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How do the G-force sensors work on a macbook pro?
- Thread starter DoNoHarm
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Basically, they detect acceleration and park the heads on the hard drive to prevent a crash. You should be able to hear a loud click when this happens.
On my 13" MBP, the sensor gets triggered pretty easily. You can trigger it just by lifting up the laptop a few inches very quickly, for example.
On my 13" MBP, the sensor gets triggered pretty easily. You can trigger it just by lifting up the laptop a few inches very quickly, for example.
I don't know of any mechanism that would void the warranty.
On iPhones, for example, there's a sensor that can tell whether water has gotten inside, and that will void the warranty. But there is no equivalent to that on laptops that I know of.
On iPhones, for example, there's a sensor that can tell whether water has gotten inside, and that will void the warranty. But there is no equivalent to that on laptops that I know of.
bcburrows
macrumors 6502
Can't beat logic
Best quote ever for a discussion on falling MBP's
Alas I have to agree with the man, although the click is often followed by tears as well
Best quote ever for a discussion on falling MBP's
Alas I have to agree with the man, although the click is often followed by tears as well
Well, what I'm saying is, it kicks in long before it's actually dangerous. A laptop hard drive is rated for like 350-400 Gs of operating shock. When I lift up the laptop quickly, the shock is way less than that, but the sensor kicks in anyway. So you can hear it kick in without it being anywhere near the drive actually failing.
Just the heads parking alone doesn't do any damage (the drives are usually rated for the heads to park about 600,000 times).
You can sit there and make the sensor kick in 10x in a row if you want. It won't be enough to actually break anything. The protective mechanism is extra-conservative.
Just the heads parking alone doesn't do any damage (the drives are usually rated for the heads to park about 600,000 times).
You can sit there and make the sensor kick in 10x in a row if you want. It won't be enough to actually break anything. The protective mechanism is extra-conservative.
miles01110
macrumors Core
Ah, that is interesting; so they claim that previously, the results were stored for warranty purposes, but that they stopped doing it with the MacBook/MacBook Pro. Of course, this is on Wikipedia with no sources cited...
Here's another way to see the measurements from the sudden motion sensor: SeisMac.
ok that's gotta be the coolest application I have ever seen for the mac. thanks for the link.
NewMacbookPlz
macrumors 68040
Macbooks have multiple moisture/spill stickers inside. They change color when something has been spilled on the computer and gets inside.
noodle654
macrumors 68020
The man is right. All of Apple's computers, iPods, iPhones, and every piece of hardware that they build has water sensors inside. Pretty hard to lie to Apple now-a-days 😛.
Does anybody know how the SMS interacts with Macbooks configured with SSD drives? Since the SSD is impervious to g-shock it does not need to be protected by the SMS. However, does the SMS tell the SSD to stop writing data if it detects a large jostle (causing unecessary delays in writing/reading of data from the SSD), thinking it is a traditional HD, or since the SSD probably doesn't respond to any command to "park" the heads, the commands from the SMS are just ignored?
Ruahrc
Ruahrc
spillproof
macrumors 68020
Eh, what's worst is every time my chair's arm rest hits the desk or I close the keyboard drawer, it triggers it 😡
NewMacbookPlz
macrumors 68040
MrCrowbar
macrumors 68020
There was another app used the sudden motion sensors, sorry I don't have the link - I had to delete it, that made your SMS equipped Mac sound like a Light Sabre (from Star Wars) when you whirled your notebook around the room. It sounded very authentic. I suspect many of us deleted it after one too many close calls with furniture. I wonder how many had wished they had deleted it earlier, after it was too late.