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Raman · Oct 19, 2008, 10:50 AM

I'll start.

1) I noticed a 1" smudge on my late 2008 MacBrickPro the 2nd day I had it. I thought it was a smudge. Tried to wipe it off. It was very difficult to see but sometimes it stuck out like a sore thumb. I realized that the problem was not on the surface and it was readily apparent in certain types of light at certain angles. Here are some pics of it seen at various angles. No, I didn't drop it or scratch it in any way.

I took it back to the Apple Store and they replaced my 2 day old MacBrick Pro which doesn't show the mysterious under-the-surface-cracking. I did notice some very small imperfections (pits, small scratches) in the aluminum casing that I'm trying not to notice. My 24" Late 2007 iMac's aluminum casing is visually perfect as is the keyboard metal, etc. I'm wondering if Apple's manufacturer still has some bugs to work out in terms of their MacBrick production line or if this aluminum is really soft. This is my 1st Al MBP - are they easily scratched?

2) When you click the trackpad on the lower left side, when it unclicks it isn't as crisp as when you click the bottom right. Hopefully this won't turn into a problem. I didn't notice this in my first MacBrick Pro.

3) My 2nd MBP showed 5 hours of runtime when fully charged and browsing the web. My 1st never showed more than 3:30 even though the battery was fully charged and all of the settings were identical including the graphics card.

Any weird problems with your MacBrick or MacBrick Pro?

kylef · Oct 19, 2008, 11:21 AM

My caps key will only work if you press it right dead in the centre ... annoying for me as I have become accustomed to press caps+key+caps really quickly instead of shift.

Raman · Oct 20, 2008, 04:40 PM

4) Screen shuts when at 90 degrees to the base and you tilt the base past 45 degrees towards you.

5) Battery/HDD cover slightly loose and doesn't fit flush all the way across.

6) Buy a Mac + Printer, Exchange the defective Mac, try to do the rebate on the apple website and it won't let you (probably because the original receipt showing the computer and printer on 1 receipt is not valid anymore). Note to self - apply for the rebate before exchanging your defective Mac.

7) Not really a defect but when I got my mac, I had them upgrade my RAM to 4 gigs of Apple memory. I noticed that there were scratches on the aluminum in several places. Can't tell if they were there from the factory or if it was because the service rep manhandled my shiny new laptop. Also, the 8 screws that hold the bottom cover look like they were unscrewed and screwed on too tight (the metal on the + part of the phillips screws are slightly bent). They need to use screwdrivers made of metal softer than what they're working on. I routinely do this when I'm putting screws in people's bones.

ciparis · Oct 20, 2008, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Raman

I routinely do this when I'm putting screws in people's bones.

!!

mdc · Oct 20, 2008, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by kylef

My caps key will only work if you press it right dead in the centre ... annoying for me as I have become accustomed to press caps+key+caps really quickly instead of shift.

On the newer keyboards you have to press caps lock for a little longer than a regular key-press for it to take effect. I hear Apple did that so that people won't accidentally turn it on. Turning it off does not require a longer than normal key-press, only to turn it on.

I'm not sure that is your issue, or if maybe yours is just not very sensitive on the sides.

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 08:55 PM

It's seems as though my built-in camera does not work at all. Just opened the box today.

I tried PhotoBooth and Skype, nothing. It just reports that a camera can not be found. I rebooted to make sure... still no camera.

Anyone else with this problem?

Anyone have an easy fix for this?

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 08:58 PM

I just did a "About this Mac" and am looking at my USB bus - it only reports that I have a keyboard, trackpad and IR receiver attached to my USB bus. No camera... Looks as though there may be a cable that was never connected?

Fcuk.

imitchellg5 · Oct 20, 2008, 08:59 PM

Repair disk permissions. It sounds like the iSight isn't connected though.

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 09:11 PM

Sigh....

I just tried repairing permissions... A few errors were reported and fixed, but my camera still does not function.

I guess I got a lemon... again.

weak on Apple's part.

