Tag: Computers

I know my wife loves me very much because she notices every little thing about me. Things that I sometimes keep to myself. Like eyeing and secretly yearning for a new computer to replace my Powerbook G4 12″.

Taking the trouble of crafting carefully placed questions like in a normal conversation, about Apple computers and how great they are, and about how ‘wow, the peripherals are something else too, just check out the new Airport Extreme base station with it’s ‘n’ speed, blazingly fast wi-fi, maaaan’, she put together my wish list of things and tallied them against her budget.

And then, she went out and bought me the computer I’m writing this blog on now:

Say hello to Ziggy (as I have always named my computers and hard drives), who’s a MacBook Pro 15″. It’s fantastic not just because it’s a Mac, and it’s fantastic not just because the keyboard lights up when the room gets dark. In fact, I’ve been deliberately working in the dark so the keyboard backlight gets lit automatically, just so I can marvel about it aloud to my wife.

I had marvelled about this to my techie brother too, but he simply said, “So? The fridge light also comes on when you open the door. Big deal”.

Yes, as I was saying, its fantastic not just because of all the features, but because my wife took so much trouble to surprise me, and to get me something I’d love and use. She even hid the stuff in places in the house, and made excuses for me to go to these places in the house and ‘discover’ thinly disguised packages – she needn’t have bothered with the disguises because I’m so thick I’d still wonder what a carton with the label ‘MBP 15″” contained.

We then went out and bought accessories from iShop, such as a keyboard protector and protective film for the surface of the notebook, because I’m such a messy person and take my meals while I work. If you were to turn my old Powerbook upside down and shake it, crumbs from a dozen types of pastry would fall out. So, you know, we don’t want that to happen again.

I have to plug iShop, because they’ve such attentive staff who let you play with everything on display, and give you really good recommendations about what to buy and what you don’t really need. Oh, and the fact that there’s a cafe that serves pretty decent coffee is a major reason for hanging out there.

Although it’s pretty easy to surprise me (because I’m so damn blur), you can’t imagine how touched I am that my darling wife took the trouble to run around town to get me my favourite work-toy.

I feel so loved.

Macs (and other Apple computers) I’ve owned:

Apple IIe
Macintosh Classic II
Macintosh Quadra 660AV
Powerbook Duo 210
Macintosh Powerbook G4 12″

Technorati Tags: apple

Very few other tech problems – only one in front of me in the queue

The friendly folk at iShop told me that I could keep my battery while waiting ‘4-6 weeks’ for my replacement battery so I am quite pleased. They told me that I am using the current faulty battery at my own risk, so I said, ‘yah, I know, ain’t nobardy’s fault but mine if it blows up in my face, and I have to spend a lot more money having reconstructive surgery before I can think about buying a new laptop, which might not even be a Powerbook, because after this battery recall incident, I might just have sworn off Apples and Dells.’

But of course, it didn’t come out like that. Yay, new battery coming.

Technorati Tags: apple, battery replacement program, Singapore

When Naomi told me to check if my Powerbook G4 was eligible for a battery exchange, I quickly went and checked, because, like, woohoo! Free battery!

So I went and checked Apple’s website for the battery recall notice and instructions. It said to enter my computer’s serial number as well as the battery’s serial number, which were located on the battery as well as inside the battery compartment.

This meant I did some mental calisthenics in order to come up with the order in which to record the serial numbers, but ended up doing this instead:

1. Turn off computer.
2. Open battery compartment and take out battery
3. Locate battery serial number
4. Try to locate computer serial number
5. Curse when it is discovered that there is more than one set of numbers in the battery compartment
6. Put battery back into computer
7. Turn on computer
8. Open apple webpage detailing battery recall
9. Read bit about where exactly computer serial number can be found, which includes the ‘About This Mac’ option under the Apple menu, in the OS.
10. Curse some more, write down computer serial number and go enter it into the website to check if the computer’s battery is eligible for exchange.
11. Curse even more, because it is realised that the computer’s battery’s serial number wasn’t jotted down.
12. Turn off computer.
13. Take out battery, and jot down battery serial number.
14. Put battery back, turn on computer and open Apple webpage detailing battery recall.
15. Enter serial numbers, and cheer when the page returns a result that says my battery is eligible for a free exchange.
16. Cheer when it reads that I only have to apply for an exchange and wait for a battery to arrive before I send the faulty battery back sans postage.
17. Still happy when I enter my location (Singapore) and read that I should contact any one of the resellers listed in Singapore.
18. Call one of the Apple retailers in Singapore and ask about the exchange program.
19. Become bewildered when I am told to bring in my computer for them to check, and give them the faulty battery and then wait six weeks for the replacement.
20. Ask if I can keep my battery and use it while waiting for the replacement.
21. Become slightly upset when I am told that I can’t.
22. Ask how come the replacement procedure is different from North America.
23. Become more upset when I am told ‘because in Singapore, it’s different’.
24. Ask if I can get a temporary battery replacement while waiting for the replacement because if not, my Powerbook is no longer portable.
25. Become more upset when I am told ‘no, because in Singapore, it’s different’.
26. Tell Apple sales representative that ‘ok, I’ll bring in my computer soon’.

Technorati Tags: apple, battery replacement program, Singapore