Here we go again. Now my Apple 17" display (fancy name for monitor) has it's power light blinking. 3 times. Two fast and one slow. I looked it up on their support site and supposedly it means the monitor has a backlight problem. I can tell a difference in the picture quality too. Now I'm going to have to send it in and there is no telling how long this will take to get fixed. According to the Apple forums MANY people are having this problem. I never had a problem with any of my Dell components. I'm still not giving up on Apple (too much invested) but I have to say I'm not blown away by their product. I had to have a new processor put in because my computer wouldn't work the day I got it. I'm just glad I'm still under warranty and am feeling the pressure to buy their Apple Care warranty program now.
Faos, Sorry to hear about you trouble. FWIW when I sent my powerbook in a couple months ago I sent it in on a monday (DHL picked up at the office at 5pm) and I had it back repaired wednesday at 2:30. Hope you get equally great service. My current powerbook is the only Mac I've ever had to send in and I've been using them professionally since 87.
You can also try to take it to a Mac Authorized Repair Center. There are a few in town including the Apple Store in the Galleria. It's interesting because I've been using Apple stuff since 1992 and never had a single problem. I may take my iMac in for service over the holidays because there seems to be one pixel on my flat panel that isn't working properly (a 20" display and one pixel is off!), but it isn't enough to cause a serious problem.
Try not to get super pissed when they say they are not going to do anything about a single stuck or dead pixel...
I've read on-line that some people have used a palm pilot stylus to gently massage the pixel and got it working again.
It's just amazing to me how many people are having this problem as found here: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@70.XNWhaNu7wQ4.0@.3bb90097 You would think Apple would look into it and get the problem corrected. My G5 is a refurb so I guess I should have expected a possible problem with that, but the monitor is brand new and only a few months old.
Regarding the dead pixel(s), most LCD's carry no warranty against 1 or 2 dead pixels. Some manufacturers go so far as to say there needs to be at least 5 dead pixels in a particular area for it to be considered defective. Other manufacturers will try to take care of you by replacing the monitor. It all depends. Sometimes a dead pixel can be "brought back to life" by tapping it with your finger, but that's only if they haven't put a protective hard cover over the screen.
Just spoke to a friend back at Apple that is a product specialist... here's the conversation: fox: question for you bro... apple dude: yes fox: Friend sent this to me, is it a known issue? "The bottom half of my 17in apple flat panel display is very dimm. The power button on the display flashes 3 times and then stays un- lite for a few seconds then repeats. " apple dude: no known issue (Note: 'Known Issue' means that it is an issue that Apple does not have a solution for but is currently investigating OR that is an issue that is very wide spread.) apple dude: his bottom backlight it out, a simple mail in repair and he will be back up and running. fox: what's the turn around usually? apple dude: 3-7 business days apple dude: have him tell support exactly what you told me and they should easily recognize it fox: what's the number again? apple dude: 800-275-2273 Hope this helps...
I just went through a lot of bullsh*t with Apple. I orderd an Ipod about a month ago with 2-3 day shipping so i could get it a couple days before I left for UT. It never showed up. All it said on the the Fedex Tracking Number page was that it came to Houston and that's it. I called Fedex and asked them what happened and they said they didnt know. Then I called Apple and asked them about it and they said they would assign it to a tracking agent to start an investigation into it and they would get back to me in 2-3 days. I wait a week and get no response. I then call Apple to find out what happened with the investigation and they tell me the tracking agent they assigned it to was off for the week. And she would be back in a couple more days and then it would take another 2-3 days. And again, they never got back to me. So then I kept calling back between Apple and Fedex for another couple days and they kept giving me more bullsh*t and not helping me at all. Then I finally found a guy at Apple who took the whole case on himself and started updating me twice a day and rushed Fedex to hurry up on the investigation. They finally declared it lost and sent me out a replacement. Oh yea, no reimbursement either... I'm just pissed I put the most work into getting my product when my only role in this is to give them my credit card number, click a few buttons and wait eagerly for my Ipod
It seems like Fed Ex screwed up and then Apple (after some initial ball dropping on call backs) did you a solid by sending you a new iPod instead of telling you to take it up with Fed Ex, like Dell told my wife to do when a similar thing happened to her.
you hardly will find specials with apple products. They dictate everything about their product. That is why it doesn't really matter if you buy it from a retailer or apple themselve.
My cuz got a 50 dollar gift card for buying something above 500 dollars at compusa or ccity, forgot which one...
It works as a computer, though it's more useful as a doorstop. My brand new Dell laptop works great as a computer. Don't think it would be much of a doorstop, though.
