New Apple Lust Objects

Certainly. I'm not sure about desktops since I haven't run the numbers, but I just had the logic board die on my current MBP and it still has 100 days or so of AppleCare left. I had it dropped off at the store at noon, and they somehow had the replacement part in stock and it was repaired by 9PM for me to pick up the next day.

I've heard variations in service, but for me, it's always been as easy as saying "this is failing, I have done these three actions, and it's definitely dead." The guy at the genius bar usually doesn't even flinch and just gives me an estimate of when they'll have it done. I swear I have had laptops in three times but can only think of the last two, with a dead hard drive and the one this week.

There's a lot of gnashing of teeth among the crazies about how you have to buy AppleCare immediately, or you need to buy it from the Apple Store since others are unscrupulous, but it's all bullshit. I usually am lazy and buy it as the first year is about to run out. I recently figured out that buying off ebay from someone with good feedback is a good idea since Apple has resellers of AppleCare and the markup is huuuge. Just got iPhone AppleCare off ebay for like $35, and I think it retails for $70. I was able to register it online with no issues.

With desktops, I think you have less of a problem with failing components because they're not being moved around, have more heat flow, and so on. Laptop components are smaller, subject to more abuse, and more expensive. That said, with iMacs and Mac Minis they're using a handful of laptop-style components, so it's more of a level field.

Case in point, it looks like iMac AppleCare policies are selling for around $80 on ebay.

Nhex, it's a pain in the ass to pop open an iMac but there are guides:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Browse/iMac

Hard drives are reasonably inexpensive, and you can probably end up with a larger drive than you started with. It might just take a lot of patience, a careful hand, and a cheap tool set.

am I lucky, Cutty, or just such a Mac PRO that my computers are awesome?

I'll tell you one thing and open a can of worms. I NEVER turn my computer off. I rarely did in the past but twice I went away on vacation during the summer, shut off my computer and came back to a failed hard-drive. In one case I just replaced it, in another it ended up being fucked directories or whatnot, so I pulled all the data off, reformated and kept on using it. My theory was that it was so extraordinarily hot that something went screwy with the drives, or when spinning back up after a while directories got screwed or something. I don't know, all I know is now I even leave the computer on when I'm away for a week and haven't had any problems since.

The one other time since was when my computer froze and I got impatient and I force restarted and had a similar situation with the start-up disk not working, but by this time I had a good back-up system going so I was able to wipe the drive, restore from the night before's clone and was up and running in minutes.

I'm going SSD with my macbook.

If they don't release a new MBP soon, I might do the SSD-as-boot-drive trick that some people are doing, if mine isn't too old to do it. I guess there are ExpressCard SSD drives, and if your MBP is of the right vintage you can set it as the boot drive.

I'll echo Dan's experience in that I've always pretty well gotten a solid five years out of each Mac I've had -- hell, even the one Mac clone! But getting AppleCare is simply key for me too -- I'd always much rather have it than not.

We figure we get ave of 6 years out of our company desktops. The old grey 450s and everything since the metal G5s have been awesome long life. Quicksilvers and MDDs in between not so much

My 2002 MDD dual 867 is still doing just fine. Runs Tiger. Only thing I've had to replace is the dvd drive.

I forgot to get applecare and my warranty expired last month ;_;

i think the geniuses might give you a deal on the length of the applecare MINUS how long you've already had it.

no official apple store where I live. I'm only a month out. applecare for my mbp costs $350 from the apple store. wtf

It's $300 from LA Computer Company, still a big chunk though. But since you're using a portable does that make it more worth getting?

Re: iMac HD replacement above, I was happy to take it to a local service place, buy an upgraded HD from newegg and have them take care of it - no way I'm removing the glass with suction cups and hoping dust doesn't get in and all that, ain't got the courage!

Worse yet the machine was only 2-3 months out of warranty. Still, before finding the local place I took the iMac to my local Apple store to get quoted a ridiculous figure, and on top of that it would take weeks to get back. The local shop got back to me in 3 days and cost about half as much, inc. my HD purchase. And most of the shops in the area were comparing themselves vs. the inflated Apple service price, too - I got lucky.

Now there's more chatter about an external trackpad from apple or something similar. Am I the only person who despises trackpads? Who wishes the macbooks still came with trackballs? I just hate using them, for basic interface stuff an especially more intense stuff. Photoshop retouching, bezier curves, illustrator pen, etc. I'm not a huge fan of Wacom styli and I know most people would say that's what "pros" use for art. I'm perfectly fine with my trackball, or a mouse. I just can't imagine doing any of that kind of work on a trackpad.

