Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Scope

Hardware Failure, That Rare Mac Headache

Stephen Van Esch - 2004.07.09

My trusty PowerBook had its very first hardware failure yesterday. I must admit that I'm surprised and disappointed by this event. This PowerBook is only a little over two-and-a-half years old.

Granted, I've used and abused the thing no end. Countless productive hours a day (and we're not talking emailing and surfing, friends). Rarely shutting it down. Hauling it to trade shows and halfway across the country.

This little PowerBook has been the epitome of reliable. Not even a dead pixel (fingers crossed).

You'd think that I would appreciate all the mileage I've gotten out of this thing. It's been a real workhorse, after all. To be honest, I'm the same way with my cars. If my car needs a major repair (i.e., over $300) before the odometer ticks past 200,000 kilometers (about 125,000 miles), I get annoyed. I'm still breaking it in at 200,000k, for crying out loud.

Reliability is something I'm willing to pay for, which is why I switched to the Mac long ago. In fact, I made the switch when it really was more expensive to buy a Mac rather than just mildly more expensive, like it is now. It was a fairly big commitment, considering how much I had invested in Wintel.

As a testament to its longevity, my first Mac is still with me. I don't use it for anything, but I can still fire it up and surf the Web and check email if I need to.

It would be too much to ask a portable computer to match the record of my desktop. It's obviously more fragile and gets knocked about quite a bit more. But still, a hardware failure at this early stage can hardly be an indicator of good things to come.

To cap it, my dear wife listened for about two seconds to my tale of woe before flat our refusing to entertain the thought of a new G5 desktop. I mean, seriously, the machine that's my bread and butter is on death's door, and there's no replacement team in sight.

I'm starting to feel like the French national soccer team - aging stars that just can't keep up with the young bucks.

I'm in a quandary. Should I replace the current machine (wife's objections notwithstanding) or bite the bullet and get it repaired? No extended AppleCare for me, so I'd be on the hook for the full repair cost. (AppleCare is a wise investment but the money wasn't flowing like a fountain when I laid out a significant amount of savings to purchase my current machine.) Decisions, decisions.

What exactly happened to my machine? The tab key broke off. I mean, c'mon, if a guy can't trust a keyboard day in and day out (while command-tabbing about a million times a day), what can he trust? It's all about reliability folks.

Now about that new G5....

This column will be my last biweekly one for Low End Mac. It's been an exciting four years in the Mac world, and I'm anxiously looking forward to many more. I'd like to thank all the loyal Low End Mac and Mac Scope readers. It's been grand trading emails (and barbs). I'd also like to thank the publisher of Low End Mac, Dan Knight, for giving me the chance to write for his great site.

Stephen Van Esch is the founder and president of the E-learning Foundry, an online training resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual, since he's also fluent in Windows and French.

Recently on Mac Scope

Connecting with the broader Macintosh community, 04.06. "But beyond the very minor celebrity status that came with being published on Low End Mac, it gave me a real opportunity to participate in the Mac community."
Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache, 07.09. Macs are usually pretty reliable, but a hardware failure after just two-and-a-half years is still disappointing.
Still waiting for iTunes Music Store Canada, sort of, 06.23. While the pay-per-tune model makes sense, Apple's post-purchase copy management flies in the face of Canadian copyright law.
PearPC's slow Mac emulation - What's the point?, 05.26. "For all those Windows folks who are gussying up Windows to look like OS X and getting excited over PearPC, please just buy a Mac."
More in the Mac Scope index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Jan. 2006 - The first Intel-based MacBook launched at 1.83-2.0 GHz, had several teething problems.
Group of the Day: System 6 is the email list for those who choose System 6.
November 22 in LEM history: 99: Gradebooks - 00: Leveraging Apple design - Quadra 630 to Power Mac 5200 - 02: Laptop or desktop? - 04: SuperDuper: Quick, easy, efficient backup - Cross-platform programming for the rest of us - 05: Mac video surveillance on the cheap - Which OS is best for my vintage Mac? - No 'best browser' for the Mac - Sorry state of browsers for classic Macs - 06: Core 2 means cooler running 'Books - 2.0 GHz G4 upgrade
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.17. Used 1.83 GHz, $750; 2.16, $800; 2.33, $900; refurb 2.4, $1,299; 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,899; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.17. Used 400 MHz, $50; 933 MHz, $80; 500 dual, $60; 867 dual, $90; 1 GHz dual, $150; 1.25 GHz dual, $225; 1.42 GHz, $499.
Best Mac OS X 10.5 Deals, 11.17. "Leopard" upgrade, $80; single user license, $135; 5 users, $173; Mac Box Set, 5 users, $230; Server, 10 users, $340; unlimited, $850. Shipping included.
Best Mac mini Deals, 11.16. Used 1.42 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.66 GHz Core Solo, $419; 2.0 Core 2, $450; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $769; Server, $990.
Best iBook G4 Deals, 11.16. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $210; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz, $479; SuperDrive, $498.
Best iPod shuffle Deals, 11.16. Used 1 GB, $35; 4 GB, $65; refurb 1 GB, $39; 2 GB, $59; new 2 GB, $55, 4 GB, $75. New and refurb prices include shipping.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.