Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends
Smoking kills... your Mac
It should be pretty obvious by now that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. What's not as obvious is that it might be bad for your Mac, too. According to The Consumerist, two different people got turned down for AppleCare maintenance because their Macs were used in a house with a smoker. Both people appealed their cases all the way up to Steve Jobs, and both of them lost.I've opened up a few computers that spent time in a house full of heavy smokers, and the insides weren't pretty. There was this disgusting brown resin built up all over everything, and it pretty much smelled like an ashtray stuffed full of 5-year-old cigarette butts. Though it's probably a stretch to call this "a biohazard" like in one of the cases The Consumerist cites, AppleCare agreements are worded loosely enough in their limitations of coverage that Apple seems perfectly within its rights to deny coverage in these two cases:
The Plan does not cover:
Damage to the Covered Equipment caused by accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider), unauthorized modification, extreme environment (including extreme temperature or humidity), extreme physical or electrical stress or interference, fluctuation or surges of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, acts of God or other external causes.
It's that "other external causes" clause that's the catch-all, although you could probably argue that an atmosphere filled with smoke counts as an "extreme environment" as well.
Bottom line: if you have to smoke, you might want to step away from the computer first. With the investment that your Mac represents sitting there on the desk, why take the risk of messing it up in an easily preventable way?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Christian said 10:15AM on 11-21-2009
Sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy for this. Apple is right to refuse service to them. Cigarette smoke wrecks up electronics. Have you ever seen a device that's in a smoke-infested house? They're always yellowed with a layer of grime on them.
If you choose to smoke, you're screwing yourself. Don't expect other people to pick up the bill for your bad habit.
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Dani Reader said 12:52PM on 11-21-2009
true as that may be, your attitude towards that is still shitty. people treating smokers like lepers are worse than smokers in our book. Go back to smelling your own farts and get off your non smoking horse
Fred said 12:38PM on 11-21-2009
The problem is that it's not stated as policy anywhere, and it really just boils down to a cop-out on the part of Apple and it's service vendors and a ploy to beat down smokers yet again. I quit smoking a couple of years ago and I can't stand to be around it, but this kind of thing is patent garbage. If you want that to be your policy, fine, print it up in your literature for AppleCare.
Johnny Thrash said 1:03PM on 11-21-2009
You can call him having a shitty attitude if you wish, but I mostly agree with him.
My mother smoked for years and I had to be the one to work on her machines with the nasty stinking garbage. I wanted to give her a mac, but wouldn't until she quit smoking because I didn't want the computer ruined. Is it really so hard to actually CARE for the expensive products you buy?
If you don't care, then why should AppleCare?
Dani Reader said 1:59PM on 11-21-2009
its not apple's refusal to serve that bothers me, I agree that it's their policy to act how they wish in these matters.
What bothers me is the self righteous attitude of non-smokers. I don't even think that a smoker deserves any special treatment, but it irks me when non smokers take unfriendly attitudes toward it, like we're doing it to get back at them :/
Shane Hendricks said 3:24PM on 11-21-2009
While it's true that smoking does all the things listed to electronics...the fact is that a lot of musicians use Macs in drinking establishments that allow smoking. So Apple gets to penalize these folks who are using the equipment the way Apple intended? I don't think so. If they're going to have such a policy, they need to state it explicitly...not implicitly.
Fred said 5:32PM on 11-21-2009
Hey Johnny, the reason they should care is because I pay them too.
macserv said 7:17PM on 11-21-2009
It should fall under "fire damage", which, for any other policy, includes problems caused by smoke as well as heat and flame. AppleCare does not cover fire damage... you will need additional coverage.
jimbabwe77 said 10:13PM on 11-21-2009
I'm a smoker but I don't smoke in the house or when I'm using my MacBook. I don't think the smoke would be too good for the screen either.
Steven said 11:36AM on 11-22-2009
I TOTALLY agree with Christian. I've been in the Apple II and Mac service business since 1982 and have seen numerous cases where people have brought in a computer covered with a coating of tar from the cigarettes. I even tried to explain to a customer about taking a "smoke break" away from his computer, but to no avail (that customer, I lost). Treat your computer with respect and it will give you many years of great service; don't, and you deserve what you get.
Christian said 12:18PM on 11-22-2009
Dani: It's not treating smokers as lepers. It's treat smokers as people who have a terrible addiction to something that is destroying their life, much like alcoholics. We lament their addiction, but we also don't make excuses on their behalf for the damage it does.
Frederik said 10:16AM on 11-21-2009
An act of God? Can God destroy my Mac?
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Erik Shultz said 10:29AM on 11-21-2009
Why even mess with God? :)
takamaru said 10:30AM on 11-21-2009
Can and will! Bo hahahahahaha!
Lumi said 12:10PM on 11-21-2009
I was wondering this too. Does it actually read this? Damn.
julian said 2:01PM on 11-21-2009
Haha, what about acts of the devil!!!!
Ohh those ARE covered
Blazeblaster said 4:49PM on 11-21-2009
@Julian
So would installing windows be considered an act of the devil?
Frederik said 7:53PM on 11-21-2009
@julian
Uh, what a great idea. That person should have argued that the devil made him/her smoke while using the Mac.
krisasman said 10:19AM on 11-21-2009
As a former computer tech I can tell you they most certainly can be a biohazard, I have worked on several PCs so caked in tar that my hands burn from the nicotine. The tar glues the dust together so tight that often I can't clean them with compressed air, I have to take off the fans and work the heat sinks with a toothbrush to clean them. With the newer fine blade heatsinks they may be impossible to clean and would have to be replaced.
Step away from that MacPro with your cigarette now!
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Pieter said 10:37AM on 11-21-2009
Well said, Christian!
Yeechh, smokers. I've never understood how someone STARTS smoking?
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