Slashdot Mirror
MacBook Users Fix Trackpad Problem with Origami Paper
yonnage writes "Some Apple MacBook owners are plagued with what seems to be a defective trackpad button. The button, when pushed, seems "squishy" and sometimes even unresponsive. While these MacBook owners are getting turned away at the Apple Genius Bars, they have come up with a custom and unique solution to the problem. A piece of paper, placed strategically under the battery pack where the trackpad is located, seems to fix this problem for most users."
Looks like the solution is to fold up a piece of paper, and put it under the actual mouse button. This might work for a little while, but it is a laptop. I can see this paper falling in some other part of the laptop, like say a fan or a hot battery - and you will have a more interesting problem of fire, or CPU death.
Disable USB Drives - Remotely
or you could just buy a malfunctional battery (one the buldges) and it'll just work just as well
Paper over hot battery? Fire risk?
Oh.
Are these the same batteries we saw pictures of heating up and warping a few days ago? Are these Mac users trying to make their own exploding Japanese Dells?
...uh oh ... Dude you've got a Dell!!
Why is it that a silly trick like this makes front page of slashdot? If I submitted a blog article of how I used a toothpick to fix the mousebutton on a generic ACME brand laptop would anyone give a care?
Same thing with this whole "discoloration" thing about the palm rests. People, laptops are machines, they wear out, they have flaws. It's like some people get so emotionally attached to their computer that if they see one flaw with it they have to write an article about it.
Or anything resilient.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Let's hear it for Redneck Engineering !
Hip hip, uhhhhh
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
I had the same thing with my G4 Powerbook. The warranty covered replacing the assembly and it was fixed. The first warranty fix of many on that Powerbook.
Frankly, as much as I liked MacOS, Ubuntu is getting pretty good on the desktop these days and I'm finding it just fine on my Lifebook P1510. The Lifebook is light, usable and well-made and works nicely with Linux. Also, turning up to the colo to fix an outage last night and watching two people holding big heavy MacBooks while I'm using less than a kilo of ultra-portable was amusing.
Get a load of these guys! Some "geniuses"...
Woo! I knew all that origami that I learned while bored doing tech support would come in handy some day!
Support a true independent artist - Leila Lopez
I purchased a MacBook two weeks ago. At first, it was slightly irritating me. I like that responsive, affirming click when I press the mouse button. But then I realized that only the left and right sides of the button are squishy. The middle of the button doesn't have this problem, so train yourself to push it there. It becomes second nature quickly. (Perhaps YMMV.)
Or go into the system preferences and set it so that tapping the trackpad clicks. (Tapping it with two fingers to 'right-click' is nice too...)
- sm
I bet I know what a lot were thinking when they saw the headline. Origami fixes Mac. Bullshit! Oh, wait, not that Origami. See, this is why it helps to RTFA or even the summary.
The real question is, do smugness and homosexuality cause mac use or does mac use cause smugness and homosexuality?
... as a non-Mac user, is that Apple's after-sales service seems to suck. Sure there seem to be lots of hardware problems, but that's not really uncommon these days. However I would have expected reports of better service given Apple's reputation for "quality products" and the cult-worship it seems to get from it's fans. It's like it's giving a big "fuck you" to its users while at the same time expecting them to whoop and holler everytime Steve Jobs farts out something new.
Someone must explain something to me. I am a European (Netherlands) so possibly it's to do with consumer laws or something.
When I buy a new computer / household device that does not live up to my expectations, I return it to the store and demand a refund or a new one that works properly. I always get what I want, including from vendors such as Apple.
Now why does no-one in the blogosphere think of that? Why start fiddling around with pieces of paper, toothpicks, reinstalling software, "trying this and that because a friend told me". Why? WHY?
GO BACK TO THE STORE AND DEMAND A PROPER PRODUCT!
Not sure what you mean by Apple "combining the consumer and pro brand into 'MacBook'," but:
MacBook = consumer-class notebook
MacBook Pro = professional-class notebook
but the volume of posts I see on Slashdot and Digg about fixes for various MacBook problems both astound and amuse me. I could write it off as very poor quality control on Apple's part...and there may be something to that, but I wonder to what degree the Apple users are being more picky than the average bear.... I, for one, can't imagine buying, say, a Dell laptop and getting at all exercised about the clicky-ness of its buttons. But here we have evidence that not only has it bothered many MacBook owners, but one of them was so concerned that he gave it the thought to come up with a completely unusual solution to the problem. So...was the quality control really THAT bad? or are people just being very sensitive?
Most of the heat related problems are common to the MacBook and MacBook Pro. In other words, it's not the price of the machine, it's the vendor.
