I commented that the optical drive on my Mac Book Pro had gone kaputt recently - and only 7 months old...

I'm just back from the local Apple Store to have it replaced and the OS checked - the main drive wouldn't boot this morning - and hoping the boot fault WILL be cured by an OS re-install.

This machine was bought in August 2009 and this is the second time I've had the thing into be sorted out by an Apple "genius". It set me thinking about other Macs I've used - and I've been a Mac user since 1987.

Anyone remember the SE30 - with just 10Mb hard drive space? You could drop it, bang it, roll it around and it still worked OK. Remember Hypercard stacks? Tiny b&w screen... And, for those who really wanted to screw the Mac up themselves, there was ResEdit software, which allowed you to change system icons and do lots of other silly things.

My very first Mac laptop was a 4" thick brick with equally tiny screen - followd by the more modern 15" Laptop Pro in its black case

The days when the whole of MS Office used up just 40Mb. Hah! Seems like things just ain't built to last. Glad I've got a 3-year warranty on this machine. If the hard drive HAS gone, then the total cost of repair would have been £214...