15inch PowerBook G4 - uneven display
I bought a 1GHz 15inch PowerBook three weeks ago. Mostly excellent, but I have two problems:
1. The brightness of the display: the left half is bright, the right half is dark (as though it's under a shadow). This is not a constant thing. I noticed it a couple of days ago, but it seemed normal when I next used it - but it's recurred. It's definitely noticeable now - the brightness is very uneven.
(I've got a backlit keyboard and "adjust brightness as ambient lighting changes" was selected - turning this off makes no difference to the "shadow".)
2. This is trivial, but... the trackpad is uneven or "lumpy". It's purely aesthetic, but it bugs me - it looks and feels slightly buckled. It makes the PowerBook feel flawed. To a sane mind it shouldn't matter, but when it the thing costs so much and looks so nice otherwise...
There's nothing I can do about either of these things (and only the display problem is non-trivial), so I suppose I'll have to send the PowerBook back to Apple.
So what I want to know... Am I likely to get the computer replaced or repaired? Might there be a problem getting Apple to acknowledge what seems to be a sporadic problem?
In general: what should I do and what's likely to happen? I can't find much info regarding Apple's warranty/returns policy.
And does anyone know what their policy is regarding trivial aesthetic things like my buckled trackpad? (Or should I learn to shut my eyes?)
1. The brightness of the display: the left half is bright, the right half is dark (as though it's under a shadow). This is not a constant thing. I noticed it a couple of days ago, but it seemed normal when I next used it - but it's recurred. It's definitely noticeable now - the brightness is very uneven.
(I've got a backlit keyboard and "adjust brightness as ambient lighting changes" was selected - turning this off makes no difference to the "shadow".)
2. This is trivial, but... the trackpad is uneven or "lumpy". It's purely aesthetic, but it bugs me - it looks and feels slightly buckled. It makes the PowerBook feel flawed. To a sane mind it shouldn't matter, but when it the thing costs so much and looks so nice otherwise...
There's nothing I can do about either of these things (and only the display problem is non-trivial), so I suppose I'll have to send the PowerBook back to Apple.
So what I want to know... Am I likely to get the computer replaced or repaired? Might there be a problem getting Apple to acknowledge what seems to be a sporadic problem?
In general: what should I do and what's likely to happen? I can't find much info regarding Apple's warranty/returns policy.
And does anyone know what their policy is regarding trivial aesthetic things like my buckled trackpad? (Or should I learn to shut my eyes?)
Comments
I lazily assumed Applecare was for the nervous and the inept.
And there aren't any Apple stores where I live yet (London).
I thought the problems with the 15inch PBs had been sorted by the time I bought mine...
Originally posted by Fray Bentos
I lazily assumed Applecare was for the nervous and the inept.
No, AppleCare is for those who are willing to spend some more money to protect a machine for three years and/or get telephone support on it for the same length of time.
If you have bought your laptop in the last year, you can still buy AppleCare. A little-known fact is that AppleCare can be bought up to 1 year after the purchase, and it applies from the date of the computer's purchase.
Of course, if you've bought it in the last year it's still under warranty anyway.
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=196716
I bought mine in February. Same problem as these people were having last Autumn. How very annoying...
Does Apple not spend money on quality control these days?