You'll probably get modded into oblivion, but your point is dead-on. The Macbook _still_ has too many hardware bugs. You get alot of performance for the price, but it would be nice if Apple still had a product built like a tank with good styling AND high performance AND reliability for those willing to pay 25% more or so. AFAICT the last machine to fit the bill was the bronze g3, and build quality has just gone downhill since then as they've tried to trickle iBook cost savings up to the high end, ultimately merging them.
And the submitter's comments about the Geniuses and the Apple Store are no worse than I've experienced. They will tell you right to your face there's no problem, even when they know full well because people are trying left and right to return these so they can wait for the next hardware rev - yep, I got burned too. For shame, Apple. We need a reliable high-end portable!
You had a pretty good point until: This is another reason to hope that we have a creative *nix laptop in the next few years, a fully intergrated solution, not just hacked together like most of the MS and x86 stuff is. Perhaps Sun will become the new boutique of useful computing. The Macbook IS that laptop... what else do you want?
People come to the platform expecting Apple to have the same shit service as companies like Dell and Toshiba, so they don't even bother trying. If they ever did, they might be pleasantly surprised; on the occasions I've had to send a computer back to Apple, they've paid for shipping both ways, and turnaround time has never been more than two days (not even during the dark Sculley-Spindler-Amelio interregnum).
And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
You see problems like this all the time with first generation models, especially from Apple. Almost half of the Apple first-gen hardware that my friends and I have purchased over the years have been completely replaced by Apple within a year of purchase. Don't get me wrong, I swear by my PowerBook, but I'll never buy a new product before the kinks can be worked out.
Wow! This may not be great news for Apple and Apple owners, but it gives yet another use for an Origami Rock! I expect these high tech devices to find their way into the drawers of true Apple owners everywhere!
So I think Apple is screwing themselves by combining the consumer and pro brand into 'MacBook'.
Yeah. They should make a better laptop and call it "MacBook Pro." (cough.)
The Nano, which was clearly designed to cheap and accessible, does not have the ruggedness of the original machines.
As per the name, the Nano was designed to be smaller than the iPod. And it is. "Ruggedness" has nothing to do with it.
Now, the Shuffle WAS designed to be the cheap and accessible iPod. But since it's flash-based, encased in plastic and has no screen, it's actually the most rugged of the three. The only way to kill a Shuffle is to drop it in water.
To provide a bit of balance - my Powerbook was delivered with what turned out to be a faulty PSU. One call led to the machine being collected the next day (at my request) and replaced. Since then I've had no problems whatsoever. More importantly, I'm enjoying using the best user OS out there, since I didn't take one dodgy machine to mean that all Apples are now completely unreliable.
And before someone feverishly responds "What does one data point prove?", I only mention this episode because someone is extrapolating a few noisy bloggers into "Apple's after-sales service seems to suck". I feel no need to make excuses for the supplier of my computer and OS, but my experience of Apple's after-sales has been wholly positive.
So label me "fan-boy": I think this platform deserves fans in a way that maybe vanilla PCs don't. I'm also a fan-boy for HP's DL380 servers, which is my bread-and-butter machine at work, in case you're interested.
Looks like the solution is to fold up a piece of paper
It's not quite that simple.
The article is inaccurate. It says you you can fold an origami star or merely just fold the paper in a square. Neither of these methods will work. Instead, fold the origami (or other, but origami paper is preferred) into a crane, as shown here. Then smash the origami crane with your fist, using a quick up and down motion, as if you were masturbating.
From here, follow the rest of the directions in the article, and your trackpad should soon be clicking like there's no tomorrow.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Well, they did drop the 12" PB, forcing those who want/need a smaller form factor to sacrifice for the cheaper MacBook.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Perhaps Sun will become the new boutique of useful computing.
Mod Parent Up, +1 Funny!!
(Sorry, fermion. I couldn't help it.) =)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I've heard of people accidentally snapping them off when plugged in (granted, the person who snapped it off was supposed to be vaccuming, so it's probably not too common).
The GP is correct about the way Apple has changed their branding strategy.
Old:
* Brand: PowerBook
* Brand: iBook
New:
* Brand: MacBook
* Brand Extension: MacBook Pro
I'm sure Jobs would hate the comparison to fizzy water, but it's sort of like the transition from Coke/Tab to Coke/Diet Coke. Diet Coke is a brand extension of Coke. It's a definite consolidation under the new name. But really, I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing and Apple is screwing themselves. It puts more weight behind the Mac name, and that might be a smart move if they want the Mac to seriously make inroads in marketshare.
that even with computers you will never have a "paperless office". :-)
What's interesting, btw, is actually that the major brand is Mac. And really MacBook is already an extension of that. MacBook Pro is a double-extension. That's starting to reach shaky ground. Any further extensions -- "MacBook Pro Ultra-Lite", for example -- and it gets too complicated for most people to remember.
Cue FUD tag on this story in 3...2..1..
This guy is a "fan-boy".
