Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Elweezy

macrumors regular
Original poster
My MacBook Pro was stolen, I have nothing downloaded on it like hidden or anything to find it. What are my only chances of ever getting it back?
 
My MacBook Pro was stolen, I have nothing downloaded on it like hidden or anything to find it. What are my only chances of ever getting it back?

realistically zero. if you have the serial number handy, you can register that with police, and go around to local pawnshops or where ever and inform them of the number and say it was stolen from you. other wise, you're s.o.l.
 
My MacBook Pro was stolen, I have nothing downloaded on it like hidden or anything to find it. What are my only chances of ever getting it back?

need more info, where did it got stolen? have you have any sort of insurance i.e. home and content?

dunno how you would get it back?
 
My MacBook Pro was stolen, I have nothing downloaded on it like hidden or anything to find it. What are my only chances of ever getting it back?

Pretty slim if he keeps it or sells it privately, but still report it to the cops with your serial number. If the thief tries to pawn it locally, the broker will check the serial with the police. Our 2 computers were stolen, an '09 MBP 13, and a Sony Vaio that was older than dirt 😉 . The cops actually called me a couple months after, asking if I lost a MBP and PC. There were two just taken to a pawn shop. Turns out the cop called the wrong guy - he meant to call someone else who reported a lost MBP and PC.
 
need more info, where did it got stolen? have you have any sort of insurance i.e. home and content?

dunno how you would get it back?


Stolen out of my house, but no insurance or anything. Messed up living situation. And I don't have any suspects 🙁.
 
Ugh, looks like I'll be shopping for a new MacBook soon. So for the future what are the good apps to download... Such as "hidden"?
 
Pretty slim if he keeps it or sells it privately, but still report it to the cops with your serial number.

I wouldn't just assume it was a male. Females do some crazy stuff for money.

Anyway, report it to the police with the serial number. Also check your email accounts, if he/she is able to access your email because of cookies then you can find out the IP Address of where they accessed it. I know someone who for their iMac back that way. Also call Apple and see of somebody has tried to register that serial number again.
 
It was "one of those nights" over 150 people. Rave night.

Don't waste your money on that whole localisation software gimmick, the thief only has to pull out the Hard Drive and format it with another computer to have it gone. It's a waste of money.

And 150 people in one house is just asking for ***** like that to happen, I can't say I feel sorry for you.

A kensington lock bolted to your desk might be a good idea next time.
http://ca.kensington.com/html/17852.html
 
Next time use PreyProject so you can track that mofo down and call the po-po.

Like I previously mentionned, remove the HD, buy a new one and a 29$ Snow Leopard DVD(heck you can even torrent it, it's DRM free with no CD-Key) and voilà, the PreyProject program has been rendered useless and is money down the drain.
 
or charge $20 bucks each to get into the Rave 😎

seriously ... good luck trying to get it back

Well, I didn't charge $20 but I did charge $10. So it wasn't a total loss.

Wait so if they reformat the hard drive it doesn't matter what's on it. Its pretty much there's after? That's all you have to do with a stolen MacBook Pro?
 
You have back to my mac enabled with the share screen option? May be able to log in and turn on isight.
 
Well, I didn't charge $20 but I did charge $10. So it wasn't a total loss.

Wait so if they reformat the hard drive it doesn't matter what's on it. Its pretty much there's after? That's all you have to do with a stolen MacBook Pro?

You could do it with any computer. Not condoning the act or anything, it's just that going around OS X passwords and such is easy if you simply swap out the HDD.
 
Well, I didn't charge $20 but I did charge $10. So it wasn't a total loss.

Wait so if they reformat the hard drive it doesn't matter what's on it. Its pretty much there's after? That's all you have to do with a stolen MacBook Pro?

hmm ... this comment sounds like the thief posting?
 
hmm ... this comment sounds like the thief posting?

Its not, I just find it sad that it can be that easy. How much can a small GPS chip be seriously. Look at the ones in pets! You can't tell me a company with $50,000,000,000 dollars to invest can't make this happen.
 
Its not, I just find it sad that it can be that easy. How much can a small GPS chip be seriously. Look at the ones in pets! You can't tell me a company with $50,000,000,000 dollars to invest can't make this happen.

no offense meant ... but if you think about it ... stolen Macs mean more sold by Apple
 
hmm ... this comment sounds like the thief posting?

that's was legitimate thought. Many people think when they install apps like undercover or lojack that it somehow hooks into the bios/efi and can survive anything short of complete disassembly and reflash. The vendors don't make this obvious.
 
That's all you have to do with a stolen MacBook Pro?

Yep. My fiance called Apple soon after calling the cops. Verbatim:

Fiance: "My Macbook Pro was just stolen. Is there anything you can do now?"
Apple Support: "Yeah, I can sell you a new one."
😛

I wouldn't just assume it was a male.
And there's the politically correct tip that will really crack this case. 🙄
 
Its not, I just find it sad that it can be that easy. How much can a small GPS chip be seriously. Look at the ones in pets! You can't tell me a company with $50,000,000,000 dollars to invest can't make this happen.

Ummm, most pet chips are RFID tags. They only work when an RFID scanner is scanned over them within a few feet. What you are discussing is a "lojack". First off, they would have to be powered in order to transmit and receive a signal at all times. This would mean your battery of your laptop would constantly drain. Secondly, this is not a "cheap" solution. Is it expensive? No. But at $50-100 per device you are adding quite a bit of cost. Third, space. I don't know if you have ever opened a laptop but there's not a lot of room in there.

Frankly, the real "solution" is buying an lock for your dang laptop and putting it away when you have "company".

Seriously blaming other people and/or companies for your own error is what is wrong with the world today. Grow up and man up.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.