Dead on arrival

The year made an intense start, with me packing, mailing, giving away or trashing my stuff, trying to make it back to The Netherlands in one piece. I did not work.

For reasons unknown to me, my trusted MacBook Pro died during the trip, according to the Apple Authorized Service Provider it was sent to. As a result, I still have not got a chance to find a new home, and to start up my freelancing business.

For the first time in history, Apple hardware seriously disappoints me. My first Mac Plus ED came from a lot bought by me and several colleagues, under Apple's educational program in 1990. Two machines from the lot were dead on arrival, and were replaced after some discussion. My second Mac was a 7600 from 1996 and served me well for over 6 years, during which I granted it new hard disks, a new processor and lots of memory. The 17" AppleVision monitor that came with it, died after a couple of years, and was replaced under extended warranty. Its Quicksilver G4 successor gave me headaches from day 1, with total freezes every couple of hours. It was replaced after a couple of days and lasted until I sold it in 2008.

In November 2008 I bought this MacBook Pro which had worked like a charm until its sudden death. Two years ago the battery started to swell, and it was replaced under Apple Care. I had hoped that Apple would guarantee me a more or less problem-free ride, but at the moment I am seriously thinking about moving to Windows. I thoroughly hate the design of Windows, and the hardware it usually runs on, but at the moment, I do not feel the quality of Apple hardware warrants the premium price. At the moment, I am waiting to see what Apple says about it. If Apple thinks it is normal that their MacBook Pro lasts no longer than four years, then it is time to move on.

The year 2013 opened with a couple of nasty surprises, like Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and the Pope resigning. If it is also the year that another Mac enthusiast resigns, then it might as well be the year the world ends. We will see...