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I dropped my MacBook today

convert09

convert09

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
31
1
Chi-town area
This evening I was on my way out to a photo shoot at church. I was prepping to shoot a bunch of high school kidz. Loaded everything up and picked up my backpack and BOOM! The MacBook landed on the floor (carpeted) from a height of about 2.5 feet. I didn't have time to boot up at that moment but later in the evening I did and everything seems to be in tip-top shape.

I had read in some other posts with someone complaining about the HD parking? I think that's what was being discussed. My understanding is that the HD parks so that if there is sudden movement the drive doesn't get trashed, yes? The point of the thread was that that HD parking causes premature failure of the drive. Seems to me the parking worked as intended for me so I think I'd rather have it park. I offload and backup to external drives so even if something untoward should happen I hope to lose only a little bit of stuff.

Bottom line is my MacBook appears to be pretty sturdy. Being almost a month and a half into my first Apple computer I'm pretty satisfied.
 
phew, thankfully no major damage eh? Do you have the unibody? And if so, any dents/scratches? I'm so paranoid that this Aluminum Macbook that I have will dent super easily.
 
Definitely make sure your important data is backed up. Even if your machine seems fine now, a drop could cause the beginnings of HD failure. You could possibly have some problems in a few days/weeks. Better safe than sorry. :)
 
hellfire88 said:
phew, thankfully no major damage eh? Do you have the unibody? And if so, any dents/scratches? I'm so paranoid that this Aluminum Macbook that I have will dent super easily.
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I have the aluminum, and the only stratch I have is on the bottom and it's very minor. I think it's from going through security at the airport. Always keep it in a protective case (incase cases are great)
 
themacintoshman said:
I have the aluminum, and the only stratch I have is on the bottom and it's very minor. I think it's from going through security at the airport. Always keep it in a protective case (incase cases are great)
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Can you leave your Macbook inside the sleeve while its in the tray to go in for x-ray or does it have to be in there naked?
 
rtmadden said:
If it's in a TSA approved case, it does not have to be removed. Check out the link for more info.

http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/simplifying_laptop_bag_procedures.shtm
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Not necessarily true. It depends on the airport & TSA personnel on duty. I was always asked by the TSA personnel to take my notebook out of my notebook sleeve (mind you, I use a so called TSA approved sleeve as well) every time. :( Furthermore, they didn't look too impressed when I mentioned to them that I had a TSA approved sleeve. :( They still gave me a stern "take your laptop out of its sleeve & put your laptop in a separate tray" instruction every time. It really is a miracle that I do not get too much scratches on my MB going through the security checks. :eek:
 
rgarjr said:
Never really understood why you need to remove the laptops out of their bag or case when youre doing the airport thing.
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For the fear of terrorists creating a bomb replicates the xray print of a laptop and just putting it in the sleeve. It is harder for them to do both that and the outer case... and for the sake of just being a prick in the bum :rolleyes:.
 
I dropped mine today :(.. the screen has a horrible glitch on the left side.. but naah it's working like a charm.. except for that but well.. will replace the computer in a while haha
 
SPEEDwithJJ said:
Not necessarily true. It depends on the airport & TSA personnel on duty. I was always asked by the TSA personnel to take my notebook out of my notebook sleeve (mind you, I use a so called TSA approved sleeve as well) every time. :( Furthermore, they didn't look too impressed when I mentioned to them that I had a TSA approved sleeve. :( They still gave me a stern "take your laptop out of its sleeve & put your laptop in a separate tray" instruction every time. It really is a miracle that I do not get too much scratches on my MB going through the security checks. :eek:
Click to expand...

Same here but I put the sleeve under my laptop and they don't object.

Cheers,
 
convert09 said:
Seems to me the parking worked as intended for me so I think I'd rather have it park.
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Keep in mind that that feature only works when the macbook is turned on. If the mac was shutdown or is sleeping it won't make any difference, since the HD is not spinning.
 
misterredman said:
Keep in mind that that feature only works when the macbook is turned on....
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Ahhhh! This I did not know and will keep that in mind.

dukebound: I have no idea what you are talking about.:confused:

hellfire: I do have the unibody and no dents, or scratches due to this event.:)
 
rgarjr said:
Can you leave your Macbook inside the sleeve while its in the tray to go in for x-ray or does it have to be in there naked?
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Yes, i have the tucano second skin, and i didnt have to pull it out from the sleeve at every airport i went (JFK NY, Geneva, etc..)
 
SMS should have activated and hopefully prevented any HD damage. But as with any computer, I would always back up .. why risk it?
 
