Macbook Pro misery

M

mfidiothead

Registered
Dear all,

I must say I'm surprised to be the first one complaining about these issues on macosx.com as there are many blogs etc on google that mention at least one of the following gripes...

We recently traded in our iBook G4 (last of the G4s in fact) for the 15" Macbook Pro on the basis that we could do both mac and windows compatibility testing on one machine. We got it, looks gorgeous and the installation of all our mac software, as well as windows XP went like a dream.

However...

1) It whines - loudly - unless you are running Photobooth
2) It's hot - just within the limits for using on the lap
3) It crashes for no apparent reason on waking from sleep (ie when the lid is opened)
4) It crashes for no apparent reason when using MS Office
5) It gets grubby very easily
6) It's slow!!!!

We have a G4 iMac which runs Office more quickly & reliably. The iBook was faster, quieter, cooler and more reliable.

So my question is, did I get a dud unit, or do these issues affect most Macbooks. In either case, any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

PS I installed all the updates available so it's currently on 10.4.6
 
'It's hot - just within the limits for using on the lap' - this is due to improper application of silicon grease to components and the components respective heat sinks.

Instead of applying a conservative amount of silicon grease, and wiping away the excess - leaving only the imperfections (valleys) of the component or heat sink filled with the thermal compound, Apple's own assembly documentation states and demonstrates (via pictorials) to place excessive amounts of the silicon grease on key components and their respective heat sinks.

As a result, the heat generated by the components can not properly be removed by their respective heat sinks and accompanying heat removing paths. When the microprocessors (one of the heat generating components) exceed their operating temperature - either the built in themo-couple will report back the value, and the microprocessor acts accordingly, or not.

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Enough engineering ranting ... just look at these respective 'Google' links.

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Can you say 'MacBook Pro recall'?
 
Understand that your version of MS Office for the Mac is a PowerPC application and the MacBook Pro is an Intel Mac. PowerPC and x86 (Intel) are completely different from one another architecturally, so there has to be some way to allow the Intel Mac to run the PowerPC application. The way to do this is through an hardware emulation layer known as Rosetta. This is what is allowing you to run that non-Universal version of Office on your new MacBook Pro.

Apple has stated that applications which run under Rosetta will not run as fast as native Intel binaries or Universal binaries. The speed is that of a fast G4 from what I've heard, and it's expected that the environment might be a bit unreliable at times since the application is expecting an actual PPC Mac when in fact it's doing so through a PPC emulation layer.

The next version of Office is supposed to be a Universal binary, so you might want to invest in that for your MacBook Pro. Or, you could try out OpenOffice or NeoOffice which are both free and excellent alternatives.

As for the rest of the hardware issues, all I can say is that you should contact Apple about it. There have been 4 revisions of the MacBook Pro and the latest is Revision D. This is one of the reasons I decided to get an iMac G5 last September and later invest in an Intel Mac laptop once the platform matured. I've learned (the hard way) that sometimes it's better to wait it out especially with new hardware....you never know what gremlins will appear as time passes.
 
"I must say I'm surprised to be the first one complaining about these issues on macosx.com as there are many blogs etc on google that mention at least one of the following gripes..."

these are well known faults. the mac book whines, buzzes, burns leg hair, runs far too hot and crashes as a result of being far too hot. and it has been discussed here, but not at great length, because it's so well documented in blogs and other discussions. the flip side, of course, is that this is the fastest notebook cpmputer in the world right now, pretty much, and it burns most Dual G5's as well.... it depends whether you see this as an adequate compromise :p

the mac book pro's will improve. if "you are not entirely satified with your purchase" return it to apple. shout loud, and shout to someone high up. hell, one guy on here had a problem with his ibook, so he wrote to Steve Jobs! it's being fixed 'as a special case' now...!
 
To add to the list,

7) The battery life is <2hrs
8) It regularly "forgets" the Airport password, requiring a reboot!

I really thought the days of rebooting were behind me when I switched 5 years ago - the iBook was so much better.

I bought it online - is there any way I can send it back without a trip to the Apple store (I'm in the UK)?

Thanks.
 
or almost the first. ;) There's been talk about this on the net the whole past week. (MacBidouille, AppleInsider etc.) But I agree: It's good they're acknowledging something.
 
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