Dead is such a harsh term. And I’ve never quite heard of sick on arrival for a computer but…. I got a new Mac Book Pro! I love that new mac smell. Now I’ve been a Windows, Linux, and Mac user for 15 years – My first Mac was an LC-III. Cute little amazing machine. I loved that thing! After that I had a PowerPC 6100 with DOS card! That was sweet, too, and pretty fast. It was actually two computers in one: An Intel 486-DX and a PowerPC first generation. Must have been running at 100Mhz or so too. After that one though I went Powerbook style and have been mobile ever since, sometimes getting used ones.
For a brief two years, powerbooks were on price-per-feature par with Windows laptops even though the hardware quality of Apple laptops for the most part has been primo. But the price comparison didn’t last long. Even so, Macs keep a degree of resale value. Even now, after three and a half years, my Macbook Pro 2 GHz model has a resale value of about $1000 or so not counting the fact that it has a larger hard drive in it. But it has a bad motherboard, and flakes out a good bit. It’s the memory controller, you see. It works as well as my own in that regard. While I can’t replace my personal memory controller, I can replace the MacBook’s one for about $400. That leaves me with a $600 margin still.
If you buy a new laptop every three years, and resell the old one, if you go Mac, you can get a top of the line MacBook Pro for $1000 every three years. That’s not bad! If you consider that Windows laptops just don’t keep that kind of resale value, the premium for a MacBook makes sense, if you like the OS. Which I do!
So my new one came today! A brand new 2.6 GHz 4 Gig ram thing with a swank graphics card in it. Two grand. My mom was here and I let her witness the whole new mac experience. It’s very sensual. The cardboard box feels quality. Everything about it says sexy. Then.. “Watch THIS mom!” I hit the on button.
The thing sits there with a white screen for 5 minutes, and then spits out a long blab of white text on a black background. Kernel dump. Ugh.
Oddly enough it did actually finish booting eventually and managed to restore everything from my backup! I was amazed! But the networking wouldn’t work, and on bootup and shutdown it always did that same kernel dump.
So… half an hour later on the phone and Apple’s sending me a replacement. I have to wait another WEEK! But I’m so PUMPED! Why?
Because for the price of one mac I get to experience that new mac sensation TWICE! YAY!
Tags: macs
So some strange things happened with Apple Support!
First, some guy named Kegan from Apple Management called me, to let me know he was personally overseeing the replacement of this mac, and that if I had any problems, any questions at all, to call him. He gave me his direct line! I thought that was kind of strange.
Maybe macs aren’t DOA all that often.
Also, I got my new mac! And it’s just fine. So all’s well… all in all the return and replace process went very smoothly even if it did take about a week.