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

Ran over Macbook Pro @ 55MPH...STILL WORKS!

E

Exegesis48

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 2, 2009
202
0
Last week I was putting my daughter in the car when I placed my 15" Macbook Pro (MBP) on the roof of my car. After driving over a myriad of speed bumps in the apartment complex, I made my way into traffic and only after reaching about 55mph did my MBP decide to alert me of its presence by taking flight off the roof of my car and slamming into the trunk. The laptop then took a dive into traffic and was ran over by another car before I could make a u-turn and successfully recover it. I was devastated! Surprisingly when I opened the lid expecting the inevitable, the laptop sprang to life. I did a disk scan with Drive Genius and it reported no errors. The optical drive no longer works, but everything else, including the screen, seems to be just fine. Thank you Steve Jobs for your amazing notebooks! This was one of the original 1.83ghz Core Duos as well, imagine what a Unibody could survive!

Side View

Top View
 
That's cool as hell.

Whatever the drive tells you though, you should immediately back up your data to another hard drive. You can't trust that the one you have will last.
 
I got a new 2.4ghz Unibody Macbook Pro to replace it. Was pretty painless process using Time Capsule to import my old configuration. I'm going to probably attempt to replace the Display Housing (Cover and Bezel) and the Bottom Case/Optical Drive off ebay and then give it to my nephew. He tends to break computers anyway, at least this way it won't be a huge loss.
 
Exegesis48 said:
Last week I was putting my daughter in the car when I placed my 15" Macbook Pro (MBP) on the roof of my car. After driving over a myriad of speed bumps in the apartment complex, I made my way into traffic and only after reaching about 55mph did my MBP decide to alert me of its presence by taking flight off the roof of my car and slamming into the trunk. The laptop then took a dive into traffic and was ran over by another car before I could make a u-turn and successfully recover it. I was devastated! Surprisingly when I opened the lid expecting the inevitable, the laptop sprang to life. I did a disk scan with Drive Genius and it reported no errors. The optical drive no longer works, but everything else, including the screen, seems to be just fine. Thank you Steve Jobs for your amazing notebooks! This was one of the original 1.83ghz Core Duos as well, imagine what a Unibody could survive!
Side View

Top View
Click to expand...

Wow. That is remarkable.
In regards to your unibody statement, I am pretty sure that the older Macbook Pros are actually more strong. I am amazed by how weak the unibodys actually are.
 
Why was your macbook on top of your car?? wierd...sounds fake I mean put it im your car next time bleh confused.
 
ZebraineZ said:
Why was your macbook on top of your car?? wierd...sounds fake I mean put it im your car next time bleh confused.
Click to expand...

I put it on the roof of my car while I was putting my daughter in her car seat. I forgot about the computer and got into the car and started driving. I apologize if you're offended by my carelessness, but I've had this computer for over 3 years and I was hoping to have it for another couple years yet. Believe me, I did not intentionally do this to my laptop.
 
Wow that is very lucky glad to see you have all your data.

My family has put things on the car roof and drove off with it still there. The two items that come to mind are 4 blocks of chocolate, and our family cat whom decided it would be a good place to rest and we didn't even notice her until we heard noises on the roof
 
I am surprised that it stuck to your roof for that long.

Good to know data was okay.
 
toolbox said:
Wow that is very lucky glad to see you have all your data.

My family has put things on the car roof and drove off with it still there. The two items that come to mind are 4 blocks of chocolate, and our family cat whom decided it would be a good place to rest and we didn't even notice her until we heard noises on the roof
Click to expand...

oh my god is she ok?
 
Just the other day I drove off from my house with a glass of ice and Coca Cola on my roof. I got about a block away before I got thirsty and realized my drink was not in my cup holder. I realized I had put it on the roof as I was loading the car, and had a feeling it was left up there when I took off. I pulled over expecting to see evidence of it having spilled all over my car, but found it sitting on top of the car without having even moved.

So I can totally see doing this. I hope I never am so careless with my precious MBP, but if I had my computer in one hand and my child in another, I'm pretty sure my mind would be on the kid first.
 
calvy said:
I hope I never am so careless with my precious MBP, but if I had my computer in one hand and my child in another, I'm pretty sure my mind would be on the kid first.
Click to expand...

