[-Q-]

I was adjusting the screen on my laptop and heard a 'crack' noise. Next thing I know, the back panel of the LCD is prying itself away from the front. Fortunately, it's still under warranty.

Is this a flaw that Apple has corrected, or is it possible for this to happen again?

[The Placid Casual]

Ouch! I'm sorry to hear this.

I can't believe it's another one gone! That's 2 threads on this in as many days

[riverfreak]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
Ouch! I'm sorry to hear this.

I can't believe it's another one gone! That's 2 threads on this in as many days

Bummer. Samething happened to me. Fortunately, I had AppleCare. They ended up replacing the entire LCD. I think they had to, because the screen itself became bent from the force of the hinge breaking.

I've had no problems since then (going on 7 months now). Keeping my fingers crossed.

Good luck with the repair.

[Voch]

This is starting to worry me a bit, too. I have AppleCare, though, and a Marware bag to carry my TiBook 667/DVI...

Voch

[-Q-]

Originally posted by Voch:
This is starting to worry me a bit, too. I have AppleCare, though, and a Marware bag to carry my TiBook 667/DVI...

It can definitely happen to anyone. I keep my TiBook in a Booq laptop sleeve that I usually carry in a Kensington Saddlebag, so it's definitley well protected. You could even say I baby it. But regardless of my precautions, it still popped last night while I was reading the forum. Maybe it was the weight of all those heavy opinions in the Lounge?

I sopke to my friend who works for an Apple reseller and he said the replacement 'part' is the whole LCD. So I'll be losing my baby for a few days, but I'll get a new screen. I just hope it doesn't repeat itself.

I'll definitely be getting AppleCare after this. I've already had a bad battery with the TiBook, and now this. Hopefully this will be the last thing...

[Voch]

I definately baby mine (the beforementioned bag and a Coolpad), but sometimes I walk around my apartment with it open (like going to my computer room to find out why my XP box crashed ). It's still one sweet computer, though. I've had AppleCare for all my recent Apple portables (never had it for my PowerBook Duo 230 as I could barely afford that computer at the time).

Voch

[southtdi]

I baby mine as well and have not had the hinge problem (been opening them covers every so often and putting a drop of household oil in there). I have got worried about it and went ahead and got Applecare for it. the warranty is up at the end of August and it's not worth the chance.

[urrl78]

I had Apple repair my 667 DVI for paint and then I sold it right away while it looked brand new. There was just too much force required to open/close the lid. The 17" feels great to open. After 1 year it still looks brand new. Fan is quiet. Very low heat. You should think about selling your Ti when it returns. The Ti was a great concept for its time but heat issues (I was burned by my 500 Mhz Ti), noise, paint, and the feeling of prying open a giant clam made me take the next step in a continuing technology. Glad I jumped ship when I did.

http://homepage.mac.com/bhardy3/PhotoAlbum34.html

[-Q-]

I've been tempted to sell my Ti, but it's still a great machine for what I use it for. Also, I just don't love the look of the aluminum ones compared to the Ti. That design just doesn't do it for me. I'll most likely stick with this one (hinge danger and all) until the PowerBook G5 comes out sometime in the next 2 years.

[justinkim]

I've had my Ti's hinges replaced twice, now. The last time only a month ago. Thank goodness for AppleCare. Apple also replaced the top bezel, keyboard, optical drive and logic board for good measure. Just about the only things that came back the same as the went in were the memory, HD, airport card, and exterior bottom.

[todrain]

Boy ,I'm getting worried. It seems like my hinges are fine, but boy, if something was to happen, I'd be pretty upset. I'm hoping that the Ti will last me another couple of revisions!

[riverfreak]

Originally posted by todrain:
Boy ,I'm getting worried. It seems like my hinges are fine, but boy, if something was to happen, I'd be pretty upset. I'm hoping that the Ti will last me another couple of revisions!

I wouldn't say that the hinges are particularly fragile. I use and abuse my Ti, carry it with me everywhere, use it 10-15 hours a day. It's true that the hinges broke (in my case, both of them at the same time), but I wouldn't say it was unreasonable given the circumstances.

My suggestions (these may be obvious):
1) never set anything on your Ti when it is closed.
2) if you use a screen protector, make sure it is thin and even across the keyboard.
3) avoid bending or hitting the LCD at all when it is open

(All of these warnings are geared at keeping the hinges aligned. I think that if they get out of alignment thena small amount of torque is generated between the two hinges. Once that happens it just gets easier and easier to snap a hinge).

[Andrew Stephens]

Having been "un-hinged" myself I offer this advice.

i have noticed that people tend to open the lid with either left or right hand. Being partially left handed I tended to open and adjust the angle with my left hand, on the left hand side of the screen. Guess which hinge failed. For the remainder of my time with the TiBook I was careful to open the lid with both hands to spread the load.

My AiBook is much more solid.

So in short (and to paraphrase George Orwell) Two hands good, one hand bad!

