The Hickensian

26.11.05 Keeping score

39 comments
Tagged with: hardware, mac, powerbook, updates

This will be the last whingey post about powerbooks, promise. Here’s where I’m at now:

Powerbook #1: Dead on arrival
Powerbook #2: Lid catch broke after 1 week, Hard Drive died after 2. Thats where I got to last time.
Powerbook #3: Dud battery.
Powerbook #4: Made of jam.

So, I’m now on #4, which while I hate to tempt fate, is looking good so far. I’ve still got a long way to go to top Michael’s record of 8 (see comment 49).

As I added in the last post, I’ve used Macs for 16 years now, and owned my own for 5. I’ve never had any issues, until these new powerbooks, never. All my macs have been rock solid, with any problems arising from my own extreme stupidity. Could it be that these powerbooks were rushed out, with little quality control? Or that Apple’s efforts are more concentrated on iPods? After all, thats where the money is for them. I’d like to think that I just got the few dud ones, and that these are just overly-paranoid conspiracy theories.

All of these have had screens with the horizontal lines problem by the way, but its still too subtle to concern me.

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No.1

∞ Anthony Cole said 1567 days ago:

Wow, I went through 2 17’s. First one had a faulty logic board (mysterious on a 17” according to the guy at the genius bar), second’s superdrive crapped out after about a month. So, after some thought, I bought a G5. And to my luck, it’s lasted over 5 months with 1 trip to the Apple store (my fault, forgot to put a part in it).

No.2

∞ Geoffrey Sneddon said 1567 days ago:

My dad is currently on his second PB 15”, having wrecked his first by spilling tea on it, 6 months after me and my dad stopped sharing it (aka. me using it without me letting him use it whatsoever).

He just received one with a dud battery. Won’t charge.

It’s the second time in a year that we’ve had Macs coming in and dieing within a week (Apple’s cut off for DOA).

Last October my G5 arrived, and 4 days after what I must admit was farily heavy use (mostly chucking as many applications on it as possible) both of the 250GB HDs died.

My dad has used Macs since the late ‘80s/early 90’s, and owned them since the mid ‘90s all without problems. Apple’s quality is really starting to fall. Sure, the HD failure was probably just bad luck, but 2 top of the range Maxtor SATA HDs failing at once while playing games that don’t access the HD whatsoever doesn’t sound good.

No.3

∞ Fen said 1567 days ago:

I recently got the new 17”, and I don’t have a single issue. I’ve been pretty lucky with Powerbooks. I usually sell my current PB, and buy the newest revision and just pay the difference – usually $100+ CDN. I’ve had six different Aluminum Powerbooks (15” & 17”), and not one has had a single problem.

I think I’d just about go on the murderous rampage if I had to go through four different faulty ‘Books, nevermind eight!

No.4

∞ Tom said 1567 days ago:

I really am amazed at the string of crap luck you’ve had with your PowerBooks. I’ve owned three (one 2000 Pismo, one 2001 TiBook and one 2005 AlBook – the February rev) and all three have not only been rock solid, but the two prior ones are still going strong with only minor repairs having to be made by their new owners. My guess is there’s a black Apple feather that drifts from place to place in the meta-universe and lands upon someone new from time to time, causing untold gnashing of teeth due to failed hardware. It was just your turn…

No.5

∞ Max said 1567 days ago:

I’ve heard more PowerBook Horror Stories, so no, you’re not alone. Haven’t experienced them myself, though: I have a 1400CS that’s currently dead (but that’s due to a damaged power cable that really freaked out the PowerBook’s power manager, and the damn thing is like a hundred years old) and a Pismo I bought for my sister which is running fine (apart from a 27-second battery life, but batteries are hell, right?).

But the newer PowerBooks, they seem to drop dead in droves. Too bad, and something Apple really should work on—they’ve always had very high customer satisfaction levels, and faulty PowerBooks eat away at that.

No.6

∞ Robert Cantoni said 1567 days ago:

Jon, you’re clearly experiencing more than your fair share of bad luck. Even if Apple’s quality control is so bad that 20% of their systems are failing, the odds are against you getting two, much less three, DOA systems.

Of course, there could be poor quality control on Apple’s part as well—at some point the anecdotal evidence starts to feel very compelling. I purchased a ‘book with this update (also with the 7200-RPM drive), and haven’t had any problems. I hope your latest one stays well.

