My journey with Apple began in 2011. I had just enrolled in a degree program at Full Sail University and, like all students, I received my “Launch Box” shortly after. A launch box at Full Sail contains a Macbook Pro, software and accessories needed to excel within your chosen degree program. My Macbook Pro, a 2011 15” edition, didn’t have the fancy retina display that today's MacBooks have, nor did it have an HDMI port, but it did have a disk drive, and I was extremely thankful to have any computer at all.
When I first received my Mac I didn't know anything about design or writing, photography or journalism. It was on that computer that I learned and honed all of the skills and abilities I use today. My Macbook is a tool, and as I grew, it enabled me to do more and more, to push my abilities further and further.
I went though a lot during my time at school, including being hospitalized and diagnosed with OCD, failing classes, having to take a year long break from my schooling to recover and changing my degree program. Throughout all of that my Macbook was right beside me, much of the time literally, laying in bed because I didn’t have the strength to get up, terrified of life. Whether it was providing entertainment, relief, escape, knowledge or opportunity, my mac never once let me down.
Since then, I have learned much, and progressed much further in both knowledge and in health than, at that time, I had anticipated possible. On my mac I have read dozens of textbooks, watched hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of instructional videos and spent countless days designing and creating using the tools it provides; tools that enable me to help others.
I am due to start my graduate degree, a Master of the Arts in Journalism, in a few months. At the beginning of March 2016, my beloved Macbook, the tool that had enabled me to create for five long, hard years, died. It isn't the first time my Mac has had problems, but , prior to this, I was always able to get it back running myself. I tried everything I could, but this time fixing it was beyond my abilities.
Online, I found the problem. Specific to a very small amount of early 2011 macbook pros, the problem was the logic board. Lucky enough, apple knew about this problem back in 2013, and created a program to fix it for free, a program which was set to end in February 2016.
Going into my Graduate degree, I knew I needed a portable computing solution. I figured I would bite the bullet and call Apple to see how much repairs would be. The woman I spoke to on the phone was kind, and I explained everything to her about the problem I was having, what I found out about it online, and about the expired repair plan. She told me I had two choices, I could drop the Macbook off in store, or they could send me a box. In store, the repair time would be based on availability of technicians and parts, by mail it would be five to seven days after they received it.
If you feel like you’re missing something, know that I felt the same way. I asked her how much it would cost me; the most important part for me, a completely broke student. If I were lucky, I may be able to get enough cash to repair it by the time I started my new degree, if it wasn't going to cost too much.
“Don’t worry sir, this is on us”.
Those words were music to my ears. This was on Monday, March 28th, 2016 at 10AM. I opted for the box to be sent to me, to help save on gas money (the nearest apple store is over 30 miles away). She told me that I should receive the box by the end of the week, Friday.
On March 29th, 2016 at 10AM the box was at my door in central Florida. It contained all of the information and materials I needed to securely package my computer for shipment. I took extra time to clean my Mac before sending it off, like some kind of burial ritual for an old friend. My mac was covered in scratches and dents, the wear and tear of everyday use for five years. Three of the little feet on the bottom were now missing, most likely scattered across the east coast of the United States. I wrote a quick note of thanks for the repairs, and an apology for the three missing feet; assuring them that I had tried to take as good of care for it as I could. Securely packaged, I made my way down to the FedEx shipment center in the pouring rain and handed it over; if I got there before 7 p.m., they told me, it would be shipped out that night.
I was in my front yard on Thursday, March 31st, 2016 when I saw a FedEx truck coming down my road. My first thought was of how crazy it would be for them to be delivering my Mac. They drove down and passed my house, and I felt an emotion that was at the same time both relief and sadness. Then he stopped, and backed into my driveway. At that moment I thought to myself, surely there must be something wrong. I somehow messed up the packaging, or my computer didn’t qualify and they had sent it back, most likely with a charge for wasting their time.
When the FedEx delivery man got out of his truck, I asked him if the package was from Apple. He told me that it was, and that it was sent from Memphis, Tennessee. When I told him I had only just sent it on the 29th he laughed, pointed to the package and told me that this alone was over $60 worth of shipping.
“Express. Priority Overnight.”
At this point I was excited, and a little bit apprehensive; what if it wasn’t fixed, what if it can’t be fixed? I went inside and opened the package. Inside was my Mac, with all of its scratches and flaws, but now with 4 little feet on the bottom. The only thing inside the box, aside from my computer, was a single piece of paper detailing the repairs.
Not only had apple replaced the logic board, they had also replaced a separate and unrelated damaged part, one not covered by their extended (and now long expired) replacement plan for the logic boards, and especially not covered by my now four years expired warranty, or two years expired extended service plan. On top of that, Apple had sent the box with priority overnight delivery three ways, at a cost of around $150.
I am typing this story on my now-repaired 2011 Macbook Pro on April 1st 2016; my MacBook’s fifth, and Apple’s 40th birthday; and to Apple, I would like to stay thank you.
Not only for spending so much money on shipping my broken mac back and forth so quickly. Not only for fixing my computer in only three days, or fixing more than you had to, or doing so when my computer was so very far out of warranty.
Thank you for 40 years of innovation, of ease of use, of commitment, of quality and dreams and audacity in the face of criticism; and thank you for 40 years of enabling us to follow our dreams as designers, filmmakers, writers, artists and human beings.
After all of that, and the hundreds of dollars worth of shipping, labour and parts that Apple undoubtedly spent to fix my computer, what impressed me the most, is that Apple cared enough that they took the time to replace the three little missing feet on the bottom of my laptop.
So here's to five and 40 years of Apple, and to five and 40 years more.
