Apple Replaces Some 15" PowerBook Displays

boredMDer writes "Apple up until now has been replacing G4 15" PowerBook displays on a case-by-case basis, but has now implemented a worldwide repair program to machines that exhibit these white spots. Affected machines are 867 MHz or 1 GHz TiBooks, and the 1 or 1.25 GHz 15" AlBooks. Serial numbers are QT331xxxxxx to QT339xxxxxx and V7334xxxxxx to V7345xxxxxx."

Comments

White spots on powerbook screens?

[Sevn]

Too easy.

Wow. It took them this long.

[mewyn]

There has been a fix under warranty repqir for quite some time, but I find it very unbelievable and frustrating that it took them this long to publically announce the problem.

I have a 15" AlBook that suffered from this problem. Trust me, they lost money on mine. I went through 3 different PowerBooks, hoping to get one that didn't have the spots, no luck there.

Then the first time I tried to get the spots repaired, they did not have any screens in stock (even though they told me they were in stock), and I needed the machine for school (it is my only computer that has a physical console). A week later, two missed deadlines, and many angry phone calls (they had botched sending the unit back to me too).

I then sent it in over xmas break, and got it repaired (again there was a small hitch since it got scheduled to be sent to me on a Friday, and I was at work, and there was NO way I was about to leave my $2.6k PB sitting at a shipping deopt).

No further problems with the machine. I see a few faint weak pixels, but I never notice them while using the machine.

Begining to Wonder About Apple's QA

[TechnoPope]

Now, I understand that there will always be the possibility of defects in manufacturing. But I'm beginning to wonder if getting an Apple power book (in the next week) is such a smart idea. Beyond the whole Mac vs. PC flame-war, I'm now a bit worried about the QA on Apple's laptops. Major recalls on virtually all of the iBooks, and battery and screen issues with the 15" AlBooks. Can Apple still make the clams of superior quality hardware for its laptops when it seems to be having some major issues with their quality.

Or do they basically set up this kind of thing where if they see enough returns for the same problem, they just fix it for free and assume they gaffed? Or are they just trying to avoid another iBook Logic board-like PR disaster? If it's the former, then the decision to get an Apple is a no brainer. If it's the latter, then maybe I should really think about dropping 1800 on a Powerbook.

Re:Begining to Wonder About Apple's QA

[MoneyT]

It's not a recall so much as a free extended waranty. There are plenty of people who have books that fall in this model range and don't have the problems. What this is, is a statement that there is a design flaw in these models and if your computer is afflicted with the problems that can be caused by this flaw, you get a repair even if you're long out of waranty.

Generaly speaking Apple accumulates and collects data on which machines are being reported to have problems and then has to narrow down what the problem is. Once they have the problem narrowed down to sofware vs hardware, then they need to determine which models or batches of computers are affected.

Once that is complete, Apple usualy issues a repair program for any of the computers in the range of systems with a problem, and offers reimbursements to anyone who has previously paid for a repair of the problem from Apple or an AARC.

Re:Serial number

[finnatic]

That doesn't always work :(

My powerbook had it's motherboard replaced at one point (the video display was dead, both on the inbuilt display plus the video outs) - and when it came back, whatever stores the serial number wasn't updated with the powerbook's serial number - it just displays as blank (from memory) in the System Profiler.

The serial number is normally somewhere printed on the powerbook (on a label/sticker) - on mine, it's inside the battery compartment - not exactly convenient, but it is there.