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Bury Me Deep
All right, now's your chance. My trusty iBook, the one I've used nearly every day since December 2001, has apparently died. Oh, and as I've mentioned, finals, final presentations, and final papers are all coming up next week. Joy. This means that if you have ever been on the receiving end of my gloating about how great my Mac and OS X are, if I have ever left a snarky comment on your website about how much better your life would be if you would have bought a mac... well, here's your chance for some payback. I hereby invite you to hurl all those snarky comments right back at me b/c yes, it's true, my trusty Mac failed at just about the worst possible time.
I think maybe it was a Dell in sheep's clothing.
To be specific, the computer actually works fine, but the screen is black, and that kind of makes it hard to use the computer. The machine may have fallen victim to the notorious logic board failure for which Apple basically issued a recall. If my computer would have had this problem one month ago, Apple probably would have repaired it for free. However, since my computer decided to work for the last month, and the repair program ended March 15th, well, too bad for me. Thanks, Apple.
But it's not so bad. If I had an external monitor I could still use the machine, but I don't, so right now I'm typing this on my exam Dell. This means that I'm not too concerned here because all my data remains intact and accessible -- I just have to put the iBook in disk mode and hook it up to another mac to copy anything I need. Also, I just backed up everything important on Saturday, so I'm good there. The real problem is just that all that data is pretty much dependent on having a mac, and since I currently only have a PC, that's kind of a problem. Expect ai to be coming to you soon from some other Mac OS X machine, probably a G4 iBook, since that's the most acceptable upgrade I can get right away. There are some sweet deals on 17" 1.8 Ghz iMacs right now, but they would be a little hard to take to school with me, so I'm thinking another iBook is the way to go.
But hey, that's all for tomorrow. Today is your chance to remind me how much Macs suck, and you're not going to pass up an invitation like that, are you?
Posted April 14, 2005 08:41 AM | mac geek
Just be sure to buy one with enough hard disk space, my 30G drive doesn't love my love of music.
Posted by: kmsqrd at April 14, 2005 09:09 AM
i'd also say that, if you can spare the cash, see about picking up a cheap external monitor for just these sorts of things. i bet you can get a refurbished monitor for about $100 or $150; check craigslist, also.
By the way, if you're considering the 14", consider that you can get the 12" Powerbook for only a little more....
Oh, and can you wait until Tiger comes out? I don't remember what the upgrade deal is if you buy before its release date.
Posted by: kristine at April 14, 2005 09:42 AM
My Dell, all 7.2 lbs of it, has not had one. single. problem. since I bought it (May 2003). In fact, even when coffee was spilled on it, all I had to do was take out the battery and hold down the power button for 15 seconds and it has worked perfectly since.
So, on top of not being a "one-mouse-button, Tyco-computer," my Dell is also a rugged, manly machine.
How's that mac?
Posted by: Soup at April 14, 2005 09:43 AM
Soup, Mowabb's computer is more than two year's older than yours. Let's see how yours fares in 2007!
I don't think Apple hardware is blessed... a lot of it is the same components that are in every other laptop out there. However, the OS is FANTASTIC.
Get one of those new PowerBooks, if you can, because that double-touch scrolling on the trackpad is asonishingly useful. (Also, 12" powerbooks have an S-Video out (I think), so you can use your television as a monitor if this kind of thing ever happens again.)
Posted by: Bellman at April 14, 2005 10:55 AM
Damnit! I sooooooooo wanted to be first to comment on this post. Why Macs suck:
1. Sad Mac!
2. Mac users are always complaining about how software works with their computers. They wouldn't have this problem if they just used Windows.
3. Mac users are always so smug about people who use PCs.
4. (and most important) Macs are for hippies and/or people who join cults. :P (http://www.maclife.com/new/pages/is_mac_a_cult.html)
Time for you to join the dark side. You know you want to.
P.S. Windows also sucks.
P.P.S. My iPod is broken, so I'm actually pissed at Apple already.
Posted by: DG at April 14, 2005 11:13 AM
Eh, all hardware fails... on the bright side, your diligent backups will pay off!
Over the (too) many years I've used both Macs and PCs, I would have to say that the best hardware is made by Sun, followed closely by Apple, and then IBM. Dell isn't bad, but I'd take IBM any day. Gateway bites big chunks of ass. Apple generally makes good hardware... that the benefit of only having one source.