No.7

∞ icenfrosty said 1566 days ago:

I’m a new apple convert (previously linux and windows), and I bought two powerbooks (15” & 17”) from the Oct 19th release. We haven’t had any problems with ours, and we love them… I’ve been pretty well impressed with everything. The price could have been a tad lower, but oh well it’s only money right? :)

No.8

∞ Brian Delicata said 1566 days ago:

So far I’ve been lucky. First powerbook ordered for a client is still working after a week. There was only one issue with battery giving me 20mins after running a calibration. Resetting PMU did the trick.

Mine should arrive on Monday – stuck somewhere in Anchorage at a Fedex depot.

No.9

∞ Marco said 1566 days ago:

When I got a powerbook the first one was a DOA just like yours. The replacement I got after that has served me without any glitch for 1.5 years until I sold it to get some more money to finance my dual G5 monster. I guess you’ve got a serious case of Bad Luck™ going on here OR the latest revision just sucks. I had a 1.25Ggz 15’’ book. Two friends of mine still have one. The books look totally battered because they’re used an awful lot by them but no problems or whatsoever.

No.10

∞ Bastiaan Terhorst said 1566 days ago:

There do seem to be QC issues with these new powerbooks, there’s just too many reports of people with problems.

A guy at work got his new 15” PB with the I key stuck, and had to wait nearly 3 weeks for a keyboard replacement.

No.11

∞ Richard Rutter said 1566 days ago:

I’m somewhat distressed by your story Jon – it seems to be an all too familiar tale of late. I was hoping the problems I’ve had with my iBook and my iMac were down to Apple using cheap components in their non-pro range, but it seems that Powerbooks suffer from the same unreliability.

That said, people’s experience does seem to be polarised between never had a problem ever to continuous problems with lots of machines. Although I’ve never heard of anyone complain about a Powermac desktop machine breaking down (no doubt someone can put me straight there).

No.12

∞ Alistair said 1566 days ago:

You should have just picked up a Dell Jon! When Apple start selling their Intel powered powerbooks, the only thing they have that others dont is a cool look. At which point, you might as well buy one from someone thats been in the Intel game for a long time; you’ll also get it a hell of a lot cheaper.

No.13

∞ Sam said 1566 days ago:

Jon, its not just you. The new PB I bought for my wife died in less than 2 months. So far so good with the new one. The previous laptop she used was the first generation titanium and that thing (with a new 7200rpm drive) is still going strong, despite coffee spills and 4 years of relentless use.

No.14

∞ Marty said 1566 days ago:

So strange you’ve had such bad luck. I’m the exact opposite – I’ve had three Powerbooks, one G3, one TiBook and my curren AlBook and they’ve all been solid as a rock. In the meantime, all my PC-using friends have had various Dells, Vaios and IBM laptops die on them in interesting ways. My old TiBook survived a 6-foot fall off a server rack and is still working, albeit a bit scratched now! I really hope Apple’s quality control isn’t slipping – I love my Powerbook and wou;dn’t want to use anything else (though I could be tempted by an Alienware laptop…)

No.15

∞ jaffry said 1566 days ago:

they don’t make apples (or computers) like they used to.

i know of someone who has a powerbook 5300 from 1996 or so, and it still works like a charm. everything now is just mass produced and commodified for mass consumerism and maximum profit.

No.16

∞ Alcopop said 1566 days ago:

I’m wondering if the issues with the new powerbooks aren’t indirectly related to the purported upcoming intels.

I mean, the G4 is absolutely at the end of its lifespan (dare I say legacy?) and has been pushed to the limit in terms of clock speed. Add a hot 7200rpm HDD and batteries designed to push the envelope (brighter displays and longer battery life), and it seems to me that these machines are simply over-stretched technology. So I would say it would not be wise to max out the options on the current line-up.

Additionally we know that Apple has a very busy pipeline of new products with the development of intel based computers. It is not altogether surprising that the level of care on this latest update is not up to apple’s usual standards given that this is the case. One could also imagine apple’s component inventory is in slight turmoil at the moment which might possibly have impact on quality control.

In short, we are in a transitional phase at the moment and your problem is probably symptomatic of the fact that Apple is stretched by its own pace of innovation and development. However, the reasons given here suggest that this is not a permanent change for the worse but a transient phase, and it would be a real shame if you let the current status marr your opinions of Apple’s legendary quality erroneously.

