frus·trat·ed

Main Entry: ¹frus·trate
Pronunciation: 'fr&s-"trAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): frus·trat·ed; frus·trat·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin frustratus, past participle of frustrare to deceive, frustrate, from frustra in error, in vain
1 a : to balk or defeat in an endeavor b : to induce feelings of discouragement in

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster

And yes, I'm talking about my MacBook Pro again. It's on it's way to service right now. Since I've last complained about it, the Bluetooth module is flaking out on me, and the "innovative" new power adapter doesn't work anymore. I'm still having all the other issues, including the major heat issue, which I'm convinced is related to the thermal grease fiasco detalied here.

The Apple Care tech I spoke with tried telling me I should expect the thing to be very hot. It's a dual-core processor, after all. I tried telling him that dual-core or not, the Core Duo in my MBP doesn't put out that many watts compared to many other CPU's. He also told me that Apple doesn't skimp on the Front Side Bus, and uses high-end memory. I don't know what the quality of the RAM has to do with overheating, but every other computer manufacturer out there making Core Duo notebooks uses the same FSB on their laptops.

I also found his, "We don't skimp!" explanation pretty ironic, considering the video card in this thing is underclocked by about 35-40%. I don't think that's very appropriate. I'm willing to sacrifice some performance for the sake of aestetics and useability. As much as I like a silent notebook, I'd sacrifice a little noise if the thing isn't cooking my palms when I type. And the "useability" argument doesn't go very far when the thing is completely inoperable, as mine currently is. And the laptop is far from silent. I'd rather deal with a little fan noise than the variable pitch/volume whine this has.

There's a new MacBook coming out this Tuesday, supposedly. I'll be watching it really closely before I buy one. If the reviews are positive, the MBP might go up on eBay as soon as it gets back. It's like I told the tech though, I've had dozens of computers, and at least ten Macs. This is by far the most expensive computer I've ever owned. I can honestly say it's also the worst, Windows or Apple.

edit: Now that it's back from service, my anger has subsided. It's definitely not the worst computer I've ever owned, but I really was dissapointed with the problems I was having. I think my expectations were too high. I was coming directly from the best computer I've ever owned. The good news (in case you didn't see it above) is that the problems are almost all resolved, and it didn't cost me anything to accomplish that.

I'm now much more satisfied with the laptop, although I still think I'm going to sell it. I need the cash more than the laptop. We close on our new house in a week.