Purchased used 17" Macbook Pro - love it, but having some buyers remorse... Any help appreciated

Hi everyone!
I've been an avid follower of Notebook and Desktop review's forums for a while now, and today I finally decided to create an account.

Here's my story-

Yesterday I purchased a 17" Macbook Pro, 2.33GHz C2D, 3GB RAM, 100GB HD, ATI X1600, in near mint condition for $750. What do you guys think? Would you guys say that was a good deal?

I'm absolutely loving the machine. I upgraded from a 12" iBook G4 which has been my primary laptop for the past, oh, 4-5 years now. The biggest improvements are the abundance of desktop space and of course, the speed.

Anyway, I'm also having some remorse.

The first con I've noticed is the heat. Wow, the underside gets HOT. I went ahead and installed smcFanControl which helped cool down the computer and give me some peace of mind. My only question is- is it safe to constantly use smcFanControl? Some buddies told me it reduced the life of their fans, but there isn't really any concrete proof that I was able to find.

Second, the battery drains itself while the computer is in sleep mode. I did a little research on this, and it seems like others experience the same thing, but this came as a big surprise to me, as my iBook did not do this. I suppose this 17" is a workhorse compared to the iBook, but still- should I not worry about this?

Lastly, when I tilt the MBP about 45 degrees towards me, the lid falls down, almost closing the laptop- another thing my iBook didn't do. Is this a sign of a faulty hinge or once again, nothing to worry about?

I'd like to apologize in advance if any, if not all, of these questions have already been answered. If they have, if you could point me in a thread's direction that would be great. Otherwise, I would love just to hear from others who may have the same issues.

 

It sounds like you got a amazing deal. You might want to get a cooler, or consider propping it up off the desk/table a bit.

In regards to your battery and sleep issue. When a computer is sleeping, it still consumes some battery power. Only shutting down or entering hibernation cuts all power. Macs (as you know) don't offer hibernation by default. (Some model's do a combination of sleep/hibernation known as Safe Sleep..but I digress..) How well would you say the battery is able to hold a charge..if it's draining rapidly in sleep mode, you might have a bad battery.

In terms of hinges, that doesn't sound normal but I'm not sure, since I have never used a MBP, only the standard MacBook and iBook laptops. I'm sure people who use MBP's on a daily basis will be able to chime in!

Good Luck

Ricky

 

That's a great deal!

As far as heat is concerned, do remember that that's the whole point of the aluminum enclosure: have the metal burn while your components inside are cool.

The aluminum acts as a huge heatsink.

As far as smcFanControl, I use it when I do CPU intensive stuff just for the heck of it. When I leave my computer doing 100% CPU audio bouncing or encoding or stuff like that, I like to have the fans blowing hard.

But the fans WILL wear down eventually. It's just common sense. Whether you use smc or not, the age of the computer will show.

Cheers!

 

You got an amazing deal.
Send it to me if you are not happy.

I too would suspect the battery has issues and the heat may just be normal.
Maybe this is all why it was so cheap?

Ed

 

For $750, I'd take a busted up hinge all day. That's good for any kind of 17."

 

Amazing deal?
Whats so amazing about that specification?
Radeon X1600 plus a busted hinge?

 

It's apple, it has nothing to do with specs.

Dub is great music.

 

Sorry my bad
It is Apple after all.

 

@OP, I hope this makes you feel better about it:
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That 17" has a different set of hinges (compared to the 15" model) and coupled with the heavy display, it will collapse on its own when you tilt the machine beyond a certain angle.

I'd say the hinges are completely fine.

 

Thanks to everyone for replying so far!

I downloaded coconutBattery and I was actually surprised to find that the battery has had only 150 loadcycles, and is 96% of it's original capacity. The battery lasts me just about 2 hours on 80% brightness running 7 apps at once (iTunes, Firefox, Photoshop, Pages, smcFanControl, Little Snitch, and PeerGuardian). I'm pretty happy with the battery life

Cool! I never heard that before but I suppose that would make sense!
Right now I keep a flat piece of cardboard between my lap and the computer (until I get a cooler) and according to smc's temps, it is helping quite a bit.

Interestingly enough, that too makes perfect sense, considering it's a whole 5 inches wider than my old iBook. I guess sometimes you have just have to to have someone explain it to you in words

Oh, it did.

 

great!!!Mine is the late 08 unibody model and i've had ~450 cycles.

 

that shouldn't be. don't let people here make you think all is well and that you should put your head down and keep moving just because these doofuses did.

I don't own a Mac (yet), but I've owned nothing but 17"-18.4" laptops all my life and have worked on them in tech support. a hinge that allows the display to flop down on any angle is a hinge that should be repaired or reviewed by the manufacturer.

I can have my 18.4" Sony open at 5 degrees (just barely open) or 110 degrees...and it'd stay right where I set it. My 4 year-old 17" Dell Inspiron is the same. I'd expect the same from my old 17" Toshiba, if I still had it. I'd venture to guess that those displays are no lighter or heavier than your MBP's display.

In short: floppy hinge = NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Note: My little brother has a launch MacBook Air. Now his Air's display does this same flopping stuff when it's open about 100 degrees. It just falls straight down. I would have pursued the issue if I were him. Maybe this is just how Mac's wear (obviously, the Air's display isn't uniquely heavy or something...and that's not a good excuse anyway), but I'd call an Apple Store and see if they can't tighten it up for free or something. It's unacceptable that you can't open your lid to an angle that works for you without it falling down. Loosening over time is also acceptable and a retightening/repair should be a minimum expectation from Apple.

You guys pay way too much for these machines to not get that kind of basic quality over time.

