Apple admitting, repairing laptop whining and discoloration problems

Always the good corporate citizen -- well, maybe not always -- Apple has finally fessed up to both the MacBook discoloration and MacBook Pro whining issues that have been plaguing customers since the notebooks were released, and has agreed to fix the problems free of charge. We already knew that the company was sneaking new logic boards into Pro models that had been sent in for unrelated repairs, but now the "high-pitched buzzing sound," as it's technically known, has been officially acknowledged in a support page on the Apple website. An inquiry by DailyTech revealed that affected notebooks fall under the standard one-year limited warranty -- meaning that all MacBook Pros are covered -- and that the solution involves replacing either just the fan or both the fan and the logic board. The discolorations, meanwhile, have not yet been publicly recognized, but AppleInsider is reporting that a recent company bulletin intended for retail and service partners indicates that white, 13-inch MacBooks in a specific serial number range will indeed be eligible for a new top case and corresponding screen bezel -- assuming that approved cleaning solutions have been proven ineffective. Overall, not a bad resolution; sure the admissions could have come sooner, but instead of blaming the discoloration on dirty customers, attributing the whining to tinnitus sufferers, and calling it a day, Apple came through in the end and took the responsible course of action.

Read- Whining
Read- Discoloration

[Sindre Strandum @ Jul 26th 2006 8:18PM]

About time! This sucks Apple :(
Hasty product, and bad design!
Its pretty when new though..

[cycomachead @ Jul 26th 2006 8:27PM]

well only a few % were infected. And Apple has had the documents out for a while, although the whine was recently updated. People don't excatly b**** when thier Dels or Gateways have a manufacutring defect, well pweople metion it, but they don't get up like people have done now!
I mrean Apple made some faukty products and they are fixing them, that is what they should be doing, right???
Why can't Apple make mostakes.
Lord help us if ther Foxconn factory its blown up or something goes wrong there!
it would be a crisis here the way some people act

[bufbarnaby @ Jul 26th 2006 8:31PM]

Apple already has an unofficial fix...it is called charging you $200 dollars extra for black plastic.Way to go Apple,uh sorry,I meant Foxxcon ! With Apple,as always,it`s pay more,get less.And that great Chinese quality is a no-cost bonus.

[John from Buffalo @ Jul 26th 2006 8:34PM]

Oddly enough there were some added products to the Apple Store last night when I went to talk to a tech about the disoloration problem.

I found a MarWare product that actually works EXTREMELY well: "Protection PACK for MacBooks"

http://www.marware.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Marware.woa/6/wa/selectedCategory?catalogCatID=224&wosid=5DJtYP8oNcP6IAe6ALmtsg

[Tomas @ Jul 26th 2006 8:39PM]

"Why can't Apple make mostakes."

Apple can't make a mistake because the rest of us love rubbing the fanboys' noses in it whenever Apple effs something up. (Which they seem to be doing a bit more frequently than usual.)

[cinta @ Jul 26th 2006 9:07PM]

Yeah, at least Apple's laptops don't explode.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops/dell-laptop-explodes-in-flames-182257.php

Rub your nose in that, "fanboy"

[Chris Robinson @ Jul 26th 2006 9:11PM]

Aww, hugs!

[yeppers @ Jul 26th 2006 9:19PM]

"At least Apple's laptops don't explode."

http://www.podcastingnews.com/news/06_06/Mac_Laptop_Explodes_Flame.html

Hehe, yeah.

[Silver R. Wolfe @ Jul 26th 2006 9:20PM]

Aye, ever since Apple switched to Intel chips they've been having plenty of a problems with their computer line.

And to respond to the exploding laptop thingy.. I never liked Dell. :D

[FmB @ Jul 26th 2006 9:31PM]

Wow... only one fanboy

[Christopher @ Jul 26th 2006 9:53PM]

I owned a G3 Ibook and it was plagued with a logic board problem that was in their service anouncement. Well the LB went up for its 4th time in 3 years. I called customer service to try to get some resolve because it was keeping me from my work. To make a long story short, Apple ponied up and replaced my iBook with a brand spankin new G4 iBook. The funny part about it was I was willing to pay as long as they cut me a break on it, and low and behold they did the right thing and replaced mine free of charge. I like Apple and the way they do business. I know we all expect a level of near perfection with Apple, but we have to remember that they are built by humans and faults do happen.