Thank you.
I've had excellent results when dealing with apple, however there seems to be a problem with their system. If you call to an operator and say, "I'd like to make a warranty claim", they will make the claim as long as you emphasize that it is for a faulty part. Otherwise, if you say, "My computer randomly shuts off" they will say you need phone support, because in essence, they are helping you diagnose a problem. I talked to one lady at AppleCare telling her I needed to make a warranty claim, and she said that I would need to purchase the three year plan so that I can get the one year of phone support. I asked her how to make a direct warranty claim, and she said I can't do that, I have to go though her, and purchase the agreement with the phone support. She told me I needed to pay $49/hr if I took the machine to a Genius Bar for them to diagnose and send it off. She spread FUD. Their purpose isn't to help people, it is to get those plans sold and extended. They are going about the whole thing the wrong way. "AppleCare sales are low, push them!" The applecare system needs to be revised. It used to be that the Genius Bar provided free help, and that you shouldn't have a problem with getting defective things fixed. I can see charging tech support over the phone to a certain extent (maybe each call gets a free 30 min, or everyone gets 30min/week for free based on your phone #/appleID), but this is just ridiculous. I'd be a much happier apple customer if they would simply help people without all this garbage. I feel like I'm taking an HP laptop to the GeekSquad whenever I talk to Apple. Like they are trying to make a buck off my problem with their product!
Sig: I stole this sig.
I bought a Mac mini a few months ago and experienced wireless issues. I took it to the store and had it back in three days with wireless seeing some access points in the vicinity that I wasn't even previously aware of.
But you should see the GIGANTIC thread about this issue in Apple forums. Folks try everything except for the right thing - take it to the store and have it repaired or replaced. Some folks have been posting into that thread for MONTHS.
As long as any man has an ounce of empathy left for his fellow man.
When you think about them running ads saying "It just works" everything comes into focus. Add to that the legions of Mac zealots.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Apple have a good reputation and as such are held to a much higher standard than other manufacturers.
For what it's worth, I just spent a few hours reading MacBook reviews, researching whether I should buy one or go with a regular Wintel laptop.
:(
Here are the MacBook problems people wrote about:
1. the bottom gets very hot (one person compared it to a vulcano), not suitable for laptop work
2. plastic around the screen likes to come off
3. the white MacBooks get "stained" where people rest their hands. These stains cannot be cleaned with any kind of a cleaning agent.
4. trackpad problems like this one.
Guess which type of a laptop I'm now leaning towards?
Simpy
Perhaps the old naming scheme would be cleaner:
iMacBook = consumer-class notebook
Power MacBook = professional-class notebook
There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death.-Asimov
Return the thing for a replacement or refund. Or a class action lawsuit if you feel that strongly. These things are only a month old and people are resorting to potentially warranty invalidating hacks to fix overheating, CPU whine, case yellowing and now squidgy button issues when they should be kicking Apple for releasing a lemon.
Apple's world wide market share is 4% (OK 5% in the US but I'm not in the US) and that makes them pretty irrelevant to anyone except a graphic designer even if you try to squeeze an extra percent or two in there.
The market contains thousands of hardware vendors selling x86 or compatible (AMD64 for example) products, which would just happen to put them in the same group (they are interoperable with other vendors).
Earth to pawzle, there are more Intel PC's then there are Intel Mac's. You have more functionality in a PC, they are cheaper, more customizable and run more functional OS's (if the last point is true for a Mac, it is merely an expensive hardware platform).
the "br" tag (which stands for breaking return) helps to separate ideas.
I don't want to crucify Mac's, As a network administrator that has to deal with these horrible machines. I would much rather launch them into space (a "Mac Driver" if you will), barring that a simple bonfire will suffice.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Dude... you're mellowing our harsh.
I watched a demo on a 17" X86 Powerbook the other day and I decided the ONLY real selling point was the screen, for road warriors. The downside is that in order to get the very thin design they must have made compromises, and I bet this is at the root of both the battery problems and the trackpad problems. Lots of research has gone into making reliable batteries with rolled construction - it is much harder to make a reliable thin battery.
Pining for the fjords
1 -- Buy hardware from a company whose business model consists of selling brand hardware with particularly high margins.
2 -- High margins != high price. High margins > high price. High margins = high price + low costs.
3 -- ???
4 -- Profit! For Apple!
This is my first time ever with the 'Profit!' cliche and I promise it will probably be my last.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
The other thing is that I know quite a few people with macbooks and none has yet had any problems as those mentioned on slashdot. My guess is that many mac users tend to be more active online than other laptop users, and hence make much more of a buzz when somethings wrong.
But anyway, my point is that with the desktops (mac mini or imacs) you've got a solid piece of computing machinery.
