Taking in my MacBook Pro

My MacBook Pro has been, from time to time, doing random shut downs. At first I theorized it was a problem with the battery, but it did it at least once without the battery in. That screams some problem with the motherboard inside, which is a real bummer.

I finally got an appointment at the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store tomorrow, so I'll take it in and see what they say. It's out of warranty (that'll teach me not to buy the Apple Care), so if they need to do some kind of fix, it's gonna cost me.

It's just frustrating because I can't seem to find a pattern to it. The shut downs have happened a half dozen at a time, then it goes weeks without issue. If it were the battery, that would be easy at least. It's at 90% health and ~160 charge cycles. Still getting about 3.5 hours charge as long as the screen isn't at full brightness.

I'd like to get another year and a half out of it, for three years total. That's longer than previous laptops I've had. I've noticed a tendency to replace them every couple of years not because they stop working, but because laptops just get more and more capable every product cycle. I mean, already I look at the 17" MacBook Pro with the high resolution screen option and think, wow, that would be pretty sweet.

But I've also spent more time lately using my Mac Pro desktop. That thing is such a monster, with way more power than normal people really need. It laughs at video software and Photoshop, and runs Parallels better than any real Windows desktop I've ever had. It's a real joy to use (though I sure would like a 30" screen).

I don't know what to expect tomorrow, but I hope it's not an expensive fix.