Sending back Macbook Pro

I've had my MBP 15" for about 12 days now, and overall I'm completely delighted with it. Well built, gorgeous screen, excellent battery life and very usable trackpad.

I've had a few issues...first was finding that Apple didn't support my modem. Fair enough, I got another one. I don't like the frugal amount of USB ports and plugging things in when they're so close together has been very awkward. It gets pretty warm too when using the additional graphics card. I also don't like the way I can't use an external monitor as the only display when running from battery, but there you go.

I also noticed a couple of flickers last night, which was worrying.

The real issue for me though is the way an external mouse works when connected to the MBP. There's a 'dragging' effect when you slow down your mouse movement, which results in a smaller distance travelled on screen.

It makes detailed work impossible, unless you're able to maintain a constant speed of movement with your mouse.

I talked to support and this is caused by the trackpad settings, so it's not an issue with desktops. It makes the trackpad easier to use. I asked if I could disable this setting and/or the trackpad, and the answer is no.

So that's a complete deal breaker for me.

Shame, it's a lovely machine in almost every other aspect, but the jerky, treacle like movement when using a mouse is unacceptable for the work I do.

 

i have a aluminum mac (not pro) that uses the same glass trackpad and have not noticed any "drag". the flickering however is worrying I agree. if your truely not happy with it take it back, it sounds like buyers remorse.

 

Would it be worthwhile to take the MBP and mouse into an Apple Store and show them exactly what's going on? This can't be the first time people have had to deal with this issue.


Does this also happen with a wired mouse?

 

I believe this mouse issue has been discussed many times in the forum already. There are many solutions to it, some of which more effective than others. Try using the search function in this forum on mouse acceleration.

 

It's only with a wired mouse. I've tried a few different ones but they all have the same issue. I've read that the Apple mice work better, but I'm not paying out for yet more hardware as I've already had to replace my modem and buy an external monitor adapter.

Unfortunately I'm over a hundred miles from an Apple store.

 

Thanks for the info Budding, yes that's exactly the issue I'm having. I didn't know what it was called, and Apple support didn't have a clue either, so at least I know what it's called now...'mouse acceleration'!

Looks like this is on by default on a Mac, so I have to buy some shareware to switch it off or download someone's free script.

No thanks. Bye Apple, see you in another ten years.

 

Mouse acceleration, yeah. That's one thing I wanted to turn off right away but couldn't. I'll just be blunt; The standard mouse config screen in OSX is just terrible, no matter what settings you use it just feels extremely awkward to use a mouse or even the trackpad. You move the mouse slowly and the pointer BARELY moves, you move it fast and the acceleration kicks in and the mouse flies away. There's no precision.

However, I read about this too and heard about something called Steermouse. It has got FAR more settings you can tinker with, and now the mouse is as enjoyable to use as on a Windows machine. You should've tried that program. You can set it to start automatically at bootup, and it's hidden so you won't notice it. The saved settings kick in right at boot.

 

Thanks for the info, yes that sounds like the solution.

Unfortunately it's too late - Apple support didn't have any idea about these issues, knew nothing about mouse acceleration and told me there was nothing I could do, so they've sent me a return code.

To be honest I've had enough, support has been clueless and if I have to install a third party cludge to be able to use a mouse properly without getting RSI then it's really not an operating system I want to be using.

I'm back using my PC this afternoon, it just works.

 

Yeah thats strange, I dont know how people cant know about that feature. Have they never used a Windows PC and looked in the control panel before?

Doesnt sound right. Anyhow.

 

It's never been set up by default on any PC that I've used.

I don't understand how the Apple support person didn't know about mouse acceleration.

Worrying really.

£1500 for a laptop and I have to download a third party bit of software to be able use a mouse with it. Brilliant.

 

I think the issue is caused by mice with low DPI, because I don't have mouse acceleration issues with my Logitech MX518 (1600dpi) and my Razer Deathadder (even more dpi), but I had problems with some old optic mouse I had lying around.
There was a free fix called iMouseFix or something, but that stopped working in Leopard I believe. No idea if there's been an update.

 

Yes that could be the case - it seems slightly better when I use a graphics tablet which has a high dpi. Using the same mouse with a PC laptop is fine though. Yesterday was the first time I used it for proper work stuff, and my wrist was aching after only an hour or so which is very worrying as this never happens when I'm using the PC. Then last night it started doing the flickering thing - with the screen going blank for a split second.

