So, I’m sure most of you know a bit about what’s happened with my laptop, but I figured I’d detail it here.

I used to own a Late 2007 MacBook Pro 15″(ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro#Discrete_MacBook_Pro). Early on its life it suffered a rather dramatic fall from a height of about 4′ (1.2m) onto laminate flooring above concrete. The computer survived, though the bottom and top case were bent. I checked it over and everything worked, (the screen was not damaged). As a precaution, since I had bought the AppleCare Protection Plan, I wanted to make sure Apple knew that despite the apparent damage the computer was still in good shape, in case I ever had a problem with it. Apple documented that everything was in good working order.

Unfortunately it had problems later in its life. It had its logic board, bottom case (Apple paid for that as an apology for a very long repair), power supply and hard drive replaced. It was also due to have its screen replaced (bezel had broken and it’s an entire unit, the bezel holds the screen in place) and then the straw that broke the camel’s back… it wouldn’t write to DVD-Rs or CD-Rs. I called Apple, knowing that they have an official unofficial policy to replace a machine after 3 major hardware repairs, and the optical drive would be its 4th.

I talked to a very helpful Apple representative, she gathered the information, had me do a couple of tests then talked with another agent to see if she’d have to make me re-install the OS. The other agent had seen the error often enough to know that the optical drive was dead. My agent then came back and said “I see you’ve had quite a number of repairs on this computer…” to which I confirmed that fact and then left it at that. The agent then prompted me once again “So we can repair this or… what would you like to do?” I got it that time! I asked if I could get a new computer, because frankly this one was looking like a lemon. She then checked once again with a senior agent and then transferred me to someone who could take care of the swap.

The new agent gathered some of my information, then went to look at what I had and figure out what would be comparable. He came back and proposed the entry level Macbook pro 15″ (ref: http://www.apple.com/ca/macbookpro/specs.html). While that machine was better then what I had in almost every way there was one big difference; that one doesn’t have a discrete video card. I noted this to the agent and he said “Oh, you’re machine had a discrete video card? Ok, then let’s do the next one up.” Perfect, that was a great replacement for what I had. He then did the paperwork and noted that I’ll be getting a reimbursement for the unused portion of my AppleCare Protection Plan. The next step in the process was to have an agent contact me, likely via email, to arrange the shipping of both machines.

The next morning I had an email in my inbox with the details of how to ship my computer back, along with a prepaid UPS tag. Once the agent saw that the old computer was shipped he put in the order in for the new machine. Then came the package stalking… UPS sent the computer on a rather circuitous route. It went from Shanghai to Alaska to Louisville, KY! to 2 more stops in Ontario before it came to Richmond. Unfortunately all this travelling added a weekend to my wait, that was a hard time for me!

But, last Monday I got my new machine, 1 week and a day since I talked to Apple about getting it replaced. I went home for lunch that day, and turned on the computer and started the data transfer before heading back to work. Then in the evening I played with it a little bit before dinner. After dinner Tanya and the kids were gone so I pulled out the computer to finish configuring it, and then KERR-KLUNK, KERR-KLUNK…. the hard drive had crashed, literally. I threw the new computer in my bag along with the power adapter and hopped the Skytrain on my way down to the AppleStore. At the AppleStore they had no more appointments left at the Genius Bar, so after a bit the sales person offered to just swap the computer for me. I was very happy!

I’ve had my new Unibody 15″ MacBook Pro for 4 days, it’s a great machine! The screen is bright, and the colours are astonishing. Its also got a great viewable area. The trackpad is huge, and super easy to use. My favourite gestures are for going back and forward on web pages.

While waiting for my new machine I did some research into what I would be getting, and had some questions. I’m going to post the answers here because I think people will be wondering the same thing.

• Graphics: Even with 10.6 you need to log-out and log-in to change video cards
• Changing the hard drive is easy, once you get past the 10 Philips headed screws on the bottom case
• The glossy screen does reflect a bit, however slightly modifying the angle takes care of that. Even in an office setting with florescent tubes on the ceiling the screen was not a problem.
• If you daisy chain a FW 400 device off a FW 800 device and both are listed as running at their full speed

Also, some information I didn’t know:

• You can use an iPod/iPhone style headset in the sound out port, it’ll do audio in as well and let you control iTunes with the button
• Scrolling up or down with three fingers on a web page takes you to the top or bottom
• The light sensor is beside the camera, rather then under the speaker grills

All in all, I’m very happy with Apple. Yes, I’m on my third computer, but they’ve taken VERY good care of me, and never made me have to fight for any service. Talking with them on the phone they have been excellent and helpful. I spent an hour and a half on the phone troubleshooting a battery issue brought to light by OS 10.6, and during the whole time the rep was calm, and genuinely cared about making sure things were good. As for the Apple hardware? I STILL think it’s pretty awesome. Call me an Apple fanboy if you want, but the look and feel of this computer and my previous MacBook Pro is light years ahead of any other windows machines I interact with. Even running Windows 7 this machine is very nice (and Apple has provided a nice set of drivers for it, the only thing you don’t have is the gesture support.) I’ll certainly be buying another Apple computer when it’s time to replace Tanya’s ageing MacBook.