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?
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.
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
... 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!
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?
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.
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.
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". :-)
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.
"big heavy MacBooks"? What are you people, hobbits?
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
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'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.
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.