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A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
41–50 of 58 posts
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was under the impression that the latest MacBook Pros had different, more embedded batteries to enable them to have that 10-hour battery life, and that was why they can't be user-replaced.
They do have different batteries but you can remove the new one by unscrewing three screws and disconnecting a cable [+]. The battery has even a pull tab which allows you to easily lift it out of the case. That’s a little more involved than previously when you only had to open a latch and pull out the battery but it’s pretty much exactly as hard as replacing the hard drive. [+] Here is iFixit’s guide: http://www.ifix…
It was my understanding that parts that are officially consumer replaceable parts need to be more structurally sound for safety compliance (e.g. in case it is dropped when it is outside the machine), and that this extra battery casing takes up significant space—space that could otherwise be used for more battery.
Aha, here we go:
"With the MacBook Pro, Apple engineers went further. To make the lithium-polymer battery even bigger, they looked for extra space within the enclosure. And they found it in an unlikely place — the removable battery itself. Removable batteries take up a lot of space. They require infrastructure that takes up space. The batteries themselves have to be encased in bulky plastic housings to withstand the wear and tear of handling. Those housings take up more space. And the notebook enclosure has to include mechanisms for a separate battery compartment, such as latches and a door. All those parts take up space that could be used for the battery itself."
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
They do have different batteries but you can remove the new one by unscrewing three screws and disconnecting a cable [+]. The battery has even a pull tab which allows you to easily lift it out of the case. That’s a little more involved than previously when you only had to open a latch and pull out the battery but it’s pretty much exactly as hard as replacing the hard drive. [+] Here is iFixit’s guide: http://www.ifix…
It was my understanding that parts that are officially consumer replaceable parts need to be more structurally sound for safety compliance (e.g. in case it is dropped when it is outside the machine), and that this extra battery casing takes up significant space—space that could otherwise be used for more battery. Aha, here we go: "With the MacBook Pro, Apple engineers went further. To make the lithium-polymer battery…
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Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought "the Dell Guy" that comes is a 3rd party company? They'll come to your office and fix your machine, but I'm not sure that guy is a Dell employee...
They are and the system demonstrates how badly it works compared to Apple. I had a Dell with a faulty touchpad - it took 12 TWELVE onsite visits to fix it. That included 2 visits where the tech had been given the wrong part and 2 to replace parts that had been broken by the previous tech. Every visit was a new person, none of them knew that the part they were swapping had already been swapped 6times before - until fi…
Well here a lot of my friends had problems with Powerbooks and simply abysmal service from Apple, while Dell Norway for us was impeccable on several occasions. Can be just a regional thing.
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
"3 pages. 3 screws. That's progress." I wanted poke around inside my new Thinkpad X100e. Might be four screws I had to twist, and they were designed to not fall out; they loosen up but stay in the cover hole, so no more concerns over lost screws. Very nice touch.
It may well be progress, but as this guy describes Thinkpads are unreasonably friendly to disassembly. They have little graphics on the underside to show you what size screw goes in what hole on my X61, and the hard drive comes out with just one screw
What's the point? How often do you disassemble your computer?
I'm pretty happy to go and look up some instructions (or, y'know, just undo all the screws) rather than having ugly stickers all over my laptop.
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may well be progress, but as this guy describes Thinkpads are unreasonably friendly to disassembly. They have little graphics on the underside to show you what size screw goes in what hole on my X61, and the hard drive comes out with just one screw
What's the point? How often do you disassemble your computer? I'm pretty happy to go and look up some instructions (or, y'know, just undo all the screws) rather than having ugly stickers all over my laptop.
They aren't stickers, they are simple icons printed directly next to each screw hole with a table under the battery. It's very slick. Not vital as you say, but very nice. Especially if your manual is a pdf, the task is 20 pages long, and your only computer is the laptop.
Thinkpads have a lot of nice little touches like that. Mine even has drain holes for the keyboard in case of beverage. How often have i spilled? Never. Do i appreciate their presence? Very much so.
I have to inquire as well, how many laptps you serviced? 'cause they are usually a complete pain in the *#?!$.
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#47is this really that different from, say, Dell? I imagine their tech support also has a database or two.
Dell contracts out the bodies that go onsite to service their warranties. I once did a few of these contracts. When you get onsite you're just supposed to call and do everything you're told. You're literally just their eyes and hands. If you try to figure things out on your own you'll just be ignored and if you persist the contract will be canceled and you wont be paid.
I was looking at the PC of one of these poor customers, Dell was having me do a couple of power checks. At the end of it they said "we've ordered a new power supply, you'll have it in 2 days". When I hung up the customer says to me "they didn't say power supply did they? This will be the third one. Why doesn't someone actually figure out what's wrong with my computer?"
I've never touched a Dell product since that day.
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#48is this really that different from, say, Dell? I imagine their tech support also has a database or two.
Dell contracts out the bodies that go onsite to service their warranties. I once did a few of these contracts. When you get onsite you're just supposed to call and do everything you're told. You're literally just their eyes and hands. If you try to figure things out on your own you'll just be ignored and if you persist the contract will be canceled and you wont be paid. I was looking at the PC of one of these poor cu…
My friend switched to the Mac mostly because of my example (though I shy away from advocacy) and his iMac had multiple, far more invasive repairs including at least two motherboard replacements.
Eventually my Mac expertise helped because I picked up on forums that 3 major repairs was usually enough to argue for a replacement (or similar, the details are hazy with time).
A rough introduction, but he's now the proud owner of many, many iPods, multiple iPhones, Airports, iMacs and Macbooks and probably going to get an iPad.
I'm sure there are stats available that would reveal exactly who is more likely to sell a defective device rather than rely on anecdotes.
What I am happy to offer as an anecdote is that there is clearly a certain kind of Apple purchaser, who even when returning a faulty product(!), will managed to convince themselves that Apple has some magical process that is unavailable to any other company, when generally almost everything they do (excepting the rare flash of brilliance) is fairly bog standard and boring, if not inferior to the competition (e.g. A4 is slightly worse than Samsung's sister chip in it's phones, PPC was in later days much slower than intel except in carefully staged Altivec bake-offs).
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#49Can't replace adequate product testing. For example I think the biggest problem with the iPhone4 was not attenagate but the material chosen for the camera lens. After 3 weeks the phone camera is completely unusable due to blurriness from the act of setting it down on a table due to the lens being made of a non scratch resistant material and being flush with the casing that is.
On my phone (Nokia N86), there's a sliding cover for the lens, which is a nice bit of reassurance. (It's also very convenient: open the cover, and the camera app starts up.) I wish some of the Android phones would imitate it.
Re: A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dell contracts out the bodies that go onsite to service their warranties. I once did a few of these contracts. When you get onsite you're just supposed to call and do everything you're told. You're literally just their eyes and hands. If you try to figure things out on your own you'll just be ignored and if you persist the contract will be canceled and you wont be paid. I was looking at the PC of one of these poor cu…
My friend switched to the Mac mostly because of my example (though I shy away from advocacy) and his iMac had multiple, far more invasive repairs including at least two motherboard replacements. Eventually my Mac expertise helped because I picked up on forums that 3 major repairs was usually enough to argue for a replacement (or similar, the details are hazy with time). A rough introduction, but he's now the proud ow…
Yum, Baked Altivec!