Do yourself that favor: Call the local App Store and tell them your screen falls down. See if they don't fix it for free.

oh, and don't take anymore advice from freetospam.me. Sounds like he shouldn't be giving anyone hardware advice.

 

The hinge thing is interesting. I have a Penryn 17 inch MacBook Pro and if I put the screen at 60 degrees and tile the entire laptop towards the front, the screen drops to about 30 degrees. If I just tilt the screen, it stays put.

The Penryn models run cooler than the Merom models (I have both) and I'm using my Penryn model on my lap right now. It's particularly nice when it is cold (I'm in New England and the house is cold right now).

I think that you got a great deal for what you paid. I use my extensively for work when I'm not in the office and the big screen and other nice features make for a nice remote system.

 

Indeed. If the hinge is faulty...hopefully it won't cost much to fix!

 

call apple. I bet it's a known issue and I bet they'll tighten it for free at an Apple store. with the right tools, I bet it doesn't take more than 15 minutes.

 

It's not really an issue for me. I just tried it out because of this post. I don't see any adjustment screws except for the ones on the sides but those don't look like they would tighten it.

I just tried it with a 15 inch MacBook Pro and the screen doesn't move - my guess is the sheer weight and the higher screen generate a lot of leverage.

 

dude, it's not the weight.

the laptop didn't do that when it was purchased new.

I don't understand people's aversion here in this Apple forum to having problems fixed. Every thread I've gone in is full of people apologizing, excusing, or ignoring hardware problems.

It's not normal for your screen to fall down. At any angle. Period. It's not the weight. The hinge clearly is lose on the inside and should be tightened. Unless there are no Apple Stores in your state, you have no logical reason to not call Apple and find out how to get it repaired.

 

I see someone asked and got a suck response in the Apple forums.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2285386&tstart=45


And I just called on your behalf to both my local Apple Store and to the National Apple Care service.

Apple said that this is NOT A NORMAL ISSUE. They could find no records of this being something consistent issue over time. He told me that if they get enough concerned complaints in, they may do something about it. But to his recollection, he hadn't heard of anyone having the "floppy screen" issue. I find that interesting, considering both your Mac and my brother's MacBook Air have this problem.

He recommended that it be looked at by an Apple Authorized Repair Tech. He also started giving me some line about how the issue would have to be "within a certain range of issues" in order to qualify it for repair. I'm not sure if this comment was specifically for in-warranty or out of warranty repairs. I trust you can pick up the phone and make that phone call. I shouldn't have had to do it for you when I told you to make that call yesterday, only to come back and find you accepting more bad advice from non-technical people.

Get your machine fixed or at least find out your options. It makes no sense to buy defective hardware and be happy with it. Don't drink stupid kool-aid.

 

It is an Apple thing you just don't get it.
All other forums I have been when encounter issue, will resort to hack it solutions when not offered 1 by the OEM (Usually the case).
It is not a bug, it is a feature.

 

When I had my Macbook Pro June 2009 version, the display would NOT stay put if you were to put the laptop on your lap sitting with your bum on the floor and your back against the wall.

This is true for all Macbook Pros of the unibody generation thus far.

They all have factory default weak hinges, this is common knowledge.

But the way the screen closed, always sounded like quality to me. No wobbling, nothing, just a nice tight "thud".

 

Clearly its not widely known feature because if it was, someone would of replied with a "Working as intended" remark.

Not all Unibody's are this way. Mine doesn't fall down at any angle. So, luckily for me, "It's working as intended".

 

Haha you're lucky then. We had a few Apple booths here at the USC med school and I fiddled with every single Macbook Pro they had on display when I first bought mine just to see if it was something I should be complaining about, and they all had similar issues.

Try this, open it up to a 90 degree verticle angle, pick up the laptop so that the screen is parallel to the ground and the keyboard portion is perpendicular, does it shut on it's own?

Think it was meant to be that way, smooth movement when you open and close the lid. Instead of the kind of bending motion you would get from tighter hinges.

 

It is a great price for the hardware,not all that difficult to understand.

I never said or implied I would accept the hinge issue or that anyone else should.

Simple to get fixed .
These are expensive to begin with and the price he paid was good enough to allow a few issues to be fixed.

Great machine,Great deal,like I said I will happily take it if offered.

Ed

 

Maybe, those floor models got that way over time from use.

Yeap, it started to close when I did your test. Guess, I am lucky then. I use to test hinges by moving up & down to see if there were tight or not. Going to add your test method in the future when testing hinges. Thanks for the test method.

 

It is difficult to understand because the hardware is close to obselete.
Come on Radeon X1600 for 700+ bucks?
Great price for hardware? Do you know how old the Radeon X series is? It is the graphics introduce 4 years ago!
You probably don't know the market you are probably looking at the brand rather than hardware.

 

The market for this machine is what determines the value of the deal of this machine not one internal component of its design.
Again not too difficult to grasp.

What is difficult to grasp is why you would insist on blasting this based on some specific narrow criteria of the build?
It is what it is and he got a good deal for what the market is for this machine.

 

thats really not that good of a machine overall for $750... unless you really want a big screen... i guess, but even a current Macbook can trounce it in performance.

I wouldn't have paid that much for it, but while I don't see it as a good deal, its not a total rip off either, as long as nothing fails in it since it is quite old.

 

Good deal for sure. And the hinges thing IS normal. Every 17" MBP I've used has done that at more extreme angles. That screen is pretty darn heavy.

 

Last time I've tested a mid-2009 15" Unibody Macbook Pro, they went back to hinges that doesn't close on its own when it's propped on an angle. The 17" mid-2009 model however is still the same.