I scheduled an appointment at the Apple Store tomorrow to have my laptop looked at, and I'm unsure if I want to go through with it. I'm a little torn.
The random shut downs are somewhat less frequent, but it's not a useful device when you can't reliably use it. My thought is that I could take it in and have them do the flat-fee repair, at $300 and change. If I can't get it to die on them, I can claim the "whine" problem, a well known defect that causes a high-pitched noise when it operates on battery power. The fix for that is to replace the logic board, which is where the power hardware lives, so it would get me to the same place.
But being a little more careful with my money, I do have some concerns. First off, that's $300+ that could go toward a new computer. With the rebates still in effect, $1,400 more gets a new, faster computer with a bigger hard drive. I planned to replace it early next year anyway. I'm torn. If I end up doing consulting work, I could definitely use the bigger drive to store more virtual machines and essentially have a different one for work stuff.
The other thing is that I'd eventually like to give this one to Diana so she's not fighting Vista on her Dell, and yelling at it when it doesn't wake up from sleep.
The immediate short term has no consequence from non-action, since I can use my desktop and its quad-core goodness. But I miss having the laptop to work on the couch, or at a restaurant, or on the deck.
What would you do?
I'd honestly go ahead and spend the money now to address the shutdowns. It sounds like you have a guaranteed way to get the issue fixed with pulling the "whine" card (if necessary). If there was no guarantee, I'd be much more hesitant.
Although minor, one other thing to consider is the release of Snow Leopard next year. If you don't wait to purchase a new laptop you'll probably plunk down the money for the update at some point, no? That's $129 or so that you will save by waiting for a new laptop that will most likely be better than what they are offering now anyway. The worst thing is buying an Apple product and a couple months later they refresh the line with some amazingly cool or handy new feature.
Of course, if you do choose to upgrade now you can get an ipod touch for free. Sell that guy on eBay and you've now cut the $1,400 price tag down a little bit more.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always purchased the AppleCare Protection Plan with their laptops. I know it's a lot of money up front, but with each of my previous two systems there has been a chance to put it to use and not have to contemplate spending money like you are now. It's something to at least consider for next time maybe.