I was trying to decide what course of action to take.
- Fix it myself. I don't need to worry about voiding the manufacturers warranty because it expired already. The bragging rights on this would be friggin' sweet, but I have no idea what I'm doing; it would probably take way too much time away from home improvement and naps; and I could potentially electrocute myself;
- Get Apple to Fix it. This probably makes sense, but I would feel kinda silly paying $5-600 to get it fixed when I could buy a new one for about $1000. The plus side to this solution is that I wouldn't have to re-load all my CDs onto iTunes again, which takes forever;
- Buy another Apple. The new Apples are sweeeeeet, but to get a decent one would probably run me $1300-1500 bucks ($1000 is for the cheapest laptop). Two problems with this, I'm not made of money and I worry about spending that much on a new one and having it crap out on me.
- Buy a PC. I saw a commercial where you can get a Dell with a flatscreen monitor and printer and all that stuff for under $500. That's awesome, but it's still not a Mac, which would make feel like I'm cheating (plus, technologically speaking, I'm an idiot that has a hard time working my iMac, the thouthg of tinkering with a PC is scary mojo).
Either way, I have to make up my mind soon because Tax season is coming up so I need to figure out which version (Mac or PC of Turbo Tax to buy). In case you are wondering, the IT Gestapo has put something on our computers to prevent you from loading any software on your work computer. So I need to intsall it at home. The only way to alter one of these machines is to call tech support and have them send up an IT gnome with pasty-white skin and big coke-bottle glasses and freaky yellow eyes that have never seen natural sunlight. They also spit when they talk and ask you weird questions like "do you think that girl that hangs out in the hallway has a boyfriend". Then you have to explain to them that there's no girl in the hallway, that it's actually a couch. I'm telling you, we need to talk to HR about our mutant hiring policies.
Not having a computer also prevents me from uploading pics of the home improvement projects I am working on. So for the next week or so, you people will just have to take my word about how awesome my skillz are.
9 comments:
This is the second post I've read in less than five minutes about a computer blowing up.
I'm going to run home and back my shit up post haste.
You can find a new 17" iMac from the apple refurb'd store for $799. It comes with a one year warranty and you can buy apple care for it! From the apple.com store, click the "SAVE" buttom in the lower right. They update the inventory every weekend!
You don't have to wait, Turbo Tax comes in a PC/Mac version...I just bought it. :)
Love the post...considering I am deciding btwn a no frills cheapest IMac or a fully loaded PC laptop...I am feeling just as lost. Got a lot of good advice and most of it said to go for the MAC just bc it is so long lasting. How long did it take before this one passed on
AND YES--the IT guys in my company are equally as bizarre. They must be bred in a weird dark planet...
Heather, good idea. There's nothing I had on mine, really, except for all my iPod CDs. If I hadn't spent hours upon hours loading them into my computer, I think buying another one would be a no-brainer. `
Chad, thanks. It's not there anymore, but they have some other nice ones. Part of why I think it makes sense to buy another one is they only give you a 90 day warranty on the repair, but you get a year long on one you buy.
Toolbet Diva, thanks ;) I hope you got your taxes done.
kassyk, I had this about 4 years. It worked fine, then started acting up a few months ago and got progressively worse after that. I think it's the motherboard (logicboard). I think maybe the moving and dust from home renovations may have something to do with it's demise.
I'm one of those weird IT guys.
I can almost guarantee you it isn't the motherboard. When motherboards fry, they fry. Have you tried reloading OSX? Have you taken your Mac apart and cleaned it? If the CPU heatsink gets clogged up with sawdust and stuff, the cpu will overheat and lock the computer up.
Another possibility is your hard drive might have died/be dying. Impossible for me to tell from here, of course, and I WOULD try the other things first. When Mac OSX starts locking up and you have to reboot, the *most likely* reason is a simple corrupted OS. I'd hate to see you buy a whole new Mac when reinstalling OSX could fix it.
Oh, and stay far away from Dell. There's a reason they're so cheap.... the motherboards are made by insane, blind monks in Elbonia. A P4 3.06GHz Dell will run just as fast as a P4 1.8GHz in any other brand of PC. (Think LA during rush hour as far as the circuitry paths on the motherboard)
The new Macs ARE sweet, though...
Good luck!
Larry
http://www.theoldhousejournal.com
Just my 2 cents as someone whom has salvaged many presumed dead Macs over the years. (Yeah, sure, a few couldn't be saved, but let's not bring that up.) Before you make any decisions, try to boot the iMac from your OS X CD (or DVD).
With the OS X CD (or DVD) in the drive, hold down the "c" key while powering up. This should force a boot from the OS X CD (or DVD). If that works, you are 80% likely to recover. Try running Disk Utility from the CD (or DVD).
Let us know how it works and good luck! Then check out my houses at cpday.com
Larry and CPDAY: thanks for the advice. I took it to mac and they were able to get it working. Turns out that Limewire corrupted something in the system. THat's what I get for stealing music.
My iMac just died(I think,there might just be a disc stuck in it, but ethier way it won't start up) I've had the computer for 5 years.....
We got a windows, Macs are so much better
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