can someone clarify this "logic board" stuff i have been hearing?

o.k.,

i was just about to order my 12" ibook when i started finding dozens and dozens of posts about logic board failures in ibooks. now i am scared crapless about buying one. my last notebook was an HP and it has lasted me almost 4 years without a single problem. thus, i am scared of buying any product that has the capability of crapping out in a few months. my questions are:

1. In which iBook version has the logic board failure been a problem? I have heard that it was the last generation or the dual usb or the g3. Can anyone clarify this for me?

2. Is this logic board issue a problem for the new g4's? I have heard people say that it is.

3. Why the freak is apple not addressing such an obvious problem? From what I can gather, all of the shipping, tech support and repair costs have to be wayyyyyyy more expensive than just offering a final solution. I have heard that at least 2000 ibook owners have had this problem. How many ibooks has apple sold?

4. Am I going to end up dealing with tech support which I have heard is incredibly rude and snotty and ineffectual?

crapadelic. there goes my dreams of a better product with a better OS. now i am looking at freaking Dull's again. CRAP!

tmjf_sifu

I've used Apples tech support 2 or 3 times and every time they have solved my problem quickly and they were very good to talk to. Don't be so harsh.

ibook problem

I think that sometimes people do not look at overall picture. All we hear on all the ibook forums is the problems that people are having with the iBooks and that huge nuber of 2000 signitures mean more then anything. What people should be looking at is the overall picture. Apple last year for example sold around 900,000 laptops and is gaining market share over every other laptop manufacturer. Last year laptop sales accounted for 42% of Apples computer sales.

In any case if you look at sales vs reported problems it amouts to what, around 1/4%, now say that that number is closer to double what people are hearing about and you are still right around 1/2 of 1% having problems. Sounds a lot different doesn't it?

I personally know around 10 or 12 people that own Apple laptops (most are g3-900's) and not one has had a problem with their computer.

Larry Zasitko

lzasitko said:

I think that sometimes people do not look at overall picture. All we hear on all the ibook forums is the problems that people are having with the iBooks and that huge nuber of 2000 signitures mean more then anything. What people should be looking at is the overall picture. Apple last year for example sold around 900,000 laptops and is gaining market share over every other laptop manufacturer. Last year laptop sales accounted for 42% of Apples computer sales.

In any case if you look at sales vs reported problems it amouts to what, around 1/4%, now say that that number is closer to double what people are hearing about and you are still right around 1/2 of 1% having problems. Sounds a lot different doesn't it?

I personally know around 10 or 12 people that own Apple laptops (most are g3-900's) and not one has had a problem with their computer.

Larry Zasitko

Click to expand...

i greatly appreciate the input from both of you. i am not trying to be harsh, but i have read hundreds of posts from people who have had bad experiences with tech support.

additionally, i appreciate your mathematic rationalization, but i am not comforted by the numbers. i think it is great that a unique company with another idea is making gains against the big boys. however, i know many people who have bought macs with absolutely no reasearch whatsoever. they bought them because they are eye candy and cool. i have to feel that a great deal of sales to people like me are due simply to aesthetics.

i build computers for people and i care about how much i am going to have to screw around with the product to get it to work. my last laptop is a PC and has lasted me almost 4 years without a single hitch. i want the same thing from apple. all of my friends have had good luck with theirs, too, but they all have older macs.

like every other basic consumer, all i care about is MY number, the percentage of sales which consists of ME. i do not want a defective product. this is why i am trying to find out which models have this flaw and whether the new ibooks have been modified to avoid this (as i have read in a post elsewhere). can you help me with this?

i still want an ibook and i will probably buy one due to good people like you who share their good experiences. thanks for your help and the excellent info.

mac dealers

tmjf_sifu said:

i greatly appreciate the input from both of you. i am not trying to be harsh, but i have read hundreds of posts from people who have had bad experiences with tech support.

additionally, i appreciate your mathematic rationalization, but i am not comforted by the numbers. i think it is great that a unique company with another idea is making gains against the big boys. however, i know many people who have bought macs with absolutely no reasearch whatsoever. they bought them because they are eye candy and cool. i have to feel that a great deal of sales to people like me are due simply to aesthetics.

i build computers for people and i care about how much i am going to have to screw around with the product to get it to work. my last laptop is a PC and has lasted me almost 4 years without a single hitch. i want the same thing from apple. all of my friends have had good luck with theirs, too, but they all have older macs.

like every other basic consumer, all i care about is MY number, the percentage of sales which consists of ME. i do not want a defective product. this is why i am trying to find out which models have this flaw and whether the new ibooks have been modified to avoid this (as i have read in a post elsewhere). can you help me with this?

i still want an ibook and i will probably buy one due to good people like you who share their good experiences. thanks for your help and the excellent info.

Click to expand...

I have dealt with most of the dealers in Calgary and Regina, (I live in Regina, my daughter in Calgary and we drive to Calgary 4-5 times a year) in all the times I have been in, I have always been treat with courtesy and respect. In every case they have help me with any problems that I have had and in general I am more than satisfied. I have a iBook (Graphite clamshell 366mhz 575 meg of ram) and they have been a big help any time I have needed it. So far I have had a Mac II classic, Power PC 6250, iMac and iBook and I have never had serious problems with any of them.

On the other hand I bought a brand new top of the line Toshiba protable about 5 years ago and it has been replaced 3 times due to faults, it is now off warrenty and part of the screen is not as bright as the other part, it also has a portion of the screen that is oval in shap right in the center that is real foggy. Hard drive died off warrenty and is again making noise and giving me errors when I try to defrag. All in all it is good only for a boat anchor, that is why I bought the iBook.

As far as I know this is a fault only with the last year or two of g3 iBooks, g4's do not have these same problems.

good luck
Larry Zasitko

I have a G3 dual USB (two USB ports, right?) iBook. I bought it as a refurb from Apple in April 2003 and moved to Japan a month later. In the summer of 2003, my logic board died although at the time I had no idea what was wrong - all I knew was that I couldn't turn my computer on anymore.

I phoned the Apple support centre in Japan, dreading the prospect of having to explain my problem in broken Japanese but was very pleasantly surprised to find that they had an English helpline. They were very friendly and helpful; they organised everything for me from calling local Mac shops to see if they could fix it (none of them had the spare parts) to arranging the pick-up and delivery of my iBook. I called them on Friday, they picked it up on Saturday and it was returned to me Monday morning fixed. All free of charge. That's service! It made me even happier that I had chosen a Mac for my first computer.

I wasn't aware that iBooks have this known problem with their logic boards but it is interesting that Apple said that if they couldn't find a problem with my iBook they would replace the logic board anyway.

This is the only major problem I have had with my iBook. I would go for it and a nice G4 iBook!

I would also add that the UK Apple support staff were very understanding and nice when I first bought the computer and had some questions for them.