Apparently the latest Mac OS X 10.4.10 update isn’t all joy, some users are reporting performance problems with their WiFi, as Appletell reports:

… Airport problems seem to be creeping up in a number of MacBooks. The threads on Apple’s discussion forums all point to the latest Mac OS X 10.4.10 update. Currently, there are several symptoms that have been reported; these range from dropped connections to kernel panics.

Read more at AppleTell.com

-Jared O’Brien

The nasty screen lines issue is still appearing on PowerBook 17″ models. We have covered this several times before and it just won’t die. The latest site has been setup to try and campaign Apple to get a free repair, best of luck to them. If you suffer from this problem, check out the site:

Free Repair Campaign for Apple 17″ PowerBooks

It seems even the beloved MacBook battery is not completely safe from battery troubles, the owner of a black MacBook discovered the hard way. So what is an angry mac user to do? Start a blog of course! MacBookFire.Blogspot.com has pictures and plenty of information on this users MacBook battery explosion. The account of the fire is too long to quote here, so read it there.

The pictures are relatively poor quality so we haven’t posted one, but if you’re interested, look here.

Not good!

A thread on MacRumors Forums is causing a stir with a MacBook Pro owner claiming his MacBook Pro burnt his legs while running at 200 degrees farenheit (note the above provided screenshot only shows 197 f). Here’s the original post:

Thats right…my macbook pro burned the Sh*t outta my legs when i set it on my lap on the couch.

i immediately went to istat and it was running right around 200 degrees F, while running hard on both fans…

something is seriously wrong with my MBP…its almost at the boiling point!!!

should i demand replacement or has anybody ran into this problem before???

also ive noticed pitting on the casing, and a whining noise from the laptop.

i guess its alwas probably ran that hot, just never noticed because the laptop is always on a stand. i wasnt even doing anything too intensive, just doing 5 or six raw file conversions…nothing big!
thoughts, advice?

MacBook and MacBook Pro’s are known to run hot, and Apple does not recommend you use the computers on your lap (they are not officially laptops).

Read the thread on MacRumors Forums

A tipster sent us this link suggesting the MacBook ignited due to some kind of trouble. Unfortunately, the link has no information, but the image is of a MacBook that has clearly suffered burn damage.

Here’s a quick analysis based on observation:
* the burned region is near the media drive, NOT the MagSafe port, NOT the battery
* virtually no heat is generated underneath the media drive on MacBook’s
* 99.9% of burn related issues have been related to defective power adapters or defective batteries

Put that all together and we suspect this is not related to a MacBook defect, but if you have any information to share about this mysteriously burnt MacBook feel free to contact us. The bottom line is don’t assume everything is Apple’s fault, for all we know someone could have placed a MacBook on a stove.

If you thought the iBook was old news, think again. The Danish Consumer Complaints board apparently has evidence that some iBook G4’s were defective, and they want Apple to do something about it:

The Consumer Complaints Board in Denmark claims to have evidence of a original design defect in the iBook G4 that has been hotly denied by Apple.

Many iBook G4 customers complained that after about one year’s use, the laptop acquired the nasty habit of powering down and greeting the users with a blank screen and a loud whirring fan on start-up.

Laptop dissectors soon fingered a logic board failure for the sc. Creative, but decidedly not iSleek methods to fix the problem were invented from c-clamping their shiny white laptop on a table in order to squeeze the logic board to shoving cardboard shims in place to make it reboot.

Apple had rejected attempts to have the fault repaired or returned on the grounds there is no question of a design fault.

Read more at The Register’s
Danish Consumer Complaints Board Claim iBook Defect

Almost a year ago, AppleDefects was inundated with a multitude of verbal attacks and death threats when one of our authors wrote a quick rant about MacWorld product reviews being a joke because they always ridiculously favor Apple products, regardless of their quality.

Well, a year later, this happens, straight from Wired:

Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken quit abruptly today because the company’s new CEO, Colin Crawford, tried to kill a story about Apple and Steve Jobs.

The piece, a whimsical article titled “Ten Things We Hate About Apple,” was still in draft form when Crawford killed it. McCracken said no way and walked after Crawford refused to compromise. Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers.

Nicer to advertisers? Hmm, consistent 4 and 5 star ratings seem pretty nice to me. To be fair, advertiser pressure is widespread and really reaches far beyond MacWorld and Apple being in cahoots together, it’s rampant in all news and publication media. Freedom of press is second in line to the advertisers dollar. Our advice? If you want legitimate honest reviews and opinions on products, Google is your best friend. Publications like MacWorld and PC World preach to their respected choirs, this is not to say they are bad magazines, MacWorld is actually filled with useful tips and tutorials for the Mac, just look elsewhere for a critical analysis on most of Apple’s product offerings.

Wired story: PC World Editor Quits Over Apple Story

WiseBread story (where our post title came from): You Can’t Trust Reviews from PC World and MacWorld

PS for Mac Zealots: We know you love Apple more than life itself. Remember, much of the above is also OPINION so try to avoid threatening violence or death on our writers, pets, families, lawns, tulip gardens, whatever.

An anonymous email tipster sent us this link to some flickr pictures showing another MagSafe adapter melting down.
Here’s the miniscule amount of info attached to the images on flickr:

A melted MacBook Magsafe Power Connector! It got hot, and I didn’t notice until I looked at it!

The MagSafe adapter have had occasional melting issues for a while now, and nobody knows why exactly.

Have you ever heard of a Mac Pro’s Power Supply Unit smelling bad? Well, us neither, but apparently a users PSU has some kind of issue and is creating quite a stink. A thread on MacForums.com begun by user macpower states:

My Mac Pro is about a month old and my power supply unit has been changed twice because it smells like bad perfume when it’s running. It really stinks. Does anyone else have this problem.
When this was discussed on Apple’s forum the thread was locked and some of the messages were erased because there was talk of posssible harmful fumes.

But wait, it’s not just one user! Another Mac Pro is stinking up a room for user walt60:

yes my Mac Pro really stinks too. I directed an external fan on my mac so the smell go in another direction, but it’s really annoying. I thought it’s gonna go away but after more then 2 month it’s still smell bad that I can’t stand it without using a fan.
Also I’m new to Mac and this machine give me a lot of disappointments

Do Mac Pro’s have a smell problem? Who knows, probably not. Some individuals suggest that a liquid or food item has dripped into the fan and is rotting, while others think maybe a dead creature is to blame. In any event, if your Mac smells and you think it’s a legitimate hardware problem, you should contact AppleCare for service.

The controversy surrounding Apple’s sale of lame LCD displays is heating up. It’s a hot topic of discussion on the MacWeb and various websites are popping up about the problem. ColorBlindMac.com is one of the more interesting, not only does it point out Apple’s marketing efforts of bragging about the millions of colors on the display, but it has step by step instructions on how to check if your MacBook/MacBook Pro is one of the lame LCD’s capable of displaying only 260,000 colors (as opposed to the 16 million Apple promised). The above image is the spec sheet about the Samsung display included on some MacBook Pro’s, note the “Number of Colors” category… this really begs the question, did Apple knowingly sell these weak LCD’s or was it a royal screw up?

Check out ColorBlindMac.com for more