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Beelsebob writes "Apple have put out a recall on a certain group of PowerBook G4 batteries. If you have a PowerBook G4 (Aluminum) 15" and your battery's model number is A1045, and its serial number starts HQ404, HQ405, HQ406, HQ407, or HQ408, then you could be at risk of it overheating."
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For a company that puts so much emphasis on portable devices, Apple certainly has a lot of problems [ipodbatteryfaq.com] with [macnn.com] batteries [operationgadget.com].
This is actually somewhat surprising as Apple has always been careful not to burn people's laps. Dell laptops, OTOH, have been known to cause injuries from the high temperatures at which they operate. I'm guessing that's why Apple has been so careful about the temperature of their laptops.
FYI, the iBook I'm typing this on keeps cool enough not to even need the fan running. The only time the fan kicks in is when I place it on a poor surface (e.g. a blanket while watching a movie). Even then, it never gets hot enough to burn.
Perhaps this only occurs under certain power draw situations? Or perhaps it's a run of defective batteries?
For a company that puts so much emphasis on portable devices, Apple certainly has a lot of problems...
I don't think that's a paradox -- Apple is continually pushing to have the smallest, lightest, longest-lasting portable devices and that means early adoption of new battery technology and enclosures. It's not surprising that their products run into more issues than boat-anchor Toshibas or MP3 players powered by AA batteries.
They aren't just replacing a defective (and potentially very dangerous) part, nor are they providing the expected warrantee services, they're giving you something for free! How nice of them!
"The tires sold with the car were defective, and the treads seperated at highway speeds, and I'm now a quadrapalegic and both my children are dead. But check it out, Ford's giving me free tires! What an AWESOME compnay!"
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Thursday August 19, 2004 @02:21PM (#10015223)
The typical reaction of the Apple fan when there is an issue with Apple products is to find a PC product that's even worse.
"The fan on my eMac is pretty loud."
"Nonsense, I rarely hear it at all. Besides, the fan on my cousins brothers roommates PC is much louder."
"Why is my 12" Powerbook so hot and is the fan running all the time, even when I'm only typing a text document?"
"The fan is for your own good, imagine how hot it would get if it didn't run. Besides, my co-worker's laptop is much hotter and the fan is much louder."
"Why am I getting just 3 hours on my Powerbook battery rather than the advertised 5?"
"3 is very good dude, my PC only lasts 2 hours and it was advertised as 6!"
"I don't think I'll buy Apple again, my iBook was in repair three times last year."
"Be glad you got such excellent service, [generic PC laptop] falls appart in 6 months, and they probably won't even repair it."
They're not _that_ hot. They are very warm, but they don't burn you. It's the side effect of having a case made out of aluminum (what do they make heatsinks out of? aluminum.)
I can only get mine (15", 1.33GHz) warm enough to turn the fan on when I'm using 100% CPU _and_ GPU. The CPU alone doesn't get it too hot.
1. "The OS is proprietary, as is the hardware. Expensive and hard to come by." Actually, the OS is only partly proprietary. Darwin (the part that "has teh UNIX!") is open.
2. "The elitist stigma that would come with owning one." Mac users can't be elitists because elitists think they're better. We know we're better. (it's a joke, laugh!)
1) Extremely annoying Mac zealots chanting "It has teh UNIX!" when they have no clue what that means.
There are extremely annoying Windows and Linux users as well. There are even extremely annoying people who don't use computers. So what?
2) "Total Cost of 0wnership" study showing how laughably weak MacOS is, even though "it has teh UNIX!"
Sorry, what are you referring to?
3) The OS is proprietary, as is the hardware. Expensive and hard to come by.
Yes, the OS and hardware are proprietary. That's not going to change.
Expensive is relative. For some people, dealing with Linux (for example) is an expensive proposition as well, which can involve spending considerable time and money learning it. There's also the question of resale value, where Macs do considerably better than PCs of similar age. (Whether you consider it lunacy or not, a 400 MHz PowerMac circa 2000 fetches about the same price as a brand new 2.4GHz Dell desktop.)
Hard to come by? Apple sells computers right on its website, if you don't have a retailer near you. Recent Macs use standard hard drives, RAM, as well as various Firewire and USB peripherals.
4) The elitist stigma that would come with owning one. (I don't think they'll sell you one unless you have an aloof attitude, a goatee and a pair of those fashionably thick-framed rectangular eyeglasses.)
Wow, you really do let image get in the way of your computer purchase decisions. You are even more like those you criticize - yeah, those who buy Macs because of their pretty cases - than many actual Mac owners.
Apple is just as susceptible to flaws like this as anyone else. I prefer the more ubiquitous and affordable hardware.
That's certainly your right, but you don't have a right to dress up that personal preference in pseudo-technical babble.
You want a low up-front cost. Great, but that doesn't mean a computer with a higher up-front cost has a low value.
You want the most common hardware. Great, but that doesn't mean another computer is "hard to come by".
You want non-proprietary software. Great, but that doesn't mean you can't run Linux or a Mac, or that you're not paying Microsoft when you buy that Dell. Want a PC without paying Microsoft? You may find the selection to be as limited as Macs.
Finally, you don't like the image of Mac owners and zealots. Great, but your insecurities are your own.
And you didn't even link the most dramatic case, that of actual exploding batteries. And no, this isn't some Nokia-like third party battery situation, these were the real Apple-supplied batteries (though that article does go out of the way to point out they were "Sony-made").
Apple's got some real quality control issues, despite their reputation.
