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Apple Acknowledges 15" PowerBook Spots
zachlipton writes "Computerworld is running an interesting interview with Dave Russell, director of product marketing for portables and wireless at Apple. Russell comments on the white spot issues that have plagued the new 15" PowerBooks (Apple has been very responsive about fixing mine at least) and he has this to say about a G5 PowerBook: 'We certainly want to do that, but it's going to be a while.' Russell also comments on a lot of other ideas related to the PowerBook and iBook lines."
It seems I read about this problem a month ago on macnn.com. It seems the 15 inchers are the only ones effected.
I fear nothing but my government. Vote Libertarian.
> the company is aware of the white blemishes on some new 15-in. screens, but hasn't yet "captured" enough of the computers to figure out why the spots are appearing.
Funny choice of words. I can't help but picture a herd of beautiful wild PowerBooks, running free across the plain.
(it's a Daria reference.)
At least he didn't say the new powerbook had the lovely dalmatian finish of the early iMac.
And, don't expect anyone to say the G5 powerbook is coming soon. Nobody would buy the current models if that was remotely the case.
- Close/hide all open windows.
- Control-click (or right click) on the desktop and select Change Desktop Background.
- Change desktop to "Solid White" in the Solid Colors collection. It's the nearly invisible one to the far right.
- Minimize System Preferences window and look for spots. Mine are along the vertical and horizontal centerlines of the screen.
And yes, my screen will be swapped out shortly under warranty.I'll be waiting to see if they get bigger, as I have a screen with no dead/stuck pixels and I don't want to tempt fate and/or be without my powerbook for some unknown amount of time.
Two independent lines of logic strongly suggest that the G5 PowerBook ain't coming any time soon:
- Apple just updated the PowerBooks. History says that they are very unlikely to update 'em again quick. (See MacRumor.com's Buyer's Guide page for dates of past revisions.)
- There is no G5 Xserve yet. If Apple can't get a G5 working within the Xserve's size/power/noise limits (with sales doubtless in the pits as folks wait for G5), then they're likely a *long* way from doing G5 within the PowerBook's (far tighter) limits.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
I was looking at Steve Jobs' blog and he notes it too here.
The good news is that even without AppleCare, Apple will still replace or repair your machine for free. Call 800-SOS-APPL and they will do the rest.
I thought it was just white out!
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Perhaps Apple is changing the production line to correct this problem, which would explain why the BTO 15" PB that I ordered on October 23 had its ship date change from Nov 4 to Nov 28 yesterday.
I'm tired of this...
My iBook screen has no white, red or blue spots and the battery lasts for 4.5 hours... My external FW800 drive on my G4 didn't get corrupted when I updated to Panther... The ethernet port in my G4 holds a connection... My G4 doesn't shutdown when I use my cellphone... None of my OS X apps mysteriously quit and I don't have any issues with deep sleep. My iPod battery lasts for days on end and all of the music I purchased from ITMS is still in my iTunes library...
When am I going to be like everyone else and have an issue with an Apple product?
It's just not right, I tell you.
...to Panther. Jaguars have spots.
Apple could sell a *lot* of G5 Xserves, and (looking at G4 Xserve prices) any undercutting of G5 PowerMac sales would only *increase* Apple's profits. A recent "Page 2" rumor on MacRumors.com put the G5 Xserve 4 to 5 months out - suggesting that 970's built on the new 90nm process are required.
Why aren't they shipping already? A few ideas:
- Legal constraint from IBM? Seems unlikely - IBM's bottom line is supposedly hurting for lack of business to keep their pricy new 970 fab busy. Frustrated wanna-be G5 Xserver customers are unlikely to buy all-IBM stuff instead - racks powered by Intel (IBM's arch-enemy) are probably more likely.
- Too damn hot? Current G5's are much hotter then Xserve's current G4's. Having taken a financial bath on their noisy G4 PowerMac, Apple may have concluded that "1U size", "current G5 chips", and "noise level acceptable to customers" is an impossible combo. If Steve vetoed a >1U size, they'd just have to wait for cooler-running G5's from IBM. But Dell is busy selling dual 3.2GHz Xeon 1U servers, and Xeons supposedly run much hotter than G5's. Is Apple's hot-air-blowing technology actually too sucky to keep up with Dell?
- R&D brain bottleneck? Apple's hard-core chipset/motherboard design gurus may be stretched thin by too many current projects. Pointy-Haired Bonehead decisions may have set them way back. Intel may have lured key brains away. Quality "the hard parts" engineers aren't a "find, hire, & get productive overnight" item that Apple could fix the problem quickly - *especially* if Steve PHB'ed things to begin with.
Short of a Darwin-class bonehead decision or two, i don't buy "product cycle" reasons. They've refreshed the Xserve about this fast in the past, and every day of delay is costing $$$ in lost profits.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
Sorry to hear about the probs with Apple Care people have been experiencing. I called last Friday (10/31) to complain about the spots. Tuesay (11/4) at noon I had the shipping box AppleCare sent to ship the PowerBook. By Thursday at noon (48 hours later) I had the laptop back. Spots are gone! Everything seems to be in order. I was shocked at the turn around time considering I was quoted 5-7 days when I originally spoke with AppleCare on Halloween.