Apple recalls PowerBook batteries

[seraph]

Apple Computer Inc. on Thursday issued a recall for PowerBook batteries sold from January 2004 through August 2004 for use with 15-inch PowerBook G4 (Aluminum) notebook computers. The batteries, made by LG Chem, Ltd. of South Korea, could overheat, posing a fire hazard -- Apple said they have received four such reports, although no injuries have been reported.
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[mosc]

Yikes, I have one of these... It does get very hot, but only when it is charging. I leave it "plugged in" all the time so that it's ready to go when I go roaming. The charging circuit seems to go a good job of turning off the charger after it is fully recharged.

Every computer company has problems from time to time, but with less than 2.4% of the market share, they have comparitively small numbers. One can expect greater quality control problems from Apple, than from a bigger producer.

Poor quality, more expensive, no apparent differential advantage - I wonder when they'll break the 2% market share number. If it wasn't for Bill Gates, Apple would have been gone long ago.

Andy Groove, famous CEO of Intel, wrote in has landmark book High Output Management (Random House, 1983 and Vintage, 1985), that in order to survive in a high-tech market, you had to have at least 15% market share. His philosophy is that if you can't get 30% you shouldn't waste your resources in that business. Maybe that's why iPod...

[paul e.]

heh woah

what's that shakespeare quote..something like 'methinks thou dost protest too much..'

someone has a hate-on for apple..mhh who is it

the problem with apple is that it is owned 51 per cent by gates

[paul e.]

altho i have to lament that apple does seem to be getting less and less like the old macintosh we used to know

more 'mymusic' 'ilife' 'ichat' 'icrap' than i can stand

but as well all konw, the soul of apple changed in 1997 when bill gates bought up apple 51 per cent

prior to this, the apple power mac was a liberating, empowering creative tool- an amazing machine...and just blew microsoft's wimpy pee cees out of the water..[and still do by the way]

but this 'quality first, customer first' policy , as usual , did not translate into quick, mass market greed-based profit a la miscrosoft

so they became vulnerable

howard, i am surprised that you seem to be supporting a monopolistic company like microsoft and seem to wish apple had went away in 1997...

i thought capitalistic monoploies were bad for freedom and democracy etc..

if anything, we should all support apple to the extent that they survive..even just to provide a viable alternative to the bloated, greedy, back asswards microsoft

why kick it when it;'s down

if you choose to join the masses and consume the 'popular, cheap and fun' machine, that is your business..

however, next time you can, check out how many apple macs are used in hollywood and in the pro studios..way more than microsoft wintel [unless you count the secretary's computer].ask yourself why this is..

[seraph]

[elektro80]

Laptop battery problems is not an isolated Apple problem. I have a few Dell laptopsm at work.. and every one of them have had specific battery problems. I have received tons of alerts from Dell regarding exploding power supplies and batteries. A friend of mine lost his new IBM "40 something" due to a suicidal battery. All manufacturers of laptops have the same problems.

When it comes to the iLife/ dot mac integration, this is in fact VERY good. I just got myself a subscrition to the dot mac service and it is amazing. It works.. it is simple.. and very well thought out. I published those galleires form Iceland and Norway using the iPhoto/.MAC intergration. Absolutely fab! It works great!

[mosc]

Yes, I can believe that before 1997 was different. It does seem that the glory days are in the past for the company. I'm not kicking it when it's down, I'm just observing and expressing my opinion. I feel I have the right to do that now that I have at least one of each type of computer - Mac, XP and Linux. I don't hate Apple at all - I don't like it either.

I'd be interested in known what Bill Gates did to Apple when he bailed it out that detracted from the company. I am under the impression that if it wasn't for him, there wouldn't be an Apple today.

[paul e.]

[mosc]

Well, we don't want to be a PC, Mac or Linux, support site. You are right about the relative size of the Linux forum. That's really unfortunate, but I have hope of this changing in the future.

At one time, if you were doing graphic arts on a computer, you pretty much had to use an Apple. Now, I think there is ample software on Windows so that you don't see this anymore. The same for video production and now for music software.

The folks at Cycle 74 told me at the Modular 2003 conference that porting MAX/MSP to windows was their highest prioity because it opened up a much larger market to them. Now they develop on Windows.

There is probalby still a reason to pick one platform over another because of the software that you can run. In the final analysis, that's be main reason to pick a computer these days. Who cares about how it was pre 1997?

I'm not a ProTools user, but isn't that only on a Mac platform? There are a few others too, aren't there.

[paul e.]

yeah in the end, the argument is probably not worth it..as now the differences are smaller

as long as someone is using the machine that after careful research, meets their needs, then who really cares which it is..

as you said somewhere else here, a true musician trancends their instrument anyway

[mosc]

Ahhh, we end on a peaceful note.

[paul e.]

[elektro80]

Would that be an "A"?

[seraph]

[seraph]

[elektro80]

At least it seems those dudes picked their copywriters with utmost care and inspiration.

[mosc]

I use an Emagic Unitor8 and it comes with software drivers for Windows.

Gasp, I just realized Windows starts with a W.

[elektro80]