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iPaul UK · May 11, 2001, 07:01 AM

Ok.. Having ordered an iBook with Combo drive almost as soon as they were anounced.. I was a little concerned to read that they may not be all Apple claimed they were. So.. rather than speculate, I did the right thing and Emailed Apple a couple of days ago. And today, I got a reply which is as follows..

Dear Sir
Thank you for your interest in The Apple Store (Apple's direct to public
retail business).
I can confirm the following:
The CD-R drive of the iBook writes CD-R media at x8 and CD-RW media at x4
The maximum rotational speed of the hard drive of the iBook is 5400rpm
I hope this data helps

Regards,
Craig Salter

Hope this shuts everyone up now!

[This message has been edited by iPaul UK (edited 05-11-2001).]

Ryu · May 11, 2001, 08:06 AM

Did you get this message from Apple UK or Apple US? If it's UK, then it's not very reliable because they usually don't know any more than us on 'yet to come out' products.

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geek77 · May 11, 2001, 08:19 AM

I posted this a couple days ago in a different thread:

From the US Apple Store:
Hard Drive:
Choose the hard drive that meets your needs: Apple offers a 10GB Ultra ATA/66 (Advanced Technology Attachment) drive built-in to your iBook or choose a 20GB Ultra ATA drive for expanded storage. Both drives run at 4200 revolutions per minute.

Optical Drives:
The CD-RW drive reads CDs at 24x, writes to CD-R at 8x, and writes to CD-RW at 4x. The drive supports CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, CDI, CD Bridge, CD Extended, CD Mixed Mode, and Photo CD media.

DVD-ROM/CD-RW allows you to play DVD video discs (6x speed) as well as read and write CDs. This special drive reads CDs at 24x, writes to CD-R at 4x, and writes to CD-RW at 4x.

Misha · May 11, 2001, 09:39 AM

Paul, an Apple Store sales rep reading the same misinformation hardly should be considered "final word."

See this: http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=6244

The DVD/CD-RW writes at 4x, and the HD speed is 4200 RPM.

May 11, 2001, 09:47 AM

this is realy agervating i ordered the combo drive when it was said to be 8x write now they say its 4x to tell u the truth it doesnt make me any difference if its 4x or 8x its the combo drive i paid for and hopefully thats what im getting i wish you guys would quit talking about which one is which and wait till we get them to see what it really is im sure if anyone at apple is reading these forums they are laughing at us because we are going crazy waiting for our computers you guys know if we would have got them in already we would not be complaining about these issues

iPaul UK · May 11, 2001, 09:56 AM

This is agrovating indeed! Lets face it.. If you want to know for sure.. Then you go ask Apple direct don't you.. Which is what I did. And now they too don't seem to know any better! As I said, I ordered tho Combo drive model, But if it only has a max burn speed of 4X, then there is no point me getting it as I already have an 8X FireWire burner. But at the time I placed the order, I figured it would be useful to have a fastish CD burner in a laptop. I'm gonna Email them back with the news! And I will of course post any reply I get here..

icruise · May 11, 2001, 10:32 AM

The apple store now has the hard disks as 4200 RPM and the combo drive as a 4X4X24. So it looks like it was definitely a typo.

Oh, and Serial -- let me introduce you to the concept of a "period". They're pretty handy...

iPaul UK · May 11, 2001, 12:53 PM

Grrr.. Well I Emailed Apple UK back this afternoon.. But being a Friday I guess I won't hear back until after the weekend. But I guess it's pretty certain what the actual specs are now. IE 4200rpm HD and 4X 4X 24X combo drive..

Sorry if my first post was misleading. But Sheeesh! You would expect an Email from Apple to give you the right answer! Thats really annoying..

Well, I know I still want a new iBook.. But i'm now debating wether to go with the regular DVD version (and just use my external 8X FireWire burner) or stick with my original DVD-CDRW spec order..

Skywalkers new Hand · May 11, 2001, 01:09 PM

You know what would be cool. If you order an iBook and then sue Apple for false advertising. They are clearly saying on the Apple site that the drive is 5200 RPM and the combo drive is 8x. After a week they still did not fix it. Not to mention they actually e-mailed you back and confirmed these false specs. If I bought the iBook based on these specs only to get slower hardware, I would sue. Sorry, as much as I love Apple this is unprofessional for them to do.