[Eric @ Jul 26th 2006 9:57PM]

bufbarnaby and others

Dun offend the Chinese okay as u r suppose to know there r chinese readin english engadget. Best way you can get rid poor chinese quality is stop using any computers since i can assure you 95% of the thing you use to browse Engadget (and possible 80%+ of your gadget life) is built by stupid chinese ppl.

btw, since when you Dell lovers got ur toys made Not in China? wat u IBM fans? hmm... IBM ThinkWatevers do not exist anymore.

dun waste too much time on the brand or production place of a computer if you dun sleep with them.

[Jason Allen @ Jul 26th 2006 10:31PM]

My macbook is due back in about 4 days for this exact problem.

And for the record: Apple asked me if I'd tried to clean it and I said "Nope, I figured as long as you are offering the case replacement I just want to go that route and get it over with."

They didn't seem to have a problem with that response, and the phone reps seemed very aware of the issue.

[Bryan @ Jul 26th 2006 10:42PM]

I e-mailed Steve Jobs about the whining on PowerBook G4 12" Rev. A and they made it VERY hard for me to confirmy my laptop was making the noise even though it wasn't the lone case. At least someone is getting this fixed on the new ones. I f(*(in hate noise. The iMac intel 20" has been fine so far.

[Cleanboy showedaily @ Jul 26th 2006 11:03PM]

Can you get Apple to replace my IBook keyboard that smells like BO? Thousands of users eyes are burning from the smell of hot keyboard glue that happens to smell like BO (a big stinky armpit).

Be glad Apple admits this. Normally they look the other way with a big shiny middle finger pointed directly at you.

[OMAC @ Jul 26th 2006 11:09PM]

Hey Cinta, guess again.

http://markblog.wordpress.com/2006/06/02/apple-ibook-catches-fire-from-battery/

http://www.macuser.com/hardware/ibook_on_fire.php

Apples do catch on fire, just like Dells.

[js @ Jul 27th 2006 12:04AM]

You guys are forgotting a key component of this: where is the OFFICIAL statement? Until we get an official statement, we don't know what Apple is up to.

[Eric @ Jul 27th 2006 12:31AM]

The Macbook discoloration problem has it's article on apple's site

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304058

[Chris @ Jul 27th 2006 12:34AM]

I think most people are quick to point out mac problems because most Apple Fan Boys/Loyalists always stand around and hurl mud at non apple PC's. Everyone makes mistakes, windows included, just don't try and spoon feed us the apple propaganda.

[Daniel @ Jul 27th 2006 1:26AM]

A non mac user:
I agree with this post. Apple may have dropped the ball, but they are trying to repair the fumble, no doubt at a huge loss on their part. Apple's technological blunder is a sign that they're pushing the envolope, because that's when mistakes happen. But maybe tn two years, we'll all have better technology because of what was learned from these mistakes. That's how progress happens.

[fredwards @ Jul 27th 2006 1:46AM]

No mention of whiny macbooks?! :(

I guess I am fortunate enough not to have a yellow colored macbook, however I have a whiny one. Its my 5th Macbook/MBP sad enough, and after all the swapping I finally gave up and subjected myself to the whine because its more manageable than dead pixels, moo, whine and moo, moo and whine.....

Hopefully they will acknowledge the whine in the macbook so i can FINALLY get 100% satisfaction in this laptop :D

[Nathan @ Jul 27th 2006 2:03AM]

The best part is that there is an ad right below this story saying "Macs, Great Right Out of the Box!"

[Shmoe @ Jul 27th 2006 2:57AM]

Now shut up all you Apple fanboys about MS releasing first-gen shoddy products!!

[Fred @ Jul 27th 2006 5:24AM]

The difference is that MS releases shoddy first gen prodtcs that have an inherant defect and ti affects all versions of that product. Apple like any other company have occasional probems with a certain % of their product line. It's better than Creative anyway, their player broke down on me after six months and they refused to replace it.

[Coasterjob @ Jul 27th 2006 7:21AM]

In response to "Why can't Apple make mistakes."

Apple can't make mistakes because we pay to damn much for their products, and we expect them to work the way they should. Apple and their users have set the bar extremely high when quality, ease of use, and "it just works" is factored in. If I am paying a premium to purchase their product, then I expect a premium experience.
People do not expect the same shock and yall from Dell. I am typing this post via my Dull Latitude, but it's not without it's poblems too. It overheats, and it just has pentium 'M'. WTF?

Anyway, my statement is;
You get what you pay for. So if Apple has issues with thier premium priced product, I think they have every responsibility to correct the issue, but at the same time, I expect little issue from such a product/company.
(plus I'm a stockholder, so it effects my bottom line too :))
I'm a fan, but not a fanboy. I have, however, had very little[to none] issue with my 4 Powerbook's, three ipods, two PM G5's, and ibook, and thousands in Apple software.

