“Apple is facing a new class-action lawsuit that charges the company with failing to fully recognize the scope of a memory slot defect in its PowerBook G4 notebooks, which has left thousands of customers with no choice but to foot hefty repair costs on their own,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider.
“New York resident Giorgio Gomelsky filed the 19-page complaint in a Northern California court last week on behalf of himself and all similarly-situated complainants who purchased an Apple PowerBook manufactured with defective memory slots from January 1, 2003 to the present,” Marsal reports.
“Specifically, the suit alleges that the earlier generation Mac notebooks contain a defect that manifests itself when an owner tries to add additional memory to the first or second memory slot available in most PowerBooks, namely the PowerBook G4,” Marsal reports.
“Faced with complaints over the matter, Apple initiated a Memory Slot Repair Extension Program covering 15-inch 1.67 and 1.5GHz PowerBook G4s manufactured between January 2005 and April 2005, which expired on July 24th. The suit alleges, however, that the scope of the problem extended well beyond the range of PowerBooks that the Mac maker agreed to cover as part of the program.,” Marsal reports.
More in the full article here.
I saw a lot of those when I worked at the GB in the Apple Store.
We simply fixed them.
Great, some lawyers will make a few million, and the customers will get a $10 store credit.
Yeah, Apple has already responded to this with the fixing program, they also fixed PowerBooks for free that were outside of the serial number range.
Now, years later, people with ageing PowerBooks are trying to put a memory stick in for the first time and discovering they have a problem.
Only in the USA would people sue over stuff like this.
Apple wouldn’t fix mine. It was outside the serial numbers and I fought with them about it but they said there was nothing they could do. Suck’s but I’m one that didn’t get fixed and the machine is now sitting and I don’t even use it. I’ve lost my laptop and now have to use my desktop.
It’s really a nice machine but one slot of RAM makes it’s really tough to use, it’s slow.
You had three years to get it fixed for free. So because you’re a lazy ass who procrastinated for THREE WHOLE YEARS, you’re gonna sue the company. What are you retarded? Upgrade your technology dummy.
My 1.25 GHz PowerBook bought in December 2003 worked fine with both slots filled until earlier this year, now one slot is bad (swapping the memory modules doesn’t effect the result). The cost of repair is more than the value of the machine, which is a shame since it’s otherwise still a very useful laptop. Since this is a well known design and/or manufacturing defect, Apple should honor repairs to older machines.
The power supply in my 2005 iMac G5 went out for the THIRD time this weekend, but that thing was so dog slow compared to the new Intel machines, I just retired it and replaced it with a new one.
My trusty PowerBook 1.5GHz has been affected by this. I wasn’t in the initial recall (mine is the July 2004 revision – the second-to-last revision). We’ll see what happens.
Poo,
This isn’t about people who procrastinated. It is about people who should have been included in the recall in the first place and weren’t. The timeframe Apple used before was for only the last revision of the PowerBook before they went Intel. Mine was the revision before that one, and, apparently I am not the only owner of that revision to be affected (the 1.5/1.67 GHz 15″). We are having the same issues as those later generation PowerBook owners.
Jeremy,
They didn’t offer to fix mine for free as I was out of the serial number range. See my post above for more info.
I own a 1.25GHz Powerbook G4, and it had this problem. Of course, it was outside the serial number range. The Genius at my local Apple store sent it in for repair for free; if he hadn’t, I would have been fighting with Apple until they did fix it.
I’m no fan of class action lawsuits, but Apple should suck up and replace the affected motherboards. Yes, I own Apple stock. I’m a big fan of increasing shareholder value. In this case, I’m a firm believer in doing what’s right, and that involves fixing the machines that exhibit the problem.
My old Performa didn’t show millions of colors…I’m gonna sue. Ridiculous!
Certainly Apple should repair these machines for free if it is a defect in the workmanship of the product. As a Mac user and stockholder, I’d expect nothing less.
What it seemed to be was a defect in the MLB that the contractor that made the board was at fault.
But Apple gets stuck fixing the problem and going to court.
