Wednesday, August 4, 2010

How far from the tree?

The world of the Apple computer user is not a familiar one to us. Considering that we learned to use a PC back when a graphical user interface was a vague notion somewhere in the ether, it's no wonder. Back then, everything came with a mandatory power cord. When we spoke of a portable computer, we meant taking the CPU or monitor in for repairs.

Now we have laptops, albeit of that same PC variety. I have looked into the battery compartments of them just to be sure I could find the locations. There they were, batteries all snugged in!

I recently read a post wherein the writer had discussed the switch from PC to one of the MacBooks. That awakened a battery-replacement curiosity. How do they do it?

Turns out, the user doesn't. Apple must, itself, change the defunct battery out. It can take a day if you take it to the Apple store after making an appointment. Or, if an Apple store is not conveniently at hand and the user has to send it to Apple, the turnaround time is estimated to be four days.

Data backup had better be current and although it is not mentioned on the Apple site, I would wager it would be possible to lose all of the customization and add ons, too.

This may not seem like a deal-breaker. But this situation, plus the cost of an Apple, are for me. (The learning curve has nothing to do with it, y'understand.)

I prefer to bite my own apples - not have the Apple bite me . . .

O course, this has nothing to do with the iPad or iPhone. I would gladly put up with the battery-inconvenience for either of these little gems.

6 comments:

Zeta said...

Agreed! Gems are special treasures.

ol Doc said...

Um, I can't imagine sending any piece of equipment away to have the battery changed. Seems kind of like sending the baby off to the hospital to have the diaper changed! I mean, it'd muh babe-uh!

Big Ed said...

These new little gems bring new meaning to "pen and paper games," that is role playing games. People have their character sheets or the module set up on their Iphone. Strange new world isn't it.

RANGER said...

My collection of little gems is fairly non-existent. But I do treasure my laptop. Does that count?

ol Doc said...

'Course it counts. I was drug kicking and screaming into the new technology - "GUI Interface? We don't NEED no GUI Interface" - now, even with a Netbook on the dining table, I always feel like I'm 2 steps behind the rest of the planet.

The Coupon Goddess said...

Ok, I can only comprehend a portion of your post. You lost me at interface since I'm tech illiterate, but you certainly got my attention with the battery issue. Wish someone would have mentioned that to me when I was doing research on my macbook. The thought of losing my mac for 4 days makes me want to hurl. :( But I will say that I like both the edible and non edible apple types. They are both yummy.