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March 17, 2008
Considering switching away from os x
So for a while now I've been looking at the differences between different operating systems, and they all seem so similar now that it really just boils down to third party products and hardware for me.
I took my laptop in to the apple store on Saturday, the Galleria one. I got in line quick, but the "genius" was a complete jerk. This is not uncommon for the galleria store, but they were the closest. They quoted me at around 650 dollars to get the laptop fixed.
This was surprising to me. I had purchased applecare, and I have previously had an entire laptop just replaced. I was less than happy, but I decided to leave once the guy kept repeating the company line.
I went to the Woodlands Mall apple store yesterday. Previously I had gone to the woodlands mall, shown the guy a picture there, and they said they'd fix it for free so long as I didn't mention dropping it. Since I don't know how it broke, this was not any ethical question or anything, so I did what he said.
They said it was a tier 2 or 3 repair, which is still pretty high. Somewhere between 650 and 850 dollars. That's practically a new macbook, and definitely a new mac mini. The frustrating thing is that if this were an acer or a dell and I had purchased the warranties, it would have been covered.
The laptop itself is fine, but I messed up the file system and don't have an intel machine to restore a file system onto it with, and as the superdrive is inaccessable and I don't want to buy an external dvd drive, I'm sort of stuck.
There are a few reasons I stick with the mac. There's a thriving community here, and the software is easier to find than other platforms. I have invested a lot into the mac, but I did switch before, twice.
So I'm pretty much out the price of a new laptop to fix this laptop, basically I'm at the crossroads of where I'm going to go with computers for the next 10-15 years. Do I stick with macs, all of which have failed on me in some way (with the exception of the imac), or go with some more reliable hardware, or at least hardware that isn't going to put me into a bind long term?
If so, how do I replace my apps?
If only I had read the fine print of applecare instead of trusting Apple. I realize that it's all legalese and that I should have read it, but it's also implied with the way that applecare is marketted that it covers stuff.
I will have to say that the technicians at the woodlands mall were all very nice people, even with delivering bad news, and that Apple really needs to retrain the people at the Houston Galleria store for how to treat customers. Being a jerk isn't cool.
So ya, I don't know why I should stay on os x. I like working on Perian and Growl, but is that enough to keep me on the platform? Everything I need to use, with the exception of Growl and quicksilver, are on the other platforms. I'd only be missing out on itunes for my phone really.
*sigh*
Posted by Chris Forsythe at 04:12 PM | Comments (13)