Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How much physical damage can the MBP take?

A

Alienworkshoper

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 2, 2011
50
0
Obviously it's better to not throw your computer against the wall. But for those MBP owners who have had a very "oh ****" moment where the computer maybe hit the desk too hard, or you dropped something on it.

The reason I ask is because this miniature metal cannon statue just fell about 2 feet off the shelf and hit my MB right under the tracking pad. (I guess I'm really lucky it didn't hit the tracking pad). Anyway now there's this ugly ****ing dent on my computer and I'm pisssssssed off. But more worried about some kind of internal issue that will come up in the future.

Is there anything especially delicate or more so than other parts located in the quarter inch space between the bottom of the track pad and the edge of the laptop (About an 1/8 inch North West of the indented lip to open the laptop).
 
My MBP fell out of my LowePro Fastpack 350 last spring onto a gravelish road (filled with potholes). When i picked up my MBP, it was opened up. Did damage to the top case and an edge under the HDD. I bought a top shell on eBay ($50 shipped), so I could send it into Apple (had pre-existing problems with the logicboard).

Ironically, Apple finally agreed to replace my Matte screen (had a bunch of pressure white points on the screen..again already there before the spill), and I got a brand new top case..eh. Here are a few of the top case (which endured the most damage)

These things are much MUCH tougher than they look! I thought mine was toast. Mine is like the Terminator!

MBP%20top%20damage%202.jpg


MBP%20shell%20inside.jpg
 
They are reliable, but they do show damage easily. On my old MBP, I accidentally nicked an iPod on the edge of the palm rest and it made a really small chip. I also dropped it, but it fell flat on the Apple logo and there was no scratches (just a small scuff) or dents. However, I did manage to screw up the screen alignment to where it wouldn't close. Oh, whenever I'd let the MagSafe fly to the port, it would kinda nick and scratch it.

I'm being more careful on my current MacBook Pro. So far, on this MBP, I only have this near the top right (touch wood). Its not a scratch or scuff ... I have no idea what it is.

1zc0rxz.jpg


I'm not sure how it happened since my MBP stays at home, but eh whatever. I don't really care about it that much. And you can only see it in certain angles of light.
 
i just dented mine today, super tiny dent on the side of the screen. swung it into a chair while dodging my housemate who was playing with the PS move.

It hit one of those leather arm chairs, ah well, things happen i suppose
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

One of the trademarks of the unibody is its durability!
 
I was ocd when I first got mine back in april, but after a few weeks it's just not really a big deal.

Everything gets wear and tear and everything will get scratches. You don't get super pissed off over a tiny little hairline scratch on your car you just live with it, and I have learned to do the same with the few tiny marks I find on mine.
 
My gf FELL on top of my MBP while it was closed. It dented the lid and shattered the outer glass that covers the screen. $75 for a new glass and 2 hours worth of painstakingly removing the old shattered glass and installing the new one and you can't even tell it happened, saved for the dent.
 
ha some of these stories make me feel a little better. Here's a the dent,

Photo on 2011-01-21 at 00.59.jpg



relatively minor. However, I'm more concerned about any internal damage that may have happened when this piece of metal dropped from 2 feet onto the open computer.
 
During the christmas holiday this year, I was on my way to my neighbours house to game. Just outside their entrance i slipped on ice, and landed right on my back. Thing is, my backpack was holding my MBP! OMG!!!! Actually I didn't really think much about the mac at the moment because it had hurt like hell, so I just hurried in, threw my mac on the desk and turned it on. Thats when i noticed a small dent around my DVI plug, The upper right corner had been pressed down a little, but with the help of a rubberhammer i fixed it a little. It's not pretty but it has no problems whatsoever! It's 3 years old, and can handle a beating :D <3
 
I'll order up an X-ray and a CT scan and some blood tests to ensure no internal damage has been done....just kidding.:D I guess you could run some hardware tests though as well as learn the anatomy of the computer like where the drives are, ect.
 
IIRC the trackpad is actually composed of glass, so that and the HDD (if you have one) are the primary weaknesses. My mom dropped a MBA (the original with the 64GB SSD) down a flight of concrete stairs having it keep moving off of a ledge, fall at least 5 or so feet, slam onto the pavement, and other than a dent and some scratches, it still works fine. That was months ago and it still runs. The MBP can take a lot of abuse. Individual parts will start breaking before the entire computer is 'totaled'. It seems the logicboard is well protected against shock as well, which is IIRC the priciest part in any laptop.
 
Alienworkshoper said:
Obviously it's better to not throw your computer against the wall. But for those MBP owners who have had a very "oh ****" moment where the computer maybe hit the desk too hard, or you dropped something on it.

The reason I ask is because this miniature metal cannon statue just fell about 2 feet off the shelf and hit my MB right under the tracking pad. (I guess I'm really lucky it didn't hit the tracking pad). Anyway now there's this ugly ****ing dent on my computer and I'm pisssssssed off. But more worried about some kind of internal issue that will come up in the future.