My experience with the sucky service level:
My MacBook Pro had a slight defect when I got it: the fan on the left side sounded a bit weird, kinda like something was stuck in a fan blade. I called Apple's technical support and let them listen through the phone. "No, that doesn't sound right", the nice girl said, and asked if I could hold on a while so she could call AppleStore and tell them the story. I waited a few minutes, got connected to AppleStore and they told me that they were going to replace it. I asked them if I could keep my "old" MBP while I waited for the new one and that was okay. A week or so later, my new MBP arrived and I sent the other one back. Zero cost and two questions asked ("how does it sound?" and "can you fill out this form where you promise to send the other one back?").
I read that "Exploding Japanese Dolls", which sounded rather pervert.
i'm not at all trying to bait y'all mac people... but if i paid as much as the macbook costs for a laptop... i'm expect the thing to work... without me having to fold up little pieces of paper and cram them in the battery compartment. i'm just wondering... kinda makes u wish you run osx on commodity x86 hardware???? seriously i swear i've never had to cram little pieces of paper into my thinkpad.
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
I can go out right now and buy a SHIT HP laptop and it will probably not have major heat problems/keyboard/explode, and if it does, I can just phone up HP and they will replace it or fix it, yet the "far better" apple totally unsupports their (still costly) lower end line? BS.
Great Intellect...
If a Dell laptop blows up, nobody gives a damn because Dell is just another fish in the sea. Go with HP or Sony if you don't like Dell. But when it comes to MACS, you have only Apple, Apple and Apple to pick from.
Great Intellect...
Anyone that has followed Apple products over the years knows not to purchase the first generation of any Apple redesign. I did buy the 1st generation snow white iBook (the ones with all the Logic Board problems) and I had reservations from the git go, but timing was the big issue. (I was leaving the country for a year and needed a new laptop, fortunatly I was back home before the problems began) I had a friend that is an Apple Early adopter. He had about a 1-yr old PowerBook (1.25Ghz, 2GB RAM, all the other fixings) the he sold to me for a going rate below Ebay so he could get one of the brand new MacBookPro's. So far he's happy, although the week after he bought it he realized there wasn't any software available and he had to run everything through rosetta. This PowerBook should last me a couple years at least into Law School at which point all the major software applications (office, PS, Pro Tools, etc.) will be converted and any design flaws caught and fixed (hopefully). The lesson here is: (and goes for any technology really) Early Adpotors beware!
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
It's not very often I can be bothered to login to reply to something, but on this occasion I think we need a little perspective...
Let's start off with an admission - I use Apple products. There, I've said it. I find OS X to be the best OS for what I do, full stop. OK, my servers are all Linux and _occasionally_ I have to use 'doze, but OS X is my bread and butter OS. My Macbook is one very capable machine.
Now, I don't think you'll find many people who've used it who don't rate OS X. It's a _very_ capable and compelling system which has most of the advantages of a real OS with most of the advantages of a windowing interface - it wins. It ain't perfect, but it's pretty fine. OK OK..enough already. Let's not get into the relative merits of all that...suffice to say, for joe user, it's pretty good. Two of the primary reasons for it's stability are it's compartmentalization of legacy/back compatibility issues (Rosetta and prior to that the mechanisms for OS 9 and 68K compatibility) and the fact that it only has to work on a limited, well defined, set of hardware...these are both big bonuses.
Apple hardware, on the other hand, is slightly less slick, in my experience. QC and design quality are both slightly lacking, resulting in products that don't Quite Work Right. Now, Apple deliberately set themselves up as some kind of centre of design excellence so they are (and should be) judged against higher metrics than your bucket-pc-producer and, against those metrics, their hardware just ain't so good at the moment. Go google the issues on the MB and the MBP or pretty much any of the machines over the past few years and you'll see issues.
Now, my point is, we need to keep this in some sort of perspective - can you imagine Dell taking a machine back because it has a soft trackpad button, or the screen doesn't lie flat against the base of the machine? No, nor can I.
So, Apple isn't perfect, it needs to improve its hardware QC and QA (especially on rev 1 kit), but the only real reason they get such a lot of headlines on these issues is because they've set themselves up as Something Better.....live by the sword, you'll die by it too.
Please, take all these reports with a pinch of salt. Out of the set of compromises you always make when buying a new machine, don't let a few hardware imperfections skew your decision unnecessarily harshly, just 'cos some people are reporting them with the aid of a megaphone...perhaps OS X isn't the best choice for you, but there's a fairly good chance that it might be.
DAVE
It's because with other companies such as IBM, they actually give a damn. Their Hardware Maintenance Manuals havent really had much of a record of being sued over regarding access. They absolutely, positively make sure the machine is fixed when they are done. If you're out of warranty, the HMM gives you a second out on fixing things from internal speakers to screen replacement(If you've ever disassembled a T series, it's known that you're going to be spending quite a while with all the wires even if you *do* know what each of them do).
