[davesimondotcom]

So yesterday, I had moved from the office, unplugged from the 20" display so my wife could hook it to her mini and settled on the coffee table in my living room.

I work there very frequently, but I had the PowerBook plugged in and the cord running across the front of the table (by my feet.)

Answering the "beep" in the kitchen that meant to check on dinner, I popped up from my chair and started to walk into the kitchen. By the time I had taken one step, I felt a "tug" on my right foot. The tug was the PowerBook's cord hooked to the tongue of my shoe.

Gravity took over, and Frozone (that's the loyal 14 month old PowerBook) fell to the floor, landing power cord plug-first.

Instant heart attack!

The screen had been closed at the time, or I think the damage would have been much worse. I opened it up and everything works just fine, except the power cord tip was bent up badly. The middle bar of it was bent and the circular metal surrounding was severely mangled.

VERY carefully, I straightened the middle bar and made the metal "jacket" semi-circular again. I plugged it in and fortunately, I still have a working power supplier!

All in all, aside from the gray hairs I'm sure it caused, it could have been a lot worse. I am able to get power so I have a way to charge the battery. I did go ahead and order a new power cord, though, since this one I wouldn't trust being taken in and out much.

There is a small dent in the aluminum by the power port, between it and the modem jack. Nothing internally seems to be bent up though, so it is (hopefully) cosmetic damage.

I'm still sending it all in to Apple (I had already scheduled a repair for some light-white spots on the screen) and they'll bid on repairing the damage. More than likely, I won't get it repaired unless they say it's more than cosmetic.

I'm thankful I already scheduled the screen repair so they can't say it was due to me dribbling my powerbook like a basketball that my screen is messed up.

So today I spent the morning backing up Frozone (I usually do it once a week) and then cloning it's drive so that I can use my wife's mini while it's in the hospital and have all of my apps, prefs, etc.

Another reason I wish I had a MacBook Pro. This wouldn't have happened with Mag Safe...

[Landos Mustache]

I did the exact same thing with my iBook and it also fell on the plug. I had to spend $100 for a new plug cuz the old one was bent in the same manner.

The iBook itself was fine thank god.

I'm happy my new MacBook has magsafe

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

I'm happy my new MacBook has magsafe

I'm saving for a MBP for the 15" screen. I think 13" just wouldn't be enough for graphics/web work when separated from my 20" ACD.

But the MBP is probably another year away.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

I'm saving for a MBP for the 15" screen. I think 13" just wouldn't be enough for graphics/web work when separated from my 20" ACD.

The MBP only has 80 more pixels on the bottom than the MB.

[ort888]

I did that twice with my old Powerbook G4. My iBook gets much better battery life, so it isn't plugged in as much. So far so good.

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

The MBP only has 80 more pixels on the bottom than the MB.

hmmm...

Still don't think the wife would sign off on a new Mac...

Did some quick research:

MBP 15" - 1440x900 = 1,296,000 sq. px.
MB 13" - 1280x800 = 1,024,000 sq. px.
PB 15" - 1280x854 = 1,093,120 sq. px.

So the MacBook is comparable to my current machine but the MBP is 26% larger than the MB.

[Salty]

I once did the same thing when the phone rang outside my dorm room. Only my foot got caught in two USB cables and the Power cable and an audio cable. And I was running . It went sailing across the room, probably spun a good three times in mid air before landing flat on it's base OPEN! Best part, didn't even dent! That said all kinds of smaller falls have caused it to dent pretty bad. The only side that isn't dented is the side with the power adapter.

[Yose]

I had a coworker drop my 12" PB when out in the field. The case around the power adaptor port is dented.. and the port is slightly askew. Still works though.

[11011001]

I have done the same thing three times. The worst is the most recent one, as I had just got a new plug only a few weeks before (after needing to replace it because of dropping it). Otherwise, tough little compute. Sigh..

The new magsafe thing would help solve this problem, but I wish the entire plug could be recessed, with only the cord sticking out, so that when it does fall, it's not going to bend up the plugin slot on the computer. Naturally, there could be lots of empty space around the recessed plug, so that it could easily pop out.

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by 11011001

I have done the same thing three times. The worst is the most recent one, as I had just got a new plug only a few weeks before (after needing to replace it because of dropping it). Otherwise, tough little compute. Sigh..

The new magsafe thing would help solve this problem, but I wish the entire plug could be recessed, with only the cord sticking out, so that when it does fall, it's not going to bend up the plugin slot on the computer. Naturally, there could be lots of empty space around the recessed plug, so that it could easily pop out.

Problem with that would be too much chance of the cable wearing from bending/rubbing against the angles of the computer and being pinched.

[Velocity211]

There's something wrong with my powerbook's cord, it just falls out if I turn it on its side. I'm guess it's because the thing in the middle of the plug is bent really bad. So I guess this is kinda good because the cord got caught on my leg and it just popped out.

[Mastrap]

Same thing happened here. It was what finally killed my 1st gen 12" PB. I love the magsafe plug on the new MBs and MBPs.