[zoara @ Jul 27th 2006 7:37AM]

Fanboy
noun
Someone who owns something that you don't like.

[Intrepid @ Jul 27th 2006 9:16AM]

Apply fans always whine, there is no way of fixing that! Maybe you could fix the discoloration by sending them outside once in a while.

[NitroNeo @ Jul 27th 2006 9:27AM]

WWWhhhhaaaaa

My expensive white computer got all dirty when I used it!

If you don't want your computer to show signs of use, don't use it....

Apparently everybody but apple users know that when you use things they show signs of wear.

But seriously, what really is the big deal here?

[Billd @ Jul 27th 2006 9:41AM]

Apple fanboys spent the past few weeks telling Macbook users that it was THEIR fault that their machines were having these problems. They were more interested in covering for this corporation than demanding a better product.

Now that Apple admits it's at fault. How much can they spin this as a postive, and how can they work somthing negetive about Microsoft into this?

[Billd @ Jul 27th 2006 9:44AM]

"WWWhhhhaaaaa

My expensive white computer got all dirty when I used it!

If you don't want your computer to show signs of use, don't use it....

Apparently everybody but apple users know that when you use things they show signs of wear.

But seriously, what really is the big deal here?"



This, good readers, is the textbook example of a fanboy. A proud member of the Apple Cult that swoops in to defend Apple no matter how much they foul up, and blame even Apple users for not towing the line and keeping their mouths shut.

[Paix247 @ Jul 27th 2006 9:49AM]

I'm sending my MBP in tomorrow... bout time.

[boyd flemming @ Jul 27th 2006 2:27PM]

"Apple can't make mistakes because we pay to damn much for their products, and we expect them to work the way they should."

This reminds me of the early Lamborghini car Miura. It was a fire hazard due to the carbeurator design. It led to several people's cars exploding into flames while they sat at a long stoplight. Not very reassuring.

Ferrari had similar problems with a few models (in fact there were even a few models that used the same problematic carbeurator).

It was a design mistake and they fixed it. But people still buy Ferrari's and Lamborghini's even though they are expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Miura

[Eric Bostrom @ Jul 27th 2006 3:36PM]

Dear Eric,

The repair of your MACBOOK (13-INCH), Repair ID DXXXXXXX, is currently on hold, pending receipt of a needed part. We will notify you by email when the repair is complete.

Sent mine in yesterday for the yellowing issue. I also have an open ticket for the 'moo' issue.

[Bill Owen @ Jul 28th 2006 11:54PM]

I am always amazed when I see people, anyone, actually defending a multi-national corporation. "Apple" as created and conceived by the two Steves, no longer exists, it has not for at least a decade. They do not think different. They exist to make money, lots of it, and the shareholders demaand that they make more profit each quarter, that's 4 times a year for those of you who don't have Excel.

They don't care about you. Think about it.

And this latest problem is nothing new, Michael at blackcider and I took these guys on 3 years ago around the faulty logic boards on the i/Book. An internet petition, a pending class action suit, and massive negative publicity eventually forced them to do what they should have done immediately (they knew the logic boards were faulty but shipped and continued to build them anyway). They issued a 3 year world-wide warranty extension. You can read all about it on my site, eyestir.com. I even have an audio clip of an apple rep denying that there were any issues with the i/Book. At one point they even tried to tell that I must have dropped it or "something". I still get hate mail from the macheads.

Note to Steve, this white thing is getting really old anyway, how many times are you going to recycle this very tired and impractical idea? What next an all white translucent i/Car?

[erik @ Aug 7th 2006 12:02PM]

Yeah, at least apple's don't explode: http://gaming.engadget.com/2006/08/06/another-powerbook-violently-explodes/

stfu dumbasses

[Shawn @ Oct 31st 2006 9:51PM]

Since no one seems to post follow ups after they get their macbooks fixed, I am reporting my experience.

I tried non-acetone nail polish removed and it did not work. I tried Magic Erasers and it did not work. Finally, I tried a white rubber eraser and it didn't work. Nothing worked.

I called Apple Care and they shipped me a box and said I would be without my Mac for 5 to 7 days. Like most users, I did not want to part with it. Apple Care tried to tell me my nearest store would have to send it in just the same. Not true. I took it to my nearest store and they already had the parts in stock. I dropped it off on Sunday afternoon and they got to it Monday Morning. Pretty fast turn around considering they were short on staff.

They replaced my keyboard, trackpad button, and the top part the covers the palmrest and keyboard area. The keyboard is quieter now, maybe thats just beacuse its hasn't been used. The material for the button and surface area now feels a bit different, which is fine as long as it doesn't stain.