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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
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.
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!
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?
If your battery runs hot at 451F I think you're going to have problems either way.
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.
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.
Cue FUD tag on this story in 3...2..1..
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.
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.
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
Seems like you've made up your mind, but you might seriously want to consider the ACTUAL frequency of these problems, or whether it's just a few noisy bloggers. That said, go with the solution you truly think would be happiest, instead of being swayed by bloggers eitherway. Better than living in a world of buyer's remorse.
Never heard this one. As long as you didn't abuse it, I'd expect Apple would replace it.
Actually, nail polish remover (non-acetone, non-isopropyl alcohol kind) does the trick. Also, this happens to a small number of people. Perhaps if you just have unlucky skin chemistry?
Test one out at the Apple Store.
In fact, I suggest looking at all of those issues at the Apple Store. I tested the heat on the MacBooks/MacBook Pros, which are all running full-time on power, and while they were all warm, they were not "OMFG BBQ!" hot.
In the end, pick the computer you think will serve you best. If you do decide to get a MacBook, you're already ahead of the game by being aware of the problems others are having, and can quickly take it to Apple for replacement. I would definitely check out the heat and the trackpad on the display models so at least you'll have reasonable expectations.
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...
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.
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.
This truism is always brought up in this (and similar) conversations, but I don't buy it.
No manufacturing process has a 0% failure rate. As such, you can "buy" quality by negotiating a price with smaller failure tolerances:
$x per unit with failure tolerance A.
$2x per unit with a failure tolerance of A/2.
Now, I am not saying that Apple does this, but saying that two companies that use the same source will have the same quality is not a straight forward as you think it is.
- Tony
Aren't these devices wont to begin aflame? I'm sure the added kindling won't help!
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"Those who quote others are more likely to one day be quoted" -Tom Planter
Sigh... you're trolling, but I'll bite:
This is one of the huge problems I have with fanboys... I respect when a machine can look good, but it's hardly something I value very high. Sure, Mom and Dad don't want an ugly machine... but how does the case make a mac a better computer? If toting your macbook around so that people will envy how sexy it looks is what you do, then you have little authority to decide the quality of a computer. There's a word for people like that.
You mentioned previously the hardware in a mac comes from the same place as the rest of the PCs out there, and 'very latest hardware' isn't entirely accurate. Where's the 64 bit CPUs in the mac laptops (or in consumer desktops, for that matter)? For $2000 you get 512MB of RAM and a mid-level graphics card... hardly top of the line. Not to say the other PC manufacturers do better, but your claim of the "very latest" doesn't stand.
So even old, outdated macs are overpriced? I feel a little bad for the person/institution you conned into paying more for a 5 year old system. Also, since when do PCs appreciate in value? I've always recommended that you recycle your old computers by donating them to people or places that need them (there's a soup kitchen in my hometown that took my parents' old packard bell and used it for an accounting computer).
This is kind of an odd way to argue in favor of Apple's support. I'd rather have an actual working product over stellar customer support. I guess I've been rather lucky in that I've only had two products DOA (motherboard and video card) and only one component fail (a stick of RAM). None of those problems existed with entire systems I've purchased; those particular machines have never had a problem, so dealing with customer service was a non-issue.
Do you have any basis to this? What if the machines actually *work*? Then, really, does it even matter if the support is non-existant? (also, you probably wanted to use "obsolete," as "already obsolescent" is kinda awkward (it means "already becoming obsolete"))
LegendMUD