The following is a re-enactment of the mysterious and sudden failure of Megan Lavey's MacBook.

It was the evening of Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Megan Lavey heads out to the movies to watch the eagerly anticipated Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince. But the excitement of the night was short lived.

Upon her arrival home, Megan found her MacBook in an unconscious state. She tried several attempts to revive it: plugging it and unplugging it, removing and reinserting the battery, as well as performing an SMC reset. However, these attempts proved futile.

In a last ditch effort, Megan made an emergency visit to her local Apple store to meet with a genius. They had both good news and bad news. The good news was that they identified the problem with her MacBook (the logic board) and could save it, but -- and here comes the bad news -- could cost up $750 to repair. What's worse, Megan didn't have AppleCare coverage. In a state of shock and sadness, Megan leaned on the shoulders of her fellow TUAWers, each of whom offered words of encouragement her:

Chris Rawson: "My wife's mid-2007 MacBook is having the exact same issue right now. Luckily, it's covered by AppleCare, and going to the local repair place ASAP."

Erica Sadun: "":( :( :(""

Sang Tang: "Hey, this would make an interesting post. I'm going to write something on this."

There are many Megans in the world, and each is faced with the difficult task of deciding whether or not a repair is worth its cost. It's also times like these that one regrets not purchasing AppleCare, for often times repair costs outweigh the cost of AppleCare. And this raises the question. Should you purchase AppleCare? Several months back, TUAW's Robert Palmer penned a piece on why he believes AppleCare is worth it. This post expands upon that and provides examples of when AppleCare is and isn't justified.

Ars Technica reports that Apple will announce the latest additions to its list of vintage and obsolete machines on March 17. The list, initially reported through MacMerc, includes the following:

The "vintage" machines are ones where service parts are available to repair machines purchased in California due to existing statutes. This classification does not apply in the other 49 states.

• Xserve RAID
• Xserve (Slot Load)
• Xserve (Cluster Node)

The rest of the additions, to grace the "obsolete" list, include:

• PowerBook G4
• Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)
• Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
• Macintosh Server G4 (Digital Audio)
• Macintosh Server G4 (Quicksilver)

These machines have all had good runs. I had a Quicksilver as my first post-college work computer and thought it was the greatest computer I've ever worked on the time - way, way back in the golden days of years gone by (aka 2002). These computers will now join their brethren in the Mac retirement home. But just because Apple classifies them as obsolete doesn't mean that you can't breathe new life into them.

Have fond memories of these machines? Share them in the comments!

This news may not excite too many folks out there, but I imagine one or two of you are interested in using a PowerMac or Mac Pro as a server. Doing that correctly means you need at least 2 ethernet ports but sometimes even that isn't enough. Luckily for our server wanting friends Small Tree Communications has just released their Single Port Copper Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Card for PCI Express Power Macs and the Mac Pro. This $99 PCI express card adds a single 10/100/1000 baseT ethernet port to your Power Mac or Mac Pro. Not too shabby.

Let the serving commence!

[via Macworld]

It's common knowledge that Mac Pro is one of the most powerful pre-configured desktop computers out there, but who knew it was hung? With a little help from Sonnet Technologies, your Mac Pro or PowerMac G5 can hang elegantly from under your desk instead of taking up valuable floor real estate. The MacCuff Pro is made of solid steel and retails for a pricey $129.

While the idea of hanging a tower is cute, I'd be cautious to try it on anything but the sturdiest desks, and definitely only those made of solid wood instead of particle board.

[via CrunchGear]

Earlier today Apple announced their The Power Mac G5 Repair Extension Program which applies to Power Mac G5 systems that have "power-related issues as a result of a specific component failure within the computer's power supply." In other words, if your G5 isn't starting up and your serial number falls conveniently within ranges indicated, Apple will fix you up on the house. Apple says there are no known safety issues caused by this component failure. Having a G5 for a paperweight is overkill, however, so you might as well let them fix it.

From the info page:

The affected Power Mac G5 models were sold between approximately October 2005 and August 2006 and feature Dual 2GHz, Dual 2.3GHz or Quad 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 processors.
If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines that your Power Mac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program, the power supply repair will be covered by Apple for up to two years from the original date of purchase even if your Power Mac G5 is out of warranty. This worldwide Apple program does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the Power Mac G5.

Affected systems will exhibit one of the following power-related symptoms:

• System will not start up after the power button is pressed
• No LED activity
• Note: If your Power Mac G5 is not experiencing any of these symptoms, you do not have to contact Apple or any Apple Authorized Service Provider.

The affected Power Mac G5 computers have serial numbers where the first 5 digits fall into the ranges noted below. The Power Mac G5 computer's serial number is located inside the case directly below the air deflector, along with other configuration information.

Serial Number Ranges

CK539xxxxxx - CK608xxxxxx
G8539xxxxxx - G8608xxxxxx
YM539xxxxxx - YM608xxxxxx
RM539xxxxxx - RM608xxxxxx

By the way, if you've been bitten by this bug and already paid for out of warranty repairs that would now qualify under this program, Apple or the AASP that did the repair should be contacting you about starting the reimbursement process - but you might want to contact them first to get the ball rolling.

If you're a G5 owner, leave us a comment and let us know if your system is one of the ones affected!

Most of our Rigs of the Day are about fun, but this one is all about business. Creative business, perhaps, but it is business nonetheless. Powerd by a 2.0Ghz G5 PowerMac pushing pixels to a 22 inch and 23 inch Cinema display and a bunch of video gear, this rig is impressive.

