This is the first time I’ve been separated from my Macbook Pro since I got it last year. And I feel lost without it. Yes, I realize this sounds like an unhealthy relationship.

Today, I took my Macbook Pro into the Apple store to get the battery and superdrive checked out. My battery life has been diminishing exponentially (I’m sure it has taken the turn on the hockey-stick graph, for you mathletes out there) and the superdrive was refusing to burn CDs (not even legitimate ones… just kidding). After talking to a Genius at the Genius Bar, it turned out that the battery issue wasn’t covered under the warranty.

Oh no… but wait! He told me that he’d replace the battery for me anyway. Score one for Apple customer service. Or is this part of a devious plot by Apple? They under-promise so they can over-deliver. This is a brilliant strategy. They make a problem known (saying the battery is not covered by the warranty), and then provide an instant solution (replacing the battery with no questions asked). I must admit that this is a very effective way to build their brand image in spite of a setback involving their product. Thank you, Apple.

On a side note, I also spent some time playing with the new unibody Macbook Pro and I’m loving it. Particularly the new trackpad. Having the trackpad be a button itself is brilliant. One affordance I discovered was single-finger drag-and-drop (or drag-and-select in Adobe Creative Suite). If they can eliminate the fulcrum at the top of the trackpad, then I’m sold.