[hazelnutcoffeeg]

I am concerned about the number of complaints and problems that seem to crop up with the PB 15"Al/ I ordered mine on Oct 4th. I chose it over Dell, Gateway and Sony after many weeks of research and informal polling.
I wanna hear from both sides of the fence.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

80 veiws and only 10 responses???

[macwayne]

No problem with mine. Perfect screen and the latch even works fine! I would suggest tho' going to an Apple Store or local Compusa to check one out in person. That way, if you do by chance happen to get one with defects, you can return it.

[arekkusu]

First one was "DOA", 8 stuck pixels and white spots. Replacement has zero bad pixels, still has minor white speckles.

Still testing but otherwise replacement seems fine (ignoring Radeon 9600 stupidity)

[MacsGalor]

Sometimes it is hard to get people to answer the poll. Here is a similar one I posted before.
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=180828

[romanesq]

But the folks who've questioned this were absolutely correct. People with problems are a lot more motivated to write a complaint than folks like me...

with nothing but a great, great computer.
And now an owner of a 15" PB with no dead pixels (lucky I guess), no latch problem, no heat problems, no battery complaints (about 2.5 hours) and nothing but happiness to report.

[PowerMatt]

List of problems (any fixes? let me know)

1. Latch would not keep PB closed (now fixed, DIY)
2. Eject key is hard to activate
3. Airport will not allow internet access after wake from sleep, works after a minute or so, network is visible at all times
4. Up key not seated correctly
5. Really hot (I can't surf the net in my briefs!)

I haven't decided whether or not to ship it back.

[omegahack]

my first one was all messed up but now it is super beautiful

[+ spiral +]

Originally posted by hazelnutcoffeeg:
80 veiws and only 10 responses???

Also, it could be that people want to know if they should hold off from purchasing ... like me.

[blikank]

I got mine two days ago (my first mac). After browsing this forum for months I decided it was time. Took 2 weeks to get my BTO and during that time I read nearly every post here (in between attempts to track my shipment via airborne). Needless to say, I was terrified. I couldn't be happier now. I looked HARD for any problems, and can't find a single one. My latch even works perfectly. These things are very solid, and everyone that has seen it is ultra impressed. I guess I got lucky... good luck to you.

[moodymonster]

I really want to get one but all these reports of problems is staying my credit card. Also Panther is coming out in a few weeks so I think I'll wait for that and any problems that causes to be sorted out (if any). Also people seem to be saying the albooks are being delayed 7-10 days, maybe refining production or something (I hope).

With regard to problems it comes back to if people get good sevice or a good product they tell a few people, if its bad they tell everybody. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway.

I'll just point out all my prev apple experiences (mac plus onward) have been good (apart from crashes )

currently using a ti500 for last 3 yrs, now on OS (never crashes, v cool ) X

[Oneota]

I'd say order now - you get Panther for $20, and your chances of getting a perfect PowerBook are greater than the chances of getting one with something wrong.

Most people don't create threads to talk about how they have no problems, so you only hear about the ones that have something wrong. As the poll shows now, the number of people who had perfect 'Books is more than double the number who had something wrong.

[Maflynn]

No problems here, loving the machine.

Mike

[@ho]

I got 1 blue stuck pixel, 4 white spots, uneven trackpad surface and tha click click from the hard drive or superdrive, I dont know, but I already recieve the repair box so I will send it as soon as I can finish some job I cant do in my old ibook 500.

on the good side, the Albook is fine, the latch closes fine (small gap I think is necesarry), battery life is about 2:30 of normal use with airport on, and really not hot, repeat not hot. I think the new enclosure material make it cold-hot some times but noting to worry about (lets wait for winter time to see how colds this things could be) I use it always on my lap, if you leave i ton the bed it will hot.

Great buy, bad experience with a defective one but I will continue to buy apple products.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

thank you all who have been responding. i'm starting to feel a little less freaked.
my Alu. 15" is due to arrive sometime between monday and wednesday, but it was shipped airbourne even though i requested UPS or FedEx.

[Evan DiBiase]

I voted "Exchange/repair, now it's beautiful" originally, until. this morning, I noticed that some parts of my new 15" Aluminum PowerBook's screen are quite a bit darker than others, which can be quite disconcerting:



I called AppleCare, and apparently, once I call back when their database is upgraded, I can get my system repaired or replaced. Again.

This is my second Apple system; my first was a 500MHz white iBook that served me well, but I haven't been impressed with this PowerBook at all. I waited until nearly a month after university started to receive the machine, only to have to get a replacement for it, which is now itself broken.

I need to get work done, and constantly waiting for replacement machines and transferring my settings over isn't exactly the kind of thing that's going to get me a 4.0.

Like I said, I'm not impressed, and, if this next bout of repairs doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do.