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
or use it for a few months. they tend to die on their own pretty quickly from what i've seen (~3 months before the headphone jack loosened and ~10 months before a surface mount ic fell off).
Wave upon wave of demented avengers March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
Well, they did drop the 12" PB, forcing those who want/need a smaller form factor to sacrifice for the cheaper MacBook.
...which is superior in every way to the 12" PB (except for not being as small). People are upset because they can't buy a small silver machine anymore. If Apple took a MacBook, made the case silver, put in a crappy X300 (not for performance, but so people could feel that they had a separate graphics card) and called it "MacBook Pro" people would stop complaining.
because the mac fanboys always claim apple has the best hardware out there, but from here it looks like apple is just as bad, if not worse than the average PC maker.
What do you mean? Do you mean the quality of the hardware components chip for chip, USB plug for USB plug etc.... it would surprise me if Apple hardware turned up better in such a comparison since Apple sources these components from the same manufacturers as everybody else. Mac fanboys, such as myself, claim Apple makes better computers for other reasons. One example is that when you compare a PowerBook or a MacBook to the average PC laptop the PC looks like a concrete sidewalk paving-slab. Another reason why many Mac fanboys claim Macs are superior computers is because alot of Macs tend to include newer more capable hardware when they ship such as for example WIFI cards that can handle advanced up-to-date encryption standards years after the Mac in question hits the market by which time many PC users have been forced to upgrade their Wifi. The superiority of Apple hardware resides mostly in superior design, the fact that Apple usually loads their machines with the very latest hardware, excellent support and they also keep their value very well. I just sold a three year old G4 PowerBook for about three times what I would have gotten for a WinDell laptop of similar vintage. I have had numerous issues with hardware component falilure in Apple computers but I have also never had the slightest difficutly with getting these defects straightened out under warranty. You only get that with a hand full of PC manufacturers, IBM used to be one of them but now that they have sold their PC division off to Lenovo it remains to be seen whether they will keep up the standards that IBM had set, particularly in terms of design and support, or if they will be greedy and start churning out average junkware. If you buy a bulk quality Wintel box from a random crapware manufacturer and have any issues with it geting it repaired, even under warranty, can be a daunting task and you will soon find that it ages faster than the high end gear due to it being loaded with hardware that is already obsolescent.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I use a different motion, you insensitive clod!
Funny, I thought that Dells were made in China...
Well, actually a decent graphics card that would allow me to run the Apple pro apps is what I require. The 950 integrated graphics in the non-pro MacBook doesn't cut the mustard. The plastic body, whether black or white, doesn't bother me in the least. As to how one edits video on a 12" screen, one preferably plugs in a cinema display (I have a 22" DVI cinema display). However, for my preferred mode of travel (motorcycle and by foot), a smaller form factor like the 12" is important.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
You have more functionality in a PC, they are cheaper, more customizable and run more functional OS's (if the last point is true for a Mac, it is merely an expensive hardware platform).
only somone with wither an IQ of 70 or is heavily mentally retarted would say such a thing.
Microsoft is the most INCAPABLE operating system on the planet. I know of thousands of things you can do with a MACOSX out of the box that is 100% impossible under windows without buying thousands of dollars worth fo software.
Only a moron or a MS exec (same thing btw) would think otherwise.
...or try to fix it http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/19/exploding-shuffle/
...HAD. Had a good reputation.
Yep, this story got a FUD tag. Why is that? FUD is supposed to mean "fear, uncertainty, and doubt". It's used as an attack on change. For example:
"We can't allow the construction of wind generator turbines. They will chop our precious bald eagles to pieces!" - American Association of Snake Oil Salesmen
This story is not an attack on MacBooks, it's somebody who's sensitive to tactile details suggesting a workaround. Lots of similar stories on Slashdot are getting tagged as FUD. Why?
Maybe some people just don't know what FUD means. I see LOL misused the same way. People write "I just ate a slice of pizza, lol" and I picture them cackling alone in their apartment. Maybe they think that LOL is onomatopoeic like "heh" rather than an abbreviation for "laugh out loud".
AlpineR
I see the usual comments here about how Apple quality is going downhill. Others point out the Apple places itself as "Something Better" so they get more scrutiny on every little glitch. I wonder if Apple is just getting caught in the race to the bottom with Dell and all the other PC maufacturers.
For years the masses have bitched and moaned about the cost of Apple hardware. So, to compete and combat the whiners, they attempt to lower costs and as the do, guess what happens? Lower quality parts, lower quality workmanship just like all the other PC manufacturers. Many people post cost comparisons of all types and current Apple hardware comes in pretty close to any name brand PC manufacturer (unlike the $1000-$2000 price difference they used to have, although that perception is still hanging around). So, you basically got what you wanted: cheap hardware.
