Danish lab finds design flaw in G4 iBook

"A ground-breaking decision by the Consumer Complaints Board may have crucial consequences for Apple and for thousands of Apple laptop users all over the world," says Denmark's National Consumer Agency.

In a specific complaint case, the Consumer Complaints Board in Denmark now has evidence of a hidden, original design defect in Apple's iBook G4. This can have serious consequences for the computer manufacturer, which has so far denied the existence of this defect. Thousands of users all over the world have tried to get Apple to acknowledge the fault and agree to take back the computers.

The defect appears because a solder connection in some 12in models weakens when the iBook is turned on and off, and can eventually fail. The fault was isolated by Delta, an independent electronics laboratory. The lab reports are available in English in a 5.11MB PDF. The press release says:

In April, the Consumer Complaints Board decided therefore that Danish consumers must be able to return computers with this fault to Apple. Apple Computer International has already settled a number of cases in Denmark on the basis of the investigation report.

The question now is whether Apple is going to go on denying that there is a design fault in the same type of computer in the world outside Denmark's borders.

Well, it seems reasonable to assume that Apple will be able to verify the fault. It's rather more surprising that it was unable to find it when 12in iBooks started failing....

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/05/04/danish_lab_finds_design_flaw_in_g4_ibook.html