What is Digg?210 Comments
- joelsp, on 10/12/2007, -7/+69I noticed that the fire, and this case are all happening in australia. It must have something to do with the toilets flushing the wrong way.
- themonkman, on 10/12/2007, -9/+65Some of the problems this guy was having seemed just totally unreasonable and ridiculous. Two computers returned for "bad gamma"?? For christ's sake, if the gamma is off to you, you can CHANGE it! There is a very easy video/screen calibration utility that will help you do that, and it already comes with your Mac. This guy seemed to take back his computer for any single glitch he could find, even if it happened only once. I once got that issue where it wouldn't come out of sleep, so I zapped the PRAM and it hasn't happened again (that was 4 months ago). This guy, for the most part is a mixture of unlucky, neurotic, and obviously eccentric. It's my guess that he would've had this very same experience regardless if he'd bought an Apple, Sony Vaio, Dell or HP.
- drlha, on 10/12/2007, -16/+65"read the problems in this thread - everyone in the comments seems to have macbook problems:"
The trouble is that people tend to only post if they are having troubles. This gives a false impression that MacBooks have a 90% failure rate. - kingfoot, on 10/12/2007, -30/+74Well, if he gets 6 macbooks in a row, they of course wont keep replacing them because 1) thats expensive for the company, even if its just one guy, and 2) they must suspect SOMETHING of the guy because 6 is too many to be coincidence.
My macbook is fine, and so are all my buddies'. this guy is either great at faking faulty hardware, or is extremely unlucky. why doesnt he take a refund and buy another macbook with it if he wants it so much? maybe he will have a bit of luck doing that...
edit: or the store itself is fishy... - cderry, on 10/12/2007, -7/+48Hardware is sometimes flasky. My buddy is on his SIXTH Xbox 360, while mine has run great since its launch.
I'm guessing this owner should stop using his Macbook when he goes bowling. - KissTheRing, on 10/12/2007, -11/+43I kind of doubt it, I mean 6 in a row? I consider it more likely that this guy was typing on it with a hammer.
- fallscrape, on 10/12/2007, -23/+55Similarly I've had this problem with Sony, HP (very good customer service in the UK), Dell... the list goes on - including my own homebuilt machines!
Perhaps it is enviromental - perhaps there is a group of super humans where electronic items just fail to work for.
iPods must be immune however (clever tin foil shielding) as mine has outlived every electric gadget I've owned (except my 286... still working!)
Or of course, I should blame myself - it could be I'm too much of a perfectionist wanting the best from my equipment. After all, I'm a computer scientist who tends to put his gear through far more than an average user and I don't like to pay for the good stuff! - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -8/+39Another problem is that your typical Mac user isn't used to settling with average. For instance, many are graphic designers or artists of some sort, and typically have an obsession with things being "perfect." A faulty RAM slot is one thing, but "gamma values?" That seems highly subjective to me. Not to mention adjustable.
I think this guy is just one of those customers that you can never please. As a former retail employee, I can say that I would've done the same thing. "Here's your refund, sir. Please take your business elsewhere." *cue *****-eating grin* - hinkbot, on 10/12/2007, -11/+35when apple gives you 6 macbook lemons, make lemonade.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -51/+69I love how the mac gestapo is digging him down. When someone says they won't be buying vista or something to that effect they're always at +100 diggs.
Wonder how long until this story is buried? - ajrizzo, on 10/12/2007, -9/+27Fixed: when apple gives you 6 macbook lemons, have a lemonparty!!
- quickjack, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23Statistically speaking, 6 machines with a problem is significant. I've been buying computers for over 20 years and have sent back only a few that had defects during this period.
This sucks. Maybe these computers were part of a really, really bad batch, i hope its not representative of a bigger problem. - frogstik, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19i use to be a mac genius at an apple store. in the beginning we saw quite a few macbooks come back to the store -- namely due to the heatsink issue... after that initial batch, I didn't see too many of them coming back for any hardware issues.
now, we use to offer returns on systems that were purchased and found defective before 30 days were up... after that, they needed to be repaired -- now, if there were multiple major hardware repair within the a year, then we'd order what's called a CRU -- or Customer Replacement Unit.