In case anyone cares, I'm a network admin for a place thats mostly all mac. I've ordered 6 of the new Macbooks so far (5 white, 1 black). The most recent white one that we recieved is definitely 'squishy'. You have to move your whole hand to really bare down and push the button.
Han shot first.
Now that Mac's are being made by Lenovo, it seems they suck as much as any generic PC, but you pay hundreds, even thousands more...I bought a Averatec, small, lightweight, and no problems at all...cost? $600 US. Time for Mac to become another Leading Edge.
----- I have bad karma for a reason! -----
When buying my new laptop, I was heavily considering buying the 13" macbook. It all looked really good on paper, but after seeing the large amount of issues, I decided against the macbook. I really have no need for OSX, and am perfectly fine with just windows, so i headed over to the local futureshop. I picked up a hp pavillion dv1635, thin and light, huge screen, 30%+ specs of that in the macbook, at the same price, as well as a 3 year over the counter warranty. That means for me I can 'accidentally' brick my laptop during a bios firmware update in 2 years from now, and get a new one. 1700$ CAD is a great investment for this machine. As well I prefer a local warranty policy because they are less picky about it, and you can pull a lot more social engineering tactics to make your investment worthwhile.
One of my Logitech mice had a similar problem. The left button just required too much force for comfort. Significantly more than any other mouse I've worked with, but not so much as to make it impossible to work with. Just uncomfortable over long periods of time - and the wife didn't like it much either.
I folded a small piece of paper and stuck it under the button. This solved the problem completely (of course, the paper needed to be just the right thickness to get the best "click action").
As for durability, this is a mouse and... uhmm... it occasionally goes flying. Normal use doesn't shake the paper loose, but there's always a chance if the mouse is hit hard (could be a hand, could be the floor). Still, I don't think I've repositioned the paper more than a handful of times over the past 3 years of use.
Yep! The thing is, whenever you have a company releasing new products that are designed significantly differently than the "norm", or differently than their own previous products, *and* they're not exactly a "market leader" in sales to begin with - you're going to have some flaws in first revisions.
I bought a Macbook Pro about 5 weeks after they were released, and mine arrived completely dead. It was obvious it was getting power, but that was about it. No display or sound.... That was quite irritating, but to Apple's credit, they shipped me a replacement that arrived with absolutely no issues. (None of the buzzing, whining, extreme overheating, sound only out of one speaker, or any of that other stuff you see complaints about on these machines.) I've used it almost every day since then and so far, so good.
I also had a "rev. 1" PowerMac G5 dual 2.0Ghz tower that always seemed to be just a little "flaky". I must have owned it for close to a year, using it all the time, and still couldn't really pin down anything specific. It just crashed a little more often than it should have, and had an above-average number of odd problems with "sleep" mode and so forth, which seemed to always vary with OS X updates. (And yes, I swapped out RAM, reformatted the drives and reinstalled OS X from scratch, etc. etc.) I ended up selling it and getting a newer revision of the exact same PowerMac G5 and to this day, I use this one and it's rock solid by comparison.
So yeah, my recent experience bear out the fact that Apple products are good, but only after you give them a chance to iron out the bugs in a particular model.
Oh well, it looks like a paperless system still alewds us.
"...a civilian some of the time, a soldier part of the time and a patriot all of the time." -Brig. Gen. James Drain
Do the batteries not get hot enough to combust the paper?
Ah, so that's why Mac's know how to talk to Asian digi cameras!
As long as you're within AppleCare, Apple's service is phenomenal. It's more like an insurance than a guarantee. Apple will replace your stuff if there's a problem, no matter what exactly the cause is. My brother got his iPod replaced after he actually fell on it and destroyed the screen. A friend of mine got his iBook replaced after he broke the screen in a skateboarding accident, and another friend got his iBook replaced after it fell out of a train (don't ask).
I myself did destroy a PowerBook when I stupidly tried to look at the motherboard after my PowerBook stopped producing sound. I took it apart, put it back together and what do you know, it didn't work anymore. Called Apple, they put in a new motherboard, no questions asked.
There's something else I would like to add: There are new articles about problems with Apple's hardware almost weekly. Frankly, I think this has got little to do with Apple's quality and more with Apple's users who tend to be perfectionists who complain about everything. I'm not blaming them, I think they're perfectly right to ask for perfection. The problem is that most PC users aren't as picky and don't tend to make a fuss if something doesn't work. People still think that Apple's PowerBook 5300 actually exploded. It never did. However, Dell had several battery issues where actual notebooks burst into flames. Nobody talks about that.
