We Can Rebuild It

I realize that cataloguing bad user interfaces would be a never-ending task, but it feels almost notable when Apple does it this badly. In the screenshot above, the repair status of my powerbook is not ordered chronologically but alphabetically, by status. Duh.

Right. The powerbook is being repaired. It hurts so bad!

1. Some distracted motherfucker at ILC 2003 tripped over my powercord while running and talking on his cell phone at the same time, which tweaked my motherboard enough to disable the modem.
2. When running on battery power, sometimes the backlight goes out and refuses to turn on again until I put the computer to sleep and wake it up again.
3. I can burn about 80% of a CD before the drive overheats and errors out.
4. Finally, last week I opened the lid and a little piece of what I like to imagine was aerospace-grade titanium popped off and suddenly the LCD was connected to the rest of the machine by one fewer hinge than previously.

That doesn't seem too bad for two-and-a-half years of John-time. They'll also be replacing the top case, which at this point has had most of its paint worn away and is a lot of bare metal. It looked cool, but I guess I don't want it to actually corrode.

Actually, when the hinge blew out I was pretty sure I was going to have to get a new powerbook, which while exhilarating also made me feel a little sick to my stomach--An unexpected $3000 expenditure a month before Christmas? Ouch. Luckily someone told me that AppleCare lasts three years, not the two I thought it was good for.

I've been using a PC laptop with both XP Professional and Fedora Core 3 as a powerbook subtitute. Again, ouch.

Posted by jjwiseman at December 06, 2004 11:48 AM