TheJoe gets a Unibody 17″ MacBook Pro… Twice

Let me start by saying, “I did not NEED to upgrade my laptop”.  I did so because I promised Andrew that when certain things happened, that he would get my late 2008 17″ MacBook Pro.  Those things occurred and I made good on my promise.  So, I had to get a new computer.  This is where the adventure begins.

After some hiccups at the Santa Monica Apple store (idiot clerk and manager), I have a unibody MacBook Pro 17″ with the Anti-Glare (matte) option in hand and take it home.  It sits on the shelf for a couple of days while I get the stuff that I normally add to my MacBooks when I buy them.  Palmguard, keyboard protector, etc. (this took an act of congress because everyone was out of stock and I had to order it all)

Finally, I start to prepare it for my daily use.  This time, I decide that I am not going to do a migration of my old mac to my new mac using the Apple migration tools (Time Machine restore or the Migration Utility).  I decided to install everything from scratch and start with a “clean slate”.  I spend a good day or so installing everything one by one.  I even bought a new G-Drive Q 1TB for my backup volume.  It all goes pretty smooth.

Once all of the stuff I use to get my work done is all installed, I start using the new machine like I did my old one.  I started to notice that it was kind of sluggish and various intermittent problems started to happen.  (the main problem I noticed was that it would “hang” at various times with the spinning beach ball of death for a few seconds to a couple of minutes and then start humming along again like nothing happened)  I started to regret my purchase.

I did all the usual stuff, verified disk, permissions, etc etc.  Again, you must remember, I installed everything from scratch.  No remnants from the previous machine.  The one thing I should note, is that the Time Machine backups on the new G-Drive seemed to be going fine.

After all of that, it still seemed kind of buggy/sluggish/just not right.  I know, I had read some of the issues that others were having.  So, I figured I’d give it a couple days and see what I can do, if not would call support or take it back to the Apple Store and see what they could tell me.  I was still able to use it, albeit somewhat frustratingly.

The next morning, I get up and it’s still running, but I can’t get the screen to come back on.  I hard reset it and nothing. (OH, I got the signature Apple startup BONG!  Then nothing)  The system seemed like it was going through the boot process but nothing on the screen.

I then proceed to go through all the troubleshooting steps.  Forcing boot from CD, attempt to get it to go into Hardware Diagnostic mode, firewire boot, etc etc  all to no avail.  I decide to pack it up and return it.

This took an act of congress!  The clerks at the Beverly Center Apple store were very inflexible.  I won’t go into all the details, but I received a lot of attitude from the clerks and “lead on the floor”.  Finally, a manager “Jenny” was able to help me and provide me with a replacement and an explanation of what my options were and why some were not possible.  To be fair, I have gotten used to a certain level of service from the Las Vegas Town Square Apple Store because of the amount of business I have done there in the past.

I take this SECOND MacBook Pro home and fire it up.  At the appropriate portion of the initial login, I plug in the G-Drive and restore my settings from the Time Machine backup.  (I tested this backup  on another Mac here and verified it with no issues)  The restore to this new machine all goes smooth.

Now this machine so far seems to be running great.  It’s definitely not sluggish at all.  I’ve not seen the previous freezing.  I installed a couple games on it, World of Warcraft (of course) and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3.  These are blazing fast on this machine.

Then I go to my Screen Saver settings…  FREEZE, CRASH, BANG…  BEACH BALL!  The first App I have to force quit is my System Preferences.  LOL

I don’t panic.  I notice that everything else is running smoothly BUT this ONE thing.  I figure it’s an isolated issue.  I spend hours googling and doing research.  My diligence pays off!  I fix the issue…  (this is covered in depth on the TechnoChubby site – Click here to read it)  Compared to the issues with the last Mac, this was nothing.

I just fixed that issue a few hours ago.  I’ve had this SECOND unibody MacBook Pro 17″ for a couple of days now.   Everything is going smooth it seems (knock on wood).  All in all, it’s a slick ass machine.

I am liking my new setup.  Andrew’s happy he got my old (LOL) 17″ MacBook Pro (late 2008).  Mike got his 15″ and I think he’s happy with that.  I am using Mike’s old white MacBook (early 2009) to test out the idea of getting an Air or a unibody 13″ MacBook Pro for my take everywhere machine.

I need to note, that this posting could have easily been three or four times longer.  There were several other hiccups that occurred.  They were very minor compared to what I shared here.

Just to touch on a couple of things:

• Santa Monica Apple Store – Won’t go back unless I absolutely HAVE to.
• Beverly Center Apple Store – Thanks Jenny for your patience and understanding.
• Century City Apple Store – Thanks for your help
• iTunes Support – Thanks Jesse for getting my authorizations squared away
• Power Support Retail outlet Burbank – Thanks Steven for your help with my accessories
• Thanks swmbuk for the FIX!

Alright, that’s it.  Thanks for letting me share (and vent).