[neilali]

I've read with some amusement the various sniping between people on the forum, but I think it's not constructive.

I'm interested in theis thread because my 800Mhz G3 iBook (bought Jan 2003) has had its 3rd (!!!) logic board failure as of this Thursday evening. Despite a long talk with Apple (and I was not aware until doing some googling around it was a widespread problem) Friday they are refusing to replace the machine. I've escalated to the supervisor here in Canada but I have to admit I am sorely disappointed and was a bit shocked to find out this was a "known" problem after reading blackcider.com and others sites.

Basically, I am a "switcher" from the PC Linux world with this machine, but this is by far the most unreliable portable I have ever owned (and I've had laptops for 12 years now). I really do love it but it has a habit of going down in mission critical situations for me. It's not just about it breaking down, it's about the sheer hell of the time it takes to ship itout and get it back which, at least for me, and in 3 different countries now, has been completely unacceptable.

So, I am torn between getting a Powerbook 12" ordered on Monday in town or getting a 12" iBook which to me feels like insanity considering the problems I've had with this one. I've also had battery issues as well.

My preference is on the PB 12" as I do a lot more development and "hard core" techie work (as well as mucking around with photos, movies and music).

However, since Apple has offered to pay for the repair (despite it being 10 days over warranty now), I am going to take it to my local shop and trade it in and grab a PB. Since this makes me lose 2/3 of the value I paid for the thing in the year I've owned it, I'm not too impressed. I'm hoping ponying out for the extra cash on the PB will prove a better investment.

ciao
Neilali sur seine

[winCEman]

Sorry to hear of your bad logic boards, I think (hoping) that they have finally fixed (once again hope) the logic boards in the ibook g3's. I belive they are using newer boards.

I have to share a little story for a second if you guys don't mind.
Last Monday, I called Applecare with a logic board broblem of my own, they sent our a special box to pack it in the next day. I carfully packed it up and had it shipped back out a few hours later. So they most likely got it Wednsday. I recall hearing a 5-7 day timeframe. So when I got a call from the girl up front on Friday that I had a package arrive, to be honest I thought I screwed something up on the shipping. I took the package back to my desk and low and behold it was already fixed! I am still beside my self!

I know that the iBook series had its share (and a few more shares) of bugs, but after dealing with Applecare I must admit, i'd buy another Apple product.

[Feathers]

I had the same experience. My April 2002 32Mb VRAM Dual USB iBook had the hinge problem (LVDS cable rather than the other one). iBook was collected by courier on Tuesday at about two thirty and arrived back at about ten forty on Thursday morning.

Of course it was fine until Sunday night when the Woodpecker struck! Don't know if anyone else has had this problem but display flickers when dimmed (target disk mode is a great example) and this honking loud Woodpecker clicking sound comes out through the speakers from the second you power on, and it never goes away, unless you ship it back to Apple, again!

Speedy service is great but it would help if they didn't break something else in the process!