The dawning of a new era
No, nothing to do with the inauguration of Barack Obama, or the thrilling new epoch of noise and pollution signified by the popular third runway at Heathrow - I have my MacBook back from Apple. I picked it up this morning, first one through the doors of the Apple Church, sorry Store, at 9am. Not only is the problem fixed, but due to the "known issue" with the chipped casing*, I have a brand new keyboard, top case and touchpad. It's even got a transparent sticky protective layer over it, which I'm leaving on, like those people who used to leave the polythene wrapping on their sofas to keep them clean. (Nobody does that any more, do they? Just buy a new sofa.) I was hoping to take a photograph of my new keyboard using the inbuilt camera in my laptop, but simple physics has defeated me. The paranoid among you can rest easy: they didn't wipe my hard drive, or draw a moustache on the photo of my cat that I use as my desktop wallpaper, or give me someone else's laptop with child porn on it. Nor did they charge me a small fortune. In fact, they charged me nothing. Because the chipped casing is a "known issue", I have basically had my laptop pimped, for free. It's amazing how greasy the keys on my keyboard had become. They look pristine again. I'm actually typing really gingerly, which can't be a bad thing. What I'm saying is: I've been on a "journey" this week. I've learned lessons about myself. I will no longer rely on my computer to work, every day, I will asume it's about to crash at any moment, and make sure I back up every word I write, as I write it, and write out a hand-written version on a piece of paper just to be sure. I will not treat the casing as an indestructible object from the future as I cart it around from home to Library to cafeteria to coffee shop, but as a delicate, eggshell-like sculpture that requires love and care and, if needs be, protective gloves and bubble-wrap. I will exist in a state of permanent Code Orange.By the way, even though many of you scared me half to death with your doom-mongering, I really do appreciate the response to my original cry for computer help.
* Look, there's a Flickr page dedicated to photos of MacBooks with cracked casings! It's "known issue" porn. Perhaps I should post the excellent one above, showing part of my new casing, two inches of British Library desk and a bit of my jeans.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 10:12 AM
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31 Comments:
To take a photo of your keyboard you could use a mirror. You could then use iPhoto to flip the photo, else it'll be a mirror image, obviously.
You should never let physics defeat you, else the scientists have won.
I too have the frayed casing issue (having already had it replaced once). Unfortunately the day before I was going to take it in to be replaced I hit it with a reclining chair, taking a similar looking but more serious chunk out of the case. Not sure I have the nerve to go in and point out that it was broken before I broke it :)
Surely if Andrew uses a mirror then he is making use of Physics, and then then the scientists have still won?
Either way they win, the bastards! (I say this as a Physicist myself, and so am quite pleased)
Verloren: go for it. Even though the "reclining-chair issue" is clearly your fault, the chipped casing is theirs. Apple need people like you and me. Don't ever let them know how much we need them back. (Also, with Steve Jobs sitting at home with his hormone unbalance, they need us even more than they did two days ago.)
Darren: didn't scientists just copy the mirror off of water?
Verloren: I've had mine replaced twice so far, and could well have it done a couple more times before my Macbook gets retired - unlike Mr Collins I refuse to learn any lessons and treat my computer "as a delicate, eggshell-like sculpture that requires love and car", preferring to treat it rather as a computer - a very expensive one at that - which I expect to serve my needs, and vice versa.
Personally, I think Apple should replace all our cheap plasticy Macbooks with those posh new aluminum ones, but suspect I may be foolishly expecting Apple to live up to their own hype.
Hi Andrew, isn't that one of the great things scientist do? i.e. look at a natural phenomenom and harness it for use by us.
Love your resolution of how you'll treat your MacBook. Bet you're back to your old ways in a couple of weeks - it's what we all do!
Scientists don't claim to do anything outside of what natural laws will allow, although they claim to know more than most of us mere mortals. A bit like the priests and magicians of days gone by and in some cases not gone by. At least we don't have to spend Sundays worshipping them or sacrificing small animals though.
Actually Andrew, I think that Water copied it off the Moon.
And the Moon copied it off God.
and God copied it off me, obviously.
Yeah! Take that Ben Goldacre and Richard Herring!
Now that's what I call a bill: Take That, Ben Goldacre and Richard Herring!
Regarding greasy keyboards -
http://www.iskin.com/product_kbrd_macbook.html
I use one of these on my Powerbook. It's great since it keeps all the hair and crumbs off the keyboard.