I've just lost interest in it now, I've had so many compatibility issues that I just want my money back.

 

If you live near Best Buy you could have checked out the Apple mouse in person. Too late for you to do so now, but I wanted to mention it in case someone else reads this with the same problem.

 

So you're getting a full refund ? No restocking fees ?

 

As far as I know - it's within 14 days so I'm not aware that they charge a restocking fee, and there's no mention of it in their terms and conditions:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/8352...Catalog/uk/Images/salespolicies_consumer.html

Looks like the US aren't so lucky, and have to pay a 10% restocking fee if boxes are opened. That was deemed illegal under the UK distance selling regulations: http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9077

 

If you don't want to install a shareware script for your mac, how do you feel about maintaining windows machines, spyware, viruses, defragmentation, registry, OS slowdown issues?
I know which I prefer!

 

i have mouse from 800(logi vx) to 4000(razer lachesis), and all behave oddly.

while there is no driver available for lachesis, i had also tried steermouse and the other program without luck; note on lachesis, the dpi-on-the-fly button still works and i had changed setting on a PC prior plugging in since it has a onboard chip that recognize profile

i am down to using trackpad exclusively atm and while it works fine for daily tasks, it is not as convenient in some of the more specific job

 

Oh No!! We're headed towards the Mac vs PC argument again. Do what makes you happy.

 

NOO, dont sent it back, send it to me. I want a macbook pro

 

No not at all. I don't care who makes my machines as long as they do the job. I started on Macs 18 years ago, then swapped to PC's about 6 years later.

The reason I was going to switch back to using a Mac after 10 years of PC use was that I preferred the look of Leopard to Vista. Unfortunately none of my hardware works with the new laptop, and after shelling out £1400 on it and buying monitor adapters and new modems I now find out that you can't use it for detailed work with a mouse due to a stupid mouse acceleration setting that I can't turn off via the OS.

So the reason I'm sending it back (just packing it up now) is because it doesn't do the job I bought it for.

It's a shame, it's a lovely machine but unfortunately it has to earn it's keep.

 

I feel your pain man. £1400 is a lot of money plus the accessories you have bought. May be you could go for a dell. These are quite popular in the UK. The closest dell comparable to a macbook pro is the dell xps m1530. BTW, you should not be entitled for the restocking fee as you are within you the 14day return period.

 

Thanks, actually the M1530 was my first choice, but then I started reading the reviews for it on this and other forums and noticed a lot of issues repeatedly cropping up (such as the graphic card and display problems) which is a shame as it looked like a good machine.

I'm looking at getting an HP DV5 now - they're not as powerful as the MBP, but are pretty sturdy and only a third of the price.

I'm not particularly looking forward to using Vista, but I had plenty of issues with Leopard so I guess there's always going to be niggles whatever OS I pick so I might as well save myself a thousand quid!

 

Yes, dv5 has proved itself to be reliable over the past year..I think it was released in july last year. There's a model which comes with the 9600m gt. May be you could go for it.

 

closest dell is studio xps 16.but I ll advice you to consider HP elitebook w8530

 

Thanks for the recommendations.

Haven't found a DV5 in the uk with the 9600 but I can find one with a 9200 card which at £599 is good value, plus I can probably get another 10% off that. It's going to be slower than the MBP but at almost a third of the price and capable of running a mouse that works properly I'm not too worried.

 

Pre OS X, there used to be a mouse acceleration feature. They took that out in OS X unfortunately. Perhaps you could look into an HP Elitebook or a Dell Latitude.

 

family, I'm curious. When you were testing out different mouse's. Did you install their drivers with it?

 

Yep, I've tried every driver/mouse/cludge combination I can find.

The intellimouse driver for Microsoft mice removes some of the sludginess, but not all of it. The mouse still 'slips' as if I'm using the mouse on glass (I'm not), and it still feels sticky...until the pointer jumps off in a random direction.

Apple didn't give the courier a collection code for both packages they sent (MBP and printer) so I'm waiting for them to sort it out. It's given me a couple more days of fiddling about to see if I can fix the problem, but I can't.

I just want to get rid of this thing and get a laptop I can do some work on.