Yeah it'd be really bad someone put their computer in the car first and left their kid on the roof of the car. :p
 
You could ring up Apple Care and get a replacement ;) lol (joke)

believe me people have tried worse......

But anyway good news on the data.

With regards to the unibodys, I remember reading a post here about someone who had there macbook pro fall out at 60 mph and it was functional. All in all they can't be to bad

FreedomFighter
 
The Unibody MacBook Pros are much stronger than the ones before them. The bending process for the older ones weakens the aluminum very much.

Cool story though!
 
pkoch1 said:
The Unibody MacBook Pros are much stronger than the ones before them. The bending process for the older ones weakens the aluminum very much.

Cool story though!
Click to expand...

Actually, bending aluminum doesn't make it weaker unless you're bending it back and forth repeatedly. In fact with thin aluminum sheets many very strong parts are made for aircraft by bending them and turning them into many complex parts. Aircraft skin is stiffened with bulkheads, aluminum wings are built with aluminum spars and ribs made from thin metal sheets which are bent and fastened together into structural pieces, and then 'skinned' with clad aluminum sheet metal. The entire structures of millions of aircraft around the world depend on the ability to bend sheet aluminum into very strong structural parts that are light in weight - and are durable. Also, a sheet metal aluminum structure will be more 'crashworthy' than a machined solid part/structure because "a well-designed sheet-metal aircraft provides superior crashworthiness over other types, as an impact's energy is absorbed by progressively collapsing the metal structure, as opposed to splintering or shattering upon impact."

The machined unibody structures are not stronger, but once the manufacturing is set up, they are much cheaper to make. They also have the benefit of being stiffer to the touch, thus seeming stronger, but are probably not as structurally strong in an impact situation.
 
pdxflint said:
Actually, bending aluminum doesn't make it weaker unless you're bending it back and forth repeatedly. In fact with thin aluminum sheets many very strong parts are made for aircraft by bending them and turning them into many complex parts. Aircraft skin is stiffened with bulkheads, aluminum wings are built with aluminum spars and ribs made from thin metal sheets which are bent and fastened together into structural pieces, and then 'skinned' with clad aluminum sheet metal. The entire structures of millions of aircraft around the world depend on the ability to bend sheet aluminum into very strong structural parts that are light in weight - and are durable. Also, a sheet metal aluminum structure will be more 'crashworthy' than a machined solid part/structure because "a well-designed sheet-metal aircraft provides superior crashworthiness over other types, as an impact's energy is absorbed by progressively collapsing the metal structure, as opposed to splintering or shattering upon impact."

The machined unibody structures are not stronger, but once the manufacturing is set up, they are much cheaper to make. They also have the benefit of being stiffer to the touch, thus seeming stronger, but are probably not as structurally strong in an impact situation.
Click to expand...


Thanks, Mr. Wizard!:D
 
Really not something I want to try! But it is good to hear that they hold up well under stress. :D

Glad it was still functional for you.
 
pdxflint said:
Actually, bending aluminum doesn't make it weaker unless you're bending it back and forth repeatedly. In fact with thin aluminum sheets many very strong parts are made for aircraft by bending them and turning them into many complex parts. Aircraft skin is stiffened with bulkheads, aluminum wings are built with aluminum spars and ribs made from thin metal sheets which are bent and fastened together into structural pieces, and then 'skinned' with clad aluminum sheet metal. The entire structures of millions of aircraft around the world depend on the ability to bend sheet aluminum into very strong structural parts that are light in weight - and are durable. Also, a sheet metal aluminum structure will be more 'crashworthy' than a machined solid part/structure because "a well-designed sheet-metal aircraft provides superior crashworthiness over other types, as an impact's energy is absorbed by progressively collapsing the metal structure, as opposed to splintering or shattering upon impact."

The machined unibody structures are not stronger, but once the manufacturing is set up, they are much cheaper to make. They also have the benefit of being stiffer to the touch, thus seeming stronger, but are probably not as structurally strong in an impact situation.
Click to expand...

Interesting! So maybe it's not the bending that hurts the aluminum (tell that to Apple though!) but the new one does seem much stronger.
 
This would be a great story to share with Apple somehow. Heck, they might even give you something. Who knows! It would definitely be good publicity for them. :D
 
Cool! I never imagined MBP was that tough. Maybe the part around its optical drive absorbed most of the impact.
 
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