Replacement 1: Dented body, faulty batter indicator

I received my first macbook pro (5th gen/unibody) early October. When I opened the box I immediatley noticed that above the trackpad there was a huge dent. This was obviously unacceptable, so I called Apple and requested a replacement. Another issue that was discovered shortly after was that the battery indicator on the left side of the machine was not functioning.

Replacement 2: Defective video card, broken clutch/monitor hinge

I received my second replacement. Actually that is a lie, Apple shipped it to the wrong address and I had to drive 40 minutes away to pick it up at the FedEx depot. When I finally got home and pulled it out of the box I noticed that as I opened the lid/screen it made a horrible cracking noise. I didn’t think much of it, being a new system, perhaps it was just nice a stiff. After working for a few hours, things seemed great. I shutdown and closed the lid. As I lifted the macbook pro to place it in my bag, I noticed that the black clutch at the back had popped right off. I immediatley popped in back into place and opened up the lid. After gliding my finger across the inside of the bezel I noticed that the entire thing was warped!

I used this machine for 4 days. On the 4th day, I was working with some graphic software and as it was rendering, the system decided to shut down the program, clear my desktop of it background and contents and in the top left corner appeared a lovely black box. This was fixed by a restart. I decided to try and recreate the occurance, so I loaded up a graphic intensive game, played for about 20 minutes and bang! The computer just shut itslef off.

I called Apple and requested yet another replacement.

Replacement 3: Yellow screen (9C85), squeaky keys

This one is the best yet. I open the 3rd replacement macbook pro, I place it next to the 2nd replacement, in order to transfer my files via fw800 and I immediately notice that the screen on the new machine is YELLOW compared to the crisp white screen of the previous one. My first reaction was that the screen must be defective. After some research I discover that Apple actually manufactures to different screens for their unibody Macbook Pros.

9C84 – Manufactured by LG/Samsung
9C85 – Manufactured by Chei Mei

Turns out I received the No Frills brand monitor. Normally, this wouldn’t bother me, but considering that the difference between the two screens is very apparent, I was appalled that Apple would try to put lower quality screens in their Pro line machines.

Another issue with this machine, aside from its sub-par screen, was that my keys were squeaky! I have a video of these squeaky keys in a previous post. Feel free to look it up.

I called Apple and demanded to receive a new machine, however, I wanted them to ship it to the closest Apple Store so that I could open it up with the store manager present, just in case there was a defect.

Replacement 4: 9C85 Chei Mei Screen

The Apple Store Yorkdale called me to pick up my in-store replacement. The system was in great condition, however, the screen was not the brilliant wide screen I purchase, it was infact, the Chei Mei yellow tinted junk screen. I placed the replacement down next to one of the store models and put the brightness on both machines all the way up, as well as changed both color profiles to default. I asked the store reps to bend down to look at the screens side by side and it was a unanimous “Oh!”. They all noticed the yellow screen.

Long story short, they kept the 4th replacement and told me they’d look into this two manufacturer discovery as they had never heard of it.

I am currently awaiting my 5th and final replacement. Apple will not acknowledge the difference between these two screens and would rather insult the intelligence of their most loyal customers by offering us some useless goodwill gestures, like an ipod touch.

You know what Apple? I bought an iPhone 3G, I bought a Macbook Pro fully loaded, I bought a Dual G4 when they first came out in 1994, I bought a Dual G5 shortly thereafter, I own Logic Audio, Final Cut HD and 3 ipod nanos.

After this experience, not only am I jaded, but I question your mandate. I thought Apple cared about making us, the professionals – advocates of all that is Apple – happy. It’s apparent now that Apple is no different than Microsoft, Dell or any other big box manufacturer that simply cares about the bottom line.

Maybe my next system will be a Psystar. Steve… you broke my heart.

- For those of you interested in finding out which screen you have…

System Preferences > Display > Color > Open profile >> take a look at line 13. It’s either 9C85(junk) or 9C84(LG/Samsung!)

Not only does this Macbook Pro have a yellow tint on the screen, but the machining is off, causing the lid, when closed, to hang noticabley over the left side of the chasis. Also, my keyboard keys squeak like a rusty door hinge! Check out the vid >  Macbook Pro 5,1 Unibody – Defects, Squeaky keys

I’ve had the new MBP, fully loaded, for 3 days and I’ve made a few observations.

Trackpad: The new trackpad is definitley a cool concept. New gestures, huge real estate and a slicker texture make gliding around almost as much fun as skating on a frozen pond. However, push clicks don’t register as effectivley as they did on the previous model trackpads, and the overall sound of the pad seems clunky, high-pitched and downright cheap by comparison.

The Screen: Back lit LED screen. The new screen is really, really sharp and vivid. I am a graphic designer, and let me tell you, the colours on this sucker pop like you wouldn’t beleive. Is it accurate? Probably not. I’ve been having a tough time calibrating it, but it does look spectacular. The gloss doesn’t seem to bother me too much either. I guess, if I had the choice I would probably ask for a Matte screen version, but… Apple doesn’t care. Quick shout out re: the Hinge issue that’s I’ve seen floating arround the Apple support site. Yes, when your’re lying in bed and have the MBP on your knee at a 45, the lid does close. The hinges aren’t bad by any means, theyre just… different.

The Keyboard: Back lit chicklet style. What can be said? If you like it you like it. If not… Apple doesn’t care. I think it’s pretty cool. The keys seems more spaced out to me but I could be seeing things. Other than that, I would go so far as to say that the plastic used on these keys by comparison to my previous MBP are of a much cheaper grade of plastic. Also, getting dust or hair under them is more of a nuissance than before.

Overall Design: Overall, the 4,1 MBP / Late 2008 unibody Macbook Pro, is really sexy looking. It may take some getting used to but I’m sure in time I will love it more than its predescessor.

I ran a few Xbench tests with noth system side by side. I will post the results when I get some time. I can confidently say that the new Macbook Pro beat its predescessor in every single benchmark. No question.

However, the 320Gb 7200 Hitachi in my new MBP lost horribly to the 320Gb Seagate I bought seperatley and installed myself. Hitachi vs Seagate. Seagate FTW.

I am noticing that the track pad is certainly not as responsive to push clicks as my previous MBP. However, I think this is largely to due the fact that the size of the “click-able” area is so enormous. It does seem that, overall, the new MBP is composed of cheaper grade aluminum and plastic components and does have a clunkier click sound than its predecessor.

In all honesty, I think I like my old (4,1) MBP better then the new (5,1) one. Only time will tell I guess.