from the edge of the deep green sea

I really don’t know how to start writing this, it is like writing crap about your long known best friend, but here it goes. I purchased a MacBook Pro about the week after they hit the market. I was in Boston for a week and the day before I had to leave I got a call from the Apple store that had me on the waiting list and told me they had one with my name. I rushed to new Hampshire and bought the portable thinking it was going to be one of the best investments. To this day, my MacBook Pro has travelled with me on various occasions from Costa Rica to the US – but not under the best of circumstances.

The first problem I saw with my MacBook was in October, when I would be on an airplane with my battery showing 100% charge and then the damn thing would shut itself off. No warning, no foretelling – nada – a hard shut-down. After calling Apple they agreed on sending me a battery for replacement. The one I got was non-functional at all. It was bloated and in now way fit would fit the MBP. After spending what I think was 2 hours total time with an Apple rep, they sent me another battery and the problem was solved…yay.

In December a new problem showed up, the Mac Book Pro would shut itself off, even when connected to the AC adapter. So once again, I had to take portable back to the US to send it in for repairs. A few days later I received the MBP and the problem was gone; but a new one showed its ugly ugly head.

I use the DVI adaptor to hook up monitors. The latest in this hardware-crap bonanza is that now the screen will not stop flickering when it has a DVI adaptor. I called Apple again and once more need to the damn POS for repairs…see below (video made by a guy on this thread):

It is a good thing my work requires constant traveling to the US, or else I would need to send it via Costa Rica’s Apple repersentative, which just plain sucks – it would take me 30 days to get my machine back. However, when I travel to the US I need to take two computers: my MacBook from work and my broken MBP. This is quickly becoming a major PITA due to security checks, the weigh of my backpack, and all those little things that make me want to smash my MBP and forget about the whole ordeal.

Now this rant is not a “I am never buying Apple stuff ever” post. This is to share my bitter experiences so people will refrain from buying 1st generation from Apple in the future. This MBP cost $2000 back in the day – due to the fact that is breaking down so often, it was a no brainer to but the Applecare Pro plan. $2K is a heavy investment on a machine, and it should not be giving me this much crap in less than a year. Now these problems are in now way unique to my machine, they are very well documented in the MacInTouch Forums. If I was Apple, I would have replaced this machine a long time ago with a functional unit. As I have said before, sometimes I feel Apple takes advantage of the loyalty of their customers. I can guarantee that if this had happened with a Dell machine, the Mac zealot in me would have written a very different blog than this one.

I love my MBP, I really do…when it works the way it is supposed to, which is not happening very often.