1/10/15 4:04 PM

2013 Air. Logic board died. Drove 2.5 hrs to a Genius Bar only to be told they could not fix it and it had to be sent off. It may need RAM too. The odd thing, the tech did not act at all surprised. Hmmmm. Common issue?

The online support asked for money before they even would work the problem and my Air was still under warranty! I did not stand for that. They tried to help but could do nothing beyond what I did.

The flat bill showed $280 to fix it (0 charge to me) and even today they pushed the $240 extended Apple Care warranty. I did not bite. I figured it was a $40 gamble on my part if it breaks again. If it breaks a third time, it will go in the garbage and I will hate on the MacBook Air to all who ask about them.

At least the staff today was personable and knowledgeable.

I use apples Timemachine to keep my stuff backed up so I had no data loss it is a work inconvenience for me nothing more.

At least Jeannie and I got to see my son who is a chef in downtown Charleston SC at Slighty North Of Broad Street. A classy place in a goody town.

1/10/15 4:52 PM

Andy MS has sage advice when shopping for a new laptop - the first criteria is how is the keyboard. I could not agree more. Likewise with the Surface keyboard and April's comments. However, with the Surface, you are not required to use their keyboard. IIRC, it is a separate purchase (for #2, at least). You can always use a 3rd party keyboard, plus mix and math with any other peripheral devices, much like with other tablets.

1/10/15 7:11 PM

I picked up an old machine w/o hard drive at Goodwill today for $30. This:



It's like a 1970s vision of a 2001 entertainment set. In fact, didn't they have something a lot like this on UFO?

Slapped in an old SATA drive and put Windows 7 on it, and the screen and speakers are more than acceptable for entertainment. Driver support is nil, but it's sufficient for what we need. Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and DVD. Touchscreen (single touch) support.

It's the only "desktop" machine in the house.

1/10/15 8:12 PM

quote:

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You can always use a 3rd party keyboard, plus mix and math with any other peripheral devices, much like with other tablets.

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1/10/15 8:14 PM

I too am a fan of the double monitor - I started using the feature at work (ca. 1998 when our desktops were replaced by laptops and we got to keep our old monitors). My laptop screen shows my browser and my spreadsheets while my second screen shows email and word processor. PowerPoint and Adobe are moved around as needed. It's great being able to read something on the Internet while composing an article in WORD without having to flip back and forth. And if I have a lot of data entry to do when capturing information from the Internet, it's great to be able to move Excel to a different screen than my browser. I place both screens at the same distance and have a separate (real) keyboard. I do a lot of document work and spreadsheet construction so having a real keyboard (salvaged from an old Gateway) makes things a lot easier from an ergonomic and efficiency standpoint. Likewise I have a wireless mouse that I like a lot more than my Dell touchpad.

1/10/15 8:46 PM

Yeah but The surface keyboards attach to the main device. That's true of other tablets albeit with using an included cover. I'd say that is pretty self contained. If you are so picky about keyboard typing, there is a Voice to text option that works quite well, too. Or just use a regular keyboard plugged into a USB connection for really heavy duty typing.

1/10/15 9:10 PM

Or get an "old-fashion" laptop with a half decent keyboard.

I happen to think the Surface is yet another Microsoft hardware attempt that is going the way of their past attempt on hardware

1/10/15 9:47 PM

quote:

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even today they pushed the $240 extended Apple Care warranty.

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1/10/15 10:15 PM

I don't know. I think it's a matter of luck. If it's build well, it'll survive a lot of abuse.

I used to lug my laptop EVERY WEEK, on the train between the city and the house. Ok, half of the time, the other half I rode my bike and went without a computer in the house. Still, that's like 30 trips a year. And I'm NOT a careful person.

That laptop from 2006, is still with me. I did break one of the hinge when I tried to force the lid to close when my cell phone was lying on the keyboard. The cell phone was ok, so was the screen, because the hinge broke. But it still open and closes with only one hinge, albeit a bit grudgingly.

But my Mom's laptop, which she never remove from the desk, only lasted 2 years. HD done for good. The PC was also fully up to date on virus protection, better than the one I carelessly connect to free hot spots at airport and Starbucks. There's no doubt it's just a bad quality control in the manufacturing.

1/11/15 6:24 AM

Sandiway, I can understand your suggestion if the machine had a spinning drive. The SSD should be just as reliable as their iOS devices.

The way I do the math. It is a flat 240 for Apple care and the repair which is written to replace the logic board and memory is 280.

I will pay for the next fix, then junk it or imagine this, fix it myself.

I have gutted iPhones with no issue and they worked when I was done.

My Air got sent off for repairs. I am posting from my iPad. It kinda sucks now because I have started playing the guitar and the digitizer rarely reads my left finger tips. It does not sense the callaused fingers correctly.

1/11/15 8:33 AM

Really?

I haven't had that problem, but I admit I don't use my left hand to control my phone very much. Let's see. Nope, reads it fine.

Is it possible you're not using the same pressure with left and right hands/fingers?

1/11/15 4:20 PM

I'm sitting in front of the fireplace right now.

1/11/15 4:32 PM

I'm sitting in front of the fireplace right now.

1/11/15 4:33 PM

I also have no issue with my fretting hand on touch sensitive devices. Maybe Andy and I are more use to the sensory amplitude though a little skin from the years of...

