mentioned in the MacFixit Article that was mentioned at the top of the Slashdot article we are all reading now.

Also visit MacFixItand XLR8YourMac...

Same thing happened on my G5.

Found this on macfixit, http://www.macfixit.com/staticpages/index.php?page =20031110093417286

Then AP Extreme converts from Lossless to standard audio. Makes sense now?

This is supposedly fixed in the 4.6 Release

What good is all of this hard drive space if the iPod mini loses access to data stored on its internal hard drive?

Interesting you should bring up HDTV; I'm in the middle of setting up a HD PVR based on a G3 PowerMac I just bought on eBay.

My digital cable box, the Motorola DCT-6200, puts out a MPEG2-TS stream over its 1394 port. Using the VirtualDVHS package that's part of Apple's Firewire SDK, it should be possible to record HD video; playback will probably require something a little beefier than the 300 MHz G3, but I have more powerful Windows boxen that can handle that.

If you're a Linux guy, check out Linux1394; it should be able to handle both DV and HDTV. AFAIK, there's no working Windows solution for my particular situation just yet (Windows doesn't recognize the Moto box as being anything particularly useful; promised firmware updates from Moto may change that). These guys have been in beta for quite a while now, but no release date has been announced.

HD-capable PVR solutions should become more common in the next few months -- as of April 1, per a recent FCC ruling, US digital cable providers who supply HD services must, at customer request, provide a box that makes the HD signal available through a computer-friendly interface (everyone's taken this to mean 1394, AFAIK).

"So yes, Apple is good. But not that good (unless you pony up even more cash), and the assumption that it is superior to Linux for these sorts of tasks is premature at best, and certainly not a given."

Well, I think that you're in for an unpleasant surprise. I'm sure that you could author a DVD under Linux if you really work at it, pretty much everyone doing professional video and DVD production is using Mac's. Yes, there are exceptions, and it's possible to do this work under Windows as well, but in general the best, most predictable tools for getting this sort of work done are on the Mac.

As far as DVD-R's that burn but don't play on a DVD player, you should keep in mind that some DVD players won't play DVD-R's, the same way that a few years back some CD players wouldn't play CD-R's, but that has nothing to do with the authoring platform - DVD-R's are optically slightly different from pressed DVD's, and some players can't deal with it. So you might want to check a few different players, and a few different brands of DVD-R's, to see if there's a combination that works more reliably for you. It's a pain, but a symptom of the relative immaturity of the DVD-R market (like CD-R's a few years back). Changing to Linux, etc., won't help with media and reader optics. And DVD+R is less compatible with DVD players, so no joy there.

I don't know what has been causing your problems burning DVD's, as they don't sound typical, but my experience is that using Mac's for this sort of work is far more productive than PC's. Yes, Mac's aren't perfect, but Wintel's are (for this task) less perfect. And trying to cobble together a solution under Linux just sounds like torture unless you're really into doing everything yourself. Linux is great for a lot of things (web servers, render farms, some desktop app's) but video editing is pretty far ahead of the curve.

So if you get it working, as a Linux fan, I'd love to hear about it. IMO, while it's fair to complain that DVD authoring is still a bit immature, my advice would be to tough it out on the platform you've got, since it's better than the alternatives, and make sure that you install all of the OS and app updates and read sites like MacFixIt to see if anyone else is having the problems you're having.

"Without Mac OS X around to spoil me, I was

forced to get my Linux machines current again, so I could still be productive and use modern software. I was able to upgrade a couple machines to Linux 2.6 and Gnome 2.4, and with the addition of anti-aliased fonts to the Linux desktop I didn't miss my PowerBook quite so much. But now that it's back, I wonder what the hell I was thinking."

I love this guy's company spirit. Slashdot is owned by VA Software, a prominent Linux company. I'd get fired for this kind of open betrayal.

What's worse is the implications this has for Linux in general. I'm a regular guy reading this. If this Cowboy Neal guy, a major geek ten times as skilled with Linux as I am, refuses to use the software or hardware his boss makes, why should I buy it?

Cowboy Neal likely gets an employee discount, and he STILL refuses to use it!

I feel like sending a letter to VA explaining that the reason I refuse to buy from them is because *their own employees* support the competition over their products. Think about it. Linux must be unbelievably crappy if even the guys who work for a Linux company refuse to use it -- I mean, imagine if Steve Jobs got caught using Windows or Bill Gates admitted to being a Linux kernel hacker. Mature adults in the public eye don't pull this kind of backstabbing crap. I don't even care about VA Software, and I'm disgusted. If you accept a job with a Linux company, you have a responsibility to your employer not to use the competition's product -- but if that's too hard for you, at least cheat on your boss in secret rather than openly promoting the competition's product over your own!

