Strike 2 for the MacBook Pro

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I’ve had my refurbished and repaired MacBook Pro for one week today and it looks like we’re right back to where we started. A few days ago, apps started randomly crashing again; same as the first time around. I haven’t loaded up the machine with much of anything, just the basics plus a few fun extras like Twitterific and PandoraMan. Oddly, those apps appear relatively stable and even stranger yet: Entourage has crashed several times today and the Crash Reporter doesn’t even show it in the log.

The size of the crash logs is directly related to the number of crashes for each app; Firefox has crashed the most times and unfortunately, it’s the most used app. To make matters worse: the "grey veil of death" as I like to call it has lowered like a curtain at least five times today. Full. System. Crash.

I’ll be heading back to the Apple Store of course, but this is strike two in my book. Refurb or not, the hardware should work for two-grand and since this is a desktop replacement for me, it’s a productivity killer. Luckily, I waited to remove the desktop from my home office, so I’ll migrate back during the expected downtime.

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The sad part is: I ran the hardware test this afternoon and received the exact same error in 3 seconds (above) that I had the last time before I brought the machine in a week ago. Time to put service to the test again; so far, my experience there is good. My overall Mac experience is stellar…say a 9 out of 10….when it’s working. If I factored in the downtime and productivity losses, the experience is much lower of course. I’m now at the point where I don’t feel confident I can be at home or (worse) on the road with the device. It simply isn’t giving me a warm fuzzy that it will work when I need it.

I’ve also thought long and hard about some of the prior comments surrounding a refurbished unit. Perhaps I should have spent the extra money to buy a brand new notebook. I won’t deny someone the ability to have a different perspective than me, but I have to ask: if people shouldn’t be buying refurbished devices, maybe companies shouldn’t be selling them in the first place. I don’t truly believe that statement and I believe that Apple will resolve the issue, but pause and think about it. To blame the consumer for a refurbished purchase doesn’t make sense in my book. Nor in my MacBook. ;)

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