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Macbook Pro 15 2010 with bent housing.

J

Jumoseph

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 19, 2011
5
0
Melbourne, Australia
Hi,
Last week I found a Macbook Pro 15 on eBay. It is the i5 2.4GHz with 8gb Ram model. Anyway, there was only one picture on the listing so I asked the guy about the condition. He said it was great. So I bought it and organised a pickup time, that being tomorrow morning. After that he sent through about 6 pictures of it and it looked perfect, no scratches or dents whatsoever. However it took me awhile to see that the area under the optical drive was pushed in. I asked the seller about it and he said that he had never noticed it, but the drive works. I said I would still buy it as I am paying only $800 for it. Here is the pic.
macbookbenthousing.jpg

As you can see the area under the optical drive has been bent up ever so slightly. I really don't like knowing that my things have damage like this, same goes for my iPhone and iPad ect. The seller said that the bottom panel is not bent and the area under the optical drive looks like it could be bent back into place.
Have any of you run into this problem before? I have no issues with taking it apart as I am going to install two SSD's anyway, so I might as well learn my way around the inside.
Thanks in advance.
 
From the picture, I think it's definitely the laptop housing, not the bottom cover. Even if you replace the drive with a SSD, it will look the same
 
I'd seriously be careful. The sheer amount of force it would take to bend it like that might mean it was dropped on something largish -- which could have wrecked havoc to the interior components, reducing the Pro's lifetime.

Just my thoughts.
 
If I were in your position OP, I wouldn't buy it. Its not worth the potential problems when you can get a brand new MBP (albeit not a 15") for not a lot more - have you checked the refurbished store lately?

As for your question, I haven't seen this problem before, but I doubt you'd be able to to bend it back into shape.

Definitely be careful, if he hasn't noticed that kind of damage, he might of missed other defects as well.
 
It's hard to imagine he didn't notice it. It was either dropped or someone sat on it. You might be able to bend it back, but otherwise it would require an entirely new housing, and that would mean a tremendous amount of work. I'd mostly be worried about what else happened inside when that dent happened.
 
Never seen that issue before. I'd offer even less. If he was willing to sell it for $800 w/o knowing about the damage he may be willing to accept less now that it has been brought to his attention. I find it hard to believe he wasn't aware of the damage. You might want to seriously rethink your purchase decision. If not, I'm sure you will check it out as thoroughly as possible prior to taking possession.
 
stiligFox said:
I'd seriously be careful. The sheer amount of force it would take to bend it like that might mean it was dropped on something largish -- which could have wrecked havoc to the interior components, reducing the Pro's lifetime.

Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, but I did forget to add that it has Applecare till Feb 2014. The only reason I have not gone for a 2012 new MBP is that this is my first Mac I have ever owned. My experiance with Windows was umm.. less than stellar and I would just like to give Mac a try. If a issue did arise would Apple take care of it or blame it on accidental damage? And to the people that think I am paying to much, I live in Australia and the cheapest i5 15" MBP other than this that I could find was $1179 with no Applecare.
Thanks for your help and I will post some more pics tomorrow.

----------
midtownhd said:
From the picture, I think it's definitely the laptop housing, not the bottom cover. Even if you replace the drive with a SSD, it will look the same
Click to expand...

Sorry, I know that it is the housing, but the seller said that the bottom cover was in perfect shape. I know the SSD won't hide the damage lol, I'm putting it in there to speed the computer up. But when it was dropped the optical drive could have been damaged, so it would be good to get it out of there.
 
I just talked the guy down to 800, so thanks to everybody that recommended it. He denies knowing that it was there before I alerted him to it. As soon as I pick it up I will book it into the genius bar and let them take a look at it. He said that he would refund the money if anything inside appeared dodgy.
 
Jumoseph said:
I just talked the guy down to 800, so thanks to everybody that recommended it. He denies knowing that it was there before I alerted him to it. As soon as I pick it up I will book it into the genius bar and let them take a look at it. He said that he would refund the money if anything inside appeared dodgy.
Click to expand...


Sounds like a good plan to me. $800 isn't really that much for a MBP, and Apple will most likely repair if there is anything failing inside.
On the other side, I have heard from Apple denying repair because a laptop looked damaged...

No risk no fun?
 
medi.freak said:
Sounds like a good plan to me. $800 isn't really that much for a MBP, and Apple will most likely repair if there is anything failing inside.
On the other side, I have heard from Apple denying repair because a laptop looked damaged...

No risk no fun?
Click to expand...

Even though accidental damage is not covered, with my experience of replacing iOS devices I think they might just feel sorry for me and do the repairs.
 
Jumoseph said:
I just talked the guy down to 800, so thanks to everybody that recommended it. He denies knowing that it was there before I alerted him to it. As soon as I pick it up I will book it into the genius bar and let them take a look at it. He said that he would refund the money if anything inside appeared dodgy.
Click to expand...

sure he will
 
This is likely just external damage, check that the ODD works ok, if it`s fine you will be good. You should be able to bend the casing back to it`s original position with a little care and patience, as the aluminium is relatively mailable.

If the ODD is good you are getting the machine a pretty decent price, even so I would have a look and offer $750, all the same even at $800 that`s a great price for Australia. The Unibody`s frame offers tremendous strength and the rMBP`s more so, however the aluminium can be deformed relatively easily in certain areas, the old Classic MBP was also susceptible to bending in the SuperDrive slot is enough pressure was applied. You will need to find something that will enter the drive slot but not the drive itself and carefully apply downwards pressure. The machine may have been put down heavily in a bag without any padding in the base that would be enough to deform the drive slot, as it`s not designed to withstand load.
 
Last edited:
Jumoseph said:
I just talked the guy down to 800, so thanks to everybody that recommended it. He denies knowing that it was there before I alerted him to it. As soon as I pick it up I will book it into the genius bar and let them take a look at it. He said that he would refund the money if anything inside appeared dodgy.
Click to expand...

In your opening post you said you were going to pay $800 for it, now you're saying you talked him down to $800? Quite the negotiator you are.
 
Jumoseph said:
I agree with you, but I did forget to add that it has Applecare till Feb 2014. The only reason I have not gone for a 2012 new MBP is that this is my first Mac I have ever owned. My experiance with Windows was umm.. less than stellar and I would just like to give Mac a try. If a issue did arise would Apple take care of it or blame it on accidental damage? And to the people that think I am paying to much, I live in Australia and the cheapest i5 15" MBP other than this that I could find was $1179 with no Applecare.
Thanks for your help and I will post some more pics tomorrow.
Click to expand...


Refurb pricing is much higher there. I would suggest you go to the Apple Store and verify the status of Applecare even with the damage. You can always stress test and memtest the machine to make sure it's in good working order when you receive it.
 
Puevlo said:
In your opening post you said you were going to pay $800 for it, now you're saying you talked him down to $800? Quite the negotiator you are.
Click to expand...

Haha!

Seller: "It's yours for 800"

Buyer: "Yeah sounds great"
.....
Buyer: "Wait, it's bent, you didn't tell me that before"

Seller: "Oh yeah, erm, about that...I tell you what, it's yours for just 800 now"

Buyer: "Fantastic! Thank you sir."
 
medi.freak said:
Sounds like a good plan to me. $800 isn't really that much for a MBP, and Apple will most likely repair if there is anything failing inside.
On the other side, I have heard from Apple denying repair because a laptop looked damaged...

No risk no fun?
Click to expand...

Not with accidental damage like that.
 
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