Today will mark the third time I will send my G3 iBook in for a logic board replacement. Thankfully the computer is still semi-covered under the iBook Expanded Logic Board Repair Extension Program (such a lovely name), but I was warned by the Apple support person that this would be the last time they replace it, and I will either have to buy a new computer for pay for the repair myself. Now that sounds reasonable, if I had mistreated it in any way (little night time browsing in the hot tub...), but I don't. I use it like a normal laptop, I even got a padded form fitting water resistant laptop bag to carry it around in for safeties sake. Sure it travels with me almost everywhere I go, but that's what it's made for. If I wanted a laptop that sat on my desk all day I would have gotten one of those suitcase size extra-wide screen Dells that are meant to be a desktop replacement than a portable.
Now sure, maybe I could be more gentle with it, and I even asked the guy what I could do to prevent it (since it will most likely happen again in 4 months), to which he said(I shit you not):
Don't use it on your lapOkay...... so apparently I have a LAPtop and I'm not suppose to use it on my LAP.... great. You know, I should have seen this coming. A few months ago Apple even said so themselves, that the Macbook is NOT a Laptop. Almost all the major computer companies are trying to avoid the title "laptop" simply so they can plead ignorance when some dude burns himself by simply using the thing like the title dictates. The correct terminology now is "notebook", safe, simple, and completely avoids the whole reason why most people want a small, portable computer, so they can sit down and chill with it on a couch. Huzzah for newspeak.
Enough rant, back to my logic board issue, thankfully I found out I'm not alone, and almost anyone who bought a iBook G3 or G4 in a specific time frame suffers from the same issues. Reading elsewhere, one of the better way to avoid the 90 degree tilt of death is to not pick the laptop up solely by its left corner, where the video hardware resides. Doing so will break the chip bonds, causing it to freeze on boot. Also, if Apple tech support gives you grief about it, ask for Apple Customer Care, which may give you more options.
As much as I bitch, Apple's support has been more than stellar. I bought this iBook when it's hard drive was failing from my sister for about 100$, and even though it's had it's problems Apple has repaired it twice when it was out the extended warranty period. Both times the technicians have been friendly and helpful and the turn around for the repair is usually only a day (may be faster for me since I live in CA). If they treat a customer who never really bought the product from them this well, they are definitely getting my $ when my next lap^H^H^Hnotebook purchase comes around.
