We received floods of feedback to last week’s article about a broken PowerBook G4 hinge that raised questions about the TiBook’s long-term durability. A number of readers have experienced unusual hinge wear, catastrophic breakage like mine, cracking in the Titanium case, hinges that are too tight (potentially causing additional stress on the hinge), and worn display cushions. Some believe the G4 PowerBook is a less durable design, but users of Lombards and Wall Street G3 machines have also had hinges break, suggesting the hinge may simply be a component that is under a lot of stress.
The good news for me is Apple fixed my hinge in record time. My PowerBook was mailed out late due to confusion in the mailroom on my end, but once Apple got it, they had it back in my hands the next day — faster than any repair I’ve ever had done! Apple replaced part 805-2893, P12 clutch cover, the broken half of the hinge itself, a far cry from replacing the whole display as some readers reported. In contrast to those horror stories, too, this was a warranty repair. Apple wanted to look at the unit first, to make sure I hadn’t obviously dropped or otherwise abused the machine, which is never covered under a warranty: a reasonable demand. Once they saw the machine, they repaired it without question. (Advice: don’t drop your computer, and if a hinge breaks on its own, explain the situation calmly to support.)
We’ll continue to look at the TiBook’s reliability and ways of remedying problems like adding display cushions, so stay tuned.
