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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."
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.
... 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.
The story isn't the solution; the story is that there's yet another defect with Apple portables. The somewhat recent changes to Apple's hardware quality are surprising considering the past obsessiveness with getting the design right. That's why these stories keep coming up.
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.
Duh. Mac systems have always been known to be extremely dodgy as far as rev1 is concerned, which is why veterans whose live doesn't require to immediately upgrade usually wait for rev2 of any hardware Apple produces.
iMacs, iBooks and PowerBooks always suffered high defect rates for rev1s, the difference is that since Apple had much less popularity, there were less switchers and we had fewer internets on the web, it was noticeably less publicized.
Apple's extremely bad record with rev1s is the reason why I'm still waiting before buying a mac. That, and the Core2 being released by the end of the year that seem to literally spank the Core (and AMD chips) perfs-wise.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
Dell has possibly the best support in the industry. I had a problem with my old laptop, turned out to be a faulty display. When I called support they asked me if I wanted someone to come over to my house. I said that would be difficult with my job, so they offered to have them come over to my workplace. The next day, the tech shows up at my desk with a new panel and installs it right there. With the 3-year standard service plan that cost me exactly $0. Can Apple match that? If so, I'm impressed, since Dell has been the best I've seen.
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
The site seems to contradict itself when it says "Lenovo managed to tie Apple in each case in the laptop survey" but then says "...Apple also scored an 82, with Lenovo at 69..." Or maybe the numbers are just different than the survey.
I wonder if Apples numbers could be skewed because Apple owners are sort of a special group(no insult or compliment intended by special). There is probably much less brand loyalty among the owners of Windows machines. I also wonder what the price difference is between comparable Apple and Windows machines (if any), and what kind of support and quality that could buy if a Windows vendor would/could/does sell it.
Maybe the lesson to take from the report is that if you're going to buy a Windows box, that you shouldn't buy it from any of the companies listed, because Apple proves that they could do much better.
I wonder if you would get better support if you told them you were a consumer reports member and you always fill out their surveys.
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.
I think it's a geek thing. Geeks take pride in fixing things for themselves. Geeks take pride in never having to go back to a shop and ask for help.
qntm.org
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.
It has to do with Americans prefering cheap goods that don't always work to more expensive products that don't always work. For the most part, we don't actually have the option of buying quality products backed by reliable manufacturers. Competent customer service was eradicated by a mysterious plauge apparently inadvertantly imported from Communist Eastern Europe in the early 1980s. Or maybe it was home grown. Opinions vary. Anyway, we are big on fixing things ourselves. It's not like we have another choice.
If you still have decent customer service in the Nederlands, I would advise you to examine all American (and probably British) imports carefully to ensure that they are not infected with RTBS (Race To The Bottom Syndrome).
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
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.