From: jma@phoenix.oulu.fi (Jacob Matthan)
Subject: PowerBook is Unadulterated Junk
Organization: University of Oulu, Finland
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 18:16:53 GMT


I am copying a letter that I have just addressed to Dr. Richard Wolfson, the author of The PowerBook Companion which was reviewed in the most recent edition of Tidbits. I hope someone from Apple will have the courage to reply.

Dr. Richard Wolfson
USA

Dear Dr. Wolfson,

I read the review of your book "The PowerBook Companion" published in Tidbits with great interest. I am looking forward to buying your book when it is available in Finland. Knowing how things work, I shall probably get hold of it only by about the beginning of February. I was also glad to note the comment that you are very active on giving advice about the PowerBook on Compuserve. I would therefore like to recount my experience with the PowerBook as it may be of interest to you and I am sure you may give 




t some weightage when writing the update for your book. My credentials - I am a specialist in Polymers, Rubber and Plastics, I was Chief Engineer, Microelectronics laboratory, University of Oulu 1987 to 1991, and my special field in Fineline Techniques for Microelectronics. I am also a journalist, author and publisher.

I have been a satisfied Mac user ever since 1984. I have worked on all the possible Macs (from the Apple II c to the Mac fx) and have introduced it to the laboratory where I worked for all sorts of scientific tasks from data acquisition for High Temperature Superconductor cryogenic measurements to micropositioning control of the translation stage of a laser system. There is no doubt the Macintosh is a great system.

I delayed buying my personal Mac till the arrival of the PowerBook. Since I started with an Apple IIc I knew that Mac would someday come out with a portable which was convenient. When the PowerBook arrived I thought that the day had come.

I was one of the first in Finland to get a PowerBook. As it was not available here I had to buy it in the US. I must say that it was probably the worst technical and financial decision that I made. My experience with the PowerBook 170 is that it is pure unadulterated junk.

I am not going to comment on the Apple Policy of International Service because it stinks. I will concentrate on the machine and the problems that I have had and that I am continuing to have - so you can work on them as a consultant when giving advice to others.

Let us take the design of the plastic case and some external components. I have not opened the machine but I have seen the inside on several occasions. I will not comment on those but I can comment on items on the outside that have failed miserably. Take for instance the hinging lid at the back of the machine. This strength is based on two minuscule pieces of plastic wedged into holes. Even a slight non-uniform torsional bending force and one of the plastic bumps will snap off, and there is no chance of r




pairing this. It shows a very poor comprehension of plastic design. A portable is meant to be used on the move. A simple large area integral hinge would have given all the ruggedness required as attained in the sixties with the Vauxhall accelerator pedal capable of over a million flexes. Or go to the retainer ring around the mouse. The locking mechanism is based on again a minuscule piece of plastic, extremely badly designed that a slight over force when reassembling the mouse after cleaning ensures that 




his wedge is broken off. Less said about the battery design the better. The less said about the mouse mechanism even  better. It is fraught with problems being based on a piece of sticky rubber to get the movement. I had problems with the mouse of my previous machine, the MacPortable, and I was sure that Mac would have improved the design for their prestige machine the PowerBook 170 - not so, it is only worse. I think enough has been written about the Caps Lock Key that I need not repeat that story. Lucki




y the little control panel configurable Caps Control saved the day, but it only shows that there was not much thought into designing of the keyboard.

Now let us come to the machine itself. Within three months my FHDD drive failed and had to be replaced. Being away from the US I had to pay over $500 to replace it and then wait three months to get the money back.Take a look at my screen. It has black spots, one near the Balloon Help icon above the working area, so that can be forgiven, but two others in the working area. I am now told that Apple will replace this free but that means I have to send this machine back to the US and hope and pray till it com




s back. This shows that the Quality Control by Apple was just shoddy to have released this machine. The 40 MB Hard Disk was much too small and before it gave too much trouble I had it replaced with a 120 MB one. I hope the new one functions reasonably. 

These are however trivial problems. Let us come to the real interesting stuff. About 6 months after I got the machine, after my FHDD had been replaced, the machine began freezing at every opportunity. The periodicity between freezes became shorter and shorter till the PowerBook no longer functioned. I took it to the Apple Dealer who had a look at it and passed his opinion that the Motherboard was probably gone. As I was on my way to England I said I would take it along there for service and get the Mother




oard changed if necessary. Here in Oulu we have to wait several days to get any parts and the repair costs are really prohibitive. At that time the $500 was already outstanding to be received from Apple.

As soon as I reached England I took the equipment in to the local Apple Dealer and after examining the problem the technician recommended that the Motherboard be changed. Hence a new motherboard was ordered from London and I waited to see what would be my financial damage. When I went into the shop to collect the machine on the appointed day I was told that before putting in the new motherboard they had reassembled my unit for a spot check and it was working perfectly - so there was no need to change the 




otherboard. I counted my blessings and came back to Finland hoping that now I had a workingmachine.

This was not to be. About a couple of months later the machine began its freezing problem again. Now the power button did not respond and the programmers button also was inactive. If I wanted to restart after a freeze I had to jiggle the reset button. Kept in its normal working position the channces are that the PowerBook will not restart. If I tilt the machine through 135 degrees, the chances of starting are considerably improved. If I place it on its side and use the rest button, again the chances of st




rting are improved. After it starts I have to very very carefully lower it back into the working position. Any hasty move will cause the machine to freeze again, necessitating the whole operation to be repeated.

This happens even if all extensions are off, whether I start with a floppy, whether I have a RAM disk with the start up system on it, etc.

Just about this time I decided to change my Hard Disk to a 120 MB from a 40 MB as the first suspicion was a Hard Disk problem. Disk First Aid, Norton and Silver Lining all gave perfect results for the Hard Disk although prior to the change there were errors reported, bad catalogue extents, but all these were corrected and I posted a couple of articles in comp.sys. mac. hardware on this subject - with no help from anyone.

When I gave the unit to the dealer to change the Hard Disk they were unable to start the machine. They changed the 2 MB RAM and found the machine Rworked OKS. They therefore analysed that I had a defective 2 MB memory. As my 6MB memory was on its way from the US (the Apple price for even a 2 MB being atrocious in Finland) they did not change it, but have returned the machine to me to preform my daily acts of jugglery. While writing this to you the machine has only frozen four times in the last hour for I 




o a little trick. If I log in to the net through my built in modem, the chances of freezing are greatly reduced. Then while I download files from the net t keep the CPU active I can use multifinder and work on my text processing programmes. Even so, today while I was doing this, it froze twice. As I, however, have installed Save-o-Matic with a 2 minute auto save value, I am less annoyed now than previously.

The PowerBook is supposed to be a hardy movable machine - a portable. The PowerBook is a carelessly put together bone china type machine. I would not recommend anyone to buy one till Apple cleans up its act and puts some decent designers on the job of creating a worthwhile portable machine. The concept is good - the product is bad, and my look at the new machines show that they all suffer the same defects.

Yes, I regret the day I bought this machine. I will probably have spent as much as the original cost before I get a machine that will work sensibly and as it should. I have now started redesigning the whole unit and after the guarantee period is over I shall probably have to start redesigning the interior as well. Or maybe I will just junk this after having spent $10550 on the hardware ($4000 + $1000 purchase price, $500 new FHSS, $800 new 120 MB HD, $2000 new screen, $250 6 MB RAM upgrade, $2000 new moth




rboard). I will have to spend money on replacing a defective Power Adaptor and of course the battery is rubbish.

All experiences are first hand.

Regards

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland.
(Some sentences are slightly different from the copy sent to Dr. Wolfson, but the contents are the same.)
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