There's a point at which something stops being new, pristine and sacred. After that, it becomes part of the landscape. I replaced my laptop keyboard a year ago, and spent a long time tippy-typing to see if I could avoid making the most-used keys shiny. I couldn't, so I stopped caring. We bought a new cooker in October. For the first two months, it was cleaned almost hourly, and was the subject of near-worship, having replaced a temperamental pile of shit. However, some time after Christmas, I noticed a tiny gouge out of the enamel, probably caused by a heavy pan. At that point, it became just 'the cooker', on which I make the dinner. I still adore it for not being temperamental, but I'm not in awe of it anymore.
Hey Andrew!
Great to hear you have your mac back! Excitedly awaiting the next installment from yourself and 'Richer', I just wanted to ask when it may flop into my ipod? I am depending on it to get me through the gym!
Best Wishes, Matthew Phillips
PS I know it's free and I hate to ask, but it's the best podcast out there and one of the highlights of my week, barring secret dancing
OS X already has fantastic backup software called Time Machine. Buy an external disk to back up to or better still, use a http://www.apple.com/timecapsule for automatic wireless backups when you are at home.
Oh no, not you too with the 'pimped'! Pimps are not cool!
Andrew is right: God made man in his image, so he must have had a mirror. That said, Jesus did the Turin shroud like a photo, in a dark cave, so he was literally a flash bastard.
Hi Andrew. Just seen the promo for the new series of Not Going Out it looks good! how many episodes were you involved in for this series? Also I think Sally Bretton looks a bit like Kylie Minogue.
I'm so envious. I love all things Apple but am not in charge. When my laptop stopped working I called Gateway who refused to help, told me to look up the phonebook to find a repairer and hung up on me. I want Mac, I want Mac hospital.
And yeah, you back up what's important but you don't necessarily have access to what's nice. I get antsy if my iPhone (as close as I can get) is out of my sight never mind out of my possession. I felt your pain.
I hope you enjoy the new shininess, it is nice to get your trusty friend back AND have shininess.
On the backup front, a tip for those of us using Microsoft XP. The OS has its own perfectly good backup system, with the ability to schedule backups on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. However, Microsoft, being Microsoft, chose not to include it in the standard installation. It's on the installation disc as an optional extra, and you can find how to look for it and install it here - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx - It's such a good McGuffin, I'm baffled that it's not more widely known.
LF Barfe, I think McGuffin must have more meanings than I realised! I thought it was a character in a work of fiction that was already dead at the start, as a plot device, I can't see how Microsoft Backup is one! Unless you're saying they took it off to try to make people lose their stuff to provide some drama in a potentially uneventful ownership experience!
I've always understood McGuffin to be any apparently inconsequential item that advances the plot.
Andrew - you have no warranty on the macbook, then?
It's great that they now consider the chipped casing to be a known issue, i'm going trek over to Glasgow's Apple store next weekend with my own skin-shedding, out of warranty macbook!
Joanne, I had the standard one-year warranty, but that warranty's up. Your MacBook doesn't have to be in warranty for it to qualify for the casing being mended. I had a scan around a couple of Mac forums and was reassured on this matter.
My iPhone screen is cracked. It makes me cry every time I look at it, but £170 to get it replaced seems a bit much as it still works...
But I want it to be pretty again!
Isn't that the only reason we buy Apple products in the first place?
PPx
That's great Andrew, thanks!
I hope the problem doesn't return though.
Anonymous - is your iphone out of warranty? You can probably buy a replacement screen for it on ebay if you're technically minded.
I just called Apple, and they are going to repair my wife's Mac for free. I didn't do anything about it in the past, thinking I couldn't afford a repair. Thanks so much.
Pity the GND poor Lisa-Marie. Her computer started making funny clicking noises then smelled of burning. It's at the doctor and we're not hopeful.
My electronic catastrophe occurred on a Roland synthesiser. I stripped it down with a penknife (nearly) found a broken bit and rang up Roland (after an inter-hunt on the interweb). They are sending me a bit for Three Pounds plus VAT to mend it. I'm now looking for the postman and something I can use as a soldering iron. Poor Lisa Marie may not be so fortunate, I fear.
GND's motherboard is gone, so no computer for her...
Thank you so much for this post, Andrew Collings!
Today I went to the Apple Store in Glasgow and the guy at the Genius Bar said they would fix it for free but they might need to keep it for a day or two as they were snowed under with work. I explained to him that I live in Edinburgh and wouldn't be able to get to Glasgow again until next weekend, and I would possibly die without my macbook, and he said no problem, i'll prioritise it so it gets done this weekend.
2 hours later I missed a call from the Apple store and then received a text (I don't use voicemail) from the engineers OWN PHONE telling me my macbook had been mended and was ready for collection.
I bloody love these people! Without doubt the best customer service I have ever experienced.
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