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Screw fell out of New Precision Aluminum MacBook Pro - Late 2008

Mine was swapped this afternoon, no questions asked. Took them two hours to swap the ram and HDD though
 
I wonder if this is a manufacturing defect that has affected a few batches, or if maybe there is something bigger going on. Perhaps threads that aren't being made correctly and giving manufacturing tolerances, some screws fall out immediately while others are bound to fail in the future?

Maybe those having the problem can post when there computer was manufactured?
 
that's good news billy... I don't understand why it would take 2 hours to swap the harddrive though. That's weird... Did they copy the drive or actually swap the physical drive which should only take two minutes?

when I get go e I'll check the serial number and try to figure out the week it was manufactured.
 
JoshHawn said:
that's good news billy... I don't understand why it would take 2 hours to swap the harddrive though. That's weird... Did they copy the drive or actually swap the physical drive which should only take two minutes?

when I get go e I'll check the serial number and try to figure out the week it was manufactured.
Click to expand...

Me neither, well i suppose it's saturday that's all. Having defective products isn't something new for Apple, but at least they didn't make up stupid excuses to cover their faults, so i'm semi-impressed with them still.:cool:
 
well some of the people at my apple store are jerks so I hope they are able to replace mine this time... They didn't do anything about the iMac I bought last year that came with a dead pixel.
 
I have the same loose screw problem (two middle ones on the rear edge) on the new MacBook, I doubt it's a common issue rather than a defected unit.
 
billyjo, does your replacement has the same issue? Otherwise, I might declare a replacement too.
 
One of my middle screws on my new MBP is not flush so i tried screwing it back in but it wont go flush. Not sure what i should do.
 
So exactly how many other peoplle are experiencing the problem?? is it an issue with most or just a handfull of the new MBPs?? I would like to know if this is more than just something a few people have noticed.
 
My replacement seems to be fine (i've been using it for a few hrs now), they treated my problem as if i refunded it and repurchased, so i have another 14 days to observe just in case another screw fall out. They treated me alright though, i can imagine if i bought a Dell with the same problem they'll ask me to send it back, observe for 2 weeks just in case it magically heal itself, a week to fix and another 10 business days to ship... lol

It was a busy saturday and i think they appreciated me keeping my voice down when i said a screw mysteriously fell out of a new laptop. The paperwork was dealt with swiftly, the pain was when i had to wander around the shopping mall waiting for their technician to do something that normally takes me 10mins
 
that sounds like great news billy .

So no loose screw at all eh?

If they do what they did last time they will probably say something like "it doesn't warrant a replacement because you need at least 3 of the four screws to fall out before it warrants a replacement" or some bullcrap like that :(

I'm not kidding, I have had some bad experiences with this apple store.
can you believe that I asked an employee about Xcode and he didn't even know what it was?? WTF
 
Try test it by using a screw driver, don't expect it will fall by itself. I found my loose screw when I try to open the memory back cover.
 
If they don't fall out by themselves i rather not then i better leave it that way..
I already have 4GB ram installed so it's unlikely that i'll ever need to open the case back again, fingers crossed:eek:
 
OK, i looked up the information from my MacBook Pro's serial number:

Model introduced: 2008
Production year: 2008
Production week: 41 (October)
Production number: 22821 (within this week)

for those of you also experiencing this problem please see if it's from the same week as mine, that way we can see if it's just a certain batch affected by this issue.
 
alright, my genius bar appointment is later today !!

I hope they are able to help me out and not just tell me that it is an acceptable flaw like they did the last time I had a defective product.:(
 
mysterious screw issue - macbook

:eek: bought my macbook last year oct 07 just before the graphics card refresh.
about a week ago i noticed there was a screw missing. i thought it was fairly odd. maybe someone was playing a joke on me and had stolen my screw? but no i never let my precious out of my sight. and then yesterday i picked up my macbook to see another screw had stayed perfectly stuck to my desk, like my desk and that screw were somehow having an affair and could not be separated. anyway, the screw just slides back in. obviously apple has change from using the simple machine to using an even simpler dowl plug technology!

i mean seriously WTF screws should just not fall out of a 1600 dollar laptop from apple. and my macbook is now out of my year warranty. god damn apple put one year and one month glue holding this pos together. grrrr..

i'm actually happy to see people with the brand new macbooks having the same issue. take that for making my precious obsolete! hahaha
jk
much love <3
 
lost little screw

ok folks... I am on my 2nd MBP unibody. First one had dust trapped in the LED screen and screen shield. Replaced yesterday at Genius bar with an really sorry apology. The replacement is now 1 day running is sans bottom screw under the power button.

The 2500 buck laptop is kinda wonky for a machine designed in california. They want another appearance at the GB... sounds like I am in for another swap and apology. I will insist an unveiling of #3 before I leave the store. And will now opt for the apple care since this defect is going to come up again.
 
Any update? My unibody MBP also exhibits a loose screw in the same place. I noticed it being loose almost immediately, I have not lost it, cause I keep holding that screw when I am moving it :mad:
 
My screw fell out today on my macbook unibody. It's about 2 months old. It seems secure enough even without the screw. I might take it in, not sure yet.
 
Build Quality

Actually, the build quality isn't bad, their quality control needs work. The loud noise is probably a fan issue. try SMCfancontrol first. Mine was perfect until I dropped it onto concrete. isn't it odd how the more expensive laptops are dropped more?:mad:
 
I guess it must be cheaper to pay a Genius $10/hr then to halt an assembly line when a few bad cherries go through?

Then again, designed in California, assembled/built in China. I mean come on we all know the quality control at Apple isn't the greatest in the industry but when something this expensive comes out of China, you'd expect they'd have enough money left over to fund a decent quality control team.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
I guess it must be cheaper to pay a Genius $10/hr then to halt an assembly line when a few bad cherries go through?

Then again, designed in California, assembled/built in China. I mean come on we all know the quality control at Apple isn't the greatest in the industry but when something this expensive comes out of China, you'd expect they'd have enough money left over to fund a decent quality control team.
Click to expand...

Or at least to be able to pay for a quality screw :p

What is the latest status on this? Do they just give you a new computer? I don't want to go through that hassle unless they can swap my hard drive as well.
 
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