Uli's Web Site
[ Zathras.de - Uli's Web Site ]
Other Sites: Stories
Pix
Abi 2000
Stargate: Resurgence
Lost? Site Map!
 
 
     home | blog | moose | programming | articles >> blog

 Blog Topics
 
 Archive
 

15 Most Recent [RSS]

 Less work through Xcode and shell scripts
2011-12-16 @600
 
 iTunesCantComplain released
2011-10-28 @954
 
 Dennis Ritchie deceased
2011-10-13 @359
 
 Thank you, Steve.
2011-10-06 @374
 
 Cocoa Text System everywhere...
2011-03-27 @788
 
 Blog migration
2011-01-29 @520
 
 All you need to know about the Mac keyboard
2010-08-09 @488
 
 Review: Sherlock
2010-07-31 @978
 
 Playing with Objective C on Debian
2010-05-08 @456
 
 Fruit vs. Obst
2010-05-08 @439
 
 Mixed-language ambiguity
2010-04-15 @994
 
 Uli's 12:07 AM Law
2010-04-12 @881
 
 Uli's 1:24 AM Law
2010-04-12 @874
 
 Uli's 6:28 AM Law
2010-04-12 @869
 
 Uli's 3:57 PM Law
2010-04-12 @867
 

More...

Beheaded? ... oh you poor, poor pet!

Those who met me at my first (and for the foreseeable time sadly only) time at ADHOC may remember that my iBook's backlight was broken. b0rked. Kaputt. Those who don't remember and didn't hear me whining will probably remember because I pretty much hammered it home with my little, delightfully absolutely useless hack.

Well, about a week ago I finally got round to taking it to the Apple dealer (Gravis) and having it checked out for 60 bucks. I don't qualify for warranty or anything like that anymore :-(

Anyway, they checked it out and told me repairing it would cost 600 bucks because the backlight was broken (a little over 400 bucks -- I'd guess it's a completely new TFT) and the board holding the USB, Mini-VGA etc. plugs was damaged as well. Also included were 100 bucks for replacing the top lid, because one of the rings for the screws was broken, and Apple only does full repairs, they supposedly don't just fix what *I* think is broken and leave me to live with the rest.

Now, just in case you're wondering: I won't have it repaired. For 600 bucks, I can get half a G4 iBook, after all, which is cooler than my three-year-old G3 model. And, different from what Gravis' repair guys think, I can live with that top screw not really having grip, because its three pals are doing a fine job of keeping the lid on, and the plugs, while their plastic is broken, work just fine.

So, if I connect a regular screen to my iBook, I can use it as a fine, compact 600MHz Mac. But of course, since I don't really have a spare screen, and it kinda sucks not to have a laptop anymore, I asked the store whether they could make me a deal if I bought an iBook from them.

The best they could offer me is to waive the repair fee if they got to keep my old iBook. Now, I admit maybe I'm expecting too much from the store, but consider this: A perfectly fine iBook, that works except for the backlight. And they expect me to 'sell' it to them for 60 bucks?

Well, I've told them yes, I'll pay the 60, and no, I won't buy an iBook from you. My good old iBook will probably be set up here in the house somewhere as a headless AirPort router for my sister's rev. B iMac who can't have AirPort, and I'll use it as a server (my whole iTunes library is gonna go on there), and for distributed compilation, and maybe also as a CVS server and whatever else I can think of. And in one or two years, when I really need one, I'll buy a new Mac.

Having a notebook was nice, but I'll make it through the last year at Uni without it. Guess I can't work on the train anymore, but maybe I'll manage to read some. Doing homework in a shaky train really doesn't agree with the readability of my handwriting, sadly.

What the whole point of this article is? Broken iBooks make great headless servers, and if you ever buy one, make sure you get extended warranty of some sort.

Ta-da.

 
Created: 2004-10-06 @771 Last change: 2004-10-06 @930 | Home | Admin | Edit
© Copyright 2003-2024 by M. Uli Kusterer, all rights reserved.