I have three 17-inchers at the moment. Two are older - Early 2009 - and the third is a newer Late 2009 warranty replacement for an all-too-typical-for-Apple lemon also purchased in Early 2009.
I have had significantly less problems than previous non-unibody MBP's on the unibodies - probably a big part of it is that since late 2008 I'm not half as mobile with my barrage of laptops as I used to be. However, I've been noticing one thing in particular with the older unibodies. The chassis hasn't actually been straight on any of my machines so far, but the older ones now seem to be developing a fairly pronounced sag, centered above the optical drive on the right hand side and above the USB ports on the left hand side.
Does anyone else have this? I'm just curious - I'll mention it to Apple the next time I'm down at a Store, but wondering if this is a common issue (i.e. evident at purchase, then gets worse) or not.
Discussion about
Mid-body sag?
I have a pre-unibody 17 inch MBP and I haven't had this issue. Actually, though, I have seen a noticeable gap/sag between the lid and body on the 13" and 15" unibody builds owned by my friends. I am wondering if somehow it has to do with heat. The processor and video card obviously aren't directly below the sag, and on mine they're on the left side, but the unibody build might disperse heat evenly, which in this case, could be a bad thing.
I could also be completely off base with that guess. Also, I'll be happy to take any of those off your hands, haha.
I could also be completely off base with that guess. Also, I'll be happy to take any of those off your hands, haha.
The aft-mid-body sag is new to the unibodies. I have had warping non-unibody 17-inchers in the past, especially a tendency to droop on the optical drive side.
If anything it's unlikely to be heat. It's interesting to see the number of people - even non-Apple-fanbois - (and tech journalists of course) parrot in terms of Apple-speak about the almost totally marketing-led design of the unibody, including about better dispersion of heat. Which does indeed indicate that the marketing is working.
If it dispersed heat better than the old design, it would actually get warm on a wider area. The fact that it barely does means that components inside the machine are actually insulating heat from coming into contact with the case. And this is why if you e.g. throw a fairly intensive job at a unibody MBP, the CPU shoots up to ~100C and stays there. The only way it could be heat is if components inside are expanding and contracting in a way that is taking the chassis with it - a possibility, but unlikely IMO.
It will be at least partially down to inadequate structural integrity of the unibody design / execution - a fact made particularly worse in the 17-inch variety (the only 'sweet spot', if it can be called for such a structurally compromised design in comparison to other notebooks in a similar class, is the 13-inch).
If anything it's unlikely to be heat. It's interesting to see the number of people - even non-Apple-fanbois - (and tech journalists of course) parrot in terms of Apple-speak about the almost totally marketing-led design of the unibody, including about better dispersion of heat. Which does indeed indicate that the marketing is working.
If it dispersed heat better than the old design, it would actually get warm on a wider area. The fact that it barely does means that components inside the machine are actually insulating heat from coming into contact with the case. And this is why if you e.g. throw a fairly intensive job at a unibody MBP, the CPU shoots up to ~100C and stays there. The only way it could be heat is if components inside are expanding and contracting in a way that is taking the chassis with it - a possibility, but unlikely IMO.
It will be at least partially down to inadequate structural integrity of the unibody design / execution - a fact made particularly worse in the 17-inch variety (the only 'sweet spot', if it can be called for such a structurally compromised design in comparison to other notebooks in a similar class, is the 13-inch).
follow this discussion
share:
Related discussions
2 users following this discussion:
This discussion has been viewed 28 times.
Last activity .