The real tragedy is that there isn't a G5 PowerBook yet... :)
Posted by: -Dave! at April 14, 2005 12:07 PM
P.S. I think it was you who turned me on to DEVONThink... Thank you!!!
I'm going to write up a full review sometime after finals.
Posted by: -Dave! at April 14, 2005 12:10 PM
Well, I certainly ain't going to give you crap. I'm still chugging along with my dual firewire Powerbook, which I bought in 2000? Doesn't sound like it's the logic board either if all you have is a black screen. 'Course that doesn't help matters out any...
I envy you the chance to by a new 'book though. My Powerbook and my iMac half-basketball are getting long in the tooth and starting to choke on the demands of today's Microsoft bloatware...Holy Christ! Entourage grabs system resources like nobody's business! Fire it up and check out Activity Monitor to see what I mean. How I slobber for a new iMac G5! Anyway, sorry about your iBook and congrats on your new iBook. See, there's a silver lining in there...
Posted by: Famous P. at April 14, 2005 12:52 PM
good job backing everything up. is there a cheaper option (for repair or something) before buying a whole new machine?
Posted by: monica at April 14, 2005 01:42 PM
I'm probably going to PC hell for not taking the opportunity to diss a Mac user, but as I've generally said, I think the reliability of both systems is roughly similar, while Macs and LINUX users have a tendency to be enthusiasts and take better care of their machines.
However, if you can get at it, you might try pulling the connection between the motherboard and the cable which goes to the monitor, then reseating it. In my experience, this fixes a large proportion of "broken" notebook monitors. That said, I've only had it work on one Mac, so your mileage may vary. Unless your iBook is hermetically sealed, it shouldn't be a big operation.
If you try it, please email me if it works.
Posted by: A. Rickey at April 14, 2005 02:41 PM
using both PC laptops and an Apple laptop right now, i can say without question that i actually prefer PC hardware (specifically the IBM Thinkpad series) for laptops. apple's keyboard's simply don't work so well for me after a few hours, plus the trackpad is actually a pain to use reliably.
however, OS X is so much nicer than windows for most things. i get more things done, i'm more productive, and a new box is more useful out of the box than a new windows PC is.
that said a perfect combo for me would be OS X on my thinkpad.
Posted by: jose at April 14, 2005 04:01 PM
so sad. mine's been wigging out on me, too.
Posted by: Avoiding Billable Hours at April 14, 2005 04:57 PM
i'd never choose such a horrible moment to be snarky :(
the death of a computer owned by any friend of mine is a very very sad thing. i'm just glad you didn't lose any data.
Posted by: j9 at April 14, 2005 08:55 PM
Hmmm. I'll just quietly mention that my 4lb 12.1" Thinkpad 560e's been working quite sweetly these last several years. And I bought it for
Posted by: washburn at April 15, 2005 01:20 AM
Umm. That is to say "bought it for *less than* [you'll have to imagine a 'less than' symbol here] $300." Then I wrapped up the message with a mean little laugh. This was probably due to my evil nature.
Posted by: washburn at April 15, 2005 01:28 AM
Craptastic! indeed.
Posted by: Melissa at April 15, 2005 04:23 PM
I feel your pain: Last summer, the logic board to my beautiful tangerine clamshell (the 2nd iBook out) finally tweaked out on me after about 5 years. I nearly cried, but it was a long time coming. For the entire previous year I had been anchoring down the power cord beneath a stack of books and masking tape, precariously positioning the cord at precisely the right random angle until one day it finally wouldn't connect. I broke down and got a new G4 iBook and, although it's not as pretty as the tangerine (and sans the handle), I still love it, and I too safely transfered all my data. For something like 13 years I have gone through from Classic and other Mac models to Power PCs (including the clones) and finally iBook. Although I've used PCs out of necessity (work, etc.), I still will never cross over! Stick with the Mac!! BTW, if you never read Infinite Loop, check it out after finals.
Posted by: Cynthia at April 15, 2005 07:43 PM
Aw come on Mac hatas! Is that the best you can do? ;-)
I got a new G4 iBook. Full details and some comments on these great comments in the next post.
Posted by: ambimb at April 16, 2005 12:47 PM
