17" unibody "flexing" problems?

[dguisinger]

I have a 17" unibody MacBook Pro.
I have been noticing that the left side tends to make noise.

If its sitting on my lap, just the small movement of setting my hand on the left wrist wrest or the keyboard tends to make a popping or creaking sound... I've noticed the metal also seems to flex on the bottom under the ports and the Express Card slot.

Is this normal, it is rather annoying, I am wondering if my case has a defect or if its the design.

 

[macbook123]

I have a 17" unibody MacBook Pro.
I have been noticing that the left side tends to make noise.

If its sitting on my lap, just the small movement of setting my hand on the left wrist wrest or the keyboard tends to make a popping or creaking sound... I've noticed the metal also seems to flex on the bottom under the ports and the Express Card slot.

Is this normal, it is rather annoying, I am wondering if my case has a defect or if its the design.

I have the same issue, yet on the right side. Annoying only in that it makes the laptop feel a bit flimsy. Not sure what the origin could be and how to fix it. Odd that we have it on different sides! To be sure, you mean the left side when you face the laptop?

 

[dguisinger]

I have the same issue, yet on the right side. Annoying only in that it makes the laptop feel a bit flimsy. Not sure what the origin could be and how to fix it. Odd that we have it on different sides! To be sure, you mean the left side when you face the laptop?

Correct, its the left side on mine when facing the laptop. Coming from the area of the USB ports and ExpressSlot.

It seems to me the top is rigid, but the bottom isn't and there for flexes and creates noise... which to me comes off as cheap... they could have made it 1mm thicker and I'd have been happier

 

[Brandon Heat]

I bet both of you guys have loose screws on the bottom!

 

[Nautigar]

I bet both of you guys have loose screws on the bottom!

I hope you are referring to loose screws on the bottom of their computers

(sorry, could not resist ...)

 

[mcpryon2]

I have the same problem, the right side of my 17" MBP will make a popping sound every time I open the lid. It took me a while to figure it out, but I determined it was the bottom of the case, not the hinge.

After checking the screws I found that two were so loose that they were nearly falling out. This is on day two of owning it, so it had to have come that way. Anyway, I tightened them, thinking it would fix it, however it made it worse. After that I found that take the bottom off and reseating it, then putting the screws in a little loose it went away for a week or so. Now it's back.

It's pretty annoying, but it's not as annoying as the constant wireless dropouts, safari crashes, and program lockups. I pretty much can't win with Apple products; every Mac I've had has had problems. But I'm tryin to like them, Ringo, I'm tryin real hard.

 

[jjahshik32]

Looks perfectly straight here.