The left hinge broke on my PowerBook yesterday. I can’t say that I’m surprised. From what I’ve been reading on the web this is a fairly common problem with PowerBooks. I’m probably pretty lucky since I haven’t had any major problems since I bought it in October 2002.
What is interesting about this was my experience at the Apple store. Here’s a paraphrase of how it happened.
_ME_ : The hinge on my PowerBook broke. Can you fix it?
_TECH_ : Sure, we could fix it. Let me get the exact details for you.
_ME_ : Ok, sounds good.
_TECH_ : So, this would be classified as a Tier 2 repair (cosmetic).
_ME_ : Sure, whatever. When can you have it done?
_TECH_ : Well, we need to send it out and then it gets puts in a queue. Blah blah blah. The total cost to you will be around $600.
_ME_ : $600? Are you insane? It’s only a hinge. I could buy a new laptop for that (well not an apple one). So, you are telling me that I would need to give you $600 and then wait a few weeks for my laptop?
_TECH_ : Yes.
This whole ordeal boggles my mind. I found the exact same part online for between $100 and $200 (which is still a ripoff). Needless, to say I ordererd a replacement part and am going to attempt to fix it myself. Apple is notorious for this practice especially with iPods.
