How Do You Know What "Week xxx" i-Touch You're Getting?

[chuckldunn]

In reading the forums I see people referring to their i-Touch's by Week. I'm asuming this is related to the week that particular iPod was manufactured. I have a couple of quesitons ..

1. How do you know when purchasing the Touch what "week" you are getting?

2. If a particular "week" is one with know problems, do they pull that one from the Apple Store when the newer ones come out or are you likely to purchase an older one?

3. How often are they coming out with newly manufactured ones?

Thanks !
Chuck :-)

[DerekVOF]

The week is part of the serial number. Usually near the first half.

And, no, Apple is not pulling weeks with problems because the problems are only a percentage of the products - not all. For example, I have a Week 37 which some people have issues with - my Week 37, however, has no black issues and no dead/stuck pixels.

Depends on how many they're producing a week and how many they sell. Latest I've heard of is a Week 40. Of course even people with Week 39's have issues, so to be honest, the week is kind of meaningless I think.

You really just need to go in there, pick up a new one and make sure wherever you get it they have a liberal return policy in case you have any issues. Then just go over it with a fine toothed comb and make sure it meets your own standards for it.

[Complexis]

The week is not meaningless. Here is the trend:

Week 36- Large number with AR coating issues, negative blacks, viewing at certain angles stink
Week 37- Large number with AR coating issues, negative blacks, viewing at certain angles stink
Week 38- Mostly perfect, no video problems, viewing at certain angles stink, no AR coating issues
Week 39- Mostly perfect, though max brightness is down by a bit, no problems with viewing at multiple angles, no AR coating issues
Week 40- Mostly perfect, max brightness same as Week 39

Sure you can say the Week 39, Week 40, etc have issues with negative blacks, but really, those are VERY rare, however, problems outlined for Week 37 and Week 36 are a whole slew. The only reason Apple is not recalling them is because they just have to make adjustments to manufacturing and the Week 36 and 37's they know will phase out as the future weeks come out.

Take a look at iLounge's review of the iPod Touch, they got a Week 37, they got negative blacks. Back when the Touch was first launched, many many people complained about getting bad units and there were people just like Derek who say that it affects, only some units, but MANY people had the problem. There is always a small chance of a defect, but you can tell that the probability of getting for instance a negative black problem on the Week 37 and 36 to be many many many times higher than any other week, which no one has yet to report negative blacks problem.