Where I have been and how I scored a new PowerBook

Recent updates to this site have been sparse, mostly for one reason: I was stuck with a 400 Mhz ruby iMac a friend loaned me while my 500 Mhz PowerBook was at Apple for repairs. I really appreciated the loaner as it would at least allow me to get some work done and check my mail, but writing on it was rather awkward. Last Monday I got a call by Apple telling me they checked my PowerBook out and were going to replace it. Yesterday I went to pick it up and was pleasantly surprised…

My Ti 500 had been back to Apple about 3 or 4 times (I am actually not sure how often) for pretty much the same reason. The screen kept doing a funky thing that started with a line appearing horizontally across the screen and usually ended with a psychedelic looking effect of the screen turning all colors. Looked quite cool, actually, but regretfully also rendered my Ti useless.

Usually I would be able to get rid of the funkyness by closing the lid and waiting for it to go to sleep, then re-opening the lid. But often even this did not take care of the problem.

I never really was mad at Apple for the Ti having these defects. 3, even 4 times back to the mothership in two years, did not seem excessive to me. I do carry it with me wherever I go, after all, and get more hours of use out of it per day than anything else I own. (with the exception of my iPod of course)

All repairs were also covered by Apple Care and never took longer than 8 days, so I really did not see it as much more than an inconvenience.

But Apple gradually replaced every piece in the unit. Some parts, like the screen and top casing, as often as 3 times. In the end the only thing that remained the same was the serial number. Everything was new, but the problem persisted.

I guess they finally looked at the economics and figured it would be cheaper to just hand me a new one.

So Monday I got a call informing me of their decision. I got the message in a rather loud environment on my cell phone. I wasn’t quite sure if I had heard correctly that I was to get a 667 Mhz unit with combo drive.

“Cool,” I thought. Checking the specs online and drooling over the awesomeness of a vast 16 mb video card, and marveling at the prospect of a 667 Mhz chip, hoping desperately I had heard correctly.

Then yesterday I went to pick up the new computer. Keith, the resident Genius??, put a box containing a 867 Mhz Ti on the counter. I just stared at it for a couple of seconds and then asked “Is that what I think it is?” He smirked and said “yup.”

So now I am the proud owner of a spanking-new 867 Mhz Titanium PowerBook. Free of charge. How cool is that?

I can burn CDs on the internal burner, have a screen with a higher resolution and brightness and of course a better chip and architecture, such as 1 mb L3 cache, that make my old Ti seem like an alterian megadonkey with foot disease.

It is so much faster it is actually disconcerting. How else could you describe Safari opening in one “bounce” rather than 5, like it used to?

Not to mention the 32 mb Radeon 9000 video card in there that puts the 8 mb card in my old Ti to shame. It will actually allow me to play the odd game on the road or between classes. (Neverwinter Night, here I come…)

So now that I have a new wireless equipped computer I can take and sit with anywhere in the condo, rather than crouching in front of a rather half-assed set up iMac, on the living room floor, the post frequency should pick up quite a bit.

Not to mention my appreciation for Apple Care and the awesome people at the International Plaza Mall Apple Store. Maybe I’ll name my first born after them… International P. M. Meyer has a nice ring to it.

I’d like to thank Joseph C. for loaning me his iMac though. Quite a nice computer considering it is a 1999 model. No wonder previous people he loaned it to were not exactly fast about giving it back to him.