Too bad (for you) that not a single one of those 5300s exploded in the lap of a customer, because Apple found out about the problem before any machines where shipped. Which means they had good quality control. Quite unlike Dell, over and over again.
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Friday August 20, 2004 @12:29AM (#10019749)
The PowerBook in the X-ray is at least 2 1/2 years old, though (you can see it's a VGA TiBook). And the newer PBG4s require a different battery pack, which for all I know could have some wacky kind of cell inside it.
Bah (Score:1, Insightful)
Year of the Portable my butt (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:replace (Score:3, Insightful)
FYI, the iBook I'm typing this on keeps cool enough not to even need the fan running. The only time the fan kicks in is when I place it on a poor surface (e.g. a blanket while watching a movie). Even then, it never gets hot enough to burn.
Perhaps this only occurs under certain power draw situations? Or perhaps it's a run of defective batteries?
Re:Year of the Portable my butt (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think that's a paradox -- Apple is continually pushing to have the smallest, lightest, longest-lasting portable devices and that means early adoption of new battery technology and enclosures. It's not surprising that their products run into more issues than boat-anchor Toshibas or MP3 players powered by AA batteries.
Re:Apple fanboys !!! (Score:2, Insightful)
They aren't just replacing a defective (and potentially very dangerous) part, nor are they providing the expected warrantee services, they're giving you something for free! How nice of them!
"The tires sold with the car were defective, and the treads seperated at highway speeds, and I'm now a quadrapalegic and both my children are dead. But check it out, Ford's giving me free tires! What an AWESOME compnay!"
Re:Year of the Portable my butt (Score:1, Insightful)
"The fan on my eMac is pretty loud."
"Nonsense, I rarely hear it at all. Besides, the fan on my cousins brothers roommates PC is much louder."
"Why is my 12" Powerbook so hot and is the fan running all the time, even when I'm only typing a text document?"
"The fan is for your own good, imagine how hot it would get if it didn't run. Besides, my co-worker's laptop is much hotter and the fan is much louder."
"Why am I getting just 3 hours on my Powerbook battery rather than the advertised 5?"
"3 is very good dude, my PC only lasts 2 hours and it was advertised as 6!"
"I don't think I'll buy Apple again, my iBook was in repair three times last year."
"Be glad you got such excellent service, [generic PC laptop] falls appart in 6 months, and they probably won't even repair it."
One could argue... (Score:3, Insightful)
One could argue that they were never in the gene pool to begin with.
Re:replace (Score:5, Insightful)
I can only get mine (15", 1.33GHz) warm enough to turn the fan on when I'm using 100% CPU _and_ GPU. The CPU alone doesn't get it too hot.
Re:I used to be sold on PowerBooks (Score:2, Insightful)
2) You can secure it easily.
3) It's expensive, not sure what you mean by hard to come by. Perhaps you mean that there aren't as many spare parts around?
4) And Linux doesn't have a stigma?
5) This is for early 15 inch powerbooks. Not going to be an issue for newer ones.
Re:I used to be sold on PowerBooks (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, the OS is only partly proprietary. Darwin (the part that "has teh UNIX!") is open.
2. "The elitist stigma that would come with owning one."
Mac users can't be elitists because elitists think they're better. We know we're better. (it's a joke, laugh!)
Re:I used to be sold on PowerBooks (Score:3, Insightful)
There are extremely annoying Windows and Linux users as well. There are even extremely annoying people who don't use computers. So what?
2) "Total Cost of 0wnership" study showing how laughably weak MacOS is, even though "it has teh UNIX!"
Sorry, what are you referring to?
3) The OS is proprietary, as is the hardware. Expensive and hard to come by.
Yes, the OS and hardware are proprietary. That's not going to change.
Expensive is relative. For some people, dealing with Linux (for example) is an expensive proposition as well, which can involve spending considerable time and money learning it. There's also the question of resale value, where Macs do considerably better than PCs of similar age. (Whether you consider it lunacy or not, a 400 MHz PowerMac circa 2000 fetches about the same price as a brand new 2.4GHz Dell desktop.)
Hard to come by? Apple sells computers right on its website, if you don't have a retailer near you. Recent Macs use standard hard drives, RAM, as well as various Firewire and USB peripherals.
4) The elitist stigma that would come with owning one. (I don't think they'll sell you one unless you have an aloof attitude, a goatee and a pair of those fashionably thick-framed rectangular eyeglasses.)
Wow, you really do let image get in the way of your computer purchase decisions. You are even more like those you criticize - yeah, those who buy Macs because of their pretty cases - than many actual Mac owners.
Apple is just as susceptible to flaws like this as anyone else. I prefer the more ubiquitous and affordable hardware.
That's certainly your right, but you don't have a right to dress up that personal preference in pseudo-technical babble.
You want a low up-front cost. Great, but that doesn't mean a computer with a higher up-front cost has a low value.
You want the most common hardware. Great, but that doesn't mean another computer is "hard to come by".
You want non-proprietary software. Great, but that doesn't mean you can't run Linux or a Mac, or that you're not paying Microsoft when you buy that Dell. Want a PC without paying Microsoft? You may find the selection to be as limited as Macs.
Finally, you don't like the image of Mac owners and zealots. Great, but your insecurities are your own.
Re:Year of the Portable my butt (Score:4, Insightful)
Too bad (for you) that not a single one of those 5300s exploded in the lap of a customer, because Apple found out about the problem before any machines where shipped. Which means they had good quality control. Quite unlike Dell, over and over again.
Re:Common AA's - they are (Score:1, Insightful)
FWIW
not the same AC as the grandparent