I have just come back from a trip to America- and every time (Manchester, New York, San Fransisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta) i had to remove my macbook from it's case and put it in a separate tray. On one occasion, the guy put my macbook through the xray scanner twice because i placed my macbook on top of my case the first time.
 
SPEEDwithJJ said:
Not necessarily true. It depends on the airport & TSA personnel on duty. I was always asked by the TSA personnel to take my notebook out of my notebook sleeve (mind you, I use a so called TSA approved sleeve as well) every time. :( Furthermore, they didn't look too impressed when I mentioned to them that I had a TSA approved sleeve. :( They still gave me a stern "take your laptop out of its sleeve & put your laptop in a separate tray" instruction every time. It really is a miracle that I do not get too much scratches on my MB going through the security checks. :eek:
Click to expand...

In theory, my statement is correct. It's not a guarantee and the TSA site clearly states that TSA personnel may request that you remove the laptop. Remember, this has only been in practice for less then a year. I'm glad that you have "always" had to remove your laptop, but I have had plenty of success with leaving it in the sleeve.
 
rtmadden said:
In theory, my statement is correct. It's not a guarantee and the TSA site clearly states that TSA personnel may request that you remove the laptop. Remember, this has only been in practice for less then a year. I'm glad that you have "always" had to remove your laptop, but I have had plenty of success with leaving it in the sleeve.
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Good for you then. :)

The ones that I encountered always want me to take my MacBook out of its sleeve & place it on a separate tray. Worse thing is that not even once am I allowed to place my laptop on top of my sleeve! :mad: As I've said earlier in my post, I always reminded them that I'm using a TSA approved sleeve. They don't seemed too happy as well. You can tell from the looks of their faces as well because they all give me those "Son, you better not try to be funny with us" & "Punk, are you trying to question our knowledge" look. I'm not exaggerating too. :( This is true, at least it happens to me every time. Needless to say, I duly obliged to all their instructions, only for fear that they'll give me trouble if I continue questioning them about the TSA approved sleeves. :eek: I have to admit that I'm not the most "pleasing looking" guy around. :eek: Maybe there really is such a thing that there are different inspection standards in place depending on what a person looks like?!? :confused:
 
SPEEDwithJJ said:
Good for you then. :) The ones that I encountered always want me to take my MacBook out of its sleeve & place it on a separate tray. Worse thing is that not even once am I allowed to place my laptop on top of my sleeve! :mad: Maybe there are different inspection standards in place depending on what a person looks like?!? :confused:
Click to expand...

It's likely that some TSA personnel don't truly know the regulations and understand why a case would be "TSA approved". The actual agent who is scanning the items is the only one that can really tell whether the case affects the view of the laptop during x-ray. I don't know if there are any TSA agents around, but I wonder what kind of information they received when this program was rolled out last summer.
 
rtmadden said:
It's likely that some TSA personnel don't truly know the regulations and understand why a case would be "TSA approved". The actual agent who is scanning the items is the only one that can really tell whether the case affects the view of the laptop during x-ray. I don't know if there are any TSA agents around, but I wonder what kind of information they received when this program was rolled out last summer.
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I wish I know the answer too.

I was always instructed to take out my laptop from its sleeve. When I told the security agent that I'm using a TSA approved sleeve. I always get those nasty look. Of course, I'm not doing anything illegal & am not really afraid to proceed with questioning them if I had to, but seriously, is it even worth the trouble? I always just comply & not try to be a "hero" because of fearing that I may meet one "hardcore" security check agent. This may cause me to end up getting "stuck" at the airport for further interrogation & then end up missing a flight & my time all for nothing. The thing is that they HAVE THE RIGHT to do so if need be & I've nothing to complain if that happen to me because this is done to ensure the security of everyone. :)
 
SPEEDwithJJ said:
I wish I know the answer too.

I was always instructed to take out my laptop from its sleeve. When I told the security agent that I'm using a TSA approved sleeve. I always get those nasty look. Of course, I'm not doing anything illegal & am not really afraid to proceed with questioning them if I had to, but seriously, is it even worth the trouble? I always just comply & not try to be a "hero" because of fearing that I may meet one "hardcore" security check agent. This may cause me to end up getting "stuck" at the airport for further interrogation & then end up missing a flight & my time all for nothing. The thing is that they HAVE THE RIGHT to do so if need be & I've nothing to complain if that happen to me because this is done to ensure the security of everyone. :)
Click to expand...

Ah, but does such nonsense really make us safer?
 
panzer06 said:
Ah, but does such nonsense really make us safer?
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I don't have a perfect answer to your question. :eek: IMO, I can only think that all these stringent security checks can only help to ensure the security of air travelers. :) I guess it is "better safe than sorry." :)
 
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