iBook + Floor = Unhappy user

The new MacBook Pros come with a feature called Magsafe - a power cord that's magnetically coupled, so that if someone trips over the power cable, the cable comes clean away, and your notebook doesn't come crashing down to the floor.

When I first read this, I thought "Interesting feature. Innovative design. Bit pointless really - I mean, come on - did they get that many complaints about notebooks plummeting to the ground held in the death-grip of a power cable that just wouldn't let go?"

I now join the ranks of the sadder and wiser.



Last night, after a frustrating hour spent trying to fix a suddenly malfunctioning wireless connection (that's another story), I stood up from my chair and walked away, to find my iBook following me ... over the edge of the table ... and on to the floor. Pulled by the power cable. As a bonus, the plug part of the power adaptor (where it plugs into the iBook) also got trashed in the process, squashed out of shape, so I'm short of one power adaptor as well.

The iBook still works, but as you can see from the photographs, the lid is completely misaligned, sitting at a slant to the rest of the notebook. This is why the old TiBook has been called out of retirement, and why the iBook is going to the shop for repairs this afternoon. I should send the TiBook in as well (a bunch of problems with this machine), but I'll rotate them.

Needless to say, I'm not quite happy at the moment.

Update: The repair centre quoted a ballpark figure of up to $1000 (to be confirmed) - this is assuming that the entire screen/lid is replaced. It'll probably be lower, but when I heard it, the first thing that came to mind was to go and check prices on a MacBook. The actual quotation should come in today, after they've had a chance to examine the iBook properly.

Comments

Tym said…
Whoa! Sorry to hear it :((( At least you have a backup machine...
å„’ said…
i was going to blog about the loss of my power adaptor, but was too upset at that time. even the G3 power adaptor was screwed, so i didn't have the backup machine that i thought i did. anyway, i bought a 3rd party power adaptor that takes both the G3 and G4 pins. Let me know if you want to know where to get it.
tscd said…
Aargh! Breaking a computer is like breaking your own heart. I feel your pain. Hope all your data is retrievable!
å„’ said…
MacBook prices are about $3500 and $4500 at the Macshop. (can't check exact figure cos i gave the pamphlet away.)
wahj said…
Ru:
$3,556.35, educational pricing, for the minimum config I want. = ) I've checked ...

... think I'll have to save up for this one. Thinking end of year purchase

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