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Bent Unibody - Gap between body and display normal? (Pics)

The thing I don't get is... why are you STILL discussing this issue?. Forget posting forums comments... GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!.
 
lennyisland said:
well do you think that this problem is THAT bad?
i think i can live with it.. or is yours waaay more straight than mine? i think i just leave it like this..
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So yes, you are giving in then?. Your choice, your money spent on DEFECTIVE goods. I wish you all the best.
 
Why are you polling the people on this forum? I would go into an Apple Store asap and let them determine if it is within specs. As you can see, all these people do is call you OCD. It is your money and I would not live with it if it were my $2000.
 
tcphoto said:
Why are you polling the people on this forum? I would go into an Apple Store asap and let them determine if it is within specs. As you can see, all these people do is call you OCD. It is your money and I would not live with it if it were my $2000.
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Exactly - why is he bothering?. Could be that HE bent it, hence the reason nothing is being done.
 
My 13" MacBook is bowed in exactly the same way. I was unsure if it was the lid or the unibody, but I checked the body with a few rulers and a level, all of which I am fairly certain are straight, and the body looks to be fine. It's harder to check the lid, though, since it has that rubber gasket all the way around it. Instead, I checked the reflection from the glass - if the lid is bowed, that should also be curving the glass, so any reflections should show up curved or distorted in some way. Given that I can easily notice the curve in the lid, there amount of distortion in reflections is quite small. It is more noticeable towards the bottom of the screen, though, which is where the bowing is greatest, so I am reasonably confident that it is in fact the lid which is bowed.

While is does suck a little cosmetically, I am willing to live with it simply because the rest of the laptop functions very well. What worries me, however, is whether heating and cooling of the computer will eventually cause more of a warp in the lid, and if so, could this lead to a cracked screen?

I am not willing to return the laptop to be exchanged or repaired, again since it works essentially perfectly, but reading some comments has now made me wonder if I should let Apple know that I do have this problem. I don't want to wake up one morning to a cracked screen and have Apple refuse to fix it. Any advice?
 
sine-nomine said:
My 13" MacBook is bowed in exactly the same way. I was unsure if it was the lid or the unibody, but I checked the body with a few rulers and a level, all of which I am fairly certain are straight, and the body looks to be fine. It's harder to check the lid, though, since it has that rubber gasket all the way around it. Instead, I checked the reflection from the glass - if the lid is bowed, that should also be curving the glass, so any reflections should show up curved or distorted in some way. Given that I can easily notice the curve in the lid, there amount of distortion in reflections is quite small. It is more noticeable towards the bottom of the screen, though, which is where the bowing is greatest, so I am reasonably confident that it is in fact the lid which is bowed.

While is does suck a little cosmetically, I am willing to live with it simply because the rest of the laptop functions very well. What worries me, however, is whether heating and cooling of the computer will eventually cause more of a warp in the lid, and if so, could this lead to a cracked screen?

I am not willing to return the laptop to be exchanged or repaired, again since it works essentially perfectly, but reading some comments has now made me wonder if I should let Apple know that I do have this problem. I don't want to wake up one morning to a cracked screen and have Apple refuse to fix it. Any advice?
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Actually I think you'll find that the TFT would crack if bent even a tiny bit across it's axis; the aluminium of the lid will bend still, due to the tft being mounted within it in such a way as it isn't affixed as rigidly to the ENTIRE aluminum structure of the lid as one may expect. I'm not explaining this too well, but I think that considering the price premium, and the fact that you are probably going to have this machine a few years, the longer you try to justify to yourself that it's okay to put up with defects, the more it will bug you over time - or that's how I'd be.

You paid your $$/££ so you are entitled to flawless product. Period. Whether its $1 or $1,000, regardless.
 
@OP:

My unibody Macbook lid is also bent - the upper right hand corner curves upward when the lid is closed. The problem with this is, since the lid does not shut flush on this corner, it is easy to accidentally pry the lid open.

I can't remember if the computer came like this, or if it is a product of me adjusting the tilt of the lid with my right hand on the right side of the screen. Just based off a gut feeling, I feel like a lot more "bending" would be required to cause permanent deformation of the aluminum.

@glossywhite:
sine-nomine may be referring to having the glass bezel cover crack, rather than the actual LCD panel.
 
I just received the replacement for my 2009 unibody MBP that had a streak of dead pixels in the middle of the screen.

Opened the box gave the new MBP the once over and immediately noticed the lid bending away from the body from the middle front with increasing severity towards the left-hand side. It creates a crack large enough to fit a credit card through easily, 3-4mm.

I called Apple Customer Relations and explained the problem. They are emailing the UPS label and exchanging the system as an expedited transaction.

I realize it's annoying to be without a computer for a week but if Apple has chosen to offload product Quality Control onto their customers, the least we can do is to do it well.

When you get your computer give it the once/twice over. If it doesn't look like the ad/promised system send it back. Apple will only start being preemptive about these issues when the tide of returns becomes more costly than the money they are saving by lowering their QC standards.

I love my MBP, I just expect to get what I pay for. It's not something worth debating. Like in poker, certain situations are insta-calls. If you feel like something is wrong with your system send it back.
 
nilblank said:
I just received the replacement for my 2009 unibody MBP that had a streak of dead pixels in the middle of the screen.

Opened the box gave the new MBP the once over and immediately noticed the lid bending away from the body from the middle front with increasing severity towards the left-hand side. It creates a crack large enough to fit a credit card through easily, 3-4mm.

I called Apple Customer Relations and explained the problem. They are emailing the UPS label and exchanging the system as an expedited transaction.

I realize it's annoying to be without a computer for a week but if Apple has chosen to offload product Quality Control onto their customers, the least we can do is to do it well.

When you get your computer give it the once/twice over. If it doesn't look like the ad/promised system send it back. Apple will only start being preemptive about these issues when the tide of returns becomes more costly than the money they are saving by lowering their QC standards.

I love my MBP, I just expect to get what I pay for. It's not something worth debating. Like in poker, certain situations are insta-calls. If you feel like something is wrong with your system send it back.
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3-4mm is massive for an imperfection. At 1280x1024 a dash "-" is 2mm, just for reference.
 
theres a thread on this like everyother day. It might not be "normal", but it does seem like most if not all has this problem. This is the price to pay for having such a thin notebook. Even the Non-unibody macbook pros had lid bowing problems.
 
My two previous unibodies had no gap. They were structurally perfect. I exchanged them because of problems with the screens (dead pixels and flicker).

For my part, the fact that certain problems with these machines are experienced by many owners does not make them an acceptable variance in the product. It does prove that corners are being cut somewhere along the manufacturing chain.

But if Apple is willing to save on QC and spend extra on Customer Relations and RMA transactions then I am willing to keep flipping systems until I get one that meets the standard in form and function promised.

Here's hoping 4th time is charm.
 
All the uMBPs I've seen; 13", 15" and 17", all have that 'problem'. It looks worse the larger the screen.
 
OMG Steve Ive would be turning in his grave! :eek:

It's all cut from one block of aluminum so should be absolutely micron perfect.
 
The 17"ers all seem to do that. Its a defect, and there is nothing normal about it, regardless what people say.

Check all the 17" models next time you're at the Apple store. I think it has to do with the fact the screen is so large and thin, amazing though how so many of them bow the same way.
 
Its the kind of thing that would annoy the hell outa me. Its just not acceptable, you wouldn't accept a new car with shut lines out on a panel by 3mm. I would keep going back to apple until you get a result. (part refund/replacement)

My 13" MBP is spot on, straight as could be.
 
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