Apple's Support Stance: All You Need Is Just A Little Patience*

Greetings from SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles. I think I’m going to be very glad that I resurrected and upgraded my first-generation MacBook two weekends ago. Because I think it’s going to be a while before my MacBook Air gets back in my hands. Two Wednesdays ago, you might recall, I rushed the MacBook Air to the Reno, NV Apple Store after its HDD died. And two weeks later, it’s still sitting at Apple’s Austin, TX repair depot, with the online status report indicating that it’s ‘On hold - Part on order’.

The AWOL part, of course, is the failed 1.8″ HDD with the semi-proprietary ZIF PATA interface. Fortunately, it’s the same hard drive used in Apple’s HDD-based iPods, so I’m confident that the replacement unit will arrive sooner or later…though I hope it shows up prior to the expiration of my AppleCare extended warranty next July! I called Apple again this morning, suggesting this time that they were welcome to substitute the 60 GByte SSD if the 80 GByte HDD was unavailable. The person I spoke with told me that such a parts swap would unfortunately not be feasible…she also told me that I was one of around 120 people whose widgets were stuck in the queue awaiting the replacement HDD’s arrival. She couldn’t tell me where I was in the queue. So I continue to wait.

*I never thought I’d be thanking Axel Rose for inspiration…