Apple Did Not Make Me Happy Today

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
So I made an appointment and brought my laptop in to the Apple Store today. It appeared that the hard drive had died, although I wasn't 100 percent sure it wasn't a system software problem. Anyway, the little Apple guy looks at the laptop and informs me that it is too old for them to work on. Parts for "vintage" computers more than five years old are not stocked. I asked why that was a problem since any internal hard drive currently made of the correct size would work. He said that if they did any damage while installing a new drive, they wouldn't have parts to fix it. Uh huh. He did tell me how I could buy and replace the drive myself.

Next I took it to a place called Mac Shack, which is an authorized Mac repair place in town. The guy there put the laptop on a diagnostic test right away to see if there really were any hardware problems. And, it appears there may not be a problem with the hard drive, but corrupted system files. For $69 they will check this out and repair any system file problems, and then IF there is a real problem with the hard drive, they will replace that with a new SSD for $150. Meanwhile, I'm also getting a new battery for $119, which Apple also wouldn't do for my "vintage" computer.

If there are, indeed, some system software problems, they likely happened because of the most recent High Sierra system software update. Great. Nice job, Apple. I've had Macs since way back in the Mac 512K "toaster" days. I guess things aren't all rosey in PC land, either, but this situation does make me rethink my relationship with Apple for the future.
 
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Fred Kingston

Senior Member
You should call the Mac folks and tell them to skip the testing and just put the SSD drive in... You'll freak out at the performance gain...

Apple is like a New car dealer... You buy cars there, but you don't bring them back there for service or work unless it's under warranty...:eek:
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
I haven't been happy with Apple for a while for a lot of reasons. I still can't make myself buy a PC, though.
Stuck with the poisoned Apple.
 

LouCioccio

Senior Member
I have 2012 MacBook Pro and an iMac and it’s the thin one. Both have Been updated by myself. 512gb SSD Samsung EVO in the laptop and replaced the iMac original drive to a 3gb drive and re-created the fusion drive. Yes you could buy pc’ s but the macOS is similar Linux and since 10percent in use and not profitable for those that create viruses and malware or the phone calls from Windows support. Just my 2 cents Lou Cioccio
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
Hate both PC and Apple. PC with Win 10 taking over control of certain aspects of your machine and Apple for not giving you a kiss before they bend you over on the price for what inside are a good portion of PC parts. Understood their pricing when it was their stuff going in.
 

Danno

Senior Member
Hope you can get it worked out @Woodyg3. I have not been a fan of apple since Apple Records. But that is just me. I used PCs as an engineer and I am comfortable with them. SSD is pretty amazing. If you upgrade that would be my choice. I love how my PC loads now.
 

Glevum Owl

Senior Member
A little late to this thread but....

To those of you thinking of jumping to PCs: I'm currently stuck in Windows Update hell. A corrupted install has left me with a PC that thinks it's due the latest update but won't install it automatically. Attempts at manual installation prompt Windows to inform the update's already there. None of the official fixes from Microsoft's site have worked so far. Right now I'm backing up everything prior to delving into the Registry. Again. I've lost count of how many times I've been through this loop or ones similar over the years.
 

Daz

Senior Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26cNHSilikI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUrc0hOb4hQ


This is a rather profane and talkative guy who owns a tiny NYC storefront shop which fixes Macbook motherboards at the chip level. Self taught, has access to interactive Mac schematics. Provides service that Apple won't. Somehow, Apple let's him continue.

This is great, I have been watching for the last week !!

He raises a lot of valid points ... Apple will not repair the motherboard, but they wont willingly give out the schematics to 3rd parties, which means the ONLY option for a customer is to buy another motherboard ...

It literally beggars belief how they are allowed to get away with it !!
 

aroy

Senior Member
I am a PC guy, though my two sons have 3 Apples between them. As long as you keep replacing it, Apple is fine, but as you have experienced repairs of old systems is not Apple way. Replacing hard disks is easy in apple and we have done them often enough.

I love PC but could not digest Windows 10, so it is back to Win 7, which runs trouble free on my very old Xeon System. One thing about PC is that they are easily repairable and parts are available easily, so upgrades or repairs are a breeze.
 

Texas

Senior Member
My main PC's power supply quit last year. It's a home built unit in a big case. Went to Amazon for a replacement power supply and they had 8 models for overnight delivery. Nice to have choices and lots of vendors and quality levels to choose from.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
So a local place called Mac Shack fixed me up just fine. New SSD drive, replaced a bad drive cable, replaced battery and cleaned up some internal corrosion. My MacBook Pro runs faster than ever by a long shot, and all for way less than any comparable notebook, Mac or PC. My "vintage" Mac has a few more good years in it, for sure! :)
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
P.S. I am pretty amazed at how much faster things work with the SSD drive. Now I want an SSD for my desktop! :)
 

kevy73

Senior Member
I am considering switching back to PC soon... kids laptops for school are Windows this year - previous years they were Mac, so we could all network, but as they have switched I will likely do the same some time in 2018 too...
 

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
So a local place called Mac Shack fixed me up just fine. New SSD drive, replaced a bad drive cable, replaced battery and cleaned up some internal corrosion. My MacBook Pro runs faster than ever by a long shot, and all for way less than any comparable notebook, Mac or PC. My "vintage" Mac has a few more good years in it, for sure! :)

This is a good thing! I wish there was a "Mac Shack" around here!

WM
 

Glevum Owl

Senior Member
P.S. I am pretty amazed at how much faster things work with the SSD drive. Now I want an SSD for my desktop! :)

Fitted SSDs in the main two PCs last year purely for the OS: data is on 'normal' HDDs. Gave both systems a new lease of life. Glad that everything's sorted for you.
 
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