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How trouble free have your Mac years been?


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View Poll Results: How many serious failures of Mac kit have you had?
None at all! 75 50.68%
One 40 27.03%
Two 13 8.78%
More than two 20 13.51%
Voters: 148. You may not vote on this poll

How trouble free have your Mac years been?
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scratt
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2004-09-05, 23:57

I was just curious... Maybe this has been done before...

I was thinking the other day i have always bought leading edge Mac stuff. I suppose I have been lucky...

I have had a IIci, IIFX (with all the bells and whistles).
I got one of the first Powerbook 170's.
I had a Newton shipped from the States the day they came out!
I also got one of the first Powerbook 540c's and still use it and it still works! Must be 7 or 8 years old now!
I got the iBook 14" when it first came out, which my wife uses now and I upgraded to a Rev A 17" G4...
I got a V1 iPod, which I later sold and got a V2 iPod. One each for my wife and I.
I also bought one of the first Dual G5 2Gig with 4MB of Ram and the BTO Pro Graphics card.

Every machine I have bought I have always maxed with ram and hard drive capacity as well as adding Airport, or any other extra options if not the day I bought them within a week or two..

I have never had a failure or a problem with any of these machines... not even a simple thing such as a key on the keyboard failing.

I am wondering if I am lucky... I know I am to have had all these wonderful toys... But what about the fact that nothing has ever failed in any way!

(Franticly touching wood all over the building now I have posted this!)

I would love to know other people experiences...

scratt

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt

Last edited by scratt : 2004-09-06 at 00:01. Reason: Typos!
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LoCash
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2004-09-06, 00:05

I've had a Quadra 610, 6100, 9500, Cube, and my current G4 tower, and I've not had any significant failures. All machines still run, or ran when I got rid of them. I've had a couple of drive failures before, but that's been it. Never a motherboard failure, and never anything catastrophic.

It is with great regret that we say our farewells to Jack, who passed away on May 28th, 2005. Jack, you will be missed by all

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"You don't lead by hitting people over the head-that's assault, not leadership." - General Eisenhower
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psmith2.0
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2004-09-06, 00:10

In 11 years, I've had it pretty good. Had a hard drive get noisy on my old iMac DV about four years ago, requiring a warranty replacement situation. That's been about it.

I've never had a catastrophic crash, have never lost data, have never had to rebuild a system from scratch, have never been up a 4:30am trying to piece everything back together and recover important shit, etc.



I tend to run a fairly tight, clean system (the Apple stuff, along with the Adobe Creative Suite and FontAgent Pro...and that's about it, software-wise). I back up important stuff as needed, keep current on updates, don't install all kinds of weird-ass shareware or system-altering patches or mods, I don't overclock or go tinkering around with a soldering gun looking for new and creative ways to void warranties, rig up half-ass "enhancements", etc.

I play it smooth and safe, and so far it appears to have paid off (of course, tomorrow my PowerBook will blow up and the display will fall off...).

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Mac+
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2004-09-06, 00:24

I started with a Mac Classic II - no probs. A student gave me a Mac+ (I like the name - and it is now the oldest Mac I own) but I have not really had cause to use it.

I own a Ti550PB - no serious failures as yet. (I had a damaged screen - which was thankfully replaced ... but no catastrophic loss of data in any great way so far.)

All I want is a simple life
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 00:44

667 TiBook

Bubbling paint
Combo Drive dead
Hinge snapped
Dead pixel

All fixed under applecare
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scratt
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2004-09-06, 00:51

I was just going to say it was all looking really good.

And then you had to go and spoil it Omega!!

But then as long as your problems were resolved to your satisfaction that seems cool. Was it a quick and easy turn around?

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt
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Maciej
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2004-09-06, 00:58

I am having an annoying PowerBook lid problem with my current computer. It was sent it already, but the book's lit is still making creaking sounds that drive me up the wall. It feels like whenever I adjust the screen the lid is going to break. I am taking it in again, this is royally pissing me off.

User formally known as Sh0eWax
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Mac+
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2004-09-06, 01:04

... well I was really only considering crashes - serious losses of data.

If Omega has a rev b model@667 (as opposed to a rev c model@667) then my TiPB is the same vintage as his. Cosmetically speaking, I also had bubbling paint on the top case (pretty horrible actually), but when they replaced the screen (which also had a few dead pixels, although that could have been b/c of the broken hinge, which made the screen eventually blank out) - they also replaced the topcase - so now this baby looks practically as good as new!

Yay for applecare!

However, I wish Apple had done more extensive user testing of their hardware before it was released! (That era of TiPB's was particularly poor. )

All I want is a simple life
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 01:08

I think mine is rev C (the 867 was available at the same time).

