Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Hacks, Tips and tricks, Bugs/Recalls, Mods, Bad Apple, MacBook
Origami fix for squishy MacBook trackpads
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Want to drag a file to another folder and copy it instead of moving it? Press the Option key when you drag that file and it'll be duplicated rather than moved entirely.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gerald Buckley said 9:54AM on 6-30-2006
Are you friggin kidding me!? Fuel for the fire? No way in hades would I EVER put a piece of combustible material in THAT close a proximity to the heattery, I mean, battery... is just insane!
I love my 17" PowerBook G4. I love my XServes. But I think this is not a good idea for someone to endorse as "OK".
Reply
Tim said 10:36AM on 6-30-2006
. . . fire hazard.
Reply
Jonathan said 10:51AM on 6-30-2006
If the MacBook got hot enough to make a small piece of paper spontaneously combust, then we would have major issues with the MacBook, not the piece of paper. You would have had other problems with the notebook by then.
Reply
Face said 10:59AM on 6-30-2006
Fools.
The generally accepted flash point of paper is 451 degrees f. Most plastics melt at temperatures well below this. Your computer would melt before that paper cought fire, and has it melted yet? Notice that all of the stories of things burning on macbooks/powerbooks/mbps/ibooks originate at some plastic point, not paper.
Reply
Justin said 11:07AM on 6-30-2006
Maybe they will release a firmware update for it. ;)
Reply
edward said 11:19AM on 6-30-2006
#1 what are you talking about? it's nothing to do with get fire! plus, my battery temperature usually remains around 32C. so this temperature set a fire? make no sense. plus small piece of paper won't place there for long time. just squisy that area enough to fix. then remove. are you stupid to keep that paper forever? speaking of fire? magsafe and left bottom of macbook is way hotter than other area. you can feel it. it's easily burn you lap if you place on. you must confuse the accident which dell notebook explosive in conference, Japan. again, it's excessive heat around CPU, logic board. only battery get heat is when you expose it direct sunlight or place very hot place like oven or something. do you even know how battery could explosive?
Reply
al said 11:35AM on 6-30-2006
will apple fix the trackpad if you complain it's "squishy" to them?
Reply
Gerald Buckley said 11:40AM on 6-30-2006
Fair enough everyone. It just didn't (and still doesn't) sound like a good program to me.. stuffing things into your laptop that don't belong there... bad mojo, BAD mojo.
(The little troll that is me is going back to corner to sulk)
Well, not entirely yet... hey, Jonathan... does the occassional magnetic power cord latch spontaneously vaporizing count for anything akin to "other problems with the notebook"? Gen 1 MacBookPros aren't giving me warm fuzzies as they keep singing off!
(OK, now really going to STFU)
Reply
Randy said 12:49PM on 6-30-2006
I've used a folded piece of paper inside my old Bronze PowerBook G3 to keep the keyboard level with no problmes (for about 4 YEARS). The keyboard was about 2-4mm too high around the F12 key area and would bend down when you hit any keys in the top right corner of the keyboard. I folded some card stock and placed it at the corner of the HDD cage under the keyboard. No more squishy F12 key! Of course that was a much cooler running laptop but still I think this is totally safe and just a clever solution to an otherwise annoying problem. And I'm looking to retire that old workhorse G3 for a fancy new BlackBook in the near future. Somehow I waited until Apple made another black laptop. What a long time...
Reply
b. nystedt said 2:07PM on 6-30-2006
HOLY CRAP I JUST DID THIS AND IT WORKS REALLY WELL! The only gripe about my MacBook is now fixed, beaches! It's got none of the mooing or whining but the trackpad button was squishy and all it took was a little piece of paper and some tape. Awesome.
Reply
Blithe said 2:46PM on 6-30-2006
My boyfriend had this problem with his black macbook. He simply took it to the genius bar and they gave him a whole new macbook. It is worth a try to get it replaced before you try this fix.
Reply
Storv said 3:29PM on 6-30-2006
Same as no. 10.
My MacBook button was unbelievably squishy so I took it back and demanded a new one..........which I'm typing on now!
Reply
south said 6:31AM on 7-01-2006
i'd noticed a certain squishiness in my new macbook tgrackpad button but to be honest, i hadn't seen it as a problem. just thought was part of general trackpad evolution.
Reply
John Sullivan said 8:15PM on 7-01-2006
This works great. Mine was really squishy and now works perfectly.
Reply
korb said 4:34AM on 8-23-2006
I just bought a white macbook and have also a squishy button, it has no click feel and needs lots of pressure to work. I tried various pieces of folded paper with different dimensions. The feel of the button is somewhat better but the problem remains.
Reply