verspagen.nl - Apple blues

The first computer I ever worked on was a Mac, way back in 1984 when it had just appeared on the Dutch market. After that, I actually bought a TI96a, and several CPM machines after that one, until I switched to a PC, and stayed on the MsDos/Windows/Intel platform. A couple of years ago, I bought an iMac just for fun. But when Apple went Intel, it was time to make a more determined comeback to the Mac.

A Powerbook Pro it was. I bought it about a year ago. Right from the start, the plan was to run WinXP on it, just because that is now the OS I am most familiar with, and I have invested in software that runs on it. I decided on Bootcamp as the way to install WinXP (and OSX). Apple designers are fantastic, and everyone who saw my brand new powerbook pro really liked it. So did I. And then I started installing WinXP on Bootcamp. My (legal!) WinXP version was a so-called update version, which means it requires me to insert an old Windows version cd during the install process. No problem, I had several of them ready to be used, from good-old Win95/98 to the Win2000 that had served me very well for several years. Everything was running smoothly, with the familiar blue Win-install screens.

Then I was prompted to insert the old windows cd. I opted for the oldest I had, a Win95 disk. But the brand new WinXP disk was still inside. "Hmm... such a nice frontloading dvd-drive, I wonder how you eject the disk at this stage of the install-procedure? Well, the key marked "eject" doesn't work... given that we don't have much of OS running at this stage, that doesn't surprise me. Well, no problem. I am sure those brilliant Apple designers have installed one of these little buttons that will eject the cd." So I stared at the machine for a while, but no such button to be seen. Not even one of those "paperclip holes". "Hmm, let's have a look at the bootcamp manual." Well, sure enough, there it is: the small print says that you cannot use an update version to install Windows. The only **** reason for that is that those brilliant Apple designers are too lazy to install one of those little buttons!! Google only reveals that there are more people struggling with the problem to eject a cd/dvd, but Apple had no solution. Great. (The only way I was able to solve this one was using a non-update WinXP install cd, "borrowed" from a friend, and entering my update-code. I am not sure this is a legal thing to do, but if Bill has me arrested I will blame it on Apple. I can't believe the arrogance of these designers to simply forget such a little button).

A well, everything is running smooth, and I even get used to using OSX as a Unix, instead of the old Linux box I had been ignoring too much. And then, the 1-year warranty runs out. (No, I didn't buy extended warranty). A hot day in July, I am in my living room looking at some email. A bug crawls on my screen. "Oh wait, it isn't exactly on my screen, it appears to be inside!". Yes, indeed, a bug, about 3 mm long and 1 mm thick, is walking on my desktop, apparantly under the lcd...! It is a mystery to me how it was able to get there, since the top of the machine is closed quite firmly, and there are no obvious holes it could have used to travel in. I shut down the machine, and hope the bug will crawl out. Next day I notice that it hasn't. In fact, it seems to have died, while it was not far off the center of my desktop. Great! On the picture I have on my desktop, it appears hidden in the grass just near a leg of my horse, but as soon as I start a program with a light background, it appears as a huge black spot. It reminds me of the origin of the term "bug" to describe a programming error (it originated in the Manchester computer center, when a real bug got stucj on a punchcard or something). At this point I am sure I must have been only the second person in the world to have been hit by a "real" bug instead of the proverbal one. But now Google is more help than it was in the cd-eject case. On top of the list is a forum on which several people have reported a similar real bug. And all of them have Mac powerbooks...! One of them suggests that perhaps a batch of eggs of these little buggers has entered the lcd-factory that Apple uses. I have no clue whether it is biologically possible that one of these eggs hatches after having been inside my screen for more than a year, but it sounds fair enough given that it is hard to see how the grown-up bug could have entered the lcd. In any case, it's not exactly a premium recommendation to the (Apple?) guys who designed and manufactured that lcd. I am actually getting a bit dissapointed with my powerbook...

And then yesterday, another (the final?) blow... I was taking a day off of my vacation, and went into the office. I was working in the train like I always do, and when we entered the station, I closed the cover, and put the powerbook away. After a short bike-ride I arrived in my office, ready to transfer the work to my usb key to be copied onto the office desktop. "Hmm... the cursor seems to be stuck, I can't get back into Windows. Oh-wow, not even ctrl-alt-del seems to work! I guess we will have to boot the hardest of all ways, the power-button." And so I did. But the trackpad didn't work after the boot, and neither did the keyboard. I managed to get my files off by attaching a usb-mouse, but the machine kept being unmanageable without that external mouse or an external keyboard. So I took it to a repairshop, and I am waiting for their verdict.

Of course, these things can happen with any machine... but it had not happened to me for several years now. With the issues I have had with this Mac, I am simply not sure if my next notebook will be a powerbook.

PS. When I brought the machine into the repairshop, I asked them to have a look at the bug and see if they could remove it. Well, they couldn't. They could fix my screen by replacing it, though. Together with a new topcase that would solve the mouse & keyboard issue, that would cost me a 1000 euros.