MacBook Air Blues - 3 Airs in 32 days

In the last 30 days I've gone through 3 MacBook Airs due to production and quality defects.

Day 1

I felt like a kid on Christmas morning (or really, the first night of Hanukkah, but you get my point). After purchasing my very own MacBook Air and taking the gorgeous 3 pound notebook home, I rushed to try it out. With such excitement, I opened the cleanly sealed package, turned on the computer and found...a used laptop. Upon booting up, the computer webt directly to the OS. No configuration or Mac OSX setup wizard presented for me. It must have presented, however, for "jadams" when he or she bought this MacBook Air. Even iChat was configured for "jadams." As you can imagine, this came as a complete shock to me - I've never heard of such a thing happening! Given the perfectly sealed package and pristine box, it was the last thing I expected to find when I turned on the notebook.

I called the Apple Store where I purchased the Air and explained the situation. The person I called was very helpful and suggested I bring the computer into the store and talk to the manager. He said I would be able to swap the notebook for a new computer, since I was still within a 30 day grace period.

Once I made it back to the store (which was no easy feat, we're talking prime LA traffic time here), I told (and retold and retold) my story to Apple employees. Finally, I was sent to the manager. It must've been the story of the day - everyone was interested! No employee had heard of this happening before, but even more surprising, not a single employee apologized for inconvenience. The ends justified the means, however: The genius bar team swapped the used Air for a new one. Off I went to explore my new laptop and get back to work on nobosh.

Day 30

About 30 days later, while visiting friends in Arizona and working on nobosh, the Air began to intermittently freeze. Without any warning, the notebook's fan began to click, then start at full power then stop...and this whole process would repeat. The other customers at the Starbucks where I was working seemed frustrated with the notebook's "sound effects," so I decided to pack up and give the computer a break. Later that afternoon, I rebooted and within 10 minutes received a kernel error, so again I walked away for about 30 minutes later. With crossed fingers, I again tried to use the Air and within 10 minutes received another kernel error.

Frustrated, I booted up a friend's laptop and googled for help. It seemed that an overheating problem had been reported by other MacBook Air users, especially when of they where playing videos or in the midst of high processing tasks. Since I often have several application open as I develop (Coda, Parallels, iTunes, Safari, FireFox, etc.), it was likely that my notebook was also overheating.

I got more incriminating evidence that afternoon. I tried again to use the notebook and I was burnt by the lower left side of the computer. Think touching-a-hot-stove kind of burn. I then noticed that my iStat widget showed the CPU running near 200 degrees Fahrenheit and the fan ranging from 6000 rpms to as low as -2300 rpms. All the while the fan was ...dead silent. I had a dead fan. Better than a used MacBook Air? I'm not sure. I called Apple's support number and was told to make an appointment at the Genius Bar for a replacement. After mentioning the computer was hot enough to burn skin, my call was escalated to Apple's product safety group. I was then asked to answer several question on whether or not the computer was fuming or sparking. Strangely, I was never told not to use the computer. I would have needed pot holders if I wanted to.

Day 32

I drove straight from Arizona to the Genius Bar for my appointment. After about an hour of "stressing" the computer, I was informed that they would need to order a replacement fan, which would take 2 days. I was confused - Apple Support informed me I would likely be able to receive a replace unit in store. The genius said that there was a 14 day - not 30 day - grace period. After some (polite) discussion of my dissatisfaction, I asked to speak with a manager. Fortunately, I didn't have to explain my situation again. In a few moments, she came back with an unopened MacBook Air. I opted not to leave the transferring of my data to the Apple Store (while at the Genius Bar, I heard an Apple employee tell another customer that in some instances of data transfer, data can be lost "without explanation"). Instead, I purchased the new Air, went home with two notebooks, transfered the data that night, and returned to the store the following afternoon to return the broken Air.

The new and third Air is running smoothly, though the laptop gets absurdly warm when watching a video on YouTube or any other processing-intense process. The noise from the fan actually rivals the internal speaker. I know Apple released an SMC update to control the heat, but this has not solved the problem.

The MacBook Air is a first generation; I can't say I didn't know better. I even had the thought of waiting for the product's second- generation version, which will likely come out after all the bugs have been discovered and worked out. I would bet that the next version of the MacBook air will incorporate two fans and more ventilation ports.

All in all, I love my new MacBook Air (or, my 3rd new MacBook Air, to be accurate). I must say, having it now is worth putting up with the first-generation bugs. They say the third time is the charm (crossing fingers, knocking on wood, and doing all those superstitious things). My only true disappointment with Apple is never receiving an apology for my troubles. It wasn't like I bought a discounted Air (return 1) or went skydiving with my notebook (return 2). Each time I did have to return the Air, however, I was made to feel like I did something wrong or that they were doing me a huge favor and I owed them drink later*. Apple needs to take a lesson from Disney's playbook and step up their store customer service practices.

*If Steve Jobs does want to meet up for a drink later, I think I can fit him into my schedule.