I HATE APPLE

A) There was NO RECORD that I had previously called Apple customer support or taken my computer into a store with any complaints, ever, prior to my warranty expiring, which would've made a difference, apparently. Lesson 1: physically bring the computer to an Apple store and ask for proof that they have actually entered your complaint into the system.
B) The only people who showed up at the Genius Bar (which was a good amount of people--the queue was up to 4pm within an hour of the store opening) had iBooks, iMacs and the ubiquitous iPod battery problem. Lesson 2: try to avoid purchasing any Apple product beginning with cutesy "i" and focus on those beginning with fascist "Power".*
C) The overworked tech (there was one dude there, the second dude, also nice, was an hour and a half late to work) was very nice about the whole thing, but would not stop staring at my boobs. Lesson 3: bring boobs to Apple store.
D) After lengthy discussion of all the things I had done to the computer and my own self diagnosis and "I think this is what you need to do" being totally correct, plus thrown in comments about how awful G3s were and how this is doing the same thing, guy was even more sympathetic to my problems. Lesson 4: Do some research, if you can get online, before going into Apple Store.

RESULT:
They knocked down price of fixing computer significantly despite my lack of warranty and the fact that it looks like a few v. pricey components need to be replaced. The actual computer itself is in perfect condition and is loading just fine but there's something seriously wrong with something in the Logic board, basically, that means the connection to the LCD is dead and my computer has wakey-wakey issues. Problem being that I haven't backed up my data in about a year. They offered to do so for me--but it would've taken an additional week on top of the 7-10 business days EST for computer repair because of how backed up they are in Clarendon. Instead I ended up purchasing the external hard drive Tom's been "meaning to get" for a few months now and the guys did it for me, while I stood there, for free. Well for free plus the $179 for the drive. In total, this is going to cost about $400 to fix. Add the price of later adding an Airport Extreme card (one of the reasons I picked an iBook over a Powerbook was that part of the price difference was the optional Airport card in iBook versus mandatory in Powerbook--at the time, I had no foreseeable need for wireless access), plus this repair, and I could've bought Tom's PowerBook G4 + upped the RAM on it on purchase.

Final Lesson: Just pick the most expensive thing you can find on purchases like this because you get what you pay for.

FIN.

* not quite FIN, errr Tom I just noticed there is something v. off about your LCD as well and now I am PARANOID to use yr computer, more so than normal.

I was still jealous of him, him and his horribly scarred computer.

Pour some wine on it.

10.3.8 sucks a dick

MAYBE I AM THE MAC LCD DISPLAY KILLER.

XPOST OH IT'S JUST A COMPLETELY RETARDED "FEATURE" NEVER MIND I FEEL BETTER NOW, ABOUT MYSELF ONLY THOUGH NOT ABOUT THE WORLD IN GENERAL.

In Craig's words, which I am going to repeat as often as it takes for people to stop inventing useless features: "A Bluetooth extention that opens my car windows for me? Who the fuck wants that? Call me when you invent a Bluetooth extention that drives my drunk ass home after a night out, fucking idiots!"

Now what I don't understand is why Apple has v. quietly invented an actually useful feature that seems only available on its most recent PowerBooks. Why don't they make a big fuss about their bloody new style trackpads that allow you to scroll mouse-style instead of clicky-style on webpages??? Why do they make this big deal about AMBIENT LIGHT DIMMING but not about scroll trackpads from 2313?

"I BESTOW UPON YOU AN INCREASINGLY COST INEFFICENT AND UGLY RANGE OF IPODS! YOU KIDS LIKE IPODS! THEY COME IN VOMIT GREEN AND PREGNANCY TEST STYLES, NOW! HEY! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT USEFUL TRACK PAD BEHIND THE CURTAIN! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE AWESOME WIZARD! LOOK AT THE OLD MAN WITH THE COMPUTER THAT RESEMBLES THAT CAT TOY THAT IS MADE OUT OF A SPRINGY TUBE WITH A FUZZY BALL ON THE TOP! CLOSE THAT CURTAIN!"

Seriously what the fuck, at what point did these people jump the shark?

xpost I've had no problems with my iPod, amazingly! I imagined it'd like disintegrate as soon as I tried to use it but my battery has held up amazingly well.

I missed that the first time. hahaha

hotcha!

ihttp://mcosre.sourceforge.net/screenshots/x_classic.gif

I like OSX but it is orphaning older machines too quickly and Apple's build quality has slipped a great deal recently.

http://www.bensbargains.net/ktalk/1110895419,1631,.shtml

http://www.bensbargains.net/ktalk/1110876590,21579,.shtml

There is something of a cult following for the Color Classic. They are quite rare on the used market -- and some users have managed to hack in 68040 boards and even G3 upgrades into the smallest color Macintosh.

Shit! Why did I give this away? Why?

Perhaps that why he calls it 'bastard' and 'oh you motherfucker' so often?