Comments on: MacBooks Are Evil

By: T

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:05:45 +0000

Such an unlucky Mac user :p lol

By: Abhishek Nandakumar

Abhishek Nandakumar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:45:53 +0000

I’ve already talked about the problem with the drive. The HPs I’ve used have had a really poor build quality. They’ve been unreliable because both the notebooks I used stopped working just months after the warranty expired. One had a dead motherboard, one a dead hard disk. On one of them, the power button stopped working after 6 months of use. When we’d take it to the HP Service Centre, it seemed to work fine. But at home, we had to press it a dozen times for it to power on once.

But I might just be the one unlucky person to face all these problems. They didn’t affect me much because both notebooks were dirt cheap after thanksgiving mail-in rebates. Just to avoid all these problems, I got AppleCare for my MacBook Pro. I haven’t faced a single problem till now. But like all hardware, there’s always a chance of failure.

Apoorv is unlucky if the soap that made it’s way into his keyboard isn’t the cause of these problems.

By: Apoorv Khatreja

Apoorv Khatreja — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:33:14 +0000

@AnkurB

Exactly. So when I have a problem with my DVD drive, one thing is that of course my DVD drive doesn’t work. And because its a Mac, my whole system doesn’t work. I am unable to boot into any OS on the system because the bootloader fanatically keeps on trying to read the damaged disc infinitely until it gets hold of some information about the disc that rests inside.

By: Ankur Banerjee

Ankur Banerjee — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:08:23 +0000

@Abhishek: I’ll assume from what Apoorv says that Macs don’t allow you to change boot device order, which can effectively disable that boot-time spin-up of CD problem. HP does. What problems have you faced on HP?

By: Abhishek Nandakumar

Abhishek Nandakumar — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:32:18 +0000

@Apoorv You may disagree, but I still think this is a hardware problem. As with any hardware, there is always a chance of failure. Even then, I don't think I've ever faced half the problems I did on the HP notebooks I used before I switched. But I do agree that ejecting mechanism on slot loading drives is a pain to handle. They're extremely sensitive and you never know when something could go wrong. Maybe you should try rEFIt if you would like to replace your current boot menu.

By: Apoorv Khatreja

Apoorv Khatreja — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:31:49 +0000

@Ankur Banerjee

Compaq? I had rather commit suicide than buy a Compaq. XPS, nice. Studio, ok. Inspirion, a no-no.

By: Apoorv Khatreja

Apoorv Khatreja — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:26:39 +0000

@xAbhishek

I disagree. Not all drives in laptops are bad for the simple fact that their usage/response depends on the platform they are running. When you have a boot loader that is a such a control freak, you can’t do much. And what is worse you have no option of modifying the way a MacBook treats an inserted disk on boot.

And ya, of course I am going to get the keyboard repaired. In fact I wrote this post from my PC because my MacBook is at the AASP for repairs. The saga with the keyboard is much more longer and several million more times frustrating. That’s why I wanted to make it a different post when everything is repaired and fixed.

By: Abhishek Nandakumar

Abhishek Nandakumar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:38:20 +0000

I remember my HP scraping the top layer of a DVD and spinning it off inside the drive making it unusable. Notebook drives are usually a pain. Specially if you use DVDs that you stocked when you were on a budget.

Did you think about getting your keyboard fixed? I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem ejecting the disc out when I start my Mac.

By: Brian Fernandes

Brian Fernandes — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:35:30 +0000

Welcome to the club, too bad you’re getting there the hard(er) way. Like getting chickenpox, you’re usually immune for the rest of your life

By: Ankur Banerjee

Ankur Banerjee — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:00:01 +0000

You could’ve easily got a nice Inspiron or XPS for the amount you spent. Or maybe a Compaq. You had to go for the Devil, didn’t you?

By: Uncool Shitty

Uncool Shitty — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:33:58 +0000

Heh. I remember you kept running into dumb tech-related problems with your PC. Now the same is happening with your Macbook. Tough luck, eh?

BTW, none of the slot load laptops have emergency eject buttons.