I have a 12″ G4 Powerbook (1.5GHz). It is a bit slow, but works fine. But I never tried to add another memory module.
Apple should be sued over the PowerMac G5 Dual 2GHz logic board/processor failures. These things are dropping right and left at the 3.5 to 4 year point. Not what most customers expect from a “Pro” level computer from Apple. I have a 128K Mac from 1984 that still works.
I’m writing this on a PB G4 that I added the RAM on years ago – the 512 MB from Apple and an additional 1 GB stick. No problems.
Having said that, I have a friend with an identical machine who had the problem 2 or 3 years ago. However she upgraded at least once since then.
@CD…
Let me explain it to you in grown-up terms- follow along if you will. Your Performa has no expectation of displaying Millions of Colors.
A PowerBook 1.5GHz has the expectation of using all memory slots available for a particular size, speed & type of memory module. When a user who spent hard earned dollars- (not an allowance that Mommy & Daddy gives them) about 2500- 3000 of these hard earned dollars- attempts to expand / upgrade their laptop- well- it should “be there”.
In summary- We pay a premium for Apple products- so the experience and the quality should reflect the price.
Regards everybody- U2 CD- now go clean your room.
After having my my brand new Powerbook for 18 months, the lower RAM slot failed. Started suffering kernal panics. Startup sound vanished. I’ve got stuck with this thing running just 1GB of RAM. Wouldn’t be too much of a problem but I’m a designer and Photoshop loves the RAM. Contacted Apple, they didn’t want to know. We should have been included in the recall.
And to those who say we should just update our hardware. I also have a Mac Pro which is a monster of a machine. I’d expect Dells to have shoddy builds. But you kinda expect more from Apple.
We didn’t have 3 years to get em fixed. As I posted mine screwed up after 18 months. I’d maxed the RAM to 2GB day one. The Apple store in the UK told me it was a known problem and that it would cost me £500 to get it fixed.
So get your facts straight before posting idiots.
Love my Mac Pro but I’d never buy a portable computer off Apple again.
One word people. AppleCare. If you had bought it, your 18 month old machine would have been covered anyway whether it was in the serial range or not. Apple gave you three years, which is what AppleCare would have covered. They cannot be expected to cover a logic board for 5, 6, or 7 years. That’s not a defect, that’s life. Update your technology.
P.S. I hate people that don’t buy AppleCare. Can you tell?
My Powerbook 1.5 GHz (Sep 2004) was affected by this one moemory slot is not recognised. Then sent for repair in May/June 2005. By that time apple introduced MBP with intel. They said it was bcos mother board failure and will take a month to fix the model has been discontinued. I talked to supervisor and he agreed to replace with a new MBP of equal specs.
Update to my post. Forgot to mention I had apple care.
My Powerbook 1.25 is affected by this. One memory slot just stopped working. Apple wouldn’t do anything about. I applaud this suit.
poo u are an ass. I had apple care! I only now am able to max out to 2 gigs of ram. Not everyone is like you, an ignorant bitch. Apple should notify its owners, its about morals. Do you have any?
I’m new at this but I am one of those MORONS with the Powerbook G4 bad RAM slot. Ummm, how was I supposed to know about this? No software message, computer just runs slow, locks up, crashes on applications. This happens on all computers.
1) Apple identified a production run of bad logic boards.
2) Anyone was has ever bought an apple computer knows that when you first fire it up, you register with apple. Apple now knows how to get in touch with you. AND THEY DO! Buy my new software. Buy my new Nano. Buy my new macbook pro.
3) Apple contacted NO ONE about this problem. Not one single person was notified about this problem. At the exact same time I received an email from Apple to put the new MAC OS on my powerbook, they knew my powerbook was defective.
4) Astute users, users in chat networks, users who regularly go to Apple’s support forum would know about the replacement program.
When a part is found to be defective on your automobile, you are notified about a recall. Pretty straight forward. No need to malign us MORONS, because we misplaced our trust in Apple to notify us with a problem THEY KNEW ABOUT, when they HAD THE MEANS to contact us. Yeah, sucks to be us, that’s why we have the legal means to seek justice.