Some bad apples
Apple makes innovative, stylish, expensive products that are often obsolete before their time.
Take for example, the 17-inch Apple Studio Display. It’s beautifully designed, only two years old and it won’t work with the new Mac Mini. It also won’t work with an older Power Mac G4 tower.
The Studio Display uses an ADC connection which Apple no longer supports. All of their new displays use standard DVI connectors.
For $129 (CDN) you can purchase a Apple DVI to ADC Display Adapter. This is the cost of using Apple’s sexy hardware.
Do you think any of the Apple dealers in downtown Toronto have these display adapters in stock? Of course not. They take two weeks to order in. I called the Apple Store at Yorkdale Mall and they have “lots of them”.
2.5 million people live in Toronto. If you include the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) the the population is 5 million. Apple has two stores in Toronto and neither one of them is downtown.
I drove up to the Apple Store at Yorkdale Mall and thought I would get my iPod repaired while I was there. The screen is cracked and needs to be replaced. I waited 25 minutest to talk to an ‘Apple Genius’ (salesperson).
This kid, I mean, Apple Genius tells me that the cracked screen can’t be repaired. I laughed and told him that you can buy replacement screens online for $120. Of course it can be repaired.
His response was that it would be really expensive to fix. Huh? It’s a 40 GB iPod. It was $400 new! Why would it cost $400 to fix if I went through Apple? I told him that his answer wasn’t acceptable. His genius solution was to buy a new iPod.
What a moron. Yeah, me for waiting 25 minutes and the sales guy for being so incredibly helpful. I felt like I had been transported to Future Shop.
Stumble It!Posted in Apple at 6:18 PM
Comments
I cracked my ipod screen as well and I fixed it myself by buying the screen off ebay for $70. It is super simple to replace the screen using a guitar pick.
I also learned that the cost to fix any damage to an ipod is $400, regardless of what it is, it’s a flat rate. This is because when apple gets your ipod they transfer the music to a new one and send the new one to you. They then fix and sell your old one as a refurb.
As well, there are numerous non-apple solutions for converting adc to dvi. Google around and you can find some sub-$100 devices. You can also make one from a kit if you’ve got mad soldering skills.
Posted by: Ryan on April 14, 2006 10:43 PM
I ended up going to Yorkdale and getting the Apple DVI to ADC Display Adapter. The step-daughter was suffering from MSN Messenger withdrawal syndrome. Oh, and she had ‘homework’ that required the use of a computer.
I think I might purchase a replacement screen and ask you about the ‘guitar-pick’ method to fixing the screen. It would be cheaper and faster than sending the whole iPod to be fixed.
Thanks for the info.
Posted by: Jay on April 17, 2006 10:22 AM