Otherwise it's a flawless machine.

Lame.

Raman · Oct 20, 2008, 09:15 PM

Have you tried reinstalling OS X and/or running the hardware test? It might save you from having to swapping it out with a new one.

iomatic · Oct 20, 2008, 10:06 PM

No, no. Make the "geniuses" at Apple do the work.

tooki · Oct 20, 2008, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by kylef

My caps key will only work if you press it right dead in the centre ... annoying for me as I have become accustomed to press caps+key+caps really quickly instead of shift.

As mdc said, it's not the position of your press that matters, but the duration. All the aluminum keyboards, as well as the internal keyboards on laptop models released since around fall 2007, have this behavior. (I, for one, love it, since it keeps me from accidentally pressing caps lock, which I used to do a lot, and it drove me crazy!)

tooki · Oct 20, 2008, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by hadocon

It's seems as though my built-in camera does not work at all. Just opened the box today.

I have seen this on other models, and sometimes it's hardware, sometimes a full hardware reset will fix it. Go to Apple's support website and search for "reset SMC" for how to do it for that model.

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 10:25 PM

For the price I paid I'm just going to have it replaced. I don't feel like losing hours of my life over this and getting more annoyed. This is Apple's problem, not mine... right?

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

I have seen this on other models, and sometimes it's hardware, sometimes a full hardware reset will fix it. Go to Apple's support website and search for "reset SMC" for how to do it for that model.

According to Apple resetting the SMC is only for power-management issues.

I'd rather not dick around inside this thing and screw it up more (my first gen BlackBook was bricked by a botched firmware update). Now I leave all this crap to Apple to fix. Again, I;m not going to make it my problem.

hadocon · Oct 20, 2008, 10:35 PM

I did the SMC reset and it WORKS!!!!!

Thanks again tooki!

I wish I could gift you on here ;-)

Raman · Oct 21, 2008, 06:53 PM

Great to hear hadocon! If I were you, I would take it in to have the Geniuses look at it. I figure if you officially went to Apple with that complaint maybe if your iSight died or something a week or month after the 14 day return policy, maybe they wouldn't make you send it back to Apple and just do a swap right there since they know it might be a problem lurking? I dunno.

iomatic · Oct 21, 2008, 07:22 PM

yeah, at least get it documented.

IronPen · Oct 21, 2008, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by hadocon

For the price I paid I'm just going to have it replaced. I don't feel like losing hours of my life over this and getting more annoyed. This is Apple's problem, not mine... right?

Please. In less time than it took you to post your frustrations here you can insert the hardware CD and try to fix it yourself. Replacing Macs comes at a cost, folks. Fix these miniscule problems yourselves rather than sending another good machine to the refurb store.

iomatic · Oct 21, 2008, 08:24 PM

Yeah but, he shouldn't have had that problem in the first place.

Raman · Oct 21, 2008, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by Raman

7) Not really a defect but when I got my mac, I had them upgrade my RAM to 4 gigs of Apple memory. I noticed that there were scratches on the aluminum in several places. Can't tell if they were there from the factory or if it was because the service rep manhandled my shiny new laptop. Also, the 8 screws that hold the bottom cover look like they were unscrewed and screwed on too tight (the metal on the + part of the phillips screws are slightly bent). They need to use screwdrivers made of metal softer than what they're working on. I routinely do this when I'm putting screws in people's bones.

Update: The areas that they apparently scratched are MUCH less noticeable after cleaning my notebook with iKlear. Now I have to look for the scratch in order to see it. One of the pits in the aluminum "fell off" when it got wet from the iKlear. I guess it was not a defect in the aluminum at all

I know I shouldn't be getting my panties in a bunch over tiny scratches but this is my first MacBook Pro. I keep a screen cover on our iPod Touch. Our iBook and MacBook's plastic covers and iPods' shiny backs and plastic covers got scratched quickly despite my weekly cleanings with iKlear so I stopped caring on day 2 usually. I've never really cared about my PeeCee laptop's cases since they were so easily scratched.