Filed under: Hardware
PSA: read your MacBook user manual
Given all the recent MacBook Pro drama of late, what with overheating issues and all, it might be a good idea to peruse your MacBook/MacBookPro owner's manual one of these days to make sure you've covered the basics, even if most of Apple's care recommendations are obvious these days. Gearlog found a couple of interesting snippets in a MacBook Pro owner's manual that, again, might be obvious to some, but are still good for a refresher. The first is a warning about the use of magnets in the MagSafe power adapter. Apple warns that the end of the MagSafe power adapter and the port on the MacBook could be powerful enough to erase information from magnetic media such as credit cards and iPods, so it would be a good idea to keep these things away from each other.The second blurb from the owner's manual warns against using a MacBook Pro directly on any part of your uncovered body; these things can get pretty hot (obviously), but this is the first time I've heard of a laptop owner's manual directly warning: "Prolonged contact with your body could cause discomfort and potentially a burn". I wonder if there are any other obvious or possibly interesting snippets in these manuals that most of us have been passing over.
This concludes the end of this public service announcement, thank you for your time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kevin said 1:26PM on 5-19-2006
powerful enough to erase information from credit cards and ipods? geez, couldn't they have designed it without being that dangerous?
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GadgetGav said 1:27PM on 5-19-2006
There aren't many other laptops that use a metal shell as part of the heat dissipation scheme either...
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bryan ribas said 1:47PM on 5-19-2006
If the magnet was not strong it would fall off an it would unplug.
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-chris said 1:49PM on 5-19-2006
I called Apple Care about the high temperature of my MacBookPro and the representative was very clear in their explanation that these are portable computers, NOT laptop computers; using the computer on my lap is not its intended use.
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John said 1:52PM on 5-19-2006
Nowhere in any Apple documentation is the MacBook or MacBook Pro (or iBook or Powerbok for that matter) referred to as a laptop. They are not designed to be used on your lap, or on any soft surface for that matter because it does not allow the designed heat dissipation to work correctly.
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NNTPgrip said 1:58PM on 5-19-2006
So when I RTFA, I learned that I should RTFM
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Bill I said 2:00PM on 5-19-2006
All "these aren't laptops" comments aside, with our litigation-happy culture, surely someone would have sued Apple because their 3-hour marathon WoW session caused a minor burn on their thighs.
The same is likely true with the MagSafe cord: "Hey, it sticks to my computer, think it sticks to my iPod?!??!!?"........."Wait, where'd my data go!?"........"I had to resync my data, now I want personal distress damages; I'm suing!"
This sounds like a case of Apple covering their ass if you ask me. I do think it's interesting that they're making the distinction between "laptop" and "portable computer," though.
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Mike said 2:11PM on 5-19-2006
Considering that the function keys get hot enough to make using them uncomfortable on some MacBook Pros, the "not a laptop" argument doesn't really fly. Unless you're not actually supposed to use the keyboard on "portable" computers.
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Pick said 3:18PM on 5-19-2006
That "Prolonged contact with your body could cause discomfort and potentially a burn" text was also in my iBook manual, it's not new text at all.
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Midget said 5:21PM on 5-19-2006
Uh... show me anywhere apple has called one of its portable machines as a LAPTOP anywhere in the last 5 years.
This news is so old its funny.
AppleCare employees have been trained for at least half a decade to call all the portable apple computers... portable computers, and to -never- use the phrase laptops. This is olde schoole... no one has just ever picked up on it.
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Lara said 8:53PM on 5-19-2006
Yeah, that thing about the magnets being potentially destructive... I learned that the hard way last night when I corrupted a floppy disk for a theatrical lighting console. I lost the whole show that I'd programed and saved to that disk, and I couldn't figure out what could possibly have happened untill just now. Staying up all night to re-program is one good way to learn this lesson, I suppose.
Lara
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EricbUNNY said 9:19PM on 5-19-2006
to justify... "prolonged" is not a correct word.
When I was returning my overexcited macbook pro, the geniuses quoted that sentence as well. my response was: leave that thing on your lap for 60 seconds and i'll never come to bother you again".
None of the genius has the balls.
So i got full refund, no re-stock fee.
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Jens said 5:16AM on 5-20-2006
By the way: even if the macbook didn't get that hot to be uneasy to have it on your lap, you shouldn't do that anyway: increase the temperature around your genitals a few degrees (I think, actually bringing it up to your body temperature is already enough) and your little soldiers will die from the heat.
So you should dump the idea of constantly having a warm computer on your lap anyway if you want to have kids any time soon...
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Sparks said 4:40PM on 5-20-2006
My Dell 'laptop' (I use the term sarcastically for a 9-pound brick) also has a warning about it not being put on exposed skin. The MacBook Pro gets hot on me, but no more so than the Dell, and frankly, I prefer the MBP of the two!
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