Is there anything especially delicate or more so than other parts located in the quarter inch space between the bottom of the track pad and the edge of the laptop (About an 1/8 inch North West of the indented lip to open the laptop).
Click to expand...

To answer your question about what is underneath: the battery is under the left palm rest and the trackpad. Under the right wrist rest it the hard drive. Check out ifixit.com for take apart pics if you'd like more info.
I wouldn't think there would be any residual effects from the damage.

I'm still not sold on the aluminum. The unibody cannot deflect its shape and snap back. If something bends, it can absorb energy without breaking. In an incident the unibody is either strong enough to withstand or it is irreparably damaged. I'd prefer a more modular plastic computer that has cheap, easily replaceable individual components. If they made a MacBook in black I would probably buy that over the MBP. But the SD card slot and backlit keyboard are very nice.
 
Very durable. Not a Panasonic Toughbook durable, obviously, but very durable.

I also always recommend SSD or blade memory. The reason is I won't use anything but, because of an experience I dealt with, though it was not my own unit.

I will never forget the day, because it was April 14, 2000 at 10ish at night.

I worked for Compaq technical support on the phone, and I received this frantic call from a woman. She's like, "Oh my god... I have an issue..." She was shaking in her voice.

I asked for her information, and when I brought the account up, I asked her what was happening.

She informs me that she works for an accounting firm that is completing taxes for more than 5,000 clients. Then she tells me that she and her coworker put the information on the Compaq laptop they had, and her coworker dropped it on the ground.

Turning it on, she heard a loud clicking sound from the laptop. I asked her to hold the phone near it, and heard the hard drive platter having the arm driven into it. That clicking is the sound, I'm sure some of you know, that no one ever wants to hear.

Then, I had the distinct pleasure of informing her when she asked what we could do, that there's nothing that can be done to say that hard drive at this time. She starts crying, saying I must do something, get a supervisor. I advised her my supervisor wouldn't get on the phone for a non-issue in regards of ability to resolve the problem. It just cannot be solved.

I asked her to get her backup tape, or drive. She was like, "Backup?"



From that point forward, I learned through the experience of an accountant who probably lost her job because of not backing up and having an HDD.

USE SOLID-STATE MEMORY OR FLASH!

And always back up. I can never stress it enough. I back up on an external drive, and I have vital files on two flash memory units(CF and SD). You have to have more than one backup. But, you should also not have these backups hooked up to an online connection.

I laugh when my friends use their backups for their home media networking, then get mad when I look at the pictures of their wife...
 
Alienworkshoper said:
ha some of these stories make me feel a little better. Here's a the dent,

View attachment 268236



relatively minor. However, I'm more concerned about any internal damage that may have happened when this piece of metal dropped from 2 feet onto the open computer.
Click to expand...

umm forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't see a dent at all? Perhaps the picture isn't that good?

Edit: after examining it closely, I can see where a ding is. Picture isn't that great. And likely the dent 100x more annoying in person. How deep is the dent?
 
Having fixed many computers (for a living), for a non-Panasonic Toughbook, the next best thing out there that is commonly found are Apple products.

While the dents are not pretty, it's most likely cosmetic damage. Even a fall on a plastic laptop would be cosmetic, yet more ugly. The damage you want to be worried about is stuff spilling on your machine and that's where some Toughbook models excel, but for the rest of us, keep laptops away from liquids (ie: hot coffee).

As you know it's what is on the inside that counts as far as computing goes.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about big dings on a laptop, but there are plenty of people who put ugly stickers on otherwise perfectly untouched laptops so I wouldn't worry about any dings.
 
jegbook said:
To answer your question about what is underneath: the battery is under the left palm rest and the trackpad. Under the right wrist rest it the hard drive.
Click to expand...


Thank you. That's the answer I was looking for. Google imaged "Inside of macbook pro" and didn't really know what I was looking at but assumed it was the battery.
 
fibrizo said:
umm forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't see a dent at all? Perhaps the picture isn't that good?

Edit: after examining it closely, I can see where a ding is. Picture isn't that great. And likely the dent 100x more annoying in person. How deep is the dent?
Click to expand...

yeah haha I look the picture with photobooth and the screen facing the mouse pad. It's more of deep scratch then a dent I guess. It's pretty small but yeah every time I see it I curse myself for the "incident".
 
Dalton63841 said:
My gf FELL on top of my MBP while it was closed. It dented the lid and shattered the outer glass that covers the screen. $75 for a new glass and 2 hours worth of painstakingly removing the old shattered glass and installing the new one and you can't even tell it happened, saved for the dent.
Click to expand...


IT? your gf is an "IT"? Ouch that's mean lol
 
These are the 'wounds' on my MPB A1151 (2006) model.



the dent on the left side is from dropping it about 3 feet onto my carpet stairs, then tumbling about 4 steps to linoleum floor. She still works great!

The rest, not really sure how they occured.
 
Mine has a slight bend to it. If you squint you can barely see it. More cosmetic than anything, although there is a slight creak when I open the lid now.

apple_macbook_pro_vs_truck.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back