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Nothing wrong with Apple. It is one computer out of how many. I have had great luck with Dell though. Between home, office, and all my families computers (for whom I am their IT guy) I have used about 30 of them. Only one had problems, and I maintain it was the user, not the computer.
BTW Sal, OSX was great and all, but it was just too much for me to learn on a recreational computer. So for the last month I have been running Vista exclusively on it. And I just plunkered down $200 for a license. I hate giving money to M$.
Another BTW, Dell's customer service has gone down the chute IMO. Fortunately, I only needed them once, and I ended up figuring it out on my own anyway.
It's the service, more than anything, that's bothering me. Yes, this could have happened to any computer. If it were a Dell, I'd have had someone here today (at my residence) to replace whatever needed replacing. Who knows when I'll get it back from whoever has it now...
Service can be everything. About 4 years ago the Toshiba laptop I used for business blacked out on me. I contacted Toshiba, they overnighted a shipping box to me which I packed the laptop into. I sent the computer out to their service center in Tennessee? on Monday and got it back fixed at no cost to me on Wednesday. Plus, I had phone numbers of technicians that I could call and talk to about the issue.
Good service can make a world of difference to the success and popularity of a company or product.
Service can be everything. About 4 years ago the Toshiba laptop I used for business blacked out on me. I contacted Toshiba, they overnighted a shipping box to me which I packed the laptop into. I sent the computer out to their service center in Tennessee? on Monday and got it back fixed at no cost to me on Wednesday. Plus, I had phone numbers of technicians that I could call and talk to about the issue.
Good service can make a world of difference to the success and popularity of a company or product.
Toshiba has changed. I wanted to ship my laptop, and they said no, I have to drop it off at one of their approved service centers. Of course this is the extended service plan, so i am sure it is run by a third party.
Top notch customer service is what made Dell the giant they are. Their computers used to be crappy, but their service was second to none. Now that they are big, they let the service slide.
FWIW - Dell's service isn't worth diddly these days, UNLESS you pay extra at the time of purchase for one of their premium service contracts.
Anyway... all stereotypes aside... crap happens, regardless of any manufacturer. If it is indeed the logic board than it's a fluke... it was just crappy timing.
I don't want to sound like an annoying "I told you so" person... but you should never install something just because it pops up in the Software Update. There have been several different security updates or even an OS revision that I've skipped entirely simply because I've read reports of them causing people problems. Honestly, sincerely... it's always good to check them out before installing, no matter which platform you're on. I'm just overly cautious... and fall into the "If it's not broken, don't fix it" type mentality.
Just out of curiosity... before you took it to the Apple store, did you disconnect the battery and a/c for 10-20 minutes or so and then do a "hard" reset? Did you try booting with the extensions disabled by holding the shift key down? Did you try booting from your hardware test or installer disk? I have little experience with EFI... and there was never as many OF updates on the PPC Macs as their are on the Intel ones. If nothing else... the Intel Macs are still maturing as a platform... I remember dealing with many problems with some early PPC machines after their switch from the 68K architecture.
I just hope this doesn't sour your view of the platform... because from what I could tell, you were really enjoying it over the alternative. It's still under warranty and if it is indeed the motherboard, then knowing Apple, they'll probably just send you a new machine... with whatever new bells and whistles come with it.
I suppose just to make a CF-related analogy... If some mechanical fluke happened to your new Cadillac five months after you bought it and it had to go in for some warranty work... would it taint the entire brand for you, despite the fact you were enjoying it a lot more than the old Chevy you traded it in for?
I do feel bad for you though Sal... I know how sucky it feels to have you main computer crap out... whether it be a logicboard, harddrive, power supply... etc. Hopefully you'll get it back soon... and if I had to guess - they'll probably just ship the machine straight to your house.
The best Toshiba technicians are in Texas. If you want details shoot me a pm.
Same for Gateway.
Overnighted my laptop to Texass on a Tuesday, they had it for about 2 hours, working on it for about 20 minutes before sending back out overnight on their dime. Had it back on Thursday.
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