Turnaround on each of these issues was between 1-4 hours once Applecare had decided to come to the party and the service centre had the parts.

So you could say I am happy with the level of service.

Forgot - one iPod controller dead (replaced by applecare)



EDIT: Would I buy another one? In a flash!

Angels bleed from the tainted touch of my caress
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applenut
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2004-09-06, 01:15

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac+
... well I was really only considering crashes - serious losses of data.

If Omega has a rev b model@667 (as opposed to a rev c model@667) then my TiPB is the same vintage as his. Cosmetically speaking, I also had bubbling paint on the top case (pretty horrible actually), but when they replaced the screen (which also had a few dead pixels, although that could have been b/c of the broken hinge, which made the screen eventually blank out) - they also replaced the topcase - so now this baby looks practically as good as new!

Yay for applecare!

However, I wish Apple had done more extensive user testing of their hardware before it was released! (That era of TiPB's was particularly poor. )
poor is putting it gently. that revision sucked the big one.

i also own a rev b 667 and have bubbling paint, a fucked up optical drive, and some sort of power supply issue that makes the machine shut off randomly when plugged in.
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Mac+
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2004-09-06, 01:38

Hey applenut - I remember reading about how you were waiting for the rev B TiPB model on the old BadFlamingo (or was it PinkFlamingo? ) boards. I was in the same boat, but opted for the 550 model with the DVD drive b/c it was within my budget. About a week and a half after I bought it, of course, Apple released the combo drive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by applenut
poor is putting it gently. that revision sucked the big one.
When you're not attacking people your turn of phrase makes me laugh. I think you're spot on with this assessment.

Did you get applecare? Some of those issues could be fixed up.

Your powersupply might be dying ... my powersupply overheated and I had to get that replaced too. These days, my battery has well and truly run out, so I take the *new* power supply with this laptop everywhere.

Hmmm - maybe I should change my vote from "None at all" to one of the other options.

All I want is a simple life
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Wrao
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2004-09-06, 01:42

I was too young to really remember the specifics, but we used to have a couple performas and a 68k mac(don't remember the model, one of the last ones though) and I remember one of the performas totally breaking down, and the 68k having some serious video card and modem issues.

My sisters old iBook(tangerine clamshell) broke down too.

think that's about it though.
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 01:45

I have a IIci that I have to decide what to do with. I just can not bear to throw it away
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DMBand0026
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2004-09-06, 02:03

The only problem I've ever really had was a 6400 that my dad bought for use at school (he's a teacher). The logic board went on it and he had to have it replaced. Other than that, I've been using Macs for 19 years (all my life ) and never really had a big problem that wasn't immediately fixed.

Shoewax...do you have a 12" PB? Cause I've got the creaking hinge too and I was wondering if I should look into that.

Come waste your time with me
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 02:10

[ominous voice]that is what mine did before it broke[/ominous voice]
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DMBand0026
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2004-09-06, 02:22

Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
[ominous voice]that is what mine did before it broke[/ominous voice]
Sonofa...

<runs to backup HDD and figure out which day to go to an Apple Store>
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SilentEchoes
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2004-09-06, 02:37

I have had a couple of hard drives fail on me. Thats about it though. One of them is due to heat caused in my case, I am willing to bet.

Interesting story: Our house was struck by lighting once, it fried every electronic in the house, including the computers (PowerTower 180 (dads) and 7100/66 (mine)) We where able to squeeze enough insurance money of of my machine to get a new iMac. (bondi - first iMac). Turns out its power supply had failed but no damage to anything else on it. We locked it away in a back room for like a year. I pulled it out once turned it on and nothing happened. Another year goes by and my friend is in bad need of a computer, I tell him I have one but it needs a new power supply. We pull it out of the back room again and turn it on. Boom it starts right up. I dunno how the hell it happened but it did. I Then turned around and make 5 bucks off from it. Not bad for such an out dated machine, an iMac + 5 bucks

I went on to sell the iMac for 500 a while later and got myself a dual 533, I highly recommend this machine to anyone who is strapped for cash but wants a tower that will perform decently in OS X. Its been great for me.

the 2 hard drives that failed where in my dual 533. I have upgraded the video card in it to a Radeon 8500 and there is another HD stacked on top of the ones that failed. I have since moved the second HD and purchased a replacement HD for the ones that failed each time. I also got a 120GB firewire. I figured there is no way I am going to risk putting another in that case. 2 brand new hard drives failing in 4 years is a bit much for my taste.

WARNING: Do not let Dr. Mario touch your genitals. He is not a real doctor.
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SilentEchoes
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2004-09-06, 02:38

Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
I have a IIci that I have to decide what to do with. I just can not bear to throw it away
Throw linux on it and use it as a server
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thequicksilver
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2004-09-06, 03:19

I pressed two, but forgot that it should actually be three.

