Battery Replacement: Apple vs Dell
August 30, 2006 | 50 Comments
In the last few weeks Apple and Dell have both been placed in the inconvenient position of having to recall a pile of bad Sony batteries. Side note: how come Sony laptops haven’t had a similar recall, is their market share too small to justify it, or did they save good batteries for themselves? Back on topic, I have been in the unique position of personally being involved in both recalls. My Dell D810 has one of the bad batteries, I filled out the online form to get it replaced on Tuesday 8/15/06. There is also an Apple Mac Book Pro in my house which was affected, the online form to replace this one was filled out on Sunday 8/27/06.
The Apple replacement arrived yesterday, 8/29/06. This was a turn around of less than 3 days, especially impressive when considering one of those day, the request day, was a Sunday.
My Dell, however, is still patiently waiting for it’s replacement. Today is 16 days past when it was requested, so far that makes it more than 5x slower and counting…
Unrelated but furthering potential arguments, my Dell cost >$2300 and the Mac Book Pro cost <$2300. Both had 3 year warranties with educational discounts. Which computer, warranty, and commitment do you think was worth more?
Update:
Dell support contacted me related to this issue, after hours, because they had read this post. In response they have shipped me a new battery as opposed to the refurbs they are sending others. The support representative said my slow replacement was likely do to our institution being handled as a group. I appreciated this follow up and was able to understand their perspective.
As a quick note to Digg’rs and other people leaving comments, this is just a comparison of my experience with getting batteries replaced by two different companies in a short time period. Clearly experience for others may vary. Those who want to condemn me for speaking positively about Apple and negatively about Dell, realize I have both Macs and PCs represented in my life. I appreciate what both do for me.
Tags: apple, battery, battery recall, battery replacement, dell, laptop, mac, recall, sony
MacBook Pro Arrives! and Departs…
March 6, 2006 | 6 Comments
My sister in-law Caitlyn bought an Apple MacBook Pro before she left for Australia. Since the delivery date was a bit uncertain on these brand new models, she decided to have it shipped to my house. That way I could take delivery of it, configure her software and whatnot, then ship it off. Of course I was more than happy to do this both because this makes her my first Mac convert and because I got to get my fingers on this brand new sweet hardware.
The new Macbook Pro is the first of the Apple computers to feature Intel processors, specifically it has a 1.83 Intel Core Duo processor. She also got it with 1GB of RAM, which I think is definitely the way to go. Some of the features I absolutely love on this include FrontRow, the Apple remote, the magnetic power cord plug, the backlit keyboard, the nighttime auto dimming screen, the built-in iSight, the multi-finger scroll capability of the touch pa, and more. I know a lot of these features are hold overs from the PowerBook, but that doesn’t make them any less awesome to me.
I’ve heard some complaints about the magnetic power cord. Apparently some felt it was not strong enough, but I disagree entirely. The magnetic seems strong enough to pull the cord in from around an inch or so, and it doesn’t matter which way you plug it in. Of course I didn’t try running around with it, but I usually don’t run with laptops, at least when they are plugged in…
So in the end, I was very sad to pack this amazing little device up and ship it off to Cait. As far as I can tell this is the most kick-ass laptop I’ve had the privilege of fondling.
Tags: "intel core duo", apple, frontrow, harware, intel, laptop, mac, macbook, macbook pro, os x
Pepper Pad
July 26, 2005 | 12 Comments
On friday Casey and I went to see the Pepper Pad in Massachusetts. To me this is a hugely interesting product. It sits in the vacant space between PDAs and laptops, ignoring the existence of Tablet PCs. To tell the truth, I think tablets are entirely useless. Unless you have money to waste or a budget to spend, there is no justifiable reason to invest in these devices. They come up short on the power of a laptop, and are not actually portable. However, the Pepper Pad has found the sweet spot between laptops and PDAs, amazingly they do not pretend to be either and this is where they shine.
Do you ever find yourself watching TV and want to look something up quickly on the Internet? Do you want to be able to see recipes while cooking in the kitchen? Do you want an Internet enabled device you can walk around your house with? If you answered yes to any of these questions or similar ones, the Pepper Pad is for you. From their site:
Portable and lightweight? Definitely.
Able to instantly connect you to all your favorite activities-e-mailing, IM, Web browsing, listening to music, watching videos, sharing photos and more? Absolutely.
How about easy to use, totally low maintenance and ready to travel with you-whether to the couch, the backyard or even the local coffee shop? Check.
That device is here. Say hello to the Pepper Pad. The Pad represents an entirely new category of wireless device-bigger and more powerful than a PDA or mobile phone, but smaller, lighter and far less complex (and a lot more fun) than a laptop.
This is an existing gadget I’d like in my home. However, the Pepper Pad is not perfect. I have to point out the areas they fall slightly short in hopes they, or another generation, will resolve them. Problems:
- Spongy feeling keypad - limited tactical feedback
- Unlabeled “function” key
- Oddly placed backspace button
- Laggy response to stylus input - scrolling with the wheel is great, the stylus is troublesome
- I question the lack of a word processor, even if limited in features/functionality
Not to knock the Pepper Pad, because it is hands down the coolest thing of its kind available, but I want competitors in this space. Would we have ever gotten an MP3 player as sweet as the iPod if there Creative and others hadn’t pioneered that space first, I think not.
In a perfect world someone like Apple would step in and build something If they took the components in the Mini, added a small LCD touch screen, gave it appropriate usability testing, OSX, and a <$800 price tag, they’d make billions. I know I’d find the money somewhere…
Tags: computing platform, hardware, innovation, laptop, mobile, mobile computing, pepper, pepper pad, tablet, technology, ultra portable