MacBooks becoming crackBooks?

The last time Apple had some serious machine cracking going on was way back in the Cube days (unless you want to talk about those minor incidents early on with the nanos) but here's a disturbing new one: MacBooks with exteriors starting to crack and distort the chassis under normal usage conditions. A couple of users on different forums are reporting cracks in nearly identical locations of their week 23 MacBooks, but it's still yet to be seen just how wide spread this one really is. Even after the heat and rebooting issue and the discoloration, we're still not really ready to throw in the towel on the MacBook, but we hope Apple has a solution to this one waiting in the wings.

[Thanks, Luke]

Read - Mac NN forusm
Read - Apple forums

[Nick Pulido @ Oct 26th 2006 2:42AM]

Crackbooks, hmmm reminds me of those hissing SnakeBook Pro.


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http://www.macnewsonline.com

[Anthony Peters @ Oct 26th 2006 4:46PM]

i have a crack on the top where the apple is, on the corner on the inside which adds to the sharp edges and i have on the hinge

[Nick Pulido @ Oct 26th 2006 2:48AM]

Also lets not forget this: http://macnewsonline.com/wp/2006/05/17/apple-macbook-first-impressions/

[Limm @ Oct 26th 2006 2:52AM]

This is a scratch, so now one person out of millions has a problem and because they have a blog its a WIDE SPREAD ISSUE..

MACBOOK OWNERS BEWARE!

[Sebastian @ Oct 26th 2006 3:04AM]

An itch you can't scratch.....a scratch you can't itch?

So, every Crackbook owener is a Crackho?

[Tom @ Oct 26th 2006 3:09AM]

Finally... someone cracks a Mac.

[Nick @ Oct 26th 2006 3:21AM]

Considering that mine's discoloring (slowly turning into the black model), safe sleep doesn't always work, been into repair (twice) for the random shutdowns, and is now "squishy" on the left side after such repairs...

Really, a crack is the least of my worries because at this point, the thing could spawn an infant arm that pulled me into a portal to hell and I would not be surprised.

[dukrous @ Oct 26th 2006 3:21AM]

So...Apple produces a laptop that has flaming batteries, stainable cases, and now cracks in its chassis, but it still gets a pass?

If this was a PC manufacturer, people would be calling for heads.

[Benson Leung @ Oct 26th 2006 3:33AM]

Exploding batteries were the PowerBooks and iBooks, not the MacBooks. The MacBooks and MacBook Pros use lithium-ion polymer batteries that are much more stable than older style lithium-ion cells.

You want to know why people aren't calling for Apple's head for the MacBook?

Because each of the problems you described are either with an older product line, or a small minority of all of the MacBooks out there.

I have a MacBook myself. I just checked. There are no 'cracks' in that location. I have never had a problem with heat and random rebooting, and i almost always run the CPU at 100% with SETI@Home... My handrest never stained... etc.

Want to know why Apple "gets a pass?" Because these problems that you want to believe are widespread are not so widespread.

When you do nothing but surf the web all day long looking at Mac forums , you might get the impression that EVERY Mac out there is afflicted with problems, but the reality is that these forums are where people look to get resolution about problems with their computers, and of course there will be reports... it is NOT indicative of how ALL MacBooks are.

[Joe Bella @ Oct 26th 2006 6:56PM]

If this was a PC manufacturer people would not even notice.

[DM @ Oct 26th 2006 3:27AM]

Crapbooks.

[dukrous @ Oct 26th 2006 3:58AM]

I never used the word widespread. I have enough problems with what I actually say, don't attack me for things I never said.

I was merely pointing out the moronic double standard that exists. Problems do happen with most electronics, but the first thing you hear is "X company produces shoddy products!" Not so with Apple...people are oddly rational despite suffering the exact same problems on the PC side.

[Tito @ Oct 26th 2006 9:12AM]

@Benson Leung
Once again, somebody has a Mac that doesn't have a problem (probably like the majority of the Mac owners) and thus says that all these defects never existed.

On another note, I never had a hard drive crash. I'm guessing all the stories I hear about HD failing is just a marketing ploy. Screw backups!

[potato @ Oct 26th 2006 4:12AM]

One has to wonder why these arguably basic problems are cropping up - this is not the first time Apple's built a all-plastic white laptop.

[Grmbl @ Oct 26th 2006 4:16AM]

Of course all electronics have issues.