IMG_0672 by Joel Smith

If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We select one image to highlight each week day, and crown a Rig of the Week on Sundays.

"The fastest, most configurable Mac ever" indeed. Today at WWDC 2006 (check out our coverage and the chatcast) Apple introduced the Mac Pro, and it might as well come with a pair of hot pads with all-new features like this:

• Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors
  
• 4MB shared L2 cache per processor
  
• 1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses
  
• 1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
  
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
  
• 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1
  
• 16x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

And the fun doesn't stop there. You can stuff up to 16GB of RAM in these beasts now, along with 2TB of storage. With over 1,000,000 available BTO configurations, we wouldn't be surprised if customers have a hard time simply deciding on which Mac Pro they want to throw down their credit cards for.

Also notable: gone are the two or three configuration options from the PowerMac Mac Pro's page in the store. It simply offers the base configuration, which now starts at $2499, and beckons you to click 'configure'. Just try not getting lost in options on your way to the checkout.

ThinkSecret is saying that Apple will announce the Mac Pro and a newly designed enclosure at its World Wide Developers Conference next month. The Mac Pro is the rumored name of the Intel machines that will replace the PowerMac G5's.

According to the rumor site, the new Mac Pro's will come in configurations similar to the PowerMac G5, including single and dual processor systems. I suspect the new machines will be sporting the newly released Core 2 Duo Intel processors, however, what I am having a hard time visualizing is what Apple will do to the enclosure. With the MacBook and MacBook Pro, Apple has continued to distinguish their pro machines by their shiny aluminum exteriors. Will Apple stay with the monolithic cheese graters, or will they go with something more subdued and refined? Only time will tell.

Imagine waking up one morning to find that a glowing green goo was dripping from the cheese-grater bottom of your shiny Power Mac. Horrible even to imagine, I know. Unfortunately, this has become a reality for some owners of recent liquid cooled Power Macs.

According to reports, the leaks stem from malfunctioning Delphi radiators that shipped in early versions of the systems. If you have an early 2.5 GHz liquid cooled machine, it might be worth sliding off the side panel to check for leaks. Naturally, if you do come across a bit of Macintosh incontinence, stop using the machine right away, and schedule an appointment at the nearest genius bar. As is always the case with product failures and Apple, there is discussion about weather whether the issue will be covered by some sort of extended repair program for machines out of warranty. For now at least, it seems Apple is choosing to fix most machines that come in with the problem.

Eureka! After all this MacBook/Intel Mac news lately, we finally come across some news about the good ol' faithful PowerMac, or to be more specific: 600 of them. Taking a cue from Microsoft Vista naming conventions, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing a James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD Collection, in which every 007 film has been remastered and digitally enhanced for that oh-so 21st century gleam. The remastering was done by DTS Digital Images using 600 PowerMac G5s, or what I like to refer to as "more PowerMacs than you or I will ever see in a lifetime".

Mike Inchalik, DTS Digital Images vice president of strategy and marketing, stressed the renowned reliability of PowerMacs as a key factor in this undertaking. The company had to process 42 miles of film and scanned each frame at a resolution of 4,000 x 3,000 pixels in preparation of higher-resolution releases in the future. Ultimately, over 700 terabytes of storage were required for the project as each single frame of film is a whopping 45 megabytes. Apple, if you're listening, I think you're gonna have to boost your MacBook Pro hard drive capacities for movie editors. Just a hunch.

Check out the full details on this project's undertaking, as well as some hints at future portable (iPod) video technologies, at Macworld UK.

[thanks Yak!]

While perusing our Flickr pool this morning, we decided, "It's time for a mod post." Behold the Blue and White G3 that's been painted black. It looks pretty good, Geoff.

"Power Mac G3 Black Mod" posted by GeoffMyers.

If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We select one image to highlight each day, and crown a Rig of the Week on Sundays.

Flickr user digitaldust saw this mailbox one day and snapped a quick shot (no, it's not his). Though we don't agree with the photo's title, we still think it's pretty cool. We can hear the conversations that this thing spawns now:

"Honey, will you check the mail on the Mac?"
"Which one...livingroom or front yard?"

"The only good use for a Mac" posted by digitaldust.

If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We select one image to highlight each day, and crown a Rig of the Week on Sundays.

Ok, just one more TV rig, we promise.* Flickr user beenester asks, "Is it overkill to use a 1.8GHz Powermac G5 as a TV computer?" We say, "Heck, no!"

"Overkill?" posted by beenester.

If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We select one image to highlight each day, and crown a Rig of the Week on Sundays.

*Probably. Most likely.

Oh, the poor Power Mac G5. Apple's "Big Kahuna" now looks downright elderly, being the only Mac that isn't sporting a rockin' Intel chip. I'm guessing that Apple's pro level machine won't make its Intel debut until January's Macworld Expo, but it's fun to speculate on what could be in store for that machine.

Perhaps an all-new case design? Will the name "Power Mac" be replaced? Maybe an as-of-yet unreleased Intel processor(s) will power the beast. The mind boggles.

Have at it, TUAWers. Configure the successor to the Power Mac G5.

Check out this well-appointed desk. Flickr user dsiercks shows off a pair of Powerbooks, two iMacs (one with iSight, one without), one Powermac G5 (with an iSight of its own) and twin displays. We'd say you can get some work done with that set up.

"workstation" posted by dsiercks.

If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.