Hi
I just called Apple and have my machine booked in for investigation at a local independent Apple retailer.
I did point out this issue had been reported months ago on CNET as I was hoping he'd be able to say Apple had a solution by now. The guy I spoke to is of the opinion it's either a faulty hard drive or power control module.
When I asked about the forum, he became dismissive, "We sell millions of computers. There's only a few people with a problem posting many times and threads. We don't worry about the forums," in other words, what we're doing on here Apple don't care about.
This forum exists so we can all moan at each other whilst Apple laugh down their sleeve all the way to the bank. It gives the illusion of caring, the illusion of support. Does Apple give a monkey's if a few people are having problems? Clearly not. They're a colossus, a marketing lead money making machine and we are of no consequence.
I'm hoping the independence of the retailer means they'll be more open about what they're seeing and fixing, so I'll let you all know what they say.
Meanwhile, what we need is Facebook and Twitter, a public forum to tell the world what Apple are up to.
Remember, this is the company that used slave labour in China to make it's computers and did nothing about it until people started killing themselves and it arrived in a public forum. They're just another faceless corporation, no better than Microsoft et al.
