So...blackbook, been working perfectly for 6 days since I got it in the mail then all of a sudden the entire system freezes right when I'm editing photos...had to follow the steps on apple care's website to shut down the system. Now it wouldn't boot up...so I tried to boot off the DVD drive and nothing would come up either. So I reset the PRAM, etc as indicated on their site and finally it boot off the install disc. Of course...disk utilities only shows the superdrive and not the hard drive. So off I go calling Apple and they say it could be the logic board or hard drive and I need to send it in or return it to where I bought it. After moving to a quieter room I noticed that the hard drive was making some weird noises (clicking and whining), I swapped out the drive with one in my Dell laptop (about to sell it) - drive showed up without issues (Windows partition).
I called Apple back, and oddly enough, they state that they can't just send me a new hard drive and I have to send in the entire system...granted I could just swap it out myself and send them the old one, but I guess that isn't their policy. Do they just not trust us to replace it, even with the instructions on how to do it on their website? I had a bad hard drive in a Gateway and an overheating video card in a Dell in the past and they sent me a new hard drive/video card immediately (next day) and then I returned the bad part; much easier and convenient for the customer, especially if they are competent (I work IT). So, instead of a few days turnaround, I have to wait for a box to be delivered (two days), ship it out and wait about a week for them to send it back to me with a new hard drive in it (another two days shipped back).
This is really a bad first impression for a first time Mac user...although they were happy to help me, but not exactly convenient. I would take it to an Apple Store, but the nearest one is in another state (about 4-5hr drive), and I don't have the free time to do so.
So I got to use it for editing some photos and browsing the internet for almost a week...the question would be from me:
Those that got the hard drive replaced; did this happen again down the road soon after? I'm about tempted to go blow $150 or so on a better hard drive after getting the system back, and just keep the OEM one for any possible future warranty issues.
- Rick
EDIT: BTW, I still love this macbook, just the hard drive thing is getting me down.
I called Apple back, and oddly enough, they state that they can't just send me a new hard drive and I have to send in the entire system...granted I could just swap it out myself and send them the old one, but I guess that isn't their policy. Do they just not trust us to replace it, even with the instructions on how to do it on their website? I had a bad hard drive in a Gateway and an overheating video card in a Dell in the past and they sent me a new hard drive/video card immediately (next day) and then I returned the bad part; much easier and convenient for the customer, especially if they are competent (I work IT). So, instead of a few days turnaround, I have to wait for a box to be delivered (two days), ship it out and wait about a week for them to send it back to me with a new hard drive in it (another two days shipped back).
This is really a bad first impression for a first time Mac user...although they were happy to help me, but not exactly convenient. I would take it to an Apple Store, but the nearest one is in another state (about 4-5hr drive), and I don't have the free time to do so.
So I got to use it for editing some photos and browsing the internet for almost a week...the question would be from me:
Those that got the hard drive replaced; did this happen again down the road soon after? I'm about tempted to go blow $150 or so on a better hard drive after getting the system back, and just keep the OEM one for any possible future warranty issues.
- Rick
EDIT: BTW, I still love this macbook, just the hard drive thing is getting me down.