Having 6 of them in a row is either -- user/environmental problem, or a bad batch... and he got ones made from a bad run of systems. - meltingrobot, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22Such an obvious troll. I like how you put an average of 6 words per line so as to make your post look like you are saying alot. FYI, if your Linux installation sits around doing nothing, it's probably your fault.
- pottedplant, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20Obviously this is an extreme case. If I were this guy I would be looking for another X factor besides Apple initial quality, e.g. power filtration problems, abuse, environmental conditions, virus/malware, fraudulent practices by the particular Apple store, etc.
- Boondoggle, on 10/12/2007, -7/+21 by themonkman 16 minutes ago
"Some of the problems this guy was having seemed just totally unreasonable and ridiculous. Two computers returned for "bad gamma"?? For christ's sake, if the gamma is off to you, you can CHANGE it! There is a very easy video/screen calibration utility that will help you do that, and it already comes with your Mac. This guy seemed to take back his computer for any single glitch he could find, even if it happened only once. I once got that issue where it wouldn't come out of sleep, so I zapped the PRAM and it hasn't happened again (that was 4 months ago). This guy, for the most part is a mixture of unlucky, neurotic, and obviously eccentric. It's my guess that he would've had this very same experience regardless if he'd bought an Apple, Sony Vaio, Dell or HP."
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I agree. I've worked in retail and some people are just unreasonable and/or crazy. Six laptops later, all of which have to go back and be refrurbed and then sold at a discount, Apple has wisely decided that they don't need this guys business.
Also, when you see the level of rabid vitriol expressed here at Digg and elsewhere against Apple I wouldn't put it past one of these haters to make the whole thing up in some misguided attempt to prove a point of some kind. - NewChar, on 10/12/2007, -8/+21Apple has always had laptop quality control issues. Not nearly as many hardware problems with their desktops.
- opensourcemaven, on 10/12/2007, -17/+30read the problems in this thread - everyone in the comments seems to have macbook problems: http://paulstamatiou.com/2007/03/14/how-do-you-like-your-macbook/
- frogstik, on 10/12/2007, -11/+24chingy --
that's fine. apple doesn't want you to get a mac either. - pathy, on 10/12/2007, -12/+24Why is it that I hear about people having problems with XP, yet when I use it, I don't have problems? Funny that.
Why is it that I hear about people's laptops exploding, yet there are four laptops in this house, two of which are Dell, and none have any problems? (Well, okay, one of the keys has been broken on one of them, I confess.) Funny that. - SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Why is it that I hear that a flipped coin can come up heads OR tails, yet when I flipped one once, it came up heads? People who claim they flipped a coin and got tails must be liars.
- nsummy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17Was anyone else in pain reading this guy's writing style. I don't know how many times hes said he "trotted off" to the store. Then the "oh noes!" comment. Then the fact that he calls his friend by some lame internet handle (which its hard to even notice this at first, since he doesn't capitalize the name "decryption"). I guess the moral of the story was good enough, but he added in a lot of unneeded information and he obviously doesn't have much of a clue about computers.
- Protean1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Sounds like somebody needs to get a power conditioner...
- IUPstudent, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I had three MacBooks with issues. All three were promptly returned to Apple for the next.
MacBook #1. You could press on the palmrest and activate/click the mouse. Plastic was raised on back near speaker.
MacBook #2. Bezel around screen (near iSight) was loose and Bluetooth was died.
MacBook #3. Same palmrest issue as #1 and white flakes all over black paint. Three or four of the letters on the keyboard were printed on really crooked.
I finally traded up to the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo and it's been clear sailing. I'm sure this will get buried because nobody want to hear the truth about what a POS the MacBook really is, especially the fanboys - DouglasScott, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15I've handed out about 80 MacBooks where I work. Two have been replaced outright (one shutting down right out of the box, one with a puffy battery). There's been a lotta warranty calls, maybe three out at any one time. These people are bad to their computers, so that's about par. Mostly their performance kicks ass, Garage Band and iMovie now being used a much as Word, all day everyday.
