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MBP 17-inch hinge

gelatin said:
since my MBP is brand new im thinking of returning it to be repaired.
i bought it online, will i be able to take it to the apple store for them to fix?
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Fix what? It's designed that way. I can't believe people don't get this.

1.) 15" and smaller displays use a friction hinge. Set it and wiggle all you want, it will stay put unless you get crazy.
2.) The 17" is too heavy for a friction hinge unless it was very very stiff. That would also make it difficult for users to adjust the angle. So Apple uses a counter balanced hinge. This allows the display to be adjusted with very little effort (go try a 15" you will see the 17" adjusts easier). The downside is the counterbalance is based on a level surface. Apple obviously expects most usage of a 17" to be on a desk. So if you tilt the back end up, the counterbalance isn't correct and the display closes.

There is likely individual variation from one hinge to another. But the basic design is not adjustable and will never ever be like the 15".

And FYI I've had numerous 17" and 15" PowerBook G4 and MacBook Pros. This is isn't something new, it's been in these basic case designs since the very beginning.
 
gelatin said:
thing is, ive spoken to people with 17 inchers that dont have this problem tho
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I've seen these claims also. Have you actually tried theirs? I've had several and they are all like this including those I've tested in stores.

It's like someone claiming their display is perfect, but you look at it and see it has a heavy yellow tint in the bottom 1/3 of the display.

I know there are those here who will disagree with me, but I say they are wrong. I want one person to tell me they can hold the 17" at a 90 degree angle with the trackpad pointing down and say the lid stays in place. It will not. A 15" or MB or MBA will do this fine. The 17" hinge design doesn't allow this. Period.
 
bcaslis said:
I want one person to tell me they can hold the 17" at a 90 degree angle with the trackpad pointing down and say the lid stays in place. It will not. A 15" or MB or MBA will do this fine. The 17" hinge design doesn't allow this. Period.
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No it doesn't =(

All my friend's are in the same room and they can all do it and I can't.
 
mines not even 90 degrees, i tilt my laptop at about 45 degrees and it fall down

can do any harm in calling up apple can it?
 
gelatin said:
mines not even 90 degrees, i tilt my laptop at about 45 degrees and it fall down

can do any harm in calling up apple can it?
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Certainly no harm, but I wouldn't bother with trying an exchange or repair unless there is another issue. I agree that it's somewhere between 45 degrees and 60 degrees where the lid start to close.
 
It's the hinge design and the weight of the screen. All 17" MBP's that I've had do this (and possibly the Powerbooks too?) Tightening up the display - if it is at all possible - is probably not a good idea, as it'll put more stress on the hinge assembly when you close it, leading to earlier failure of an already comparatively delicate mechanism.

Perhaps if you need to use it like this on a regular basis you can use a small plunger with a long handle stuck onto your forehead to keep the display from closing or something :p
 
I was at a PC laptop store the other day, none of the seven 17" laptop displays flopped closed like the MBP. The machines were all much heavier than the MBP.

So Apple is the only manufacturer who can't seem engineer a system with a firm display and still brag how light and thin it is and blame the weight of the display as the reason for this flawed design? Right i get it.
 
Well - part of the reason for the weight is that they can engineer a more substantial chassis than the MBP's. However I've had HP business machines that weren't much heavier and were also better built despite having a plastic body (and better cooled to boot, so you could actually use the GPU on the move without flambe-ing your thighs).
 
drayon said:
I was at a PC laptop store the other day, none of the seven 17" laptop displays flopped closed like the MBP. The machines were all much heavier than the MBP.

So Apple is the only manufacturer who can't seem engineer a system with a firm display and still brag how light and thin it is and blame the weight of the display as the reason for this flawed design? Right i get it.
Click to expand...

Part of this is how easily the lid is to adjust. It's much lighter to adjust than the 15". That's the counterbalanced hinge. You can argue whether it's the right decision or not, but it's obvious it's a design decision.
 
the 17 inch screen is ridiculosly easy to open but closing it takes a lot more effort
 
gelatin said:
the 17 inch screen is ridiculosly easy to open but closing it takes a lot more effort
Click to expand...

friction hinge = same effort to open or close

counterbalanced hinge = what you want in the design, usually easier in direction than another
 
bcaslis said:
friction hinge = same effort to open or close

counterbalanced hinge = what you want in the design, usually easier in direction than another
Click to expand...

well then theyve put the counterbalance the wrong way round imo
 
gelatin said:
well then theyve put the counterbalance the wrong way round imo
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Well I guess that depends. I bet if you had one to try that didn't have the counterbalance you would find it difficult to open due to the weight. And if it was easier to close then it would be slamming closed on you even easier than it does now.
 
bcaslis said:
Well I guess that depends. I bet if you had one to try that didn't have the counterbalance you would find it difficult to open due to the weight. And if it was easier to close then it would be slamming closed on you even easier than it does now.
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i wouldnt be bothered that its difficult to open.
i never said i wanted it to close easier, i want it harder to close
 
gelatin said:
i wouldnt be bothered that its difficult to open.
i never said i wanted it to close easier, i want it harder to close
Click to expand...

I understand that you want it harder to close. I was commenting that if you made it harder to open, then closing it would be easier due to counterbalancing.

What most in this thread want is a friction hinge. Unfortunately that's not what Apple has built in the 17".
 
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