But "all electornics" are not usually marketed with such amount of bullshit (read the site, I like "7x faster, 5x harder, 3x deeper..." crap most). And not so blatantly overpriced.

Personally I would expect at least proper quality control from Apple - insted there are numerous reports about same problems which are clearly because of bad QC.

Problems with sleep mode? This is a laptop, for Pete's sake! It should have no such problems by definition.

[Intrepid @ Oct 26th 2006 4:35AM]

Blatantly overpriced? Yes.
Expect more QC? No.

Even companies like BMW are putting quality on hold as they search for higher profits. Sad but true - it's the new American way... if only the world would ignore this particular trend.

[Andrew Ries @ Oct 26th 2006 4:18AM]

Vocal minority kids.

[Huy @ Oct 26th 2006 4:48AM]

I have a crack in exactly the same place. Week 20 MB.

[Deluxe @ Oct 26th 2006 4:49AM]

I was expecting something about MacBook users being predominately crack-whores who like white shiny things.

Still, it doesn't seem unlikely ;). Let it begin...

[Damage @ Oct 26th 2006 12:13PM]

Well played Deluxe, well played.

[carl @ Oct 26th 2006 4:57AM]

Consumer Reports keeps track of laptop repairs in terms of laptops which have been repaired or had a serious problem in the last four years. After polling 50,000+ people, there is no manufacturer that significantly pulls ahead of anyone else in this area. Sony is lowest at 15% of computers needing repair, while Dell, Toshiba, Apple, Gateway, and HP are all at 18%. It doesn't say anything about repeat repairs for individual machines.

[Richard Lai @ Oct 26th 2006 11:58AM]

Are you sure that Sony is the lowest? I know someone who works for a laptop distributor and apparently Sony is similar to HP. Maybe it is a regional thing (Asia).

[jalex_uk @ Oct 26th 2006 5:05AM]

OMG OMG OMG OMG you mean that after selling several million units, there are a handful that might have a flaw? Jesus - quick, call the police!

Good lord...get a grip.

[Benson Leung @ Oct 26th 2006 12:21PM]

Tito... you totally twisted my words.

My point was that this doesn't happen on every single MacBook, not that the defects don't exist. I absolutely believe the defects exist, but on a minority of the products that were produced.

"I was merely pointing out the moronic double standard that exists. Problems do happen with most electronics, but the first thing you hear is "X company produces shoddy products!" Not so with Apple...people are oddly rational despite suffering the exact same problems on the PC side."

You're also putting words in my mouth, dukrus. I am not someone who make generalities like "X company produces shoddy products!", so this double standard dooes not apply. I am rational all the time.

[helio9000 @ Oct 26th 2006 9:23AM]

I have definitely seen even problems with other friends Mac lappies that I have held off. So many cases of discoloration, whines or burnt out logic boards that personally I don�t believe the QC is that much better anymore.

[spotniks @ Oct 26th 2006 10:00AM]

These are not cracks. They are flow lines created during the manufacturing of the plastic. In this case the plastic is injected in to the center of the part and flows toward the edges where the air is vented out. As the plastic flows around holes such as the feet or screw bosses, it cools a bit and forms a seam. The seam can be seam quite easily in transparent part flowing away from the point of injection. Look and any non painted plastic part and you will see these seams. Old Computer monitors are notorious for flow lines around venting.

[Mephistophelian @ Oct 26th 2006 10:06AM]

Mmmmmmm ..... Crack

[Michael Parker McEachern @ Oct 26th 2006 10:47AM]

crackbooks rofl.


remember the lisa? tech support suggested you drop it from a height of like 6 inches to get it to work. what a piece of shit

[turboderek @ Oct 26th 2006 11:01AM]

At the school worked at the g3 & g4 ibooks developed cracks. But so did some of the telephones, VCR's, TV's, monitors and pda's.

http://www.volkswagenphotography.com

[Louis @ Oct 26th 2006 11:08AM]

I love it... Mac users are so quick to defend Apple for anything - cracked cases, overheating issues, even the fact that their latest iPods shipped with a Windows virus pre-loaded! Somehow Apple is a absolved from all responsibility.

Apple fans have been trying to push this agenda for as far back as I can remember, that Apple products are somehow above the issues that plague the rest of consumer electronics and computers. Whether it be inferior offshore manufacturing, poor quality control, or just straight up blunders, this just shows that Apple isn't the "knight in shining armor" that all these fanboys claim it is.

