Dropped

[KingYaba]

To the various readers of MacRumors,

I never thought it would happen. I took great care of this notebook for over a year. I practically babied it! But of course bad things are bound to happen.

It was a cool Thursday afternoon here in Texas. I had assembled my backpack for a journey to the library. I packed a Macbook Pro with a soft sleeve, a book, and a pair of headphones. I closed my front door with keys in hand, carrying the backpack with one finger curled around the top loop. I proceeded to unlock the car while fumbling with the keys. The bag slipped and fell onto the pavement below. I paused for a second not realizing the gravity of the situation. "Did I really just drop my backpack?" I thought to myself. Snapping to my senses I uttered a profanity so loud, it rivaled Mel Gibson's "freedom" scream; only my yelp was one of exasperation.

I swooped down and snatched the bag while turning 180 degrees into the house. I dashed towards the kitchen table to assess the damage. I ripped off the sleeve to discover a large dent on the bottom left corner of my computer. With emotions surging, I paced back and forth around the kitchen table fuming and grumbling to myself. The thought of a wasted Applecare, a ruptured hard drive, and the helpless feeling should my computer fail in the future.

I eventually calmed myself down and thought of ways to repair the damage...

The last two pictures are post-op. My unsanitary and unorthodox face lift involved pliers and a hammer.

 

[Eidorian]

That's an expensive repair of the case components.

 

[GGJstudios]

You know, the mods should do a better job of censoring photos on this site! Those are just too obscenely painful to see! I'm sorry that happened to you. The good news is that it appears the damage is only cosmetic... it appears it booted up OK.

 

[Etrain]

And this is why libraries are evil!

Good fix job!

 

[iGary]

This is why I have a rider on my renter's policy specifically for my laptop.

Sorry about your luck.

 

[rychencop]

damn dude...sorry for your damage. how tall are you? that looks like a nice drop considering it was in a sleeve too. your repairs seemed to help a lot though.
look at the bright side, you now have a reason to buy a new one.

 

[Kaupa]

Bottom cases are cheap on ebay...
Good luck!

 

[Heb1228]

Ouch! I'm sorry to hear, it makes me cringe to look at the pictures.

On a trip to Thailand, a hotel bellboy opened the back door to our van and my laptop bag fell about 6 feet onto the pavement. (He was the one who packed the van that way... grr...) Luckily I when I got my Powerbook, I got a bag for it that was made for it, with a hard shell liner one the outside of the laptop sleeve and about two inches of padding on the bottom and sides when you out it all together. Thankfully the laptop was fine and didn't even wake up from sleep. But sorry to hear about yours. This is probably a bad story to tell i this thread... Just an encouragement to buy a bag that protects your machine.

 

[mattcube64]

Oh wow! That sucks! I'm sorry that happened! Ugh... Bad things are bound to happen; but that doesn't make damage like that any less miserable to deal with.

However, it actually looks like you did a nice job of patching the computer up. Looks pretty good!

 

[Batt]

Looks pretty damn good! If this ever happens to me, I'm sending it to you for repair.

 

[tcphoto]

Sorry to hear about the accident. Is there something in your homeowners or renters insurance that would cover the damage? That could be an expensive trip to the computer day spa.

 

[pdxflint]

Wow. The fact that it's still working says something about these machines - they're tougher than they look. Maybe the aluminum crushing like it did acted like some type of energy absorbtion which protected the contents, like the crush zones on a car...

In any event, I can relate to how you must have felt opening up that bag, and assessing the damage. I stupidly backed up my car and felt a bump under the front wheels... luckily for me, something told me it wasn't a good idea to just power over it, and I pulled forward to see what it was. It was my camera bag, which had been next to my car and I forgot it. My right front wheel nearly rolled over it. Inside, one lens had a slight bit of crushing in the barrel (still worked...) A back up point n shoot had the top part of the frame bent, but it still worked normally. Whew.

As for your MBP - good job hammering out the damage enough to be able to close the lid... now you have some battle scars to go along with the workhorse status of your laptop.

I'm really glad it still works for you, and the replacement bottom case might just make it look like new.

A hard story to hear (and see...) but thanks for sharing your experience. Good luck getting it all back to normal.

 

[synth3tik]

Way to many sadbooks lately =(

 

[NC MacGuy]

Bummer it happened. Great that it still works. Could have been much worse..

You did a pretty darn good job with repair.

 

[DoNoHarm]

How much protection are we talking about here?

Wait a second.... So you dropped your backpack with the macbook inside it, with the macbook wrapped in a sleeve that was covering the macbook, and despite all this, you got the damage I'm seeing???

 

[NATO]

You mentioned that you had Applecare which is essentially invalidated now that you've dropped it. You should call Apple and ask for a pro-rata refund (it's in the terms and conditions), since you'll never really be able to use it. Might give you some money with which to help repair it

 

[KingYaba]

damn dude...sorry for your damage. how tall are you?

6'4"

Wait a second.... So you dropped your backpack with the macbook inside it, with the macbook wrapped in a sleeve that was covering the macbook, and despite all this, you got the damage I'm seeing???

Just a cotton sleeve. Some call it a "slipskin." All that does it prevent scratches. It's not a hard case. I wish I purchased one, though.

You mentioned that you had Applecare which is essentially invalidated now that you've dropped it. You should call Apple and ask for a pro-rata refund (it's in the terms and conditions), since you'll never really be able to use it. Might give you some money with which to help repair it

Already called. Should be processed by Monday. Glad I'm getting a refund. *Phew*

At the very least, the notebook is still running. As far as I could see, the hard drive suffered no exterior damage (I opened the notebook up to bend some metal). Let's hope the innards are scratch-free.

 

[tcphoto]

Tenba makes great padded sleeves that fit into just about any bag. I use their multicase for my photo gear and they are rated for air travel. I would suggest one for the replacement.

 

[rcky]

Rip

 

[winninganthem]

What's a pro rata refund?

 

[KingYaba]

What's a pro rata refund?

Basically, I am refunded the unused portion of my Applecare.

 

[PostTribber]

Dude!!!!

...I'm leaving my desktop at home from now on.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Pull all internal components and use a rubber mallet -- you wouldn't want to damage the finish whilst fixing that edge.

 

[steve31]

OUCH!!! You now have an excuse to go buy a new one now.

 

[UltraNEO*]

I think your damn bloody lucky you don't have a split, cracked or chipped TFT too!! Cause that's the most expensive component in a MBP.

Here are some other people's MBP, just to say your not alone...

Maybe powerbookmedic can help....


Hmm... I wonder how many have died over the course of a year?