Apple updates MacBooks
Bug-squishing continues apace
If you - like many other owners of Apple's new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air - have experienced random flakiness from your pricey new toy, Apple is offering some help.
You can now download SMC and EFI firmware patches for the three offending 'Books from Apple's support center. Apple claims that the SMC updates improve "the sensing and accuracy of the MagSafe Power Adapter indicator light, and the battery charge indicator lights." The company is a wee bit more vague about the EFI updates, stating only that they fix "several issues" and "improve the stability" of the sometimes-cranky laptops.
Exactly which issues those might be, Apple doesn't say. There are a few to choose from, since the unibody 'Books have had a bit of a rocky ride since their roll-out on October 14th.
First there were the glass-trackpad problems, which were addressed by Apple in a firmware update published on November 17th. There have also been complaints about third-party RAM incompatibilities, annoying fan noise, and freezing upon awakening.
And now MacFixIt reports that some users who have installed the most recent updates have also reported problems - but, thankfully, they also report that "the updates are, generally, working as they should."
If so, that's good news for early-adopting 'Bookers. If you're one of them, drop us a Comment and let us know what your upgrade experience has been.
COMMENTS
RE: Seanie Ryan
Errr... I think I got confused halfway through!
Point 2: you can argue that any hardware can run any os so the whole hardware argument kinda is irrelevant! I see what you mean, but I can get an EFI chip and run OSX on any Intel platform now, apart from the company asking the consumer to not do that, so I guess it is subjective that I think that they are more restrictive than other companies. who are into letting any kind of software running on their kit as long as it is able to (or not if it's "Vista Ready"). I apologize as I never knew Mac ran Windows natively - I'd always assumed you needed Boot Camp or Parallels, but in that case you can argue that Windows is more "open" than OSX if it can load on EFI as well as BIOS... ;o)
re: AC 15.35
"This lack of choice annoys us as we believe in user choice, especially for $1000+!"
Well use your user choice and buy something else, then. Sheesh...
@ AC with 2 arguments
your post confused me as a cant make out if you were agreeing or not, but anyway :
Re point 1. I wasnt relating fewer production lines to getting the product right. I was only pointing out that fewer lines can be better. You still have to go through the same process of getting the product right no matter how many lines you have.
Re point 2. you are mixing producing hardware that runs any os, with open source software. Not sure how you made that leap. And who said they have to give their software back? their choice. My original point that its not closed hardware stands. You can run any os on it that you are allowed.
@Kiminao : many thanks!! but maybe it was me stalking webster for the last few months.. ;-)
V 1.0
You should remember, this is the first version. The reconditioned first or next version will have all the bugs ironed out -thanks to those that bought into the first version. If I do decide to get a new laptop to run Autodesk inventor and overweight, bloated AutoCAD, I'll get a reconditioned MBP -hey I'm cheap and ...thanks for testing!
RE: Seanie Ryan
"profitable company with big cash pile.. seems to be working... my original point was that you can run everything on a mac that you can on a pc, so the Mac is not a closed hardware..."
My two arguments here are:
1. "seems to be working" - you've pointed out the advantages of fewer production lines and one company controlling it all, which I would think highlights the fact that it should be easier to release products to market without faults compared to a highly diversified product portfolio each with differing tolerances and testing, which is the point of the article itself.
2. "not a closed hardware" - mac can run anything a pc can (no one start naming games or software that doesn't work please as I'm generalizing here!) but a pc can't run much of mac software. Therefore a mac is the universal recipient and the pc is the universal donor. Consider this (from wiki): "Under Perens' definition, open source describes a broad general type of software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent copyright restrictions." Forgetting the specific mention of source code, the mere portability of software from pc to mac and lack of return portability from mac to pc shows the mac to be a closed system! The mac taketh, but the mac don't giveth back... this, combined with the hardware control, is why they produce such sweet running systems that just work, somewhat analogous to the whole gaming console vs gaming pc argument that rages here every now and again.
