Pimp My MB!

Taking my MacBook in to be fixed up with a new (free) HD, I was offered the opportunity of replacing the keyboard casing for no additional charge. The casing has a design flaw that resulted in it cracking if you slam down the lid too hard, so the replacement procedure was also covered by the original guarantee.

Some days later, I was roaming around town, knowing that the computer would be available for me to take home in a matter of minutes, and received a call from the store. Apple had sent in the wrong spare part: instead of the light grey keyboard casing for my white MB, they sent a black one. I was told that it would unfortunately take an additional day for the correct part to arrive.

I objected, not in a serious tone but half in jest, that they should bolt on the black casing and let me have the computer right away. Being answered with a rather amused "why not", I said I'd traipse into the store to see how it would look. It looked good. Some clerks gathered around to positively comment on the rather unorthodox looking Mac, and without further thought I asked them to pack it up to go. Result (the pictures are low quality and don't really do justice to the proper item):

Later, I googled the Internet Machine Space for similar configurations, and found out that what I have is actually called a "Panda" MacBook by some. Superficial MacBook modding seems to be rather popular amongst enthusiasts, but my mod is special – it's the result of serendipity.

Stressing Out...

After one year and a quarter I've finally managed to run into problems with my MacBook. Random I/O errors seem to corrupt files and hamper performance, and the problem has spread to crashing some apps (Safari and Skype commit suicide within seconds).

I'm going through the final check-up to see that I've backed up everything useful, I've verified the functionality of iTunes, iPhoto and other backups using a new account just to be sure, and am basically overstressing myself over a simple procedure. The only danger is that my external drive decides to fry itself during this operation, which isn't too likely. Is it? I want to make more backups...

5 minutes from now, I'll be replacing all data on my MacBook hard drive with zeroes in an attempt to correct the issue. If that doesn't work, I'm forced to hand in my 'Book to the geniuses at the local shop. I'm hoping the problem is related to the HD, since if it is, I was promised an extended warranty period that would allow a free replacement HD. The original warranty expired around 3 months ago! Groovy. Of course, in an ideal situation, the format will get rid of the problem and I'll be back to high-speed surfing after hot, steamy po... pointless discussions on the existence of imaginary deities and such.