|
More on PowerBook quality control 2
May 23, 2002
by Stephen Hildreth
Editor-in-Chief
We received three rather lengthy messages concerning PowerBook quality and ease of use. These are definitely worth the time to read if you're considering a PowerBook G4 purchase:
"Just thought I'd chime in with some more pbg4 quality control problems. Mine is about 15 months old and has spent nearly 2 of those months out of my hands being repaired. Here's a list:
1. Within the first week, the system was powering off unexpectedly. They sent me a replacement battery.
2. DVD drive refuses to read some CDs (even new cds that a powermac g4 reads fine). I sent it in; a week later it came back and was still broken.
3. Lid started delaminating near the sleep light. They replaced the screen unit; the new one doesn't seem to be attached as securely, and there's a gap where the hinges meet the base unit.
4. Hard drive started making a loud whining noise all the time, and the airport windows had fallen in. They replaced the hard drive (they didn't bother giving me one with OS X, though, so I had to reinstall). The new hard drive makes funny clunking noises. They also replaced the keyboard (even though it worked fine when I sent the machine out) but didn't install it properly (tabs sticking out), so the screen was all marked up when I got it back. They did nothing about the airport windows - the machine continues to creak when you rest your hands on the palmrest. Also, the bottom cover is no longer seated properly, and the screws keep loosening, no matter how often I tighten them.
5. The system stopped charging the battery, though it ran off AC fine (and another powerbook was able to charge this battery). I sent it in, and it got stuck on hold because they discovered some sort of crack in the infrared port. This was odd because I had used that port days before, and because I'm scrupulously careful with the machine - it goes from my desk to a padded briefcase to my desk at home. It's never been dropped. Ultimately Apple decided it was a defect, and they replaced the white frame piece (which also happily meant that the screen bumpers got replaced). They also replaced the DVD drive - apparently they finally noticed the problem in (2.) above. However, when I got the machine back, it still wouldn't charge the battery.
6. I sent the machine back in for what the tech claimed would be a "3-day turnaround". It's been 3 days. Some sort of part is on hold, and they say I may get it back next week, if the part comes in.
Also, the feet fall off regularly. There are lots of more minor problems I won't list here, but you get the point - more problems than I've had with any laptop (or computer, for that matter) that I've ever owned. Do I have a lemon here, or is all Apple hardware this lousy? I'm hoping it's just a lemon, and have demanded a replacement at this point. I feel like I can't recommend Macs anymore which is a real shame, because OS X is a great OS."
"Just got my replacement machine... and it is scratched as well. Apple's packaging is faulty. The holes on the upper piece of styrofoam (left side) allow the ac adapter plug to dangle down into the laptop compartment (see photo). With shipping motion, the laptop lid gets rubbed by the plug. Once the plastic bag surrounding the laptop is worn through, the plug leads scrape on the lid of the PowerBook. Apologies for the small photo... digital camera resources are limited right now. I can send better ones if you want.
My first one was badly scraped and even dented in the front left quadrant of the lid (lid closed). The new one has 2 small scratches on the left rear quadrant. I am probably just going to keep it considering all the problems. Of course it is more scraped up than my 1 1/2 year old PBTi400 is. Perhaps the apple store will let me do a walk in swap? I can't do the Overnight Shipping Merry Go Round again."
"I am paid to develop applications in Filemaker. It is through Filemaker that I have been brought into the Apple world. I hope to pass a message into this world, a message that, if absorbed, may help to put Apple and its products where all you in that world believe it should be, competing to be No. 1.
I am not a Microsoft basher or an Apple sycophant, I just want to get my job done. In the unending Microsoft/Mac debate one thing seems often forgotten: Microsoft does not control the machinery on which its software runs. In large part Apple does. OK, Microsoft produces a lot of apps which run on its own operating systems so when those apps behave badly Microsoft deserves every criticism it gets. Now, back to me and Filemaker. This situation is a bit special, not only am I working with an operating system and a computer (Powerbook G4 400) produced by Apple but with an application produced by a 100% owned subsidiary.
So why is it that some operations that I have to perform regularly run up to 20 times as fast on my PC. OK, its a 1.2 GHz Athlon. That’s 3 times the clock speed. But according to Apple we are not meant to play the Megahertz game. If I changed a few calculation fields and then say ‘Done’ on the PC I hardly have time to blink an eye and I am working again. On the lapdog (my pet name for the Titanium - more of that later) it takes ages. I just saved a compressed copy of a file that was up 37.8 Meg on the G4. It took 16 minutes 3 seconds. The Athlon was strange. The first time it took 55 s. Each time I tried it after that it took from 14 to 16 seconds! Whichever figure you take that is one big difference.
Why this difference in speed? My opinion is that Filemaker have not bothered to recompile their calculations to take advantage of the Altivec. I would be glad to have a more informed opinion on this. (Getting an opinion from Filemaker is like throwing a message in a bottle into a black hole). I am led to this opinion by the fact that Adobe get their highly calculation intensive app, Photoshop, to run about twice as fast per MHz on a Mac platform than on a PC. Apple have the audacity to use Adobe as an example whenever they do speed comparisons when there own app is a sluggard by the same measures.
And OSX... I used to run a Sun Unix network, wrote shell script, AWK, produced docs in Latex etc. When OSX was coming I told everyone, ‘if they get this right then Microsoft watch out’. I extolled the reliability of protected memory space, true multi-user, multi-tasking that was coming. My caveat was, “It will be very difficult to make this run as fast as OS9”, and it doesn’t. Without measuring I made Filemaker at least twice as slow. This is not acceptable to me or my customers. On the subject of the original release of OSX, how would Microsoft have been treated if they had sold what what effectively a beta version to the public.
Now my lapdog. I have a titanium mountain bike that rides like a dream. I love the fact that I can throw it around and not bother about chipping the paint (there isn’t any). So when I saw the G4 Titanium I wanted it and bought it. No one told me, least of all Apple, that in order to stop this beauty losing value dramatically, I needed to buy a 10 cent cloth to protect the screen. Within little time I saw marks appearing on the screen. Those I bought it from assured me it was ‘dust’. It wasn’t, and by the time I found what I needed to do the screen was badly damaged. It’s useable but when I tried to swap it in for a 667 the price I was offered was badly affected by this damage. That’s not all: the ‘Powerbook G4’ label at the bottom of the screen was printing itself onto the titanium facing it. The case scratches easily. And then I find that this ‘titanium’ is painted. Why? Just how much titanium is in there anyway? It is also terribly fragile for a machine that is meant to be moved around. I have owned about 4 PC laptops. I have never had these problems.
I wanted to go the British Trading Standards Authority about the laptop problems but I bought the machine through a company I get a lot of my work and they didn’t approve. In the UK the seller is responsible for the saleability of the goods he supplies. And what is Apple’s reaction? They recommend using a cloth but refuse categorically that the screens damage themselves. Has nobody taken them to court?
Why the title 'Half a maggot'. Well, what is worse than finding a maggot in you apple? Half a maggot." |
