[ebuddy]

500mhz Tibook w/ 15" LCD.

Okay, I see a bunch of posts regarding broken hinges, but I'm not seeing any pics of their broken hinges. My daughter claims to have simply opened the lid and crrracckk. I see both hinges are broken, but it seems they've ripped from the blasted display casing. Is this common? I mean, I hear about broken hinges, but what the heck to do about the ripped display casing?

The display casing has a top panel (with transparent apple logo) and a bottom panel. the hinges appear to be connected to a chunk of that top panel casing. Do I have to buy a new replacement panel, or a new LCD altogether? I can't believe this thing just ripped apart like that.

[vexingv]

i've read about the plastic hinges just breaking (not too familiar w/ the Ti since ive only owned an Al) but like yourself ive never seen many pictures. i know ebay has hinges up for auction. if the lcd turns on, maybe try that avenue?

[ebuddy]

Thank you VexingV.

Yeah, the LCD is working unfortunately a chunk of it is still connected to the hinges on both sides. Titanium indeed. The display (upper casing) with apple logo is actually glued (this is friggin' engineering excellence brought to you by Apple) to the LCD assembly and you can't just buy the upper casing like you can the lower casing. Of course the upper casing comes with the LCD for the incredible Apple-low-bargain-basement-price of $1100.00!!! No thanks, I'll just pick up a run-o-the-mill monitor, set to external and have a spiffy, small CPU desktop I guess.

What to do for a portable? Hmm, right now in the mix of extreme anger I'm thinking a MUCH cheaper PC laptop will have to do. Hell, I can get a new one for what it's going to cost to fix my friggin' 500mhz Tibook. At least this way I won't be pounding my head against a wall for paying WAY TOO MUCH MONEY ON CHEAP-A$$ED WORKMANSHIP ONLY TO WATCH IT BREAK DOWN WITHIN 3 YEARS!!! I mean really, is it more profitable for Jobs to sell parts, or computers???

I apologize, I usually sing Apple's praises, but I can't afford to keep dumping money on computers and this really bothers me. What killed my tangerine iMac? Design flaw in cooling. What killed my Tibook? Design flaw in hinges. I'm now wondering what design flaw is going to kill my dual 2-gig G5.

[cambro]

I agree that the TiBook hinges are not the best design in the world....I have a Ti400 and a TiGhz in the family and I'm just waiting for the day when CRACK.

That said, I've seen many, many poorly designed hinge mechanisms on many, many types of laptops. A friend has a Dell or something that is several years old that has a nice, loose hinge. So loose in fact it won't even stay up!! Has to be propped up. I suppose this is better than breaking, but it still sucks.

I know it doesn't help you, but have you seen the new hinge design? It is SO much better...at least Apple is learning from design flaws...

[ebuddy]

I appreciate your reply Cambro, I do feel like a whiner, but...

originally posted by Cambro; That said, I've seen many, many poorly designed hinge mechanisms on many, many types of laptops. A friend has a Dell or something that is several years old that has a nice, loose hinge. So loose in fact it won't even stay up!! Has to be propped up. I suppose this is better than breaking, but it still sucks.

I agree accept the small fact that the most expensive Dell laptop I could find was rated at 5 stars and costs $1200. The cheapest Apple Desktop? $1000. The Dell is a 1.6ghz machine. The cost just to repair my 500mhz Apple laptop? $1100.00. Your friend can very simply tighten the hinge screws with small torque wrench. I need to replace my LCD panel and both hinges. Even to do this myself (9 page manuals just on hinge replacement alone) will cost more than to just buy a brand new Dell laptop. It seems a little more than odd to me. I don't mean to sound adversarial as I do appreciate your reply, I'm just flame-throwing upset right now.

I know it doesn't help you, but have you seen the new hinge design? It is SO much better...at least Apple is learning from design flaws...

I know, par for the course. "have you seen the new iMac? They've revised the cooling system so it'll work." and "have you seen the new Tibooks? They've fixed the hinges so it'll work." I'm tired of Apple learning from their mistakes at my expense. It won't happen again. Like I said elsewhere, I'm now wondering if I should be concerned about my Dual 2 gig G5. I notice they've gone to liquid cooling. Should I be paranoid that this is another Apple revelation of design flaws I get to discover in my G5 by this time next year??? Version A; fooled twice and pricey lessons at that. Never again.