More Powerbook Paint Photos
I posted some new photos of my defective Powerbook today at: <a href="http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/p/photo?dir=Defective_Powerbook"; target="_blank">http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/p/photo?dir=Defective_Powerbook</a>;
These shots include some pics of the soft hinge paint and the progression of the damage since I took the initial set of photos.
These shots include some pics of the soft hinge paint and the progression of the damage since I took the initial set of photos.
Comments
Good Luck,
Well, did you ever hear anything back from Apple?
Sorry, but I don't think they should have to replace your Powerbook because of the paint. New paint job, yes, maybe once, but cosmetic damages to products will generally not be covered by any company because it is too dificult to figure out who is being honest and what is an actual defect.
I have had my TiBook for over a year with absolutely no paint problems. What kind of climate do you live in? I suppose an extremely humid climate might contribute to the kind of problems you are having. I wonder if there is any connection?
<strong>Well, if Apple saw what happened to your first PowerBook, and then your second...I think that they might assume you are a tad rough with your equipment. I think you are the exception, not the rule.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm not rough with my machines. The photos on my website point to the fact that my last three Powerbooks (5300cs, Wallstreet, and TiBook) have had serious manufacturing defects. The 5300 series' problems are well-documented. My Wallstreet G3 served as the basis for a class-action lawsuit due to the failing hinges. See the progress at:
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/G3hinge/"; target="_blank">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/G3hinge/</a>;
As for my current Titanium Powerbook, it's quite obvious that the paint wear is not a function of rough abuse, but a <a href="http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/p/photo.php?dir=Defective_Powerbook"; target="_blank">manufacturing defect or contamination at some stage of assembly</a>.
[quote]<strong>Sorry, but I don't think they should have to replace your Powerbook because of the paint. New paint job, yes, maybe once, but cosmetic damages to products will generally not be covered by any company because it is too dificult to figure out who is being honest and what is an actual defect.
I have had my TiBook for over a year with absolutely no paint problems. What kind of climate do you live in? I suppose an extremely humid climate might contribute to the kind of problems you are having. I wonder if there is any connection?</strong><hr></blockquote>
My machine should be replaced or repaired. The paint is degrading at a very alarming rate.... And I'm not the cause of it. As for clime, I live in Chicago. YOUR TiBook is not affected, as the paint problems only seem to affect the second-generation Titanium Powerbooks introduced in October. I'm not alone here. Check:
<a href="http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/ewwhite/pb.html"; target="_blank">http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/ewwhite/pb.html</a>;
Perhaps you have corrosive sweat?!?
-robo
sorry, i'm skeptical.
Cheers,
I have only experienced scratching in two areas, both caused by carelessness on my part- if I were you, i'd send an email to Steve Jobs on this one- be nice, but say... look, i'm a loyal apple customer, and this is what happens?
Go to the top to get results. AI can't do anything but serve as a place for you to whine about your concerns and have others say wow man, that sucks... if I were you, i'd spend my effort on a place that can actually produce results.
<strong>I don't doubt the verity of the fact that the silver edge paint is VERY prone to problems. Mine has been certainly rather good in this regard, though.
I have only experienced scratching in two areas, both caused by carelessness on my part- if I were you, i'd send an email to Steve Jobs on this one- be nice, but say... look, i'm a loyal apple customer, and this is what happens?
Go to the top to get results. AI can't do anything but serve as a place for you to whine about your concerns and have others say wow man, that sucks... if I were you, i'd spend my effort on a place that can actually produce results.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I've done that. I'm waiting on an official response..... Apparently, this case has made its way to the senior product engineers, and they will get back to me by Wednesday. The point of posting is to urge other people with similar issues to complain. According to the Apple product specialists, I was the first to complain about this bad batch of powerbooks.... but there are other people out there. I didn't realize that my computer was an extraordinary case until a dealer pointed it out to me. That's all. So, essentially, I'm hitting this problem from all angles.... hmmm, what's Steve Job's e-mail?
For example, I repaired 5xx laptops while in college to make extra money. I must have repaired half a dozen that had some combination of bad power connections, broken plastics at the hinge, and damaged screen connection cables. The last of these two were related as the former often brought on the latter. These were all arguably design flaws, but who is going to make a fuss now about 5xx laptops.
Companies don't make recalls because one batch has something wrong. Can you imagine if Apple recalled all of the TiBooks to look for a problem that might only affect 1% of the TiBooks out there (for example one batch of paint didn't come out right)? The cost wouldn't justify it. So the only problems we hear about are the major and widespread ones, and only those affecting relatively new products, because these are the ones it is worth while for Apple to own up to and fix.
Many Pismos have sound problems, the owners who complain aren't imagining it, it's a problem that many of us have experienced, but few of us are going to spend time with Apple to complain about it. We'd rather plug and unplug our speakers until the problem goes away.
Some people are willing to fight the uphill battle with Apple to get them to fix the minor defects that affect their products even if Apple isn't doing a recall. They don't accept defects, but rather they expose them. Thus you mistake them for the cause because of their multiple complaints, when really they are just the only ones reporting the problem. To say that this person is causing the defects is like saying that news crews cause natural catastrophies. There is correlation, but not causation.
There is always a first person to document a problem. It may be that 6 months from now there will be a whole host of TiBook owners who are thanking this person for starting the campaign that makes Apple fix it. But maybe not. Maybe this is just one of those things.
I've seen that there is already a market for TiBook paint, which makes me thing that there are other people this is happening to who are just taking it lying down. That doesn't mean everyone has to.
I'm not attacking Apple here, all companies do this sort of thing.
We don't want hysterical recalls, but we don't want unresponsive customer service representatives either. Also, if Apple were to start taking in every powerbook that had a minor defect and doing a custom repair job, then the cost of all Apple products would go up, so we want people to live with it if the defect is minor and cosmetic in nature, because we want to keep buying Macs and we can't afford them to go up in price.
So this person is probably just particular about their Macs. Mac owners are generally particular about the way their products look as well as the way they perform. We pay more than PC users because we care about the details.
In the grand scheme of things, Apple products are less defect ridden than PC laptops (at least it seems that way to me with all the problems my friends have had with theirs), but that doesn't mean that Apple shouldn't strive for better.
it is not a perfect science.
I doubt apple will fix it right away...everytim they move to a new case they will inevitably experiance some problems.
<a href="http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/p/photo?dir=Defective_Powerbook"; target="_blank">http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/p/photo?dir=Defective_Powerbook</a>;
Anyhow, I will update tomorrow.
<a href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~kenao/apple/"; target="_blank">http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~kenao/apple/</a>;
He was so persistent, Apple fixed his hinges after a few months...