Apple Store Told Me Wrong

I had my old, worn-out Macbook Pro die on me the other morning, in NYC. I wasn’t really that surprised: it’s had a hard life.

I had replaced the keyboard in late 2008 after the Berlin beer incident, but otherwise it seemed ok. A few weeks ago I noticed the ethernet port wasn’t working. Then the screen started to show some flutter, and the DVD drive wouldn’t accept many movies.

So, I broke down and bought a new Macbook, the unibody 13”. It is the same model I had in the fall (after the Berlin beer incident), although the earlier one was stolen in Paris (the Paris bistro incident). When I got back, macless, from Paris, the old Macbook pro was working, so I started using it again, waiting for the Macbook prices to drop. They haven’t.

So, in a way I am just as happy, although now I will have to figure out how to get things out of Time Machine, since the old Mac won’t boot.

So, when I was in the Apple Store buying the new Mac I inquired about the new earbuds with integrated microphone that are designed principally for the iPhone: would they work on the new Macbook?

The Apple staffer in the audio section said that they would work as headphones but the audio input — the mic — wouldn’t work. ‘Too bad,’ I thought.

So I glanced online today, and guess what? The spec for the Mac says they will work:

[via Apple - MacBook - Technical Specifications - All the specs for the 13-inch MacBook notebook]

* Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

No big deal, since I will be taking my dead Mac into the Store tomorrow to see if it can be resuscitated, and I’ll buy a set to improve the video recordings I am doing through Skype. But still, it annoys me that the staff doesn’t know these things, and instead of saying, ‘I don’t know, let’s look at the specs,’ he just told me the completely wrong thing.