If you see weekly reports on Apple's hardware problems, it's probably not due to Apple's hardware being crappy. It's due to Mac users' tendency to constantly complain about these things.
my G4 ibook has had repeated problems with the trackpad. it went back two times and even thoguh I have a few months left on the extended warranty, i just use a usb mouse. in fact, the trackpad problem is exactly why I haven't bought a new MacBook. I am unsure whether I want to go through the hassles again. I am really pissed at apple, I expect to pay a little more, but I expect to get better quality hardware. hell, if I wanted a cheap Dell, I'd buy one and run ubuntu. this doesn't bode well for apple as they've had all these recent problems with the macbooks and MB pro's. I think I'll wait before I buy another apple.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
"It is much harder to make a reliable thin battery"??? Huh?
They've been making reliable, thin batteries for-stinking-ever. For at least seven or eight years cell phones have been using batteries that are thin enough to work in a 1" thick MBP. An inability to make thin batteries that work would be a convenient excuse, but it doesn't fly.
It might be cheaper to build batteries from a bank of cylindrical cells, but I don't think there's any unsolvable technical issue that's holding back Apple from making good batteries.
Of course your other point does hold true--you don't need to buy a Mac to have a solid, portable, geek-friendly system. These days, both Ubuntu and Fedora seem to have excellent support for laptop hardware, as well as the usual Linux goodness. Indeed, once my wife decides that she wants to get rid of her Dell laptop, I think I'll take it and turn it into a Ubuntu machine. Maybe she'll take my PowerBook in trade?
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
With Windows laptops, you have to send them to the manufacturer to get repaired. But with Apple there is no waiting for your Macbook to comeback - you can repair it yourself! Using simple tools, like a screwdriver, soldering iron, volt meter, and Apple's 500 page service manual, you can say goodbye to being without your laptop because it needs to be fixed. Another innovation from the fruit company.
Aren't these devices wont to begin aflame? I'm sure the added kindling won't help!
----
"Those who quote others are more likely to one day be quoted" -Tom Planter
I get some different messages.
That people will complain about anything.
That on the internet when 5 people have a problem, they can make it seem like 50% of people are having a problem.
That people don't want to part with their Powerbooks.
The first item is because this is just a button feeling a bit squishy. It doesn't even misoperate, it just doesn't feel great. I didn't see "has buttons with great tactile feedback" in the spec sheets for the products, so perhaps the feel of the click on the trackpad button isn't necessarily one of those features that it is absolutely critical it work exactly the same on all Macs, as long as it does work.
The second is just from experience really, but all you see is the complainers. And they make blogs, link to them and because people will view them (and thus view ads), slashdot greenlights the articles. Other places do the same. There are plenty of people getting good service, they don't blog about it so often.
The third item is because people like this guy don't even call tech support, or don't avail themselves of it. This fellow might not be an example of it, but the people fiddling with their heatsink goop definitely are. If your laptop is overheating (meaning malfunctioning due to heat or getting so hot you can't touch it comfortably), then you take it in and get it fixed, not open it up and fiddle the heatsink goop.
On the last item, I have to ask, you say Apple has a reputation for quality products. Is that true? They have a rep for cool products that have a good user experience, but are they really known for quality? I'm not saying the quality is worse than average, but I don't know if I ever considered it better either.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
we may say "alewds", but we type it "eludes" :^)
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Paper always beats Mac.
man... we students pay more than 1000 $'s for a laptop by saving for months and then apple hand over us such piece of shit and not even achknowledge the problems (leave alone fix it). I am seriously disappointed by recent product releases by Apple. swelling batteries, yellow discolouring, mooing macbook, trackpad problem, heat issues ... and apple doesn't want to aknowledge even one issue. To HELL with them... i'll never buy an apple product again.
With a Kodak digital camera I have. The shutter button was constantly drooping over the contact, locking up the camera. I took the case apart, and shoved a very small roll of paper under the button arm to hold it up. I haven't had any problems since then!
Stop! Dremel time!
I know of thousands of things you can do with a MACOSX out of the box that is 100% impossible under windows without buying thousands of dollars worth fo software.
Could you please elaborate on this? I haven't used a Mac for years (since OS 8.5), and back then it was a horrible experience that turned me off Macs. What are some of the thousands of things that you can do with Mac OSX out of the box that are 100% impossible under Windows? I feel like I might be missing out on something. Thanks!
I hear the Apple Store will start selling "Apple Trackpad Origami Paper" soon so that we can all have an Apple Origami folding experience. You'll be able to choose either a plain white piece of paper or pay $30 more for the black paper. Either way, you'll be able to customize the paper with your choice of engravings (up to three lines, 160 characters)*.
* Price/availability of engravings dependent on what printer the store has.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
And all of this goes to show: Never buy early Apple models. Wait for the rev B, when they've got this stuff ironed out.
True as it is today as it ever was.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
My dad (who sold expensive software for many years) taught me that the customer is _always_ right. Best advice I've ever received.
