[ale] My iBook

[Mark Wright]

I have a two year old Ti powerbook that I did not buy the extended 
warranty for.  I think that all of them regardless of manufacturer are 
too expensive.  I did use apples warranty though.

My display developed a strange distortion about 6 month after purchase. 
  I called to complain but the support told me it was software.  It was 
very intermittent so I was not bothered.  Well after a while the 
problem became more persistent.  Meanwhile one of the hinges to the 
screen broke, still within a year of purchase.  I sent it in for 
warranty replacement of the hinge and asked them to look at the screen. 
  The hinge came back repaired and the screen distortion problem came 
back too.  They couldn't handle too problems on one ticket I guess.

Well now the years warranty is over and I am still not sure that the 
screen issue is not software.  I can usually fix it with a restart.  
All the while trying to draw a conclusion about software installed that 
could be causing it.  As the problem grows worse, (more frequent) I am 
all but sure it has nothing to do with software and is the video ram.  
Finally I got apples video ram diag to fail.  ( had been running it 
without error when ever the problem would occur, hence apples belief 
that the hardware was fine.) Basically I had to wait for the problem to 
grow completely solid (make the PC unusable) to trouble shoot it.  Now 
a year and a half later I call to lay out my case for a warranty 
service.  All I had to do was tell them that I had reported the problem 
within the warranty period and they accepted it as a warranty repair. 
(once they looked it up)

So I have had the hinge fixed and the MoBo replaced (that's where the 
video ram lives.)  Under warranty.  The Combo drive has been acting up 
and I will have to replace it one day on my own dime but for now it is 
still burning iso's without complaint.

Oh, and I do love the BSD under OS X's pretty face.  The main apps I 
use on this machine are Open Office, Gimp, Mail and Safari.


Mark


On Feb 11, 2005, at 10:27 AM, James Sumners wrote:

> I am not looking to switch from Windows since I did that a long time
> ago but I am thinking about getting a Powerbook. My only concern right
> now is if I should purchase the AppleCare extended warranty. It is
> over twice the price of Dell's CompleteCare plan and doesn't do even
> half of what the Dell plan does. With the Dell plan you can get your
> laptop fixed free of charge no matter if you drop it or "accidentally"
> hit it with a hammer. All the AppleCare plan does is extend the 90-day
> support and 1-year limited warranty an extra two or three years.
>
> Does anyone else on the list have experience with Apple computers?
> Should I even consider the AppleCare plan?
>
>
> On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 10:10:32 -0500, Matthew Brown
> <matthew.brown at cordata.com> wrote:
>> I have had my iBook G4 for almost a week.  It is my first Apple ever.
>> I bought the bottom of the line G4 (12" screen) for ~$880 -- with the
>> AirPort card.  I bought it basically so I could have a solid an
>> supported *NIX laptop.  In short, it rocks!  It literally does
>> everything I could do before, but now I also have OpenBSD underneath,
>> allowing me tons of useful tools, many of which I've already used.
>>
>> If you're looking for a switch off Windows and you still need things
>> like a good WYSIWYG web editor -- like Dreamweaver -- or Flash or the
>> Adobe tools, Apple is THE THING.
>
> -- 
> James Sumners
> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>
> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>
> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
> CH:D 59
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