Macbook Repair: Fan Noise

Recently I had a sudden problem with the fan in my 13" Macbook. It had been running fine all morning, but when I left the room and came back, it was suddenly roaring loudly. Fearing that my fan had died, I shut down the computer and let it sit before rebooting it once more. The problem persisted, and I called apple care.

By this time I had looked at the readings given by iStat Pro and noted that when the fan was making the noise I was hearing, the program reported that the fan was running at 0rpm. The tech support operator had me do a PRAM reset, and once this failed to resolve the problem, he booked an appointment for me the next day at the local Apple store.

I went in and was greeted by a genius who wasn't the world's most personable...person. He assumed I was ignorant and tried to tell me that since he could hear nothing happening at that time, that there was no problem with the computer. I showed him this video I had taken in advance in the event that he might say exactly that.



I also told him that the above application had enabled me to see that the fan was indeed not working properly, to which he responded that since the program was not an official apple product, that it was not accurate. I told him that I at least wanted the computer to be opened and looked at as it was apparent that something was obstructing the the fan. He agreed and I signed all the necessary paperwork and left.

Later that day I received a phone call that the repair had been finished. The fan was replaced and some dust had been blown out. I didn't have time to pick up my computer until a few days later, but when I went back, I witnessed a genius dealing with an infuriated man who just could not comprehend the concept of logging into an itunes account. I don't blame them for assuming everyone is ignorant now.

By the way, the repair was fully covered under my apple care plan. I'm so happy I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the full three years.

New iTunes Movie Rental Service

Last night I rented Pirates of the Caribbean 3 from the iTunes Store. $3.99 and about 30 minutes later, I was watching a good movie I hadn't seen before, probably wouldn't be able to sit through again, and was done with it. It worked.

The positives of the movie rental service is that it it's relatively cheap, pretty fast, and you can watch it whenever you want as long as you get to it within 30 days of the download. When I subscribed to netflix, I was amazingly happy with the home delivery service. However, since the instant download feature was not compatible with the Mac OS, I was unable to take advantage of downloading a movie quickly to my computer.

The negatives are that, yes, you have those thirty days to decide when you want to watch the movie, but once you hit that play button, you have to watch it within 24 hours before it becomes disabled. And forget watching the movie with people. At least in my case, I find it a bit uncomfortable to try and squeeze people around my 13-inch Macbook. Also, there aren't many movies to choose from yet, and many of the ones are available aren't available for purchase. What happens if you like a movie and want to purchase the movie for keeps? Hopefully as the service grows, there will be a bigger selection and the purchase availability will be better as well.

So, all in all, it's a good service if you want to watch a movie NOWNOWNOW and alone. And just one time.

MacStyles

Today I got my MacStyles in the mail and I have to say I'm pretty pleased. Aside from some inevitable bubbling, the application process went relatively smoothly. Here are some pictures of my baby with its new clothes.








If you're interested, you can order your own at the MacStyles website.

I'll report back in a few days to see if the bubbles have gone away.

Edit: Awhile later, some of the bubbles have yet to go away. It's most likely my error in application. I still like the macstyles anyway :)

My terrible Macbook.

With the biggest shopping day of the year coming up tomorrow, I figure what better time than now to discuss this matter.

I purchased my Macbook about a year ago in September and was thrilled with it. It had a lot of cool features, and its operating system had a lot of features that windows didn't. However, about 2 months later, I had an adapter problem and decided that I was going to fork over the extra couple hundred dollars to get an Apple Care plan. A few months after that, my machine developed the flicker that can be seen here. This is not my machine, but my machine has the exact same problem.

Now, I'd like to point out that my $400 HP laptop had a complete motherboard failure 6 months after its purchase. However, the customer service was amazing and they had it repaired in no time. Apple's customer service is AWFUL. In order to have anything done with your computer, you have to set up an appointment with a Genius over the phone, then cart yourself and your computer to the store and deal with these snarky jerks with over-inflated egos who are apparently the next up and coming Steve Jobs and have no time to deal. And don't you dare try to speak to one without an appointment! They have no time for you little people.

Just two days ago, my $1200 macbook developed yet another issue. Now when the battery nears fully charged, the adapter light flashes back and forth from green to orange, and the battery status goes from "charging" to "fully charged" over and over. This too seems to be a normal problem, and I'm going to need to get my computer looked at by a wonderful Genius so I can potentially get a new battery. Lovely. How about making a product that works.

And that $400 HP laptop? Still running. Could use some RAM and a little TLC, but after 4 years, I think that's pretty impressive.

I don't think I'll ever buy another Macintosh computer.