I really adore my 12 inch Albook and it’s as steady as could be!

No.17

∞ Siobhan Curran said 1566 days ago:

Hmm, this doesn’t bode well. I’m having a new 12” delivered any day now, and judging by your experience, it’s going to be covered in bees

No.18

∞ Jens Meiert said 1566 days ago:

Recommendations look differently, huh?

No.19

∞ Chat Clussman said 1566 days ago:

I’ve had the luxury of selling computer equipment, working with it for years, and having friends largely consisting of designers, programmers, and even the oddball working in a chip fab plant.

In my experience, when the same model experiences a wide range of failures, it’s usually do to a “bad batch.” Something went wrong in the manufacturing process. Something malfunctioned during the QC process, the clean room experienced a failure and wasn’t really clean, etc.

It’s absolutely maddening when it happens, but it is not usually attributable to a larger problem with the manufacturing process. Usually being the operative word of course.

Siobhan, if it is any comfort, not only has mine not suffered any problems, it has survived my dogs sending it flying off my table and onto the floor twice. I’ve also dropped it once. Mine must have been a cat in a former nine lives.

No.20

∞ Nathan Smith said 1565 days ago:

I’ve been thinking about breaking down and buying my first Mac Mini. Has anyone had a bad experience with one so far? I haven’t heard anything, so I’m assuming they’re pretty solid, but please let me know if that’s not the case (feel free to email via my site). I figure, this will be a good way to ease into the “switch” and I’ll hold off until after Intel chips to get a Powerbook. :)

No.21

∞ Andrew said 1565 days ago:

I bought a Mac Mini about four months ago, and it’s been fine. It’s been running without trouble even with the cheap 1GB RAM I put it in. On the other hand, my 12” iBook’s hard drive failed exactly 1 week before the warranty expired.

No.22

∞ TC said 1565 days ago:

My Mac Mini’s hard drive failed after about 6 months. The machine was running 24/7 (one of my USB devices seems to stop it sleeping – must check to see which one’s doing that) and the HD overheated and crapped out. I’ve actually put it on top of an old beige G3 in the hope that the G3 will act as a heat sink…

No.23

∞ noone said 1565 days ago:

I have been using a 17” G4 PowerBook for more than one year with no problems at all. However, I recently bought a 12” G4 PowerBook and the hard drive died after using it for 7 days. I had a new replacement unit and it has been working fine, except it gets hot very fast.

No.24

∞ kevin said 1565 days ago:

ah, can anyone expand upon the “horizontal line problem”? I’ve been having occasional screen glitches on my ibook g4 when it wakes up. thought it was just me.

No.25

∞ Josh Williams said 1565 days ago:

Dude, you’re cursed. Are you sure you don’t have a Dell lying around somewhere (perhaps in an attic, closet, or basement) that might be screwing up your Mac karma? Trust me, if your Mac gets any bad vibes about you showing love to other platforms, you could be in trouble.

No.26

∞ Boris said 1565 days ago:

Maaaaan… you’ve got me so paranoid! I got a brand new 15” on friday with an upgraded HD (100Gig 7200rpm) and while so far all is well, it’s whirring like I’ve never heard a HD whirr… bordeline whining. To make matters worse, I nearly had a stroke when I ran Disk Utility “Verify” on it (it lets you do that now on a Startup Disk apparently) and I got big red errors (which I subsequently fixed by booting from the Installer and running DU fromt here).

I’m keeping my previous PB around for another week or two or more.. just to be safe… :((

No.27

∞ Chriztian Steinmeier said 1565 days ago:

Well I’ve had a similar maddening experience with an iPod, but nothing with my PowerBook whatsoever (but that one was a used one, so maybe that’s why).

(crossed fingers)...

No.28

∞ Rob Goodlatte said 1565 days ago:

My iBook’s lid catch is broken as well, but I called Apple and they told me it would cost upwards of $300 (my AppleCare ran out). Since you’ve seen so many problems with your Apple laptops, do you know of any 3rd parties that can fix busted latches?