When a company decides they would like to fuck me over, I do the following:
1) Kindly explain that I'm a good customer who buys lots of stuff from them. Ask if they can waive whatever the fuck-over is.
2) Inform them that I'm not pleased with their service and ask to speak to a higher-up. Yes, there are people higher up than the manager.
3) Inform them that I will not be purchasing anything from them in the future, and will encourage my friends, family, colleagues, etc to do the same.
It worked with Best Buy when fighting to get a new laptop on warranty. And Best Buy are the biggest fuckers-over of the bunch.
Remember: You're the only reason these stores stay in business. Threaten to take away your business (and to discourage other people from doing business there). There is no more serious threat for a store. Ultimately, in non-essential industries like computers, consumers are in control. We can always take our business elsewhere and should be happy to do so.
hey, why not just buy a macbook carrying case and get a regular PC laptop with x86 OSX (or a well-crafted XP theme)... No battery problems, no stains, no weird noises...
:-)
for added effect, you could paint it with some white krylon and draw a little Apple logo on it with a permanent marker. Furthermore, take a flat file and round off the corners just a bit... Your beret-wearing Mac buddies will never know the difference, and you can continue happily prancing around your local coffee shop, ipod hanging out and all.
parts and labor: still cheaper than a macbook!
honestly, i'm just Thinking Different
--- sig moved for great justice.
just leave it to the old /. crowd to not bash Mac for lacking in some obvious quality control. Of course if this were even an M$ mouse, everyone would be saying that they should get sued for releasing such a piece of shit. (insert joke here)
Honestly, after spending that kind of money I certainly don't want to be fixing anything on it with a piece of paper. Even origami fixes wouldn't change my mind. Rev 1 or whatever, this shouldn't have been sold yet.
Kind of like buying a car and finding out that the fuel tank won't hold pressure unless you remove the gas cap and place a rag over the hole.
Granted, you can download most of these for Windows. The thing is, they *come* with a Mac. You will have to install the developer tools for some of those items, but they are shipped with the system.
(Same anonymous coward that posted the list...)
The items in the list fail the criteria of being "100% impossible on Windows" specified in the granparent post. That is a bit of an exaggeration unless you want to consider Spotlight, Aqua, XCode, Safari, other Mac specific technologies. But those are *applications*, and would be as silly as saying that Macs are worse because they don't have Outlook.
"would be as silly as saying that Macs are worse because they don't have Outlook"
Sadly enough in a Microsoft Exchange environment Macs do get the short end of the stick. Entourage will work with Exchange, but is notably pokey when dealing with things like shared folders and calendars. This is one area where it does seem like Microsoft is deliberately offering a lesser product on the Mac. Which completely sucks.
Regarding the whole "Mac can do this out of the box" argument (as shown in Apple's recent commercial), Microsoft is in somewhat of a no win situation. Microsoft can't really bundle full blown quality applications into it's operating system without getting sued for anti-trust. No one seems to care that things like Dashboard ruined the market for applications like Konfabulator on the Mac. Do the same thing on Windows and watch the lawsuits fly. Software vendors would flip if MS released equivalent applications to iLife as a free bundle with Windows.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
I definitely agree... I have a very nice 12" powerbook right now, and I like to have a decent GPU in it (not really for pro apps though; occasional gaming/3D).
The Macbook's GPU really doesn't cut it. I'm betting (read=hoping) that at least one model in the next Macbook family will have a nice GPU in it (in the black/expensive model for instance) or that they go for a "real" 12" or 13" Macbook pro. Anything bigger / heavier is a no-go for me, and anything without a half-decent GPU doesn't cut it either.
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
I'm actually considering the 17" MBP now. If I'm going to go big, I might as well go all the way. Of course, that definitely means I'll be waiting for the 3rd or 4th revision, so I can buy a 2nd rev. refurb. Unless I can convince a client to buy me one (like I did the 12" PB I'm currently using).
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I am glad someone fixed their own minor problem. It is whining ninnies like ya'll that make tech support a crappy job. Makes people want to become system administrators just so we don't have to deal with the helpless and whiny useless consumer class.
Apple really does attract useless consumers like flies
Hence my sig. (If I decide to change it in the future, or you have sigs disabled, it currently says: "Nothing Just Works.")
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
And I can think of thousands of things I can do with my PC that would be impossible, or atleast extremely difficult on a Mac.
And note that he said PC, not Windows.
I saw one of their aweful ads saying it just works networking with a PC, and the PC guy got his feathers ruffled when it just works with the new digital camera from Japan. Being a bit of a skeptic, I went to dynamism.com to look at the new digital cameras from Japan, and funny enough they mention Windows compatibility but not Mac compatibility. My sig is kind of a knock on MS, but I have to admit I'm typing this on a windows box. (Is it WinAMD instead of Wintel for me?)
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.