Okay….with the family away for a week at horseback riding camp I finally was gonna get a few days to myself to work on my laptop computer undisturbed. I had all my training manuals and tutorials laid out so that I could begin working on lesson plans for next semester. I had six entire days to work on whatever I wanted to work on without having to entertain the kids or do something for my wife. People with families and little kids will understand, so I won’t elaborate.
So of course Murphy’s law holds true. The magsafe power supply on my 17 inch Macbook Pro literally burns up on the day that the family ships off. The power supply simply caught on fire and fried itself at the edge of the cable. It looked as if someone held a flame to the cord. This was kinda of scary since I wasn’t home at the time and left the laptop running to render some video footage. The scorch marks on the cable gave me the impression that I was lucky that it didn’t burn down my mother-in-law’s place.
After asking around on a message board that I frequent, I find out from another poster that she has had the exact same problem. She stated that she is on her third magsafe already. A quick Google search proves that she and I are not alone and this is a common occurrence with the MacBook Pro. The magsafe adapters just burn up. Why Apple hasn’t recalled these yet is a bit of a mystery. It would be reminiscent of some of their debacles of the 90’s to start to make some headway in market share and then have their seemingly well designed product self destruct. The Powerbook 5300 with the self igniting batteries come to mind.
I have had dozens of laptops from Apple, Dell, IBM, and other companies. My Macbook Pro, I call her Winona (Farscape fans will understand), had up until this point been the best laptop that I have ever owned. Besides my wife, Winona was my one true love. I depended on her for my livelihood, my entertainment, and my communication. It gripped me with dread that perhaps my love and trust in her had been misplaced.
Now please keep in mind that the summer is one of the only times of the year that I have to brush up and retrain myself in various technical areas. If I want to stay technically up to date for the coming academic year it is imperative that this time out of the classroom be productive. As a result, I immediately start to panic since we are overseas at my mother-in-law’s house in Norway. The thoughts running through my head ranged from “where will I find an Apple store in Oslo” to “what is this gonna cost me even if I am lucky enough for them to have the power supply in stock”.
Since my Winona was outta commision, I had to use my PSP, Chiana, to browse the net for the Apple site in Oslo to replace my power supply. I was pleased to find out that there were three Apple premium resellers in downtown Oslo. To make a long story short, I had to run around to all three shops because the first two didn’t have the power supply in stock. The third shop had the power supply for the inflated price of 700 Norwegian Kroners (approx. $122 us dollars). Luckily I didn’t have to pay out of pocket because I had Applecare on Winona. Plus, Apple resellers are obligated to honor the Applecare agreement internationally on all laptops and portables. I have to admit this made my day despite all the running around.
So with Winona back up and running, and without costing me any extra coin, I felt strangely comforted by the fact that Winona hadn’t betrayed me. That once again she would be there for me while my wife and family were away. Still….. I think I am gonna keep my eye on her.