14 DAY TRIAL // Some Apple customers have experienced problems with their iBook G4 machines, which after a while start having power issues, refusing to turn on anymore. The consumer protection board in Denmark has made its own investigation and has concluded that the issue is a design flaw.
After receiving regular complaints about the iBooks, the Consumer Complaints Board of the National Consumer Agency sent some of the machines to an independent electronics lab called Delta. After investigating the machines, Delta concluded that the problem is caused by a solder joint, which loosens slightly every time the iBook is turned off and on. "It is a bit like a person dying a little bit every time he breathes because the cells break down," board lawyer Frederik Boesgaard Navne said in a statement released this week. "In the same way, the computer dies a little every time you turn it on and off."
Not everyone experienced such issues, and Apple has rejected many customer complaints on the grounds that there was no proven design flaw, or that the machine's 12-month guarantee had expired. However, it could very well be that the differences are caused by the fact that some users never actually turn the machine off, instead simply closing it and letting it sleep. Some customers have taken a more pragmatic approach and have 'fixed' their machines by attaching a clamp to a particular area of the computer, or taking the machine partially apart and nudging cardboard shims in place. In both cases, the added pressure reestablished the connection between the components.
The Danish board said that these findings could have global implications, claiming that "thousands" of Apple customers all over the world have tried to get the company to acknowledge the flaw and replace the computers. "The question now is whether Apple is going to go on denying that there is a design flaw in the same type of computer in the world outside Denmark's borders," the board said.