In the midst of the transfer of power we’re undergoing at work, I made a pitch for new computers for the four of us in the office. The purchase was somehow approved, so we got three new eMacs and a 1.6GHz G5. It was a great step up from my 3 year-old G4, but from the minute I turned it on, the Superdrive never opened. It didn’t respond to anything I did, and the firmware reset that the Apple technician walked me through didn’t do anything, either.

Tech Services at work sent a technician to replace to the drive, but when that was all said and done, the new drive didn’t work, either. Apple said my only option was to send the computer back and get a new one, which I said I’d do once I got back from Iceland.

Upon my return, I went through the steps to get the new computer sent, but there was a hitch. In between the time I’d discovered my drive didn’t work and the time I called to get a new computer sent, my computer had been discontinued, so they couldn’t replace it with another of the same model. Instead, they replaced it with the model that occupied the same low rung on the totem pole, which now happens to be a Dual 1.8 GHz G5. Darn.