Qwerky MacBook Pro - LEMON?

Question

I'm a first-time Mac user, and so I am still learning, but I have had difficulty with my Mac since I go tit. +*Has anyone experienced anything like this before (below)???*+
I purchased my MacBook Pro in August 2006 (Tiger, 10.4.11, 2 GHz Intel, 1GB Memory). Ever since then I have experienced what seem to be random, chronic issues with this Mac, even just within the first couple weeks of owning it. In the beginning, phone support was so-so and I usually attributed my issues to my lack of familiarity with the Mac system. Phone technicians usually would end up having me re-start my computer or change settings and sometimes this worked, but it seemed like the problems that I was observing were not normal....meaning, I shouldn't have to restart my Mac as often as I do, I +shouldn't have+ these regular problems with a new machine. Unfortunately I never kept a consistent log of all my issues and when they occurred or in what context, but here is a list of chronic problems I have experienced within the last 15 months since I got my Mac and an estimate of how frequently they have occurred. Also, they seem to occur during 'normal' activities when I am simply browsing the internet....trying to watch a DVD....typing up a document in MS Office....or leaving my computer alone (just some examples, nothing unusual):
- Unable to view video on certain websites, such as CNN or YouTube (I would get a "?" or the Quicktime "Q" in place of where the video should play. First couple months, a Mac IT guy on campus couldn't figure it out and finally had me create an entirely new account and moved all files to this new account. No problem since)
- Oftentimes will get the 'pinwheel' for unusually long amounts of time (First couple months this occurred whenever I tried to watch a DVD, this occurred when the DVD was inserted and the DVD program was initiated, or if the program did start OK, the pinwheel would appear if I 'interrupted' the viewing progress, like pausing the DVD or moving between chapters. Now this happens regularly, every couple of days, when initiating normal actions like closing a window, clicking on an icon on a webpage, force-quitting a program (which is another issue below))
- I have to force-quit programs (altappleesc) because they will not respond. Occurred with iPhoto, Safari, MS Office (only a handful of times w/ each in the last several months). Several times when I have initiated a force-quit, the program to force-quit will be highlighted, I will hit 'Force Quit' and I get the perpetual pinwheel that never goes away, the program never quits, and I have to turn my computer off using the power on/off button.
- My desktop picture randomly reverts to an old picture that it had been set to previously. Usually has happened when my Mac is 'idle' or the screen goes into 'sleep' (black) mode, but has also occurred when my Mac has been off, and I turn it on at the beginning of the day. Has probably happened a total of a dozen times (once, just yesterday).
- My Mac shuts off randomly. No power surge, always plugged into the power cord (battery charging). The Mac just turns off, black screen, as if you had turned it off. Has happened two or three times total.
- Optical drive oftentimes will not read CDs or DVDs - new Cds, burned CDs/DVDs, no scratches or smudges. I will insert DVD/CD and it sounds like the drive will initiate, it does this three times, and then spits the CD out. This happens regularly (daily), more often than not.
- I receive an 'unexpected error occurred that could not be recovered from (-36)' when trying to watch a DVD (has occurred when I try to hit 'Play Movie' on the menu screen of a DVD, when trying to move between chapters, or in the middle of the movie - in all cases the disc surfaces were perfectly clean). Additionally, often times when trying to watch a DVD, the image has appeared staggered, slow and jumpy and not up-to-speed with the audio (which is unaffected).
- System generally runs 'slow': words that I am typing (either in an email or in a document) lag several second behind my typing speed, minimized windows that appear next to the dock are slow to appear at full screen when I click on them (10-20 seconds lag)
- System is slow to start up (1 to 2 minutes): when turning on the laptop, the white screen with the apple icon that appears before the user log-in screen appears for an unusually long amount of time. This has happens several times a month, most recently this morning. This screen appeared for literally 14 minutes and my log-in screen never appeared. I had to turn of the computer using the on/off power button.
- I recently bought a WesternDigital external hard-drive (My Book Essential Edition, 250gb). In the last month or so, my Mac has stopped recognizing the drive. The external drive is still quickly recognized by other computers, but never appears on my Mac from any of my USB ports, and my Mac does not appear to be 'searching' for it either. Other devices (USB jump drives) still function with my Mac.
*+Am I crazy?+* I know independently each of these issues may not seem very unusual or significant, but these are chronic, and together are unacceptable for an $1800 machine. I have never heard of anyone having so many issues (many friends and departments at my university use Macs and are baffled by my problems). It is all-around just very qwerky and has been since the day I bought it, but has finally gotten to the point where I cannot imagine that these are all normal scenarios. Have I bought a LEMON?! It has never been dropped or experienced any extreme environments....
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated...
'Bu
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Answer 1

The first thing I would recommend is taking your MBP into an Apple Store and talking with one of the geniuses. During my first few weeks of owning my program, I found that I had to download Windows Media Player & Adobe flash player in order to play videos on certain sites. I will occasionally get a pinwheel thing that lasts, not "perpetually", but for a few minutes. I got my MBP in August of this year and I'd say this has happened 8-10 times, using my computer for ~6-10 hours a day. My dock has disappeared a handful of times and I had to get a new display because of dead pixels just one month after I bought it. About a week ago, I inserted a clean once or twice viewed DVD and got the same message as you've had. However it has only occurred once, so I wasn't too concerned. The point I'm trying to make is that there are some software problems that I too think are not fitting for such an expensive machine. However it seems like you have a lot of problems, so definitely go see a Genius at an Apple Store. Hopefully you got the AppleCare Protection Plan, because if not I think a visit is about $100. If you can't get to a store or mail it in to Apple for inspection...
-You could try to purchase an external optical drive because it seems like something is not right with yours.
-The slowness of the computer may be caused by CPU or memory intensive programs (some which you may not realize are running). To see if this is a problem, download the iStat Pro widget and when your computer gets slow, open Dashboard and check CPU and memory usage. Also, make sure you "Quit" programs instead of just closing them (I'm not an expert so I don't know if this makes much difference, but it's worth a try). I don't have any idea why your computer would start slow.
-Also, I believe there was a recall of batteries on certain MBP models. Check to see if your machine was affected by this recall. If so, this may be connected with your random shutdowns.
Macs are known for their simplicity, power-performance ration, being ascetically-pleasing and all-around great machines. They are not, however, known for being the most reliable machines. Consumer Reports gives them an "average" reliability. Even so, even the most reliable brands produce a few lemons. Your computer may be a lemon. Anyways, I believe you should take your MBP to an Apple Store and talk with one of the Geniuses there. Good Luck with fixing your problems!