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nickday · Sep 8, 2004, 07:05 AM

I've just been out with my (1 month old!) PowerBook G4, and dropped it. It was in a Tucano Second Sleeve case which seems to have taken some of the impact, but not much.

The bottom left corner is completely bashed in with the metal being bent out, the right side with the CD drive seems to be a bit warped as there's a little metal bump near the battery which makes the whole thing wobble when I type, and the battery doesn't sit flush anymore.

Pics:
Bottom corner
Right side
Battery stickout out

Surprisingly everything on the laptop still seems to be working - Airport, CD drive, sound, display, keyboard, USB and power are all being used now and its OK.

Any ideas on how I could somehow fix this? As i've only had the laptop for a month (bought new from Apple UK Education Store) where do I stand with returning it to Apple? Unfortunately I don't have AppleCare

Nick

angelmb · Sep 8, 2004, 07:26 AM

I am sorry mate. About AppleCare, I think that those class of damage is not covered, have you or your parents some kind of home insurance?, that could help.

Maflynn · Sep 8, 2004, 07:27 AM

I'm not familiar with UK consumer laws so I'll speak from the US perspective.

First don't kick yourself on Applecare, it wouldn't be covered in the first place. Applecare is a warranty against defective equipment not against accidential damage.

Second, do you have homeowners (or rental) insurance policy. This may be covered.

Third. You cannot return the PB because it has been damaged.

Fourth you could send it in for repair. Just because the computer boots up doesn't mean the electronics and/or hard drive didn't sustain damage and you probably be better off having everything checked out.

Finally you could repair it yourself. I believe there are sites that can sell you the bottem and top case of the PB, though not cheap they are less expensive then sending it to apple.

Good luck,
Mike

urrl78 · 07:38 AM

What I would do in your shoes would be to first fall to my knees, shreek in utter agony and beat my breast, then ask any bystanders if they had a couple of broach pins so I could stick them in my eyes, but I assume you have done that already. I don't believe Apple care covers anything more on your laptop than the 1 year warranty in this case, and that means no coverage under accidental damage. Judging from the fuzzy photographs I would say stay out of the photography business and keep your day job. Aside from that I don't think the damage looks too bad; the case is just a little bent out of shape. Question now is, since it was plainly in an accident, will Apple now cover anything that goes wrong in the future. In other words; is your warranty now void anyway because of the accident? I would get that info and go from there, meaning I would first look into how much it would cost for Apple to fix it and then decide whether to live with it or try fixing it myself, seeing I happen to be handy at things like this and know there are web pages out there and maybe even technical Apple dissasembly infopages out on the internet that can help me dissect the thing. Will your home insurance cover it? Anyway, thats my advice and I'm stickin' to it. Sorry about your mishap and I sincerely hope things turn out well for you.

iMacfan · Sep 8, 2004, 07:30 AM

Yeah, you have two options:

1. See if you have any insurance covering it

2. Live with it as a testament to how sturdy a Powerbook can be.

In fact, I'm quite jealous of you. I have never dropped my Rev/A 12", and always use a sleeve on the few occassions I carry it everywhere, yet the superdrive does not burn DVDs, and after the last attempt at repair by the Apple service provider, it won't sleep, and cant find the bluetooth hardware! So some might see you as lucky...

David

nickday · Sep 8, 2004, 07:48 AM

Well ****, the screen seems to have been damaged after all. There's a darker area (seen best with a fully white screen) along the bottom, just above from the F9/F10 keys.

You can see the backlight is more obvious here and the screen is darker above this as if something is pressing against this, probably because of the case warping.

I really don't know what to do now - i'm not covered by house insurance, it wobbles when I type, there may be further damage to the components inside which I don't know about, and the screen is damaged.

Nick

anly · Sep 8, 2004, 08:33 AM

dang~ sorry about your beloved PB....

angelmb · Sep 8, 2004, 09:44 AM

have you bough it with a credit card?, if so, maybe it covers the damage

OK, this does not sound 'fair play', but schools use to have insurance, once you get there, you can claim the insurance to repair your PowerBook. Yes, I know, but... it is his only one month old PowerBook, that really hurts.

iREZ · Sep 8, 2004, 10:17 AM

I think you gotta take it as a lesson learned and just use the thing. It doesn't look horrendous or anything like that. I'd use it as a desktop replacement (ie. get a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and use it only at home). It's a shame these things happen, but hey what'r ya goin do.

urrl78 · Sep 8, 2004, 10:33 AM

Yeah, mine almost slips out of my hand sometimes when whipping it out of the sleeve. Slippery little devil. It should be a lesson not only to you but all of us. I feel for you.