Apple products I've owned, and their problems:

White iBook G3 900MHz - now sold - two logic board failures, both repaired by Apple, sold quickly after the fix the second time
White iBook G4 1.07GHz - no issues in the time I've owned it (since early May 2004)
2nd Gen iPod 10GB (now sold) - no issues from Nov 2002-Aug 2004
4th Gen iPod 40GB - no issues
Airport Express - no issues
Apple Pro Keyboard (bought sealed in box off Ebay, had to unwrap Keyboard myself and everything) - four keys have failed on it, annoyingly it's four of the most vital ones, left, right, down, and the right Command key. I'm going to take it to bits and try and fix it ASAP, as I don't want to buy the current style of Apple keyboard as it looks rubbish…
Apple Pro Mouse - bought second hand July 2003 - still works great.

The iBook G3 was an exception I can understand, as all companies occasionally have serious issues with hardware such as the iBook G3 logic board issue. If I'd paid anything more than 30€ for my keyboard, however, (which was a snip given the rarity of English QWERTY keyboards over here in France, the land of AZERTY and having to press shift and comma to get a full stop…) I'd have been seriously pissed off over the failure within 14 months of (admittedly heavy) use, but for now, I'll cope with my laptop keyboard. If I do have to replace it, at least I have the English number and punctuation keys to shove on the new one.
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staph
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2004-09-06, 03:21

1 failure in 15 years (iBook logic board in my G3 iBook). Unless you count our old Mac Classic II packing it in after 12 years.

I've never experienced any major data loss on a Mac (a few files here and there, but no catastrophic unrecoverable filesystem crashes or hard drive crashes).
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applenut
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2004-09-06, 04:36

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac+
Hey applenut - I remember reading about how you were waiting for the rev B TiPB model on the old BadFlamingo (or was it PinkFlamingo? ) boards. I was in the same boat, but opted for the 550 model with the DVD drive b/c it was within my budget. About a week and a half after I bought it, of course, Apple released the combo drive.

When you're not attacking people your turn of phrase makes me laugh. I think you're spot on with this assessment.

Did you get applecare? Some of those issues could be fixed up.

Your powersupply might be dying ... my powersupply overheated and I had to get that replaced too. These days, my battery has well and truly run out, so I take the *new* power supply with this laptop everywhere.

Hmmm - maybe I should change my vote from "None at all" to one of the other options.
yes, same thing happened to me. ordered it, and by the time it actually got to me, it was about 3 weeks later that the combo drives became standard. pissed me off. especially the upgrade price offered. but i guess it was a rare gesture on behalf of apple anyways.

i didnt get applecare foolishly. we kind of let it lapse without realizing it, and once it happened, they said they wouldn't fix any of the problems (paint, etc) even when we had applecare they wouldnt fix the paint since it was a "cosmetic issue" so, that probably helped lead to our lasping of applecare.

my battery also died after about a year and half.
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 04:42

Quote:
Originally Posted by DMBand0026
Sonofa...

<runs to backup HDD and figure out which day to go to an Apple Store>
I don't think it was helped by the accident involving me and my push bike and a pedestrian, but that is between you and me
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usurp
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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2004-09-06, 06:37

My ibook died after over year of use. Sold it as spare parts.

Our Dual 1.25ghz powermacs at work were problematic when we first got them.
I had my mac sent to the apple care center 3 times, the third time it spent nearly a month with them. One of the other macs here has been sent in 5 times and it still has problems. Lots of kernal panics.

Since apple has a monopoly on OS X i have no other choice but to keep buying from them..

ps: i had 2 hard drive crashes both drives were default ibm/hitatchi drives that came with powermac. dont know why apple doesnt change to maxtor.

portable: MacBook 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD | personal: PowerMac G5 dual 2.3ghz, 6GB RAM, 6TB HD | work: MacBook Pro 2.5ghz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD | car: Alpine iDA-W407 with black iPod 80GB | pocket: iPhone 3GS with Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro's
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_Ω_
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2004-09-06, 06:46

Quote:
Originally Posted by usurp
dont know why apple doesnt change to maxtor.
I think because the general consensus is that Maxtor is complete arse

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wretched
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2004-09-06, 08:41

I have a Powermac G4 and I haven't had any serious issues with that, it's crashed a few times, but I think it's because I over work it sometimes. With my 12" Powerbook, I've had it more a month and I don't really have any problems so far... except for ONE dead pixel... if you call that a problem... luckily it's not at the center of the screen so it's not really killing me... but its right there.... :: glares ::

Starsky: "Do it."
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Luca
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2004-09-06, 09:01

Apple used to use Maxtor drives. Like, in old iMacs. Apparently they had a whining noise and were not only slow and hot, but also prone to failure. Older IBMs have problems with that as well - some of the older Travelstars (6-20 GB) are pretty awful. Recently, they've all been pretty good. Maxtor, Seagate, Hitachi (formerly IBM), Western Digital... no real problems with any of their RECENT drives.

