My Mac Plus lasted almost a dozen years. I got my garage sale beige minitower G3/233 five years ago and it’s still going strong. But my brand-new G3 iBook/900 has fried three logic boards in fourteen months.
Woz forgive me, but Apple tastes a little sour lately.
I wrote about My First Mac here. It was an Ode to the Apple, and how much I loved it. No matter what Hubby said about Macs going the way of Beta video and 8-track tapes, I never wavered in my Apple devotion. And in February 2004, I got my iBook.
My iBook baby and I have uncovered four generations of genealogical research. Together, we blazed our way through my first magazine contract. But I hadn’t owned it a year (heck, I hadn’t owned it 9 months) when the logic board gave out.
One minute I’m downloading census images of my newly discovered ancestor, and the next Apple Care is telling me I’ve got to pack my baby into a cardboard box and send it off to Cupertino for resuscitation.
It came back quickly enough, ready and raring to go, but this has happened three times already. Isn’t there a lemon law for stuff like this?
I’m kind of stuck now, waiting for its release from Intensive Care. All my notes, photos, and drafts of future posts are on the hard drive (backed up to an external drive, of course) but now my only computer access is Hubby’s Windows Demon.
Even though his PC is restrained with silver spyware chains and garlic virus wreaths, I still need to sprinkle it with holy water every now and then, just to remind it who’s boss.
And then there’s the whole cold turkey thing. IBook withdrawal is right up there with caffeine withdrawal. It’s painful.
At least this statement on my last AppleCare Repair Service Details receipt provides some hope:
If, after a reasonable number of attempts, the defect has not been fixed, the buyer may return this product for a replacement or a refund subject, in either case, to deduction of a reasonable charge for usage.
But what is “a reasonable number of attempts” at a repair?
While looking for these terms at the Apple Support forums I found two threads that are somewhat comforting: “iBook G3 800mHz Logic Board Issue” and “Lemon Ibook?”
So four repairs seems to be the point where Apple throws in the towel.
When I finally get my iBook back from the repair center I’ll just keep steady with the backups and hope for the best.
And practice my succinct and single-mindedly polite requests for a dependable replacement.