326 words on Apple defects
It appears as if yesterday’s MacBook problem became much more concrete rather quickly: Today the machine simply failed to run at all when not attached to the charger and wall socket. Unplug it, see the machine die. Turn the machine on when it’s not plugged in and it comes on just to shut itself off after a second.
In a way I am happy because of this because it means I have a concrete problem that people can fix. On the other hand I’m unhappy because it’s yet another repair trip and yet another machine that starts being a collection of replacement parts.
The curious thing about the problem is that it’s not the battery simply being broken or having no contact with the machine. As you can see in the video, the MacBook can draw power to turn itself on for a moment. And it can do that over and over again. In addition, the machine does ‘see’ the battery and its current charge status.
With no entertainment during the train ride I could eavesdrop on my fellow travellers: Across the aisle there was a middle-aged to elderly couple. It looked as if they had been shopping. For travel entertainment he had gotten a daily newspaper and she read a picture book on Africa which they had just bought. Their conversation went like this.
She: Oh, this is nice!
He: Hmmmm.
She: Did you know that elephants…
He: Hmm.
She: And look at those impalas!
He: Hmmmmmmmm.
She: Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest ‘single’ mountain in the world.
He: Hm.
She: It’s 5892 metres high.
He: Six thousand metres, hmmm.
She:Oh, North Africa!
He: Hmmm.
She: Very pretty.
He: Hmmmm.
[…]
Of course he didn’t even look up from his paper once during this and the only reason why it didn’t continue indefinitely was because he fell asleep at some stage. The odd thing was that the Hmmmm
invariably was very clear and loud.