A few weeks ago my laptop started displaying strange discoloration and fuzzy vertical lines on the display, and then crashing after a few minutes use. The problem is consistant but occurs differently each time. Every time I turn on the computer it is an adventure…assuming it will even boot, which half the time it won’t.
There is a thread on the Apple support site with over 100 postings by people experiencing similar problems. I’d call this a known problem, but Apple refuses to acknowledge it. My laptop is a little over a year and a half old and thus far past the 1 year warranty period, and I didn’t purchase the $350 AppleCare 3 year extended warranty. The consensus seems to be that to fix this problem requires a replacement logic board and display clamshell, which, with repair costs added in, adds up to around $1,100. Understand that this laptop only cost something like $1,800. I don’t want to pay any money, and I don’t want a new laptop, but for how much these repairs are likely to cost, I don’t really know what to do. It is certainly not worth it to plunk down $1,100 when that is above what my current laptop goes for on eBay. And yet I don’t have $2,000 or so that I want to spend to get a new one. This laptop has served me incredibly well for the 19 months I’ve had it and I’m very happy with it, but this recent turn of events is very disheartening.
One thing is for sure — the next PowerBook I get is going to include that pesky $350 AppleCare service plan.
fuck apple and fuck them not acknowledging their mistakes…i literally have to hold my power cord against the computer these days in order for it to charge… i’ve realized it’s an internal problem so i’m gonna try to get it fixed when i’m home. there’s a big petition/law suit online about this first generation ibook issues and like hundreds of people have signed it…including myself…
it’s too bad i’ve found your agblog, enabling me to have more material to make fun of you with (who me?) plus learning that now i can’t buy your powerbook from you even though i’m not sure how serious you were when you offered to sell it to me (“so i can buy the new pretty titanium one!” says Danny).
that was a long sentence. but have no fear, i probably could have said it in one breath.
have a good break!
Oy vey. I love my darling PowerBook, but twice I got bizarre random lines up the screen, which absolutely no one had an explanation for, but they certainly wouldn’t go away. I’ve also gone through four power cords now.
Yeah, the $350 for AppleCare is more than worth it. Or maybe I just drop my computer too often.
Wowsers, *four* power cords? I’m on my second, personally. Something called an iGo Juice that is a bit bulky but looks like it’ll last longer then Apple’s offering.
Not that it really matters now… *sniff*
Well, I probably didn’t absolutely need to replace the last one, but after the first three, I got a bit paranoid… First one died my freshman year and fried my logic board or something like that. (If I actually knew anything about computers, I could probably tell you more.) But luckily not until 10 minutes after I printed my last paper out.
The next two just broke so I needed new ones so I could, y’know, plug my computer in. The one I replaced this semester was because mine started having trouble charging and I’m paranoid about, well, frying my computer again if it goes.