No.29

∞ David Demaree said 1565 days ago:

I know some people who’ve gone through several iMac G5s and suffered through a long string of failures, and I know some people (myself included) who’ve never had a single hardware-related problem. I know some people who are still using one of the original 5 GB iPods and have never had a problem, and I know some people (myself included) who’ve had 5+ warranty replacements on their iPods, usually because of hard drive failure.

So sometimes people do have a string of bad luck with their Apple products; my suspicion is that Apple customers (having allowed their expectations to be raised above rock bottom) are simply more prone to notice and more likely to subject the equipment to intensive use. But that’s just one man’s opinion.

No.30

∞ Stacy said 1564 days ago:

You should get a Dell! hahahahah, I joke, I joke.

No.31

∞ mAce said 1564 days ago:

I’ve always had a mac at work and a PC at home. The PC’s break down at a slighlty less rate than the macs.

All computers are bad. Computer says NO!

No.32

∞ Cupton said 1564 days ago:

Keep us posted on that “whirr’ing” 7200rpm hard drive Boris. I will be getting a 15” PB real soon here and I was debating on the 120GB drive or the 100GB 7200rpm. I have heard a few stories on the 7200rpm drive being real noisy.

No.33

∞ mare said 1564 days ago:

My second powerbook, a 800 MHz Titanium, has been in ‘the garage’ for more than 10 weeks in 3 years. Finally Apple gave me a new one three weeks ago: the latest model Alubook. So far this one behaved fine. Only thing wrong is the left speaker that sizzles when the volume is turned up.

No.34

∞ Martin Pilkington said 1564 days ago:

mare, my dad has had the exact same thing happen except his TiBook (which was an 800MHz DVI) was in for repair a bit longer than 10 weeks. In fact it was in for at least 3 weeks just this last time. Here is a list of what he had replaced in his TiBook (including what would have been replaced in his latest batch):

1 HD

1 CD drive

2 displays (1st was compensation ages ago for the problems up until then)

3 cases (1st one the catch broke, 2nd one AppleCare broke and tried charging far and 3rd one they were gonna replace as compensation for all the problems because he had a stress fracture under one hinge due to it being tightened too much on installation)

2 logic boards (1st one was damaged by AppleCare)

1 New battery (first one barely held charge after about 18 months)

1 New Power adaptor (connector broke)

So yeah, he practically had a new PB and it still didn’t work so Apple sent him a brand new AlBook because the parts for this latest repair didn’t turn up

No.35

∞ Erin Freeman said 1564 days ago:

Concentrating their efforts on iPods? Not likely… if you’ve seen the state of my nano! But I digress, that’s a story for another day!

I’m hoping you’ve just been extremely unlucky and picked up all of the dodgy ones in the batch… look on the bright side though, if you simply are unlucky, you’re doing all those new mac owners a service! I doubt that’s much consolation however ;)

No.36

∞ jesse said 1564 days ago:

You should switch to Windows … I hear those machines are very reliable.

No.37

∞ Nic said 1562 days ago:

Hmmm, not good.

Afterbeing underwhelmed by the latest pb revision, I opted for a 12” 1.33 iBook. No problems at all. Installed 1 Gig dimm and the screen spanning hack. The performance is identical to the 1.5 12” pb with the exception of video – the iBook is FASTER (ATI9550 32 meg blitzs FX5200 64 meg) and happily drives spanning on a samsung 173p LCD. And, the spanning hack enables 90 degree screen rotations!?

I sense apple is focused on getting a mactel powerbook out the door early in the new year.

No.38

∞ David said 1560 days ago:

My new 15” PB (which also has the lines, like all of them) had a dead battery when it arrived. AppleCare sent me a new one, but it was annoying nontheless. Besides that, the keys are SO misaligned it’s… just ugly, space bar won’t work when you hit it in the bottom right corner, return key touches the case when pressed, some keys are clicking etc. And what’s really annoying me is the buzzing noises it makes, especially when a website displays Flash content. Or when you’re scrolling in Camino (which is the reason why I’m using Safari). But I didn’t decide to send it back for a replacement because I feared that the replacement unit would be even workse, or have dead pixels or whatever…

No.39

∞ Matt Thomas said 1556 days ago:

And these are all the latest generation PowerBooks? I bought a generation before you and have been very lucky not to have any problems. You would think that, since this last upgrade was relatively minor, there wouldn’t be as many issues… but I’ve heard about many more issues with these latest powerbooks.