Maflynn · Sep 8, 2004, 12:34 PM

Lesson indeed so much so, I often wonder if I want to get an ibook instead. At least then it can take a fall a little easier.

Mike

azdude · Sep 8, 2004, 02:08 PM

Originally posted by Maflynn:
Lesson indeed so much so, I often wonder if I want to get an ibook instead. At least then it can take a fall a little easier.

Mike

Well... it'd still fall at 9.81m/s^2, but it'd certainly be cheaper to replace!

milkmanchris · Sep 8, 2004, 02:10 PM

Originally posted by angelmb:
have you bough it with a credit card?, if so, maybe it covers the damage

Good point, all purchases i make on my barclaycard are covered for 90 days, and i believe that most credit cards in the UK are the same.

On the house insurance front, its worth checking out, i claimed many years ago for a sony vaio that i left on an ice rink too long (long story, but was water damaged beyond repair), they paid no worries.

Good luck and just remember, it could be worse, no body died.

C

nickday · Sep 8, 2004, 05:00 PM

Hey guys... well i've definitely learned my lesson here. Repairs of the case will cost �200 to �300... if the display needs replacing this will cost upwards of �500 so the engineer told me i'd be better off buying another one. I've listed this on eBay (with faults described) with a reserve and if I meet that i'll get a new one to replace it - and take out insurance cover!

Nick

Holigen · Sep 8, 2004, 05:59 PM

Thats a bummer man...

SCUmacadvocate · Sep 14, 2004, 01:10 AM

Hi All,

I dropped my 15.2" AI 1.25ghz Powerbook about a month ago.

It has about 2 years and 1 month left of Applecare, and I have no idea what to do with it. The screen is completely shattered, and Apple looked at it and quoted me around $1500 for a new screen. Home owner's insurance won't cover it, and neither would AMEX. Should I just sell it off on ebay or just try to fix it through a third party? I do have a friend that wants to buy it for $500 is that a good deal?

The specs are:

1.25 ghz
512 MB RAM, 1 DIMM
80 GB Hard Drive
Superdrive
AppleCare

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Randman · Sep 14, 2004, 03:59 AM

Yes, sell it to your friend and try again.

Lancer409 · Sep 14, 2004, 04:27 AM

wow .. the damage isnt as bad as i thought it would be ...

condolences ...

maybe you know someone who knows someone who works with metal ... maybe they can take the shell apart, and bang it back out .. (hopefully close to mint even if it isnt perfect) ... if nothing else it'll be better than it is at the moment. good luck .... =(

Lancer409 · Sep 14, 2004, 04:27 AM

oh yeah .. buy a sturdier sleeve/case next time ..

Randman · Sep 14, 2004, 04:37 AM

You butter-fingered posters should find the thread on the dude from Japan who took a tumble down an embankment with nary on a scratch on his PB. Now that's a case.

ryju · Sep 14, 2004, 07:12 AM

Post a thread about it.

Seriously though, if there's significant damage and problems send it to Apple.

romeosc · Sep 14, 2004, 08:23 AM

Buy a Pismo, you can run over it with a car or buy Safeware.com insurance. It will put it back like new no deductable!

nickday · Sep 14, 2004, 08:37 AM

Well i've sold my PowerBook on eBay for �870, new one arrived this morning (one dead pixel) so i'm happy!

I'm definately going to get insurance for it this time.

Nick

Konsole · Sep 14, 2004, 10:02 AM

This is why I bought a Zero Case (Z3-SI) which fits the 15" Aluminum powerbook like a glove and is indestructable.

I never understood using a flimsy foam sleeve on a $3000+ laptop. Foam would only protect from scatches or a very very low drop.

but then again, i am a bit paranoid about my powerbook.

d.fine · Sep 14, 2004, 01:08 PM

That sucks ! I feel for you.