[peppermg]

I consider my PBG4 to be perfect. The only problem I have found after a week of use is that the latch doesn't always work. My screen is perfect no dead pixels no white spots. Overall im extremely happy with my Al.

[:dragonflypro:]

Aside form the lone dead pixel... something that can be lived with... the Al 15" 1.25 is perfection.

Toby

[neutrino23]

I have no problems with the latch or the screen or heat. I did find that airport sensitivity is extremely low. It drops to zero about 10 ft from the base station. The diagnosis is a pinched or defective antenna cable. It is being repaired now. Apart from that it works beautifully and I can't wait to get it back.

[Xtraz]

I have a slight latch problem... I just have to close it not-so-softly. And the trackpad button seems a little stiff.

But otherwise everything is perfect (especially the screen)

[TAZ]

Ordered mine the day of the Keynote. Had a white spot about 1/16" Square from the factory. Am now noticing a second one. Cant decide if I want to send it back to Apple Care or not. Aside from the 2 white spots the thing is perfect.

[BluThng]

Ordered mine immediately after the keynote. It's perfect and I love it!

Can't wait to put panther on it!

My only complaint is it doesn't make coffee for me.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

***My only complaint is it doesn't make coffee for me. ***end quote






whaddya mean it doesn't make coffee!!???

[arfung]

I have a one week old 1.25GHz PB 15" Al, and its been working like a champ. No dead pixels, screen is beautiful, latch is great.

My only minor complaint is that the backlighting on the top row of keys (f-row) is a bit dim.

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

so apple sent me a slip that said my PB shipped on the 9th from California.
airborne had a slip on friday night that said it shipped on the 10th from Ill.
today i check the tracking and it says "call customer service"
the bouncy girl on the other end tells me that it has not been shipped yet, at all and that it's coming from shanghai and that she can't estimate an ETA for it because it's packed on a pallet with lots of other macs and that the pallet will be seperated when they clear customs and then the individual macs will be sent out and then she'll have an ETA for me.
so i say, "what does that mean??? 3 days to 3 months???"
and she says, "no, heehee, it means like 3 days to 3 weeks. *giggle*"
so i say, i'm gonna call apple.

i called. left a message with my personal sales rep.
let's see if i get a call back.

[BluThng]

Originally posted by hazelnutcoffeeg:

whaddya mean it doesn't make coffee!!???

Don't tell me it's suppose to make coffee...do I have to call Applecare now? Damn you Apple! I thought I had a perfect machine!


But yeah...to add to my post. My screen is perfect...very bright and no dead pixels. My latch is perfected fine. The fan only comes on when I play games...obviously. It's just awesome!

[Ryan1524]

that's good. it seems like with each replacement, people are getting a better and better unit, if not perfect ones. i hope the black batch wave will pass soon and any buyer can get perfect machines.

[Grrr]

I'm amazed.. You'd have thought that as the outgoing model was well over 10 months old I believe, that this gave apple plenty of time to get the replacement right.
At the time of writing this, 'Only' 60% of all people who bought one don't have a problem with them. Thats a very poor score isn't it??

Me thinks there will be many a bargain to be had on the Apple refurb store very soon though..

[Oneota]

Originally posted by Grrr:

At the time of writing this, 'Only' 60% of all people who bought one don't have a problem with them. Thats a very poor score isn't it??

Only if you think everyone who bought an Al PB responded to this poll.

If you've got some weird problem with your PB and you want to know if it's more widespread, where do you go? To a Mac forum, of course! So this place, by its nature, attracts users with problematic machines.

I'd say Apple's QA isn't all that bad (1st generation eMac notwithstanding).

[MacsGalor]

It looks like a lot of people in this thread don't search for things. The latch issue has been addressed and there is a fix to make it perfect, look here;
http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

[hazelnutcoffeeg]

mine still hasn't come.

[KP*]

Originally posted by MacsGalor:
It looks like a lot of people in this thread don't search for things. The latch issue has been addressed and there is a fix to make it perfect, look here;
http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

There are several latch issues. This is the one where the latch needs to be bent inward. There is also another one (referred to as "Latch Issue #2" in some article I read recently) in which the latch doesn't extend far enough to the right to get a good grip under the metal bar. This is the one my PB is afflicted with. The article which numbers the issues (sorry I don't have a link) suggests closing the lid faster gives the latch the momentum to extend all the way, and I had discovered on my own that that helped, but it doesn't always work. I wish the solution were as simple as problem #1's.

[ae86_16v]

No Problems. . . . loving every minute of it.

[Squozen]

Ordered mine on the 23rd of September, still waiting...

[ownersbox]

My trackpad came DOA, sent it back Monday of this week and today Wednesday I get it back. Great turn around time, the apple repair website is horrible, But with a three day turn around who can complain. =)