MacBook 2GHz Intel Core Duo bad enough to justify a Recall??

December 2006, I received my bespoke black MacBook 2GHz Intel Core Duo in the post after waiting 15 days for it to be assembled the way I wanted. I jumped on it, quickly installing the music softwares that would allow me to get the most of my new computer. Little did I know.

I had 3 Macintosh computers before the black MacBook and all of them were brilliant to make music with, but this one proved itself to be totally useless. Every time I used a heavy synth on Logic or tried to chop audio, or anything that requires a bit more processing power, the computer stopped, usually with the message “system overload”. The sound card had a hard time trying to cope with the MacBook lack of power as well, and even after I changed the buffer speed a few times I could still hear glitches, the system would still crash.

Another thing that surprised me is how hot it would get. I mean, burning hot! The computer would frequently crash for that reason too. Five months later, the hard drive dies. 5 months of life? Well, things break, I thought. I had it replaced at an apple repair shop and then, back to the struggle!

Installed Leopard and the new Logic Studio on my new hard drive. Slightly better but still glitches, system overload and crashing.

I gave up making music with the MacBook, but the problems didn’t stop there. I could not download more than 3 files at the same time or use a few demanding programs at the same time, otherwise it would heat up and crash. I took it to a repair shop, they tested it but didn’t find any problems with it. So why the **** does it crash everyday when I use it at home?! A computer is not supposed to crash EVERYDAY!!! And who is going to help me with this if the repair shops say my computer is OK???

Just before I left the repair shop, the guy said to me: “This model of MacBook has a little problem. When you open the screen you cover the fan in the back, so it sometimes heat up. They fixed it in the new models. It’s a design fault.”

OH GREAT! AND WHY NOT RECALL IT, APPLE??? “SOMETIMES HEAT UP??” EVERYDAY IS NOT SOMETIMES! THE SCREEN COVERS THE FAN?!! IT’S QUITE A BIG DESIGN FAULT, DON’T YOU THINK?!!

I saved some money and bought myself a big iMac 24 inches so I could move on from that crap, but funnily enough, my iMac crashed and died after 2 months of use(!!) and while it was being fixed (it was just a power source problem) I used my MacBook, and it crashed and died as well. Unlucky me? No. Just a badly designed product! I had to have its hard drive replaced once again.

Then I got a new job that required daily use of my MacBook. Here we go again!

So I researched into types of surfaces that would contribute to the heating problems, changed my tabletop, restricted simultaneous downloads, in short, started using it as slowly and carefully as possible. Still, it would crash at least once a week, sometimes many times a day. I also did some research into MacBook problems to only find quite a lot of people with the same issues. Why not call it back?

I ran out of patience and sent it to a different repair shop. They did all the tests they said they could but the MacBook didn’t crash in their hands. Weird. Do I have magic hands? Who can help me then?

July comes and it’s time for my 5 month trip to China, and I will have to bring my crappy little MacBook with me. Praying time! I backup everything and clean install Leopard once again just in case. Fingers crossed. You won’t believe it. My hard drive died 2 weeks into the trip, and I had to take it to the nearest apple certified repair shop 2 hours away from where I was, and it took me 3 hours to find it (yes, that’s china for you!).

Got my CrapBook back and installed everything again from the backup. A mate came up with the idea of buying one of those computer pads with little fans on it, and so I did. Brilliant!! Made my CrapBook usable for £6! Who would imagine that a supposedly suppa duppa apple product would be so dependent on a little Chinese piece of plastic worth 10 dollars? Shame on you Apple!!

It’s pathetic!! If I have to disconnect my little plastic-pad-with-fan thingy because I need to use the USB (CrapBook only has 2 USB ports, another crappy point!), obviously switching off the fan, it’s not long until CrapBook crashes again. How sad.

But still, how long until it dies again??? My 3 year warranty is going to end at the end of this year. Should I sell it to my worst enemy? Three complete hard drive failures and thousands of crashes later and still no solution from Apple. I’d love to buy a new Apple laptop, but how can I trust Apple to be honest and be responsible in case anything goes wrong with its products after witnessing how things really work (or don’t)? Buy an Apple Care Plan?? After calling it so many times and having to use it so much, I would rename it Apple Don’t Really Care Plan!!

Does anyone want to buy a black MacBook 2GHz with 160 gigs hard drive? Cheap?

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry...too long of a post...my eyes started glazing over after the 2nd paragraph. I know that this situation is very important to you, and that there are lots of little details you want to convey..but if you really want people to respond...a shorter version would be much more helpful.

Thanks,

- Nick

Oh, I see. Ok. the post is describing my 3 years with my Black MacBook.
I had to get the hard drive replaced 3 times and it crashes all the time since the first year. Also, I can't make music with it, and that was the main reason why I bought it. Total crap.

Paulette_UK said:

Oh, I see. Ok. the post is describing my 3 years with my Black MacBook.
I had to get the hard drive replaced 3 times and it crashes all the time since the first year. Also, I can't make music with it, and that was the main reason why I bought it. Total crap.

Click to expand...

Wow...that was quite an abbreviated version!!!

Sounds to me that you for one reason or another...have had an unfortunate set of circumstances occur.

You have to realize that many many many people own the exact same computer you have...and have NEVER had one problem. You also probably know, that many many people "make music" on their Mac's..and have had no problems.

And like you said...you have owned 3 Mac's prior to your MacBook...and they worked great!

This 2006 MacBook you're speaking of sounds like it may have been a defective computer in some way. No manufacturing process produces 100% defect free products...so it sounds like you got a bad one!

I know that this may not help much in your individual situation...but since this computer is 3 years old...if there was some sort of recall on this model computer...it would have occurred already.

I tried to read your initial LONG post...and nowhere in it could I find any mention of you taking your MacBook to the Apple Store to have them look at it while it was covered under the warranty.

That would have been the time to have things checked checked out...and if the computer was truly defective in some way...it's quite possible they would have given you a brand new replacement computer.

Macs are great computers...but occasionally defective ones are produced. And when that happens, and weird things start to occur...it's our job to get things looked at ASAP!

Sorry again to hear of your troubles,

- Nick

I have personally owned two of the first MacBooks, both built in 2006, and never once had an issue with them. I used to pummel them with all kinds of intense applications, including music apps, and never had one overheat or crash. In fact, I still have one of them and it is running perfectly three and a half years later. The other I sold to a friend and he is using it still as well. I also own a 24" iMac built in 2007 which has been trouble free as well. You really should have done something about it when you first started having problems and saved yourself a lot of frustration.