I've always known that I'm not really cut out for being a computer science major or a repair technician or one of those types of jobs -- aside from struggling to figure out what goes where in the machinery and those crazy 0's and 1's and so forth, my fingers have always been pretty clumsy when it comes to manipulating really tiny objects. (Detailing stuff on my models has been a particular problem, too.)
Anyway, about a week ago my mom's iBook died. After numerous attempts to resurrect it, we figured that it was a hard drive failure -- fun! Rather than waste a $1000 investment made only a year ago (it was a secondhand iBook bought on eBay, but in excellent condition when we got it), my dad decided that he would try to swap out the hard drive, put a spare one in, and get the computer working.
Now, the spare was a 20GB drive, when both my mom and my iBooks have 15GB drives. I decided I wanted the bigger HD more than my mom needed it, so I made the decision to crack open my 'puter too, so I could get the upgrade.
But has anyone ever seen an iBook? There's a reason why Apple says they're "not upgradeable" aside from RAM or the wireless card -- these suckers are wrapped up as tight as... well, they're pretty solidly sealed up. We got some instructions for how to open up the cases and access the internal guts -- but it was a 90-minute process for two of us, working on two separate computers, to crack open the pressure-sealed plastic case, open up a couple dozen screws (including two that were in god-awful spots under the DVD drive that were almost impossible to reach) before we could spend three minutes just swapping around the drives. And then it took another twenty minutes or so to seal them back up again!
So, as my first venture into manually upgrading and installing hardware into a computer (aside from swapping in RAM, which is simple and doesn't count), the best I can say is that I survived. I think I've got a bit more respect for those computer geeks out there who spend their days re-engineering their personal boxes, regardless of whether their hacks are gaudy and pointless or not.
Me, I'm just going to have to spring for a full PowerBook the next time I get my new computer -- those things are reputed to be a whole lot easier to upgrade. Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
That's why I like Sony... I can access the hard drive from a removable panel under the laptop. Then again Sony doesn't make their own laptops and I found a nice laptop that is basically a Sony Vaio Z1 fro $1600 instead of $2100 with an upgradable ATI 9600 GPU to boot.
Did you ask how much it was to upgrade the hard drive at the local Apple store or does California only have those in our malls?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Our local Apple Store is an hour and a half away, and the King of Prussia Mall (one of the largest in the country IIRC) is not a place I'd want to visit around the holidays...
At any rate, the warranty had already long expired for both of the machines in question, which would have also greatly added to the cost. So we didn't even bother asking.
The only painful part was me listening to the cracking as I tried to peel away the case from the iBook's frame... the cracking was nothing more than each hook pulling away from its latch (as it was supposed to), but it sounded much much worse!
But the best part of all, after about a day of operation, is that my new hard drive is responding faster than the old one, and it's also a lot quieter! My original HD had this annoying whining sound that was quite distracting after a while...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Why would a mall be named for the monarchy (the position, not even a specific monarch) of a no-longer-extant country?
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Toshibas Compaqs HPs Fujitsus Apples Acers IBMs
When you've seen one laptop, you've seen them all.
When you've repaired one laptop, you've repaired them all.
The best part about repairing these suckers is the random person coming into the service area, pick up a small part that was supposed to be in your already reassembled laptop and say: "What's this for?"
Fun.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Isn't "no-longer-extant" a bit redundant? I mean, "non-extant" means "no longer in existence", I thought...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Surely, arguably excessive verbosity isn't illegal?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
No, but it does signal the arrival of a smug git.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I only wish I could find a tech mall in the US. While I was visiting Singapore there was a huge 4-story mall devoted solely to electronics stores.
I've opened up my old HP PC many times, but never fucked with my laptop. People like myself that don't know what they're doing are better off buying a new one.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
My first computer as an 8088, which I was told to tear it apart and rebuild it, seeing if I could. I really hate having a genius for a brother....
Now I have no fears of ripping in to one, 8088 on up they are all the same, especially since when I get a system that isn't working I can't do much harm...
![[Wink]](wink.gif)