I've had two major problems, both within the last two months. My second-generation iPod's headphone jack got extremely loose and basically became unusable. This is a design flaw, apparently. The headphone jack wasn't soldered in place very securely in those old models, so after a while it would get loose, causing a poor connection. It was unusable - even if it only gave me static once every 15 minutes or so, it was annoying enough that I had to sell it. I got $75 for it.

The other failure is the logic board of an old Wallstreet I bought a few months ago. I bought it in preparation for my classes this year, because I figured I'd need a laptop with video out for doing presentations. What better laptop than a Wallstreet? Sure, the battery life was bad, it's big and heavy, and it's kind of slow... but it was cheap and perfectly capable. Well, I thought it was a dead hard drive, but it's actually the IDE controller, because even a new hard drive has problems. So if I want to fix it, I need a new motherboard. And I don't want to bother with that. Actually, this happened to a Wallstreet I sold two years ago. When it arrived, the buyer had IDE controller problems. I was poor at the time and dreaded the thought of having to compensate him for the failure, but he ended up getting a replacement from a friend for free.

So, those are the only two. And they only cost me about $400, luckily. I've never had really new stuff fail on me.

Oh wait, one more minor one. An old Apple ADC CRT monitor I used to own had some problem where there would be a bunch of sparks on the inside whenever you turned it on. These would scratch the inside of the tube, and make the entire monitor very ugly. Now it's basically unusable. But I don't own it anymore, I sold it to my brother almost two years ago, so I'm not counting it.

As I was saying, no new stuff has had problems. There have been a few ancient Apple monitors, the old iPod, and the old laptop, but that's it.
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wretched
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2004-09-06, 09:08

Oh yeah, my iPod. I used to have a 3rd Gen 15 gig iPod that didn't really have any problems, but the harddrive used to restart when I used to listen to music for a few hours straight and I'd have it charging up. I sold that to a friend and he hasn't had any problems with it.

I have a 4th Gen 20 gig iPod now and I have no problem whatsoever. It smooth and reliable and just really cool

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kretara
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2004-09-06, 10:34

Home Machines

IIc -- No problems. It still works!
520 -- monitor died
520 -- yet another dead monitor
iMac 233 -- another friggin dead AIO monitor
iMac 350 --dead fucking monitor -- see a pattern? -- I'll never buy another AIO again
B&W 350 -- no problems. Upgraded to G4 450 + HD's + ATI 7000. My primary home cpmputer
5GB iPod -- no problems. I still use this daily
Cube 450 -- never a problem. Sold for an outrageous sum of money on ebay.
Gigabit DP 450 -- dead processor and flakey logic board. Sold for parts
15GB iPod -- Flakey from day 1. CompUSA swapped out for 20GB iPod after I made a big stink in a store full of Christmas shoppers


Work Machines

5xx (x4) -- dead monitors
7xxx (x10) -- no problems. If we did not have retire them they would still be chugging along
iMac (233-500) (x5) -- dead monitors, 1 dead logic board
iMac 450 -- still running. I'm amazed
B&W 400 -- worked great for 3.5 years (until I left my old job)
B&W 450 -- dead logic board
eMac 700 (x7) -- everything went wrong. Apple had to replace 7 of these defective pieces of shite.
xServe (x3) -- no problems
Ti500 -- Still works fine in spite of having my wife pour coffee all over the keyboard
Quicksilver DP 1ghz -- still working fine.
G5 DP 2ghz -- my pride and joy. no problems
12" PB 1.33 -- no problems
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Moogs
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2004-09-06, 11:06

I've had a Mac since 1991 (on my sixth version now if you don't count the ones owned by employers or colleges I've used), and the only one that gave me any serious issues was an 8500. Aside from being the worst Mac 3v@r to get at internally and upgrade, it had the propensity to crash a lot more than the others. This was all way before OS X of course.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-06, 11:45

DMB, I have a 15". But it has already been taking in once to be serviced and they fixed the problem for about 3 days. Then it started again. I think this time they will have to send the computer away, but then I will be without a laptop for however long it will be gone. The creaking for me is a major problem, whenever I attempt to adjust the angle of my screen, it creaks, and I feel like I am on the brink of breaking the thing. It has been a very distressing sound for me, and not to mention my mom freaks out that it's broken every time she hears it.

User formally known as Sh0eWax
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