Well it won’t be often that you hear me ranting and raving on this photography based blog about non photography topics, but I best get this off my chest. It is sort of photography related in that it is regarding my Apple MacBook Pro. I use it to store and post process my photos. It is my main computer here at home. (I am writing this on my work laptop which IS working.)

I have had the Mac since June 2007. In that time it has had the DVD drive replaced under warranty, which I had to fight Apple over, as they consider the warranty starts the day you purchase the computer. That is fair enough if you buy it at the shop, but I bought mine online. I didn’t get it until nearly 7 days later. The drive failed nearly 1 year to the day after I got it in my hands. A few phone calls and they finally recognised it should be replaced under warranty.

Then, a few weeks back, the display on the laptop and the external display failed. The computer was still running, just no display. Grrrrr. I had a bit of a stroll around the interwebs and found out this is a common problem, which is fixed for free as nVidia, the video chip maker, has admitted there is a problem. Phew. This shouldn’t cost me a cent to have fixed, but it is a hassle taking the computer back to the closest authorised repairer. Once again, I had to argue to have it fixed for free. A week later, I get it back and fingers crossed, no more problems.

Hah, not so quick! I notice a few days later the battery is at 87% charged. Thats weird. Must keep an eye on it. A couple of days later 54% charged. Next day 37%. Oh oh. Now this battery has down 15 cycles. Apple themsleves say you should get over 100 cycles. I have down the suggested discharge monthly for the 1st 12 months, then I pretty much didn’t worry too much about it. What a mistake.

On the phone to Apple. Tech support take me through the usual battery reset procedure. Nada. “One moment sir, I will speak to customer service.” 15 minutes later I am speaking to Dean, who sounds like he really loves his job. No really, he sounded happy and really wanted to help me. He couldn’t, but what he could do was give me a 25% discount on a new battery which retail for $199! (clear blue ocean, clear blue ocean.) Wow, so it will only cost me $150 to replace a buggered battery. Arrrrrrrrr!

So the order went in for a new battery today. Lets hope it gets here soon. When the Mac is running, it is a dream. It is so much more stable than any Windows computer I have owned. Things just work. Apart from that horrid iTunes, the rest of the OS X experience has been terrific. If only the hardware was as reliable.

Pick up your game Apple. Don’t make me ring Mr Jobs.