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Danes 'prove' sudden iBook death syndrome

Danish turnover Apple

The Consumer Complaints Board in Denmark claims to have evidence of a original design defect in the iBook G4 that has been hotly denied by Apple.

Many iBook G4 customers complained that after about one year's use, the laptop acquired the nasty habit of powering down and greeting the users with a blank screen and a loud whirring fan on start-up.

Laptop dissectors soon fingered a logic board failure for the sc. Creative, but decidedly not iSleek methods to fix the problem were invented from c-clamping their shiny white laptop on a table in order to squeeze the logic board to shoving cardboard shims in place to make it reboot.

Apple had rejected attempts to have the fault repaired or returned on the grounds there is no question of a design fault.

But now the Danes have something to say about that. Just as Denmark forced Sweden to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silver riksdaler after the 1611-1613 Kalmar War, they hope to squeeze some cash out of Apple.

After regular complaints, the National Consumer Agency in Denmark sent a suspect iMac G4 to Delta, an independent electronics laboratory to have it examined. (In much the same way Denmark's Niels Bohr examined quantum theory to develop the first working model for the atom in 1913.)

The investigation showed solder joints between two components had broken, so a current could no longer pass through them. The breakage was found to occur because the joints loosen slightly every time the computer is turned on and off.

"It is a bit like a person dying a little bit every time he breathes because the cells break down," C.C.B. lawyer Frederik Navne waxed poetically. "In the same way, the computer dies a little every time you turn it on and off."

As a result, the C.C.B. determined that Danish consumers will be able to return computers with the fault to Apple. Apple International is beginning to settle a number of cases in Denmark on the basis of the investigation.

The board now wants Apple to acknowledge the alleged design fault outside of Denmark's borders — not unlike how world recognized the Danish drummer for Metallica, Lars Ulrich.

And since we can't think of a way to fit it in: Denmark's national anthem is "Der er et yndigt land," and the country has a total area of 43,094 square kilometers. ®

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