Why Me...

some of you may remember about 1 year ago when I dropped my Macbook Pro which warped the case and plenty of scratches. I sold that as - is and put the funds towards another brand new Macbook Pro, which has been the one I have been using up until today.

Long story short...I dropped it AGAIN.

This time, it fell dead on its corner, the corner nearest the hard drive. As a result, I think the hard drive is gone. The computer still boots into OSX, but it freezes once I try to open up my files. So I tried re-installing Leopard, but the installation WILL NOT complete...I left it on overnight and the installing stalls.

I have ordered a new Hitachi 7K200 hard drive to replace the current one and I hope that fixes the problem. If it does, i will continue to use this machine because there is only 1 month left of school and I won't need a computer until October. Hopefully a newly designed MBP will be out by then and I will buy one through my school.

It's a sad, sad day.

 

You really need to get a shoulder strap for that thing!

sorry you dropped it, that totally sucks.

 

Maybe next time you should invest in a SSD to prevent damaging the hard drive.

 

Wow, that totally sucks. I don't know the circumstances behind the 2 incidents, but aren't there 3rd-party warranties that cover this kind of thing? If so, you should seriously consider buying that coverage.

 

Ouch. Has it been more than 90 days since you got this new MBP? Most credit cards now have a 90 day accidental protection. It covers your purchase for lost/dropped/stolen items that were charged on the card but only up to 90 days from date of purchase - at least all the credit cards I have are 90.

Twice....that's pretty unlucky.

 

Ouch...yeah, get a new hard drive and just reinstall...but that's never good .

 

I bought this in April 2007 so no 90-day coverage. THe thing about the computer now is that I don't trust it anymore...for fear of it shutting down randomly during something important. So I will definitely be buying whatever version of the MBP is available in October.

I don't think I know ANYONE who has dropped their laptop twice...pretty unlucky of me. Oh well...I still have my old Toshiba A15 to use until the new HD arrives.

 

Wow thats a horrible tragedy. At least I know that the monitor and other critical parts on the MBP can withstand some punishment... aluminum chