New MacBook Air 13" Creaking

[onthecouchagain]

Just use the tiniest bit of clear nail polish instead of blue loctite - it does the same job and it is invisible so you don't need to worry about Apple seeing it and asking questions.

Can you elaborate? Is this a proven method? Links? What does the nail polish do exactly (meaning, why would it prevent it from loosening)?

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The popping sound is the bottom plate rubbing against the rest of the computer.

Can you explain more too? Not sure what this means.

Sometimes, I'll hear the pop even when I'm not pressing down on it, meaning, all hands off, and my laptop is just sitting there, and it'll pop.

 

[boy-better-know]

Mine only creaks when I try to push hard on it, so mine is fine, if it feels fragile I wouldn't hesitate to take it back.
I do feel sorry for Mac users in Ireland because you don't have and Apple stores, so you can't just nip in and see what they can do . I hope your re-seller practices good customer service.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I caved and bought a pentalobe screw. Let's see if it fixes anything without the suggested loctite first.

=T

 

[TheRealDamager]

Can you elaborate? Is this a proven method? Links? What does the nail polish do exactly (meaning, why would it prevent it from loosening)?

No - can't provide links. Can only let you know that I heard that advice on the forums here and tried t myself, and it works well for me. I believe the nail polish acts very similarly to loctite, without the color left behind.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I sent mine into Apple after taking it to the Genius Bar a number of times. THey replaced the keyboard, bottom panel, battery and trackpad and it came back even worse. They offered me a new computer and asked if they would swap out for an iMac and I would pay the $100 difference in cost and they said sure. Best move I have ever made. Didn't need the Air, just liked it. I have my iPad for portability and my iMac at home.

BTW: I had 4 MBA air replacements before I had this one that I had to send in. So 5 machines all had the problem. All creaking from different areas of the machine.

 

[TheRealDamager]

This seems to drive some people nuts. For others, it's just an annoyance. Since I've experienced it, I understand both sides.

 

[skuid87]

I just took mine to Genius Bar for the first time last night. As expected, he re-seated the bottom plate and tightened the screws.

That's done the trick, for now. The interesting part though, was the genius actually told me it may come back. They obviously know this is a flaw!

He said if/when it comes back, they'll replace the casing and see if that works.

So lets see how it goes... It's been ok so far. I'll keep everyone here posted.

 

[PM-Performance]

This seems to drive some people nuts. For others, it's just an annoyance. Since I've experienced it, I understand both sides.

For me it drove me nuts because I spent ALOT of money on this thing and within 2 months started doing this.
If it was a $300 laptop I would expect it.

I took mine to a genius bar the other week and they removed the bottom plate and tightened up my trackpad as that started to sink also. Seems like its more sturdy for now but then the bottom was not even and would wobble. I gave it a little flex to get it straight again and seems fine for the moment.

Deff not happy I need to baby this $1400+/- laptop. I feel like I need to be in a clean room and wear gloves to use this thing sometimes.

 

[faqsmx]

Just use the tiniest bit of clear nail polish instead of blue loctite - it does the same job and it is invisible so you don't need to worry about Apple seeing it and asking questions.

If Apple ask questions, a horde of MAc book Air users will jump out to ask for a solution, they wont...