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Gametes · May 11, 2001, 01:25 PM

And you would get...a refund. If you sent the iBook back, which you wouldn't, as no doubt those specs are not the reason why you bought it.

Skywalkers new Hand · May 11, 2001, 02:01 PM

Originally posted by Gametes:
no doubt those specs are not the reason why you bought it.

These reasons influence ones buying decision.

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tsubasako · May 11, 2001, 02:25 PM

As I just said in another thread, the service/support reps have NO IDEA what they're talking about. They have the exact same info we do. But let's face it: we *know* the exact model of the HD, and it's been confirmed to be a 4200rpm drive. There's no magic 5400rpm drive with the exact same model number.

And yeah, I think it's really crappy of Apple to not even update the specs when they realized the problem. I mean, it's a *SIGNIFICANT* difference on the selling point, especially for people buying Combo drives with the 4x burner. This rivals the Motorola G3 scandal of a couple years ago. But Apple knows there's nothing we can do about it, being the maniacs we are for their new swag. I think Apple needs some new employees. Grr.

Ryu · May 11, 2001, 02:57 PM

Check out Apple Store. The hard disk has been changed to 4200rpm now.

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iPaul UK · May 11, 2001, 06:13 PM

The Apple Store UK site has still yet to be corrected..

(At the time of writing)

Grrr..

zigzag · May 11, 2001, 07:26 PM

Originally posted by Skywalkers new Hand:
You know what would be cool. If you order an iBook and then sue Apple for false advertising. They are clearly saying on the Apple site that the drive is 5200 RPM and the combo drive is 8x. After a week they still did not fix it. Not to mention they actually e-mailed you back and confirmed these false specs. If I bought the iBook based on these specs only to get slower hardware, I would sue. Sorry, as much as I love Apple this is unprofessional for them to do.

This demonstrates why there are so many greedy lawyers - because there are so many greedy clients.

As Gametes says, the only thing you would be entitled to is a refund for the machine if you relied on the mistaken specs. No court is going to award you extra money unless there's an intent to defraud, which there isn't. You can't get money damages because a 5400 RPM model doesn't even exist, and if it did, you would have had to pay more for it in the first place. So you're not out anything but the shipping expense.

The only way you would have a viable lawsuit is if you relied on the specs when ordering a particular model and wanted to return the machine for a refund and Apple refused. I'm confident that if Paul tells Apple that he doesn't want a 4x CD-RW model, they will let him trade down to a DVD model.

iPaul UK · May 14, 2001, 01:16 PM

I today got an reply from Craig at Apple UK..

Dear...
This is awkward as I am not authorised to comment on the contents of Apple
observer sites. However, I can confirm that it took some time to locate
any specification for the speed of the hard drive - most material simply
refers to the size - one might draw conclusions here. Also, I have found another reference appearing to confirm the burning speed of the CD drive as 8x for CD-R and 4x for CD-RW (doesn't he mean DVD-CDRW?)
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n88120
In any case, this is overwhelmingly the best iBook and I believe the best
value portable on the market. That said, confusion over specifications
is not a good thing for a computer manufacturer. Therefore, I have informed
other parties of the situation. Thanks for taking the time to bring this
to our attention.
Regards,
Craig

So there you have it..

zigzag · May 14, 2001, 01:40 PM

No question that they misprinted the specs. Are you going to keep the machine or trade it in? Good luck either way.

iPaul UK · May 16, 2001, 10:26 AM

Well, I'd not received my iBook yet. But today I called my Mac dealer (I didn't order it from the Apple store due to the ridiculous Ram prices) And I changed my order from the DVD-CDRW combo drive model, to the regular DVD model. Not much point having a slowish combo drive when I already have an 8X external FireWire CD burner. But I did need the DVD drive as it's great being able to plug in to a regular TV to watch films n stuff. I already do this with my iBook 466 and it's a great feature to have.

AND, I save myself a big wedge of cash! So tough luck Apple..