I purchased the MacBook 5.2 (mid 2009 model) about a month ago. It is just what I needed as traveling laptop and is the only Apple computer I have. I have been very happy with it, but no more so than last eve. A stick on LED light above the Mac decided to fall about 1 1/2' and landed on the Mac and bounced to the floor. No dent as surely would have happened with the aluminum case and no scratch!! I said to myself, quite relieved, that for once I was glad I hadn't needed the latest and best when I bought the computer.
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Thanks for the "plastic Mac"
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the old style plastic macbooks were bomb proof, hopefully the new design will be equally resilient!
I compared them side by side. I have the new unibody one and it feels 10 times stronger than the old one. Old one feels flimsy in comparison.
Yeah I have had both too. I mean that only time will tell whether the new ones are actually as resilient as the old ones, which I can testify were literally tanks. Yes they were a little creaky, but sometimes a bit of flex can be a good thing.
My experience with all of the older style macbooks culminates in the fact that my sister dropped hers 6ft onto the back of a radiator, and it was fine. Since then it has literally been thrown around, dropped, stepped on, spilt various drinks on, and aside from the palmrests issue, still works perfectly. It has put up with all of this mis-use for 3 years.
I hope that the new ones are similarly as tough, although the fact that my white unibody's base warped on its own within a week of ownership does not bode well.
Still, it is rev A, and I am sure will be improved over time
Just looking at the new ones in the store they look a lot better than my old one. Definitely stronger with less flexing.
Do you really think he meant it was actually bomb proof!?
Come on now.. He meant it's built strong..
I don't know what it is with people thinking that the aluminum unibodies will dent. This thing is stout! The only pictures i have seen of "dents" on the aluminum unibodies are from when people drop them and the weak point at the ethernet port gets bent. I could be wrong, but my aluminum unibody feels like it could stand up to ten times more abuse than my fiance's old style plastic macbook.
I understand the old non-unibody aluminum macbook pros would dent, i really do not see how you could possibly dent the new ones without totally busting the components inside.
I could be wrong, but like i said, I haven't ever seen any real dents in the aluminum unibodies. Please prove me wrong if you can.
I understand the old non-unibody aluminum macbook pros would dent, i really do not see how you could possibly dent the new ones without totally busting the components inside.
I could be wrong, but like i said, I haven't ever seen any real dents in the aluminum unibodies. Please prove me wrong if you can.
Do you really think he meant it was actually bomb proof!?
Come on now.. He meant it's built strong..
thank you!
Anyhoo, my point was that although the new ones feel much sturdier, only time will tell as to how well the new models stand up to rough use.
For this, at least in my experience, the older design has proved itself. I do think that we will find the new ones will also be particularly resilient though.
I think that it is important to realise that a solid build does not necessarily mean that it will be more resistant to shocks. The unit definitely looks and feels better built, but if you dropped it, I wonder whether the lack of flex would result in the shock being transferred to the internals rather than being partially absorbed by the case.
Finally, I shall repeat that in the week that I owned a unibody macbook, the base warped leaving it uneven on flat surfaces...and this happened while I was mothering it
Well since this is the first and only Mac I have owned I certainly bow to the more experienced. If you are right (re aluminum) then I only have good things to look forward to in the near future. I have grown to like the OS and the "clean" aspect of the applications. Surely will replace this Mac 5.2 in the next year or so. Thanks to all.