Six replacements? THREE times the amount of our operation? Come on. - iceperson, on 10/12/2007, -9/+19@Ireland
My guess is it's because you're a fanboy and overlook all the flaws.
I tried a mbp in the fall. Returned the first because there was a lot of backlight bleeding. The second kept shutting down on me. The third and final one went back because of the incessant humming. - tdowling, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15opensourcemaven, that link is talking about the first iteration of the MacBooks. They had a few more problems than the current ones.
- fanboydcs, on 10/12/2007, -16/+25That company likes to put their own crap ram into stock machines. I have never heard of that level of support in a normal apple store or apple online..
hopefully they will open a real apple store in Australia..
I have 10 + macbooks and macbook pros where I work and they have no issues, we have more issues with dells and such. - demonotaku, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I feel for this guy. My MacBook had a faulty ethernet port. I took it back to the store where I got it from, they sent it to Apple. And it took around 2 weeks to get it back. I was a bit peeved about it for a while but it hasn't acted up since then.
- chamady, on 10/12/2007, -11/+18Our school has 40+ MacBooks with zero hardware issues. Sounds to me like something else is going on here.
- cjwl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7While I would agree that a power conditioner can decrease the failure rate on electronics you shouldn't need one for a laptop as it defeats the whole purpose of something easy to move around.
I've had problems with my MBP, not surprised by this thread. - farther, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Everyone needs a power conditioner. People underestimate how much minute fluctuations in voltage can wear on electronics after a while.
- drlha, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I know I can't wait to find out what happens next!
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9@fallscrape - iPod are not immune, I can assure you. I am on my 4th one. I've bought exactly 1. The first one (20GB photo) failed after about 4 days; the click wheel stopped working. I returned it to Worst Buy and got it replaced with a 30GB video unit; that's the only good experience I've ever had at BB. That one failed after 3 weeks, same issue. I exchanged it again and had the 3rd one for about 6 months before its hard drive started to fail. I am now on my 4th one and it is good so far. If it fails, the Apple store employees are gonna have a bad day.
- frogstik, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10agreed... sounds like environmental to me... same kind of people who can go through 5 iPods in 6 months... yet i've had all mine original since the 5gb back in 2001
- sleepwalkers, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10It's because only the people who have problems bother to post about it.
Apple, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Gateway... No matter who the manufacturer is, there will be problems. Some even like this, where the customer can't seem to get a damn working laptop if his damn life depended on it. - groverblue, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12it vanished with the cowboys...
- DeflatorMouse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"I love how the mac gestapo is digging him down. "
You'd join the Mac Gestapo too if you saw how fabulous our uniforms are! - felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I bought a new MacBook six months ago, and I had to return two before I got a good one on the third try.
To be fair, the first one wasn't DOA, it just had 7 dead pixels. Still, 7 dead pixels are 7 too many, and I credit the SoHo Apple Store with being very good about just swapping it out for another one when I came back the next day.
The second MacBook I got was actually warped. As in, if you set it on your desk, it couldn't lay flat. When I took that one back another day later, the Apple employee was amazed at how it got through quality control.
Again, though, the Apple store gave me great service, and exchanged it on the spot, without any hassle.
When I took the third one, we made sure to take it out of the box, turn it on and look at everything before I walked out. I've had that one for six months now, and it's wonderful.
The lesson I've learned? Apple has terrible quality control, but great customer service in their own stores. If you're buying a Mac laptop, be sure to get it from an Apple store, and inspect it before you walk out the door. - tdowling, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I love it. One person reports that had to replace his computer multiple times. And there's a chance that the problem is environmental. Apple *must* be covering up a mass problem with the MacBook!
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6> 6 in a row? cmon now....just doesn't happen!
