My Inner Struggle

I'm having a real tough time coping with something.

Apple makes a mean computer. Components work together, software usually works very well, and everything is extremely streamlined. The new magnetic power adapter is an engineering marvel. If you trip over the cord, it won't jerk the notebook off the desk. The magnetically secured cable automatically detaches, averting all sorts of impact-related problems. Most hardware problems that one might encounter are covered for free during the warranty period (and sometimes even after the warranty period). Yep, Apple's pretty awesome.

So, why the stress? My Macbook, which has been great, had its first problem this last week. The awesomely designed power adapter stopped working. The metal pins that are held together magnetically are backed by springs to help absorb some of the impact caused by the very same magnetism. Well, the two outside pins' springs broke on me, and my laptop now fails to charge. This is not the first time that I've experienced problems with Apple brand power adapters. On my old G4 Powerbook, I constantly had to wiggle the little cable that ran out of the power brick. On the old iBook, I had similar problems with the small-cable side of the brick (which eventually warranted the purchase of a replacement power adapter).

So yeah, I'm a little irked about not being able to use my computer. The real conflict comes with Apple's awesome service. Even though I'm living in Japan, I had no problem ordering a free replacement power adapter. Apple's got English language support in Japan, and their Japanese warehouse will ship it out within a week, even though I live on a tiny island that takes hours to reach. That's service. In essence, Apple won't allow me to be ticked off about faulty awesome engineering because they're replacing it for free in a super-short amount of time.

Those of you considering the purchase of a Mac: know that the adapters can be a little finnicky. But buy the Mac anyway, because the product and service are amazing.