The morally-stunted editors of Slashdot obviously don't care if they're biting the hand that feeds them; they want their Bluetooth to be auto-configured, dammit! Laziness and a refusal to learn seem to be the marks of a great editor, as well as the willingness to openly praise and worship the competition's product. I bet neither Gates nor Jobs would stand for such callous, disgusting betrayal. In fact, I KNOW they wouldn't. That's why they're successful, and Linux will soon die. Proprietary software has nothing to worry about. Developers are the air supply that Apple, Microsoft,

Why not buy 2 Dell Notebooks @ $999 USD each for the price of 1 PowerBook G4 notebook $1999 USD each? That way, he can have a new notebook and have a brand new one for replacement instantly if something ever goes wrong out of warranty.

Considering that repairing the same problem (replacing the bezel, and, hence, the LCD) on a PowerBook G4 (DURING the included 1 year limited warranty) would cost, according to Apple, $1308.95 USD for repair, shipping, handling, and support (Tier 4 repair for "LCD"... this would be out of the warranty because it is assumed that it was "Damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, and misapplication" causing the broken bezel that is explicitly NOT covered under Apple's limited warranty.").

Alternately, he can purchase AppleCare for his PowerBook G4 for $349 USD at the time of purchase, unless he lives in Florida (according to the Apple web page, at the bottom: "This plan (AppleCare) is not available for Florida consumers or where prohibited by law.").

On the other hand, the AppleCare plan only covers manufacturer defects for a longer period than the usual (and a longer period of complimentary telephone support). It still does NOT cover, According to Apple's Terms and Conditions for AppleCare"Damage due to accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider), unauthorized modification, improper environment (including lack of proper temperature or humidity), unusual physical or electrical stress or interference, failure or fluctuation of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, or acts of God;"

Not that Dell, or any other manufacturer's warranty usually covers repairs of damage caused accidentally, but it really wouldn't help the gentleman in this situation to have an Apple PowerBook G4, as he could probably buy an entire new notebook for the $1308.95 USD for repair, shipping, handling, and support it would cost to solve the same problem if he owned a PowerBook G4.

Of course, your entire argument is that it would simply NEVER happen to an Apple notebook because of the quality, worksmanship, design, materials, etc. Interesting, but defects DO happen (browse some Apple forums (such as MacFixIt (here and here (for instance there was a White Spot issue that affected as many as 25% of PowerBook 15" Firewire 800 G4's and an assortment of iBooks... apparently, it's still ongoing (probably a manufacturing and design problem)!))) and see for yourself unless you're into denial in a big way), and probably as often to Apples as to other distributors (Dell, etc.). They ARE manufactured in the same plants with underpaid workers in third world countries as Dells, etc. are manufactured. They are just sold for more to consumers.

There should be a new moderation category called "-1 Apple Advertisement".

Why not buy 2 Dell Notebooks @ $999 USD each for the price of 1 PowerBook G4 notebook $1999 USD each? That way, he can have a new notebook and have a brand new one for replacement instantly if something ever goes wrong out of warranty.

Considering that repairing the same problem (replacing the bezel, and, hence, the LCD) on a PowerBook G4 (DURING the included 1 year limited warranty) would cost, according to Apple, $1308.95 USD for repair, shipping, handling, and support (Tier 4 repair for "LCD"... this would be out of the warranty because it is assumed that it was "Damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, and misapplication" causing the broken bezel that is explicitly NOT covered under Apple's limited warranty.").

Alternately, he can purchase AppleCare for his PowerBook G4 for $349 USD at the time of purchase, unless he lives in Florida (according to the Apple web page, at the bottom: "This plan (AppleCare) is not available for Florida consumers or where prohibited by law.").

On the other hand, the AppleCare plan only covers manufacturer defects for a longer period than the usual (and a longer period of complimentary telephone support). It still does NOT cover, According to Apple's Terms and Conditions for AppleCare"Damage due to accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider), unauthorized modification, improper environment (including lack of proper temperature or humidity), unusual physical or electrical stress or interference, failure or fluctuation of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, or acts of God;"

Not that Dell, or any other manufacturer's warranty usually covers repairs of damage caused accidentally, but it really wouldn't help the gentleman in this situation to have an Apple PowerBook G4, as he could probably buy an entire new notebook for the $1308.95 USD for repair, shipping, handling, and support it would cost to solve the same problem if he owned a PowerBook G4.

Of course, your entire argument is that it would simply NEVER happen to an Apple notebook because of the quality, worksmanship, design, materials, etc. Interesting, but defects DO happen (browse some Apple forums (such as MacFixIt (here and here (for instance there was a White Spot issue that affected as many as 25% of PowerBook 15" Firewire 800 G4's and an assortment of iBooks... apparently, it's still ongoing (probably a manufacturing and design problem)!))) and see for yourself unless you're into denial in a big way), and probably as often to Apples as to other distributors (Dell, etc.). They ARE manufactured in the same plants with underpaid workers in third world countries as Dells, etc. are manufactured. They are just sold for more to consumers.

There should be a new moderation category called "-1 Apple Advertisement".