Why not? The chances of it are certainly low, but Apple sells, what, 100,000 laptops per year (at a guess)? If the chances of anything going wrong in any one laptop are, say, 0.15 (15%; quite large but not unimaginable), the chances of something going wrong in 6 laptops in a row is 0.15^6 = around 1/100,000. So, given 100,000 latops sales per year, that's a pretty good chance that something like this will happen. - eyepodder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I had similar problems with a white macbook I bought. I bought one of the first gens. I paid for the 2 Ghz model with a 1 gig of ram. Got home it wouldn't boot. Took it back and they reseated the ram and I booted it up in the store, seemed fine. Took it home..starting checking it since it was my first apple computer. I curiously wanted to see what version of it was and then I noticed "hey this is a 1.66GHz macbook" after poking around I figured out they gave me a cheaper version and I paid for the more expensive one. Another trip to the apple store. They replaced it. I booted it up in the store just to make sure it worked. The 1 gig of ram was it in and it was the faster processor.
Within a week I had a bad motherboard that had to be replaced. Another call to apple another trip to the apple store.
A week after that the HD died. Another call to apple another trip to the apple store.
A few weeks after that bad memory. Another call to apple another trip to the apple store.
This time for a refund. Went and bought a HP, formatted the HD and installed Linux. No problems since...
I feel for the guy in the story. My store is not as bad but come on Apple don't you have a Q&A department. So many similar stories from a computer company that suppose to sell hardware... - sleepwalkers, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10That someone caught a bad break in hardware? Is it impossible for Apple computers to have problems now?
C'mon, every ***** vendor has problems, some just like this. This shouldn't be news. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I know that 6 seems like an impossible number, but if you read the article some of the failures were right in the store, before leaving with the laptop. I would suspect that the store has the environmental issues and not the user. Maybe the store employees are using a bad power strip / filter to test them prior to bringing them out? Apple isn't my choice for computers, but as a PC guy I will be the first to admit that Apple makes a quality, highly reliable product and this story must have some explanation.
- cctoronto05, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18Wow! That really sucks...
- HobbesDoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What a bunch of idiots! There is no other words for it. What the lack of real Apple news does. 2 people have issues and now it's a product line disaster. Get a life people. Or at least go check what other companies' issues are too. They all have problems with a couple of products, but that doesn't mean the whole line is crap.
Digg used to be the place to go for information. Not anymore unfortunately. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4He's an unreasonable *****. He returned two of the six Macbooks because of bad gamma?!? That's a user-configurable setting. And each time he's demanding a brand new replacement laptop. Try getting a brand new replacement laptop out of Dell because of bad gamma; good freaking luck.
And then at the end of the story he demands that Apple replace the Macbook with a Macbook Pro (from context it's obvious he meant at no additional cost to himself). No wonder the store lost their patience. This guy was taking them for a ride and they got sick of it.
The store was fully justified in telling him "no more replacements, repairs only". They would have been losing hundreds of dollars on every replacement, and after number six they cottoned on that there was nothing wrong with the laptops, only a PEBCAK. - evilrobot, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10apple doesn't make the ram, hard drive, screen, or ANY of the hardware in fact. it is all industry standard off the shelf components, or components manufactured for them by third parties. apple designs and sells hardware, but they DO NOT manufacture it. And, i have in fact had RAM from one of the major vendors fail... "Kingston Value Ram" failed twice, because the RAM timing was SO far off that it made the system unstable. the only thing "proprietary" about Apple branded ram is that it has been tested not to be crap and certified to meet the performance demands that it will face. Same thing as buying "Dell" spec ram for your dell or IBM spec for IBM... etc.
- colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My Macbook Pro is just coming back for it's first round of issues. Fortunately it's a work machine, so it's no skin off my back.
Mac people always know not to buy the first version of any Apple hardware. The first Macbooks and Macbook Pros are very buggy machines. But the Core 2 Duos are rock solid from what I've heard. - aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I still get a kick out of gay PC users who seem to wish that all mac users were gay. Here is a newsflash for you. A person's choice of computer platform has nothing to do with their sexual preference. Only an insecure closet gay like yourself would think that.
Keep your personal sexual preferences to yourself dude. Nobody wants to hear about them on digg. -
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