MacBook Car-nage: Surviving a drive-over
Yesterday, I had a distraught customer come into the store and lay the remains of a black MacBook (13-inch Early 2008) on the front counter. My immediate thought was that the machine had been trashed and was just at the shop to be recycled. I asked the customer what happened and he explained that it had been run over by a car. At this point I thought to myself, "Yikes, there's gotta be a story behind this one." As it turns out, it was just an unfortunate accident of forgetfulness. He just returned home from a road trip and set the machine down to bring in a load from the car. After being inside for a bit, he came out and decided to check his mailbox, which was just down the road. He stepped into the car, backed up and... CAR-NAGE!
What's most amazing here isn't the accident, but what he discovered when he tried to power up the MacBook. Even after having a car completely crush it, it still worked. When the customer told me this, I couldn't believe it. I opened the display -- which you can see is absolutely smashed in the picture -- and pressed the power button. To my excited surprise, the machine turned on and booted into Leopard.
After running a full suite of diagnostics on the machine, I found it needed a display assembly, optical drive, and optical drive bezel (the part of the inner frame that the discs go through). All of that was cheaper than getting a new machine, so I went to work. It took me a couple hours and some frame bending here and there, but after all was said and done, I gave the customer back a machine that would pass any warranty inspection at the Genius Bar. See the gallery for more pictures!
Disclaimer: The Unofficial Apple Weblog cannot and will not be held responsible for any damage done to your computer by cars. Just because we think it's cool that it may survive doesn't mean you should go out and crush your MacBook.
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Source: http://tuaw.com/tag/macbook
Yesterday, I had a distraught customer come into the store and lay the remains of a black MacBook (13-inch Early 2008) on the front...
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Oh, I forgot that Macs should be kept in a shrine at all times. Macs - and Apple claims that some of them are meant for 'Pros', hence Macbook Pros. As a EE engineer that sometimes does field work I like the idea of having a user-friendly Unix based laptop. So I've recompiled a Linux kernel before, but who wants to spend their time doing that? From what I've read, the general quality of the MBPs is not that great, and the normal MB pretty awful (cracking cases etc). There's a video somewhere of a Thinkpad T400s being runover by a 26000 pound truck. The screen wasn't even cracked. Plastic is a good material, kids.
"on the ground" Well anyone who puts anything that is electronic and as expensive as a mac (or any computer for the matter) is just plain retarded. That guy deserved to get his computer crushed.
September 20 2009 at 1:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMy titanium survived being under two inches of water after a hot water tank failed in the cabin we were in on a church retreat. the display back light came on but the display was 'whited out' so you couldn't see anything.
i got home and plugged it into an external display and it booted and ran like a champ. i got an insurance check from the church that owned the cabin and got a new one but i still use that computer to this day with an external monitor (well, my 2 year-old does but now it's getting too slow to run sesamestreet.com).
We had the same happen to a cheapy HP NX6325 and all it needed was a new screen. Absolutely everything else worked perfectly and the screen only cost £65.
September 14 2009 at 2:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI would like to see what would happen to a $300 netbook and if it could survive that type of punishment. I'm not trying to compare the netbook to the relatively expensive MacBook and I don't think any notebook computer should have to survive being run over by car. I'm just curious if one could survive and still be in working condition. It's not important if it doesn't because buying another $300 netbook isn't all that costly.
September 13 2009 at 11:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHahaha,
I imagine that having to replace the screen on a netbook alone would exceed the replacement cost. I had a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for a while... believe it or not, it was pretty durable. That thing was thrown into my truck bed more times than I can count. It's a netbook... i could. I would never do that with my macs... durable as they may be - they don't cost $300.
Your comment proves that teaching idiots to read and type doesn't cure them of their underlying problem. You should buy 4 netbooks, place one under each tire, then run over them simultaneously to determine if they're equally damaged.
September 15 2009 at 8:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAnd the moral of the story: If your mailbox is just down the drive way, don't be lazy and drive there. Get some exercise and walk to it! Even if it is more than a few hundred feet away.
September 13 2009 at 6:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNo, the moral of this story is simpler - treat your laptop with respect. Don't be an idiot and run over it.
September 15 2009 at 7:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI live at the top of the hill in the middle of no where... With my mailbox being 3 miles away I think I'd rather not take an hour out of my day just to get my mail. ¬_¬ (Vermont FTW :3)
September 20 2009 at 1:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI was literally running out the door to drive over my macbook pro when I read the last sentence - you're warning not to try running over your own computer. Phew! Thanks TUAW!
September 13 2009 at 2:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI had a first generation 17" MBP that fell down a flight of stairs. It was closed and asleep at the time. The frame was bent a bit, making it a little difficult to get my finger to poke far enough into the latch mechanism to open it, but otherwise it was unharmed. I continued to use that MBP as my main machine for another year and a half, and have since handed it down to a friend when I got a new MBP Unibody.
Amazingly tough machines, these Macs....
Yeah that's all well and good by why, just sittin on my desk, do my Apple laptops disintegrate before my eyes. Last three have done it.
Bezels crack and fall to bits, things discolour, even the letters on the keys wear off.
They have terrible build quality for such a high priced product.
I love my mac, don't get me wrong. But really Apple, you can't manufacture a plastic keyboard by now, really!
I have not gone to Aluminum since my old one dented every time I even thought about the machine far less picked it up. Awful. I know the new ones are better but are the plastics?
Thats one thing I am sad to say a windows machine can do, stay in one piece for a couple of years. Even with their bad looks and hideous software they don't always fall to bits.
I wouldn't call it terrible build quality, but the MacBook keyboards are definitely not on the top of any lists.
It's the magnets that cause problems. However, since Apple knows about both these problems, it should really only be a 15 min, under warranty repair. I've seen just as many problems with PC laptops. I have had the keyboard replaced 3 times, and my sisters once-though she doesn't care about the crack.
Aluminum does dent, but the unibody's seem much more sturdy than before. They also solve most of the issues with the the plastic.
Wait, why won't apple replace only the Optical Drive Bezel???
Mine was bent from about 2 and a half years of use. And in Feb, when I had the actual drive replaced, the Genius bent it back, and in July, it was time for a replacement part (still under warranty). There was a tiny crack on the bottom case so I convinced the Genius to put in a repair for that-I do pay attention to Apple Service advisories. Luckily, he did that, but the machine needed to be sent out to Tennessee. They replaced EVERY outside case piece-including the top case, and display bezel (which did have a tiny crack).
I'm really glad my 38 month old MacBook is in mint condition (except the battery), but why won't Apple replace individual parts like that? Also note that it's been sent out to the repair center 3 times, and the only original part is the airport card.
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