Apple Recycling Program and PowerON

A few months ago I decided that it was about time to upgrade my second-hand, iMac desktop (G5 2.0 GHz single-core PowerPC, 1GB Ram, 200GB hard drive, 17” display.)  The computer had spent about a year suffering through problems booting and subsequent bouts of kernel panic.  I probably could have reinstalled OS X but there would be little to gain from it.  As configured this aging desktop was stuck with OS X Tiger (10.4), with an additional 1GB of memory it would have met the minimum system requirements for a Leopard (10.5) upgrade, but that would be the end of the line.  There was no Snow Leopard or Lion in this computer’s future.  This machine had a PowerPC processor, so its days were numbered.

I went to the Apple website to start looking into the newer models (I eventually decided to acquire a MacBook Air) and came across information on the Apple Recycling Program.  I wandered through the recycling wizard offered on the webpage and gave Apple the information about my iMac.  At the end of the wizard, the recycling program offered me a trade in value of a $132 via an Apple Store gift card.  I decided to accept the offer and provided my mailing address.  The Apple Recycling Program then passed me along to the PowerON company so that they could handle the process of acquiring my recycled computer.

The folks at PowerON sent me an email with a link to a custom webpage with the status of my order and then on June 7, 2011 they sent me a large, postage-paid box to ship them the iMac desktop.  The box contain a form-fit foam cushion, instructions for packing up the iMac and shipping instructions.  I dragged my heels for a couple of weeks, before packaging up the iMac and shipping it back to them on June 25, 2011 via a FedEx home drop-off counter at my local OfficeMax store.

Next came the part that I normally despise when it comes to “rebate” programs, the waiting.  During the waiting I experience a situation where an extraordinary period of time goes by, then I have to follow up with the rebate company and eventually figure out that there is some issue that results in my either never receiving the rebate or having to start the process over from scratch. 

This was NOT the case with PowerON.

PowerON had provided me with access to a status page, so I could follow along with the iMac's progress.  I could see that they received the iMac on July 1, 2011 (about a week after I sent it.)  PowerON then processed the iMac, audited it over the course of the next five days and then issued my rebate on July 7, 2011.  The iMac had to travel all the way across the US to get from my house in Massachusetts to the PowerON facility in Roseville, CA and still only 12 days elapsed before they had the rebate gift card in the mail to me.  When I got my new MacBook Air, I was able to use the gift card to acquire a nice protective case for the Air and a copy of VMWare Fusion 3.

PowerON far exceeded my expectations.  These folks did a fantastic job with the fulfillment of my order.  As a whole, I was very impressed with Apple Recycling Program and would recommend it to others looking to shed an older Mac.

Desktops & Wi-Fi

A couple of weeks a friend was telling me about a problem connecting her new home computer to the internet.  My friend said that she had internet access through her cable company and has been connecting to the internet with a laptop for the last couple of years without incident.  Recently she got a new desktop computer and started running into problems.

My friend cannot get the new desktop to connect to the internet.  She reached out to her cable company and  was told a tech would have to come out at a rate of $150+ per hour to get to the root of the problem.  She decided to hold off on that and instead chose to ask me.

My first question to her was, "How are you trying to connect? Wireless? or are you plugging a cable into the desktop computer?" She said, "Wireless."  This led me to the next logical question, "Did you install a Wi-Fi card in the desktop?"  To which she responded "Why?  The desktop is brand new and new computers have Wi-Fi like my laptop did." 

Ahhh, no.  Precious few Desktops come with Wi-Fi. 

Search "wireless" on Dell's website and you will find plenty of accessories but not too many consumer-model desktops with Wi-Fi by default. I will say that I have seen it as an upgrade option on a few models. (Note: There is an Inspiron 580 desktop that ships with wireless, but it is only the Premium config.) A quick search of "motherboard with wifi" brings up few viable results.  There is an ASUS Core 2 Duo motherboard from early 2008 and a couple of offerings from Zotac. So not many optins there either.

The assumption is that if you have a desktop, you will have a modem & router combo sitting next to it so you can easily connect it to the internet.  And, if you have two desktops in different rooms, you better have a tech savy friend that can either run CAT 6 cables through your house or install a Wi-Fi card in your new Desktop computer.

Paperless Billing

I was recently paying some bills and realized that I had not received a current invoice for my phone service. I logged into the company's website and found (much to my surprise) that the account had been switched over to "paperless billing". As I do not recall anyone ever asking me to opt-in to this service, I chose to switch it back to paper.

While it does go against my desire to be an early adopter of all things technology, I have to say that I am kind of partial to receiving paper bills. There are a few reasons for this is:

• I am used to being able to open a drawer and find previous invoices instead of having dig around online and try to locate.
• The vendor's website navigation perpetually changes from site tweaks and redesigns.
• Most sites only keep a couple of months of history and going further back than that is challenging to say the least.
• The paper copies always seem to contain more detail about charges.

As I look at the growing mound of paper recycling that I need to shred before sending out to the transfer station, I see that I will soon have to change my opinion on this. I will (hopefully) get over this longing for paper and come to accept that the green option here is to embrace the paperless billing.