My past few years with Apple

As the title suggests, what follows is a laundry list of the annoyances and difficulties I've experienced using Apple products over the past few years:


The IPod
1. Received an iPod shuffle, 2nd Gen, nicely engrave with my handle :)
2. (2 months old) the IPod clip, while clipped to my waist, gets a severe bend. I manage to bend it back with pliers, but it never clips as well again.
3. (5 months old) iPod stops interfacing properly with the Mac. When plugged in, it's orange light continues to blink, and it does recharge, but does not appear on my system so I can't change songs. I proceed through all of Apple's troubleshooting suggestions, though most of them talk about resetting the iPod software using a program that also cannot detect there's an iPod connected.
4. (11 months old) After not using the iPod for about six months, I call tech support, who are quite helpful and agree to send me a new docking cable. The cable arrives, doesn't solve the problem, so tech support agrees to send a replacement iPod. I'm given a choice between getting it sooner or waiting longer to have the replacement engraved. I choose the engraving; the replacement iPod arrives unengraved.

The MacBook
1. Purchase a brand new MacBook online; it arrives promptly and complete.
2. (Day 1) Notice that the mouse button is sticking in a horrible way. Apple website says to take it in to the Apple store; another forum is full of posts saying the Apple store doesn't do anything, but it can be fixed by putting a small piece of folder paper behind the battery. This works.
3. (Week 1) Plastic begins chipping off the front edge of the keyboard plate.
4. (Month 1) Battery stops connecting entirely. Take Mac to the Apple Store in London for a replacement. Days a couple of days, but they do it all under warranty and also replace the chipped keyboard plate free of charge.
5. (Month 1 + 1 Week) Keyboard plate begins chipping again.
6. (Month 3-present) Mac randomly decides to restart when lid is closed
7. (Month 6) First power cord stops working. Purchase a new one.
8. (Month 8) Second power cord stops working. Call to get a replacement from Tech Support. They say that the cord is covered, but I'll need to pay $40 for shipping. I ask to speak with a manager, and that $40 charge soon goes away.
7. (Year 1.2) Battery stops working entirely. Apple store suggests I take machine to my nearest apple store, and helpfully tells me that it's in Toronto (I'm on Vancouver Island).
8. (Year 1.2) I set machine up to save its state and hibernate when the lid is closed in order to not have to restart it every time it's unplugged. This requires waiting for it to sleep when I'm finished and for it to wake up when I want to start again. I still must restart and lose work whenever the magnetic power cord pops out, which is designed to happen quite easily.
9. (Year 1.3) Third power cord stops working, it's head frayed off completely. Tech support sends me a new one.
10. (Year 1.5) The same old battery manages to reconnect. Only has about four minutes of life at full charge, often dying before or as the "low battery" warning came up. But, I now had enough time to replug in the power cord before losing work, so I was happy.
11. (Year 1.7) A new problem begins, in which when waking up from hibernation, the keyboard is completely inactive. Sometime it comes back if I wait about five minutes, normally I must either restart or rehibernate and wake up again.
11. (Year 2) Chips have continued to regularly fall of the plastic at the edges. At this point about half of the keyboard plate's edges are gone, the monitor plate is chipped in three places and cracked straight across in two places at the top.
12. (Year 2.3) Forth power cord stops working, with atrocious timing, and I have to purchase a new one in order to use the machine—I opt for a third party model. I call tech support for a replacement regardless, in order to have a spare.