Submitted by A few days ago we reported on heat issues with Apple’s MacBook Pro. As SomethingAwful.com has found out, the issue is related to Apple making errors in applying the thermal paste on various locations in the MacBook Pro. SomethingAwful also gives a DIY fixing guide. Apple, however, was not amused, and sent out a cease and desist letter to SomethingAwful, asking them to remove the link to the MacBook Pro’s service manual. Apple is also addressing battery issues.
and will mercilessly taunt Apple to “bring it on.” They’ll bring out Leonard J. Crabs, their in house drunk^h^h^h Lawyer and and completely ignore Apple’s insistent demands.
SomethingAwful.com is a powerhouse ….. they have immense powers of sarcasm, they’ll make Apple look terribly stupid. Seriously, somethingawful.com has the kind of mindshare that Apple can only dream of.
And Apple deserves every bit of what they’re going to get: I hate it when BigCompanyX screws up, and then cowers their ass by lawyering up.
I hate it when BigCompanyX screws up, and then cowers their ass by lawyering up.
While I also find Apple’s letter overdone, they do have every right to do so. The Apple manual is copyrighted material, you see. SA would’ve been smarter if they’d simply pointed to the Apple manual on Apple’s own page.
But yeah, a simple “We made an error, thank you SA for pointing it out, serial numbers xxxx to xxxx get a free repair, and the ones responsible will be sacked” would’ve been much more British.
While I also find Apple’s letter overdone, they do have every right to do so. The Apple manual is copyrighted material, you see.
They didn’t copy the Apple Manual. They pointed out pages in the manual and there is a link.
I think Apple want to start fixing their so-called high quality hardware that people pay over the odds for rather than giving people pointless jobs.
It’s a lose lose situation for anyone who owns a MacBook Pro. Send it in for Apple to fix the Heating issue and it won’t get fixed because it’s Apple policy for their technicians not to use a lot of thermal paste. Open the laptop and apply addequate amount of thermal paste and you forfeit your warranty.
Send it in for Apple to fix the Heating issue and it won’t get fixed because it’s Apple policy for their technicians not to use a lot of thermal paste.
What? Did you read the article? The Apple policy for their technicians is to use way to much thermal paste. That is the problem. More is not always better.
It’s disgraceful that it’s predictable as night follows day that a new product released by Apple has a lot of problems. This negative publicity can only hurt Apple, especially now that they’re starting a new ad campaign that focuses on how Mac users don’t suffer from all the annoyances that PC users do.
People pay a premium for Apple products because of their perceived higher quality. They won’t if Apple keeps on messing up like this.
It’s quite possible, and perhaps even likely that Apple could continue to sell its products despite continued errata. You don’t have to have higher quality, your users simply have to believe that you do. I would expect it to discourage new users that happen to be aware of such build problems, but people that already think Apple makes better computers take it every time.
I’m not surprised Apple are sending out cease and desist letters. Not applying thermal paste properly is an unbelievable manufacturing flaw, and a basic, basic, basic, basic thing that even independent PC builders are aware of and need to get right.
This is the thing people are paying top money and Apple Care on top for? Bugger. Apple should just distribute the parts and let people who know what they’re doing build it.
I repaired a 1998 rev.a tray-loading first generation iMac whose battery had finally died, and I was only able to do so because someone archived the 400 page PDF manual no longer available from their website. Left to my own devices, I would have broken at least two pieces of plastic and missed some critical screws.
It’s clear that Apple believes in stability through obscurity: the less people know what’s happening under the hood, the less chance they have of farking things up. However, people ARE going to toy with the hardware. At least give them the specs to know what not to do, and *then* give them the Nelson Muntz “ha-HA!” if they mess it up.
Apple’s is legallly probably in the right to threaten anybody who actually hosts the copyrighted Service Manuals. That said, it’s a pretty dumb move, because it will just make it look like they’re covering up or have something to hide. The fact is that a lot more people will seek out and download these manuals only because they were made aware of them by these legal threats.
Anyway, it’s silly for Apple to treat service and repair manuals as Scriptures that only the Priests that are the Apple Technicians are allowed to see. IBM/Lenovo, Dell, Compaq, Asus, and I bet a lot others have their detailed service manuals for download from their support sites.
Some time ago I downloaded the iBook G4 manual just to replace the HD (an rather annoying procedure on iBooks). It also contains the official acceptable dead pixels policy (3 or less bright, 5 or less dark, 7 or less in combinations). The amusing thing was that the manual instructed the technicians to brush off the customer with a story that dead pixels are standard and acceptable on LCD screens, and that it was important not to disclose the exact policy to the customer.
I am a lawyer for Apple Computing, Inc. We are hereby demanding that OSNews cease and desist linking to a story on SomethingAwful.com because it links to the MacBook Pro’s service manual. Furthermore, all posters to the Readers’ Comments section of OSNews must cease and desist posting comments related to the story on SomethingAwful.com because it links to the MacBook Pro’s service manual. Furthermore, you must cease and desist discussing with anybody posts to the Readers’ Comments section of OSNews which must cease and desist posting comments related to the story on SomethingAwful.com which must cease and desist linking to the MacBook Pro’s service manual.
We are a big, powerful corporation, and if you don’t cease and desist doing whatever we demand, you’ll be ruthlessly hunted down. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t f–k with Apple. The first people who did that were Adam and Eve, and look what they got.
As the owner of a July 2005 rev Powerbook, I’m curious … anybody checked recent Power/ibooks to see if they have the same issue? I’ve got to think Apple’s manufacturing/service standards and practices are similar, and sticking a heatsink on a CPU isn’t exactly an Intel-only exercise.
I have the last model 15″ Powerbook (the high-res model) and I have not had any of the problems some users were reporting such as splotches/lines on screen, weak battery, audio feedback, bad lower ram slot, etc…and my serial # is in the middle of the group of people who were reporting problems.
what does this mean? I have no idea, but mine is working flawlessly.
I have the last model 15″ Powerbook (the high-res model) and I have not had any of the problems some users were reporting such as splotches/lines on screen, weak battery, audio feedback, bad lower ram slot, etc…and my serial # is in the middle of the group of people who were reporting problems.
what does this mean? I have no idea, but mine is working flawlessly.
It means that your powerbook is probably assembled by another person.