[southtdi]

Originally posted by urrl78:
I had Apple repair my 667 DVI for paint and then I sold it right away while it looked brand new. There was just too much force required to open/close the lid. The 17" feels great to open. After 1 year it still looks brand new. Fan is quiet. Very low heat. You should think about selling your Ti when it returns. The Ti was a great concept for its time but heat issues (I was burned by my 500 Mhz Ti), noise, paint, and the feeling of prying open a giant clam made me take the next step in a continuing technology. Glad I jumped ship when I did.

http://homepage.mac.com/bhardy3/PhotoAlbum34.html

You were burned by yout Ti. Wow, not doubting you but hard to fathom. I have a ti 867 and have also been using my wife's Al 15" 1.5 and have found the Al to be much warmer. That is not surprising sine titanium is an insulater (hence the plastic rectangulat square on the btoom of it to help cool the cpu) and aluminum is a conductor of heat. The Ti gets a little warm but I have found that the Al after a little while gets a little on the uncomfartable side causing me to sweat which, in turn, makes it get even warmer. You have a 17" now which, due to the much larger area for heat displacement, will be cooler. Nothing wrong with that since you seem happy which is the most important thing.

As for the hinge i don't get the clam effect when opeing it. I oil mine, as stated in my other post, and have found that keeps the hinges fluid and smooth. I use one hand but i only adjust the screen from the top not the side. I did it there once and the torquing I felt wasn't comfortable. When I had to send my Ti in for the white spots last fall i asked the guy on the phone about the oil and he told me that it wouldn't do any harm as long as it was a drop and would most likely protect the hinge. He told me they seem to fail since they get tight and that causes too much stress on them. Now if I could have the Ti with the al hinge I would be perfectly happy.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by southtdi:
You were burned by yout Ti. Wow, not doubting you but hard to fathom. I have a ti 867 and have also been using my wife's Al 15" 1.5 and have found the Al to be much warmer. That is not surprising sine titanium is an insulater (hence the plastic rectangulat square on the btoom of it to help cool the cpu) and aluminum is a conductor of heat. The Ti gets a little warm but I have found that the Al after a little while gets a little on the uncomfartable side causing me to sweat which, in turn, makes it get even warmer. You have a 17" now which, due to the much larger area for heat displacement, will be cooler. Nothing wrong with that since you seem happy which is the most important thing.

As for the hinge i don't get the clam effect when opeing it. I oil mine, as stated in my other post, and have found that keeps the hinges fluid and smooth. I use one hand but i only adjust the screen from the top not the side. I did it there once and the torquing I felt wasn't comfortable. When I had to send my Ti in for the white spots last fall i asked the guy on the phone about the oil and he told me that it wouldn't do any harm as long as it was a drop and would most likely protect the hinge. He told me they seem to fail since they get tight and that causes too much stress on them. Now if I could have the Ti with the al hinge I would be perfectly happy.

My Ti 550 melted the paint on the chassis!

In the end I returned it as unusable.

[d.fine]

When opening the LCD sometimes, 'sometimes' it cracks a little on one side when adjusting the position of the screen. Should I start worrying about hinges dislodging or breaking ? Can anyone provide me with some 'Pre-hinge-dislodgement' symptoms ?

[Voch]

Originally posted by d.fine:
When opening the LCD sometimes, 'sometimes' it cracks a little on one side when adjusting the position of the screen. Should I start worrying about hinges dislodging or breaking ? Can anyone provide me with some 'Pre-hinge-dislodgement' symptoms ?

This happens on your aluminum PowerBook? That might be a different issue than this (or no issue at all).

Voch

[d.fine]

Yes, it's an Alu PB, sorry, I just saw PB ...

[iNeusch]

I had a thread about that on monday...
Last week end my Ti's left hinge broke.
I had to change the complete display

Hope it's something fixed by Apple...

[iNeusch]

I'm getting my Ti 800 back tonight
I just realised I would get a new screen...
Hope I won't have any dead pixel or white spots......

[southtdi]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
My Ti 550 melted the paint on the chassis!

In the end I returned it as unusable.

OK, if it was getting that hot I would've done the same. Not right at all.

Right now I myself am a little bummed.

I posted in this thread about getting AppleCare for my Ti. We'll it showed up and I went to register. We'll it seems there is some issue in Florida and you cannot purchase AppleCare and use it unless you have your own business. Man, I was let down. I asked what the exact deal was and she didn't know and then asked if there was someone at Apple I could contact to try to at least find out what in Florida is the problem. Again, she couldn't help. either way that sucks.

they refunded the money for it but i would rather have the protection than my $250 bucks back to be honest. If I would have known that I may have never bought my TiBook originally. I have had a great experience with it but a one year warranty isn't enough on a notebook. Too many factors to go wrong. I would;ve just got the desktop model instead.

[-Q-]

And to update:

I spoke with my local reseller that was doing my repair and they replaced the screen but couldn't get any video to show up. A closer examination has revealed that the broken hinge has probably cracked the logic board.

It'll be a few more days before I get it back. I'm definitely budgeting for AppleCare in September when my warranty expires.

Does anyone know if you've experienced the hinge problem once that it's fixed by the repair? Or am I still susceptible to it?

[-Q-]

Originally posted by southtdi:
they refunded the money for it but i would rather have the protection than my $250 bucks back to be honest. If I would have known that I may have never bought my TiBook originally. I have had a great experience with it but a one year warranty isn't enough on a notebook. Too many factors to go wrong. I would;ve just got the desktop model instead.

That's too bad. But it sounds like it's more a problem with your local laws than with AppleCare itself. I know my company always excludes Florida when we do special offers or contests b/c of the byzantine rules that are set up there.