Yeah, I hate trackpads too. Always hook up a mouse if possible. Totally ok with touchscreens and styluses, though.

Anyone order an iPad today?

Yes, got the cheapest one. This is pretty much going to be a couch computer for playing games, reading eBooks, and controlling my TV/Home media.

Fools rush in. Never buy a 1st gen apple product, guys.

It'll be cheaper at Christmas, I'm thinking.

But hey, if you want to drop a few bills to be a beta tester, no one can stop you.

The first generation iPhone was awesome. I don't regret buying it in the least. Sure the second generation iPad will be better, but I'll just get it too.

http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/01/scrooge_mcduck_raining_gold_lg.jpg

Fortunately, this isn't the Air, or some such engineering challenge that's going to have lots of physical problems. It's a big giant iPod touch, flash memory, no moving parts... it's not going to blow up or anything.

I would expect major battery life issues, though, at least at first.

Not incidentally, I do very much love my iPod Touch. Podcasts and video games on the morning train, and best of all, you can't call me on it. Any device that allows people to bother me without my consent is never going to be as good as one that does not.

Also, the hassle of dealing with AT&T is conspicuously missing. No craptastic 3g coverage, no absurdly large monthly bills. In my perfect world, telephones are no longer a modern necessity. I resent the shit out of having to pay a monthly bill for a device that I don't want to use.

then don't

You can't not have a phone.

Sure you can, just set up a skype-like thing that has voicemail if you're so adamant that you don't want people to call you. Then when you're in wifi range, you return any calls you really feel like returning.

Interesting...

google voice not skype-like thing

Ok I am dying for the Nexus One to get Verizon on board, and for my AT&T contract to expire. I believe both things will fortuitously happen simultaneously, in about three or four months.

Google Voice doesn't have a native iphone app unless you're jailbroken, right? I've used it, but you end up having to have it call your number to bridge to numbers you're calling.

I've done this to create a dial-a-joke line I don't have to pay for:

1. create free gizmo5 account
2. tie the gizmo5 number to a free ipkall number

Now you can get free inbound calls, so long as you have a voip app such as fring running.
You can then tie this inbound # to a google voice account to get outbound calls.

I was going to create a gizmo5 account a while ago but signups are suspended post Google-buyout.

what i'm saying is that if, in a perfect world, kenan doesn't want a phone, people calling his google voice number would leave a voicemail that arrives in his inbox that he can reply to any way he wishes

Yes, I will be seriously considering that.

Oh yeah, that would work well.

anyone know if google voice works with pagers?

philip really creates his own dial a joke lines?

OK, so I might be in the market for a new Mac. Currently we have a Powermac G5 tower that we inherited, which is kinda cool, but has some major disadvantages: it takes up a lot of space, it's really loud (fans on a lot of the time), and it's not actually that fast at x264 encoding (which is about the only intensive thing we ever do with it). The machine is supposed to be used as a media server, essentially, with all our big external hard drives connected to it.

It looks like it should fetch about $500 on eBay, which is about what I could get a new lowest-spec Mac mini for. Is there any reason not to do this? Is there something I'm missing about the mini - does it badly underperform in some way? Of course I'm half tempted by an iMac, but an extra $600+ seems like a lot for a screen.

ftr I fucking love my iMac

i have a mini that is a couple of years old and it works great, although the optical drive died on it a while back. it's fast enough at most things.

my OS is fucked. thankfully I had split the hard drive and installed Windows, so at least I've got a computer. should probably take it to the 'Genius Bar', but hate the thought of doing anything involving a 'Genius Bar'.

yeah god forbid they fix your computer

the bastards.

toby, if you're on a budget then mac mini is a good way to go, especially since you will presumably have display, etc. left over from the powermac sale. depends on taste, but an imac is not much more or less intrusive/computer-y in your living room than a mini + old display + keyboard. but if all you want is a mediaserver and this thing is going to live under the stairs or something then, yeah, the imac makes no sense.

Cool. Yeah, slightly undecided about whether to run it with a screen or not - iMac might be nice for watching movies, but is it sensible to effectively spend $600 on a screen for that? I half expect projectors to come down to that price soon enough.

they are really good screens, fwiw (like they will give you a suntan), but if you're looking for a media center to point your furniture at then maybe get a mini and one of those fancy dell cinema screens. of course getting a mini gives you the option if you change your mind. (so does getting an imac, but it may turn out to be a wasted screen)

Do any of you use TextExpander? I'm trying it out now and O_O it's amazing.

http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/

There's a free less-powerful version in 10.6 fwiw.

Where?