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klitaka

As bad as it gets

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May. 14th, 2008 | 21:05
GPS: 99204
zeitgeist: amused amused
now playing: “07 - 1-2 Crush on You” - The Clash

Here are the haps, my friends:

Monday:
• Left my cell phone on the bus. Freak out for about ten minutes, then fret for another twenty before meeting the bus on its way back and claiming said phone from the driver.
• Noted that the laptop-end of the AC/DC adapter/power supply was unusually warm, and more kinked than remembered. Also: kind of melty.

Tuesday:
• Noted that the kink in the wire, where it enters the laptop plug, was not just warm, but more hot and melty. Predicted failure the next day.
• Noted that the topcase (keyboard, trackpad, and palmrest) has cracked more. Decide to look into repair, Friday, after presentation for which laptop is needed.

Wednesday:
• Woke up to find that the laptop-side plug was behaving erratically, 12h ahead of schedule at least. Decide to wait until Thursday afternoon to see about replacing it, and steal borrow father's MacBook Pro's power supply if needed. Disconnect laptop and take it with.
• Return with a 30% charge, plug in the laptop, dick around on the internet for a few minutes before noting "OH SHIT IT'S SPARKING AND SMOKING!" Quickly unplug it, grab a MacBook Pro adapter, and inspect the plug. Large holes in the plastic sheath. Welp, looks like it's time to replace it.
• Go find local apple-care place. Get replacement power supply, get topcase ordered, chat about how the topcase replacement will take 30 min tops, and about how it's a pain to open iBooks. Will return Friday to replace the topcase when it comes in. Leave with shiny, new power supply which should not have the design flaws of the Rev b Magsafe power adapters.


Basically, that's as bad as it gets for me + tech. I mention it not because I'm complaining, but because I find life really amusing. If it's software, I can usually fix it.
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Comments {8}

BatJen

(no subject)

from: [info]batgirl_forever
date: May. 15th, 2008 04:29 (UTC)

*glancing down at warm computer in lap, thinks back to own magnetic power cable*


Uhm, is there something I should be worried about???? / What warning signs should I watch for????

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 15th, 2008 05:36 (UTC)

I wouldn't be worried.
1) it was a model with a much smaller rubber cuff around the cable. They realised that the problem happened, and made moves to correct it; the cuff is several millmetres longer.
2) It's a year-and-a-half old (the
3) before it started shorting, I noticed that the cable was bent in its sheath, just a few millimetres from where it goes into the magnetic plug; that was some months ago, and the cable had become rather stiff.
4) The bend became a kink, and the kink started to get hot in the past couple weeks. Then it got melty. Then the connection became finicky. Then the thing started sparking and I totally freaked out and yanked it from my laptop.

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Tora Kiyoshi

(no subject)

from: [info]torakiyoshi
date: May. 15th, 2008 06:39 (UTC)

Meanwhile, I tend to be slightly more adept in the hardware department than in the software. I can poke software with a stick until it works, but I can usually figure out what's wrong with hardware and get it switched/fixed right away.

-=TK

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 15th, 2008 06:45 (UTC)

I'm actually pretty decent with hardware. The only problem is that I'm not an authorised AppleCare service provider, which means I can't order or install the part I need. It's a laptop. It's under warranty. I take it in to be repaired elsewhere so I don't void its warranty.

Plus, laptops tend to be a little trickier.

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Tora Kiyoshi

(no subject)

from: [info]torakiyoshi
date: May. 15th, 2008 07:09 (UTC)

That is an advantage to the cloned parts. It's unfortunate that it did not take off with Macintosh ten years ago. Still, it was a noble effort.

-=TK

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 15th, 2008 07:23 (UTC)

Ooh! Mac History!

It's fairly easy to make a mac "clone" these days what with a little elbogrease, headlightfluid, and an OSX86 disk image.

The real reason that the clones died back eleven years ago is because of Steve Jobs. See, now Apple was in dire straits, and people were telling them right and left to give up and license Windows to the Mac hardware.

Enter Jobs.

He returned and felt that the Mac lineup was too fragmented. He also returned bearing the seed called NeXT Step OS — eventually becoming "Copeland" which was initially going to be OS 9 (though only a few of the changes ever made it into the release of OS9 — most of them backend, but none revolutionary. It was rather like Vista in that respect).

I tell about the software, because it's so tied to the hardware, too. Jobs stripped the product lines down to four simple products in a two-by-two grid. One pro, one consumer; one laptop and one desktop for each.

To help cut this fragmentation, Jobs stopped allowing other manufacturers to make PPC clones. Plus, this let Apple control its hardware, allowing it to control the quality, and to make sure that all models would work with every OS, instead of things conflicting and breaking in software. Control of hardware and software, working together, and controlling the end-to-end experience. It allows Apple to make high-quality things. Not cheap, but not low quality, either.


If you want to know, I drank Jobs' kool-aid long ago.

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Stormraider

(no subject)

from: [info]stormraiderdude
date: May. 15th, 2008 22:24 (UTC)

Mag(safe)

Irony is always amusing.

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 16th, 2008 04:39 (UTC)

Well, the pull–away magnetic cable duckhead has saved my tail more than once, even if it died this time. After a year–and–a–half of usage. By a power–user.

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