SCUmacadvocate · Sep 14, 2004, 01:20 PM

Well...It wasn't in the case when it fell. My foot got caught in the power cord as I was standing up and it took a tumble. If it had been in the case, then it probably wouldn't have been damaged.

vasu · Sep 15, 2004, 08:03 AM

my 12" has the same kind of dent from a fall...it's been 4 months now. except for it looking ugly, i just deal with it

-vasu

Macpilot · Sep 15, 2004, 09:39 AM

Bummer dude. The same thing happened to me right after I got my 17" Powerbook. Had it in a sleevecase (Booq) and dropped it about two feet. Dented the corner near the slot load drive. No mechanical problems, but I hated to see the big dent.

So now I got the MacTruck from RadTech. Nothing will stop this case. And also got Safeware. They cover drops AND spills, which AppleCare does not.

Superchicken · Sep 15, 2004, 08:12 PM

You guys should seriously take better care. I have a point zero bag cost me about forty bucks, I have dropped my PowerBook on my bed, on the floor without realizing it was in the bag, all kinds of things, it's hit things, it's aside from recent problems which I think are due to the RAM I installed perfectly fine.

That said, everyone should get an iBook as their first laptop, it's cheap to replace (more so) and dang did I mess that one up a bit, fortunately the logic board went four times and it got replaced. But yah, don't drop your computer. That said, if you can't use it on a desk, use it on your lap, it won't wobble. If you don't wan to use it like that, get a keyboard and mouse and display and just leave it in your room with the display connected, you could probably pop the lid down if you don't like the way the display looks now.

Sucks to be you guys. If you buy another PB get a 12 inch, they're nice, portable, and are likely to take a beating a bit better.

manero · Sep 15, 2004, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by Superchicken:
You guys should seriously take better care. I have a point zero bag cost me about forty bucks, I have dropped my PowerBook on my bed, on the floor without realizing it was in the bag, all kinds of things, it's hit things, it's aside from recent problems which I think are due to the RAM I installed perfectly fine.

That said, everyone should get an iBook as their first laptop, it's cheap to replace (more so) and dang did I mess that one up a bit, fortunately the logic board went four times and it got replaced. But yah, don't drop your computer. That said, if you can't use it on a desk, use it on your lap, it won't wobble. If you don't wan to use it like that, get a keyboard and mouse and display and just leave it in your room with the display connected, you could probably pop the lid down if you don't like the way the display looks now.

Sucks to be you guys. If you buy another PB get a 12 inch, they're nice, portable, and are likely to take a beating a bit better.

My first "foray" into Macs (and Mac Laptops) was a Rev A Clamshell iBook that I bought from a friend. That mofo weighs 6.6lbs, and took a beating. I could go sledding down a hill with it and I bet it would still work fine.

That being said, now owning a light delicate Powerbook has made me appreciate the hardware more, and I treat it pretty carefully. No scares yet.

SCUmacadvocate · Sep 16, 2004, 02:11 AM

Originally posted by Superchicken:
You guys should seriously take better care. I have a point zero bag cost me about forty bucks, I have dropped my PowerBook on my bed, on the floor without realizing it was in the bag, all kinds of things, it's hit things, it's aside from recent problems which I think are due to the RAM I installed perfectly fine.

That said, everyone should get an iBook as their first laptop, it's cheap to replace (more so) and dang did I mess that one up a bit, fortunately the logic board went four times and it got replaced. But yah, don't drop your computer. That said, if you can't use it on a desk, use it on your lap, it won't wobble. If you don't wan to use it like that, get a keyboard and mouse and display and just leave it in your room with the display connected, you could probably pop the lid down if you don't like the way the display looks now.

Sucks to be you guys. If you buy another PB get a 12 inch, they're nice, portable, and are likely to take a beating a bit better.

Actually, I've had every iteration of the ibook from the indigo ibook on to the 700 mhz ibook with the sahara g3 chip. I then moved onto the 867 mhz 12.1" powerbook and then upgraded to the 15.2". Previous to this incident, my laptops have never suffered any accidental damage. It's not like I just drop my laptop down after every use. And again, it would have been nice if the powerbook was in its case, and NOT on my lap.