I am also sitting in front of a.... wait... you said Green Bay game, right?

1/11/15 4:36 PM

I would not put it in the fire if I were you. Not that many btu's and some bad fumes.

Sent Phrom my phone while horizontal on the couch.

1/11/15 4:58 PM

It makes the tapping noise as my fingers hit the screen but misses about 30% of the time. I tap with just the tips of my fingers on the iPad. On my iPhone I only use my right hand.

1/11/15 5:12 PM

do you mean the actual sound of contact between skin and screen, or a machine-generated sound or "haptic" feedback? If either of the latter, there's no problem with your hands...it seems likely the screen needs calibration.

1/11/15 5:13 PM

I'm sitting on the couch watching the football game posting on my iPad. But working on a brief, which I should do later, I'll still take my 2 big monitors thanks...:)

Speaking of which, I've had an amusing computer adventure recently. As posted, I got a new 2 monitor box for home for ErgVidoes and work. I could have had my office tech consultant set it up (I bought it through them) but I figured even a tech-challenged dinosaur like me can hook up a computer. Initially I set it up with one monitor as I don't have enough outlets in that room and I don't have a spare surge suppressor strip on hand (I know I should have one and probably a backup power supply anyway).

So last week I decide to add the second and go out to Staples to buy a strip (deferring the power supply until I can get some advice on what to get). So I set it up and it works OK for awhile, then the monitors start freaking out, basically turning on and off repeatedly. I have no idea about the various potential issues, and am also confused because there are 3 video connectors (DisplayPort, VGA and UBS) and I don't know if one or all of these need to be connected (and the Dell documentation is useless). I think the DisplayPort is preferred, and that is all that is needed, but don't know for sure.

So I try everything I can think of to solve the monitor problem, different combinations of connectors, installing software and drivers off the monitor CD, nothing works. Then, finally, it occurs to me that the problem seems like the power to the monitors is being disrupted, so I get suspicious of the strip. I have the computer plugged into the "master outlet" and the monitors into "master controlled outlets." Again, I know nothing about this, but figure maybe this configuration wasn't getting juice to the monitors. So I get the monitors out of "master controlled" outlets and the problem goes away immediately. I did a little googling and seems maybe the computer's power conservation features can frig up the controlled outlets. Anyway, it now works.

So I am an idiot but at least I didn't waste my consultant's time coming to the house.
BTW the tech consultant is awesome as they work on a very reasonable yearly fee rather than hourly, and whenever we have a problem they jump right on it and stick with it until it is fixed. Which is good because my assistants get very grouchy when their computers don't work. Very pleased with this service.

1/11/15 5:49 PM

Andy, it just my left hand and iPads have no feedback other than the little tick noise which I have turned off. It is my hard finger tips hitting on the glass that I am calling tapping.

Also iOS devices don't have the ability or need to be calibrated.

My right hand works fine on the iPad.

1/11/15 6:49 PM

At home, I have a desktop with dual monitors that I use every morning while I'm eating breakfast and sometimes in the evening. I much prefer working on the larger primary monitor (22") to my 17" laptop monitor. The only thing I don't like is that the dual monitors are mismatched in size and resolution, but I can live with that.

I have a laptop that I use on the couch at home. I also take it to work every day to use for personal email and web surfing, since I really don't want to do that on my work machine. I also use the laptop whenever I travel to Linda's or elsewhere (I'm using it as we speak). I have my email configured for IMAP, so I don't have to worry about sync issues between the machines.

At work, I have a dual monitor desktop that's great for working with multiple applications. The company is in the process of replacing these with laptops with docking stations, so effectively the computer is just in a smaller "box" and I'll still have the dual monitors, keyboard and trackball. I'm allowed to take it home if I want, but since I don't work from home unless the weather is bad and I can VPN into the network, I don't anticipate carrying it often.

1/15/15 2:08 PM

Good part of older lap top is getting a new battery off eBay free shipping for $15.00.

So it went from under an hour back to 3.5 on a charge....

1/15/15 2:21 PM

>Good part of older lap top is getting a new battery off eBay free shipping for $15.00.

Mine cost a little more, but going back to 5 hours was worth it.

One of the reasons I try to never buy electronic devices that don't have replaceable batteries!

1/15/15 8:33 PM

after digging into the issues with my MBA I have learned that even though they are not supposed to be user replaceable there are tons of people who do it themselves to save money.

When and if the battery in this MBA goes flat I will crack it open and replace it myself. It can't be that hard, I gutted an iPhone 4 once to change the digitizer/screen and those things are built from the digitizer up instead to the other way around. EVERYTHING comes out.

1/15/15 8:41 PM

It can be done--but I've done it enough times (e.g., with bike light "battery bottles" before I was enlightened and went with a dynohub) that I no longer want to take the time, particularly with a device that can be easily reduced to trash if you're not careful. Hence I now buy devices where I can get to the innards, and particularly the battery, fairly easily. It's fun to fix things sometimes, but batteries are a maintenance item; you should expect to replace them occasionally, and so the design should include a means to do that.

1/16/15 6:03 AM

...but that would be very un-Apple-like. For this and other reasons, I don't own any of their products and probably never will. They're the Shimano of the computer industry, innovative yes, but when something breaks, you're just supposed to chuck it and line up with the other lemmings to buy their latest overpriced, proprietary toy.

Just say NO! ;-)