[Rivak]

So I’ve had my 12” PowerBook for a little over a week now. So far I have only 2 small problems. The first one is that the battery gauge seems to slowly go down while I have my PowerBook plugged in. I haven’t really calculated it, but I’d say it went down 5% after 48 hours of being plugged in. if I unplug it and drain the battery and then plug it back in, it will charge back up to 99%, but then the process starts all over. I don’t use battery power all that often, but it’s just something weird I noticed.

My next problem is also kind of minor, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t anticipate this happening [to someone]. On the right side of the screen, where the plastic [airport antenna?] thing meets the back of the screen, there is a 1/16th inch gap between the plastic and the aluminum. The aluminum and plastic seem to be separating, and I can see inside, and see behind the LCD. Now I don’t know how the screen casing in constructed, but from what I’ve seen, it looks like the aluminum is joined to the plastic with some sort of adhesive. I can press them together, and after a few seconds they will spread apart again.

I’ve put some pictures online so you can see the difference between the right side and the left.

Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know how the LCD casing is constructed? [are there just screws in the corners and adhesive along the edges?] Any thoughts on this?

And just to make it clear: I am not complaining about the build quality of this PowerBook. Other than this small flaw, I think this is one of the most well constructed laptops I have ever come across. I don’t really think this particular flaw is a huge problem, and I am in no way complaining about it or Apple, so there’s no need to wave the “rev A flag” and flame me for complaining about a rev A which is “bound to have its batch of problems.”

[roders]

In my view this is not normal, or "acceptable" and will only likely get worse, not better over time.
I'm also certain Apple will repair this and if your lucky and put up a polite but "smelly" stink (does anyone have any idea what I'm trying to say here?!) ithink they might even replace the unit for you.
If you don't mind then thats your perogative, but if my AluBook did that I would be SOOOOOOOO pissed!
P.S I really would get it seen to under warranty.

[danbrew]

I'd freak if my new PB looked like that. Great photo, btw. There is *no* way that I'd leave well enough alone - I'd be all over Apple to repair/replace.

[Rivak]

I would call Apple and make a stink, but I’ve already gone through so much to get this PowerBook [my first one arrived DOA and I had to wait 2 more weeks to get a functional one], and quite frankly, I don’t want to give my computer up!

You are right though, this should not be acceptable. However, if I were to call Apple and they said they’d replace the unit for me, I’d be taking a risk. Who knows what problems my new unit would have? I’ve read a lot of reports of 12” PB’s with weird issues, I’ve also read a lot of reports of 12” PB’s with no problems whatsoever. I’d just hate to give up my PowerBook that’s 98% perfect, for one that’s 75% perfect, you know what I mean?

[peternj]

Please send this powerbook back to be repaired. It is not normal. My powerbook screen is tight, tighter than any picture of yours. There is no seperation.

Also the battery does not seem to be okay either.

This is a faulty product.

good luck.

[Rivak]

i wouldn't consider it faulty. after all, it's a computer remember? everything else works, the aluminum casing is just a little wonky.

i'd be interested in what more people think about this...

[dur]

It's not only a problem with the plastic on the lcd, but also a problem with the plastic on the unit itself. My Powerbook as small gaps all around the unit. I'm feeling as if I'm paying Apple $1800 to become a product tester

So far I've had the following problems:
- hinge button silver 'paint' darkening/peeling
- bad trackpad button
- plastic pieces separating from aluminum
- weird resuming from sleep problems (open screen, unit turns on, then goes back to sleep again)

I really want to take my unit in for service, but I need it for work at this moment

I can see myself in a switch-back commercial complaining about how both Apple products I've owned have had QA problems ... Oh, and with OS X, I don't get OS crashes like Windows, but I DO get applications not responding and crashes ALL the time.

Sorry, I sometimes feel like the only reason why I'm sticking to my PB just b/c it looks good

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Rivak:
i wouldn't consider it faulty. after all, it's a computer remember? everything else works, the aluminum casing is just a little wonky.

i'd be interested in what more people think about this...

If I paid $2000 for anything that started to come apart at the seams within a few weeks, I'd be raising hell.

As it is, I'm paying $2600 for mine (640 MB, 60 GB, SuperDrive, Airport Extreme, + VATax), and I'll be damned if the thing isn't going straight back for something like that.

-s*

[dur]

Also, it's been such common knowledge now about Apple and the quality of their products, that some people are avoiding their Rev A units. Apple's profit maxizing scheme of letting the lowest bidders manufacture their products (thus lower quality products), but charging a premium for their computers... is really pissing off those customers who are getting defective units.