I've been a PC guy forever, and dealt with my share of crap, as anyone can imagine. All I've gotta say to Mac users is "Welcome to my world, muaahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!"

[Jay @ Oct 26th 2006 11:14AM]

A girl in my class says her Macbook keyboard buttons simply fall off.

I've seen it, it's like a beautiful model with missing teeth.

Macs aren't that great anyway.

[Mike @ Oct 26th 2006 11:17AM]

I can confirm this claim. I just sent my Macbook in because my palm rest started chipping away and cracking out of no where. After a month of normal use is when it started to crack and pieces started to eventually chip off. Wonder how well the the Macbooks will hold up after a year's time. I bet they're selling a bunch Applecare plans at this point!

[Mr. B @ Oct 26th 2006 11:42AM]

I guess the "i'm waiting for revision B" crowd is right, again.

[Mrfreezie @ Oct 26th 2006 12:11PM]

Wow, that sucks... that's all I can say..

[aboriginal @ Oct 26th 2006 12:44PM]

The so-called "cracks" in Cubes were the result of plastic flow "knit lines" when they double shot the Apple logo in the tool for the case. Plastic flows around the Apple logo trapping it, but as it cools and sets some of the plastic cools faster when flowing around the logo and creates the crack line look where it finally meets and hardens.

[Brian @ Oct 26th 2006 1:10PM]

I have a crack on my rear end, wonder if that's still under warranty.

Honestly though, if you don't want scratches, dings, discoloration, cracks, rips, viruses, blue screens of death, overheating, noises, crashes, cheap hardware, needs for upgrades, incompatibility... Go perfect your own damn computer, or just quit buying things that have a history of problems, instead of the "oh look the new mac, it's a must buy, I'll love it forev-OMFG a small crack!" ...

[Juicebeetle @ Oct 26th 2006 1:11PM]

"those minor incidents early on with the nanos"

You mean the incidents where sites like Engadget posted images of a Nano that was deliberately mistreated by Ars Technica next to a story about the Nano being susceptible to scratching. Those incidents?

[Rick Lyon @ Oct 26th 2006 1:39PM]

The reason mac users protest issues like this and defend Apple is because PC users come out of the wood works to use this an an opportunity to bash Apple. It's liek PC users need to bash Apple. I have no diea why. We are constantly defending Apple, and it's products against ignorant and most often baseless attacks. So a small minority have cracks, discoloration problems. Does that make the MacBook lesser or a sweet laptop? No. Yet, PC users will try to make it look that way. Can Apple verify every single product will be 100% in every corner of the globe and test for every condition? No. Sometimes they cover the consumer, sometimes not. Mac users love Apple and their products and PC users don't.

As for given Apple a pass, simply PC users being hypocritical. You've given M$ and Windows a free ride for more than a decade and you call us blindly faithful?

[Adam Mabe @ Oct 26th 2006 2:55PM]

Mine cracked. It was about 1 mm from the front edge of the spot where your right wrist sits. Just a hairline thing...it sucked...I was pissed about it, but I do have to say Apple immediately replaced the entire deck (keyboard, trackpad, palmrests, etc are all one piece) of mine in like 3 hours of me bringing it in.

[zak @ Oct 26th 2006 3:12PM]

heres an idea...take care of your shit.

next thing you know, people are going to complain about food crumbs in their keyboards and apple being to blame for leaving space for food to get in there.

you want your electronics to last, take care of them and dont be an idiot. i still have a G4 powerbook that is in immaculate condition, because i clean it regularly (inside and outside), i dont load it up with porn and other junk, and i reload os x every year or so (not really needed, but still helps the performance a bit on an older computer).

[Jared Schwager @ Oct 26th 2006 3:51PM]

Yet another reason why I am going to wait for a revision of the Macbook. Hopefully by then all the bugs will be worked out.

[jeremy @ Oct 26th 2006 4:11PM]

"It's liek PC users need to bash Apple. I have no diea why. We are constantly defending Apple, and it's products against ignorant and most often baseless attacks." - Rick Lyon

This comment is amusing to me, as I feel quite the opposite sentiment. I find myself having to defend my PC from Apple people, even from total strangers at coffee shops and the like, at least once per week (granted, they might just be jealous of my XPS...). Additionally, I often find these attacks baseless. For example, Windows is more virus-prone than Mac OS. But, to use similar wording to yourself, does this make PCs necessarily worse than Apples? No, as long as you are not a fool and understand how to protect yourself.

And lets not forget the baseless comment in your own post claiming that Windows users give Windows a free ride for their faults.

Perhaps I receive more attacks than seems to be the norm because I live near an art-school, and am in the minority as a PC-owner. But really, I think that the true problem is that there are assholes on either side that can't understand that both types of machines have their own faults and benefits (and I bet this statement will be proven by later posts claiming that their machine has only benefits).

To the fanatic PC users: I'd recommend you try out Tiger at least a couple of times - like me (a PC user), you will probably have to admit that it is better than Windows. Don't knock the Apples just because theyre apples.

To the fanatic Apple user: If you perceive yourself receiving many "baseless attacks," perhaps you should look at yourself and see if all you ever do is talk about how much better Apples are. They are better than PCs in some places, and worse in others. Don't let the Apple commercials turn you into a smug, snide asshole.

[agent_smith @ Oct 26th 2006 5:00PM]

It's called Applecare and you buy it for a reason. They send you a nice little box and repackage your mac and send it back to you in like a week. BFD....

[... @ Oct 26th 2006 6:55PM]

All of you who can't figure out why apple gets ripped on becuase of 'the little things' don't get that most people in the world expect gear that they payed a premium for to work better than the pos that they got on ebay.

I mean my dell inspiron 600m that I bought about 3 years ago for $1500 refurbished (1050x1400@32bit screen, pentium M processor, ati radeon 9000 graphics card, 80gig 10k hdd, etc) had suffered from a crashed hdd, bad power jack, fux0red mouse button, etc BUT I only paid like 1/2 what it would have costed to get a top of the line mac a the time (which btw would have had lower specs anyway). Dell has replaced my hdd (they actually gave me a better one than what I sent in) and the mobo, AND the mouse free of charge.

Sure apple would have done the same, but I would have expected it not to break in the first place since I did pay 2x as much for it...

WHY DON'T YOU GET IT?

[rockintom99 @ Oct 26th 2006 7:02PM]

Jesus christ. Just because it is Apple, then OH GOD IT MUST BE A MANUFACTURING PROBLEM!

In other news: I dropped my Ikea glass yesterday. There is now a chip in it. IKEA MAKES FAULTY GLASSES, GUYS!

[GTW @ Dec 2nd 2006 6:12AM]

rockintom99: "I dropped my Ikea glass yesterday. There is now a chip in it. IKEA MAKES FAULTY GLASSES, GUYS!"

The report says that people have encountered "cracks in nearly identical locations". Are you saying that whatever people are doing "wrong" to get these cracks, they're all doing it the same way? This only sounds like what a crazy Mac user would say! Oh I wonder whether one could be writing comments on this very page...

You don't fool us, you soulless Macphiles aren't unicorns... actually almost half the Mac users are dinosaurs: http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/nearly_half_of_apple_mac_users_are_over_55/

[tekdroid @ Oct 26th 2006 11:03PM]

Apple's PR firm went into overdrive and quickly decided on a new name for the product to save face; they attempted to explain this as a design feature to the public, but one thing stopped them: the fear of facing hefty lawsuits from food manufacturers and proud housewives everywhere:
http://sweetenergy.com/php/famACR.php

So the re-branding was abandoned. It's understood the manuals are being updated to say "your Apple may Crackle. This is not a design fault, but a unique feature". It is unclear how the public will react to the re-worded manuals.

[keith waddington @ Oct 27th 2006 12:33AM]

Most rational people know that hardware sometimes has problems.

Do Apple have more problems? According to statistics from various sources, no. Do a yahoo search if you would like to confirm this for yourself.

Does Apple have a better track record taking care of customer problems? According to many surveys their customer service is always superior to other manufacturers. Again you can do a search and confirm this for yourself.

The conclusion then is that there is no real story here. Buy a mac and you run no greater risk of hardware problems and are assured better support if you do.

Any other conclusion is not supported by statistics and consumer surveys.

waddo

[Superdotman @ Oct 27th 2006 3:09AM]

I'd like to add my name to the list of people whose Apple products have always worked either as expected or better (in the case of GUIs, as I'm a switcher).

[Marc Orchant @ Oct 27th 2006 9:40AM]

"i still have a G4 powerbook that is in immaculate condition, because i clean it regularly (inside and outside), i dont load it up with porn and other junk, and i reload os x every year or so (not really needed, but still helps the performance a bit on an older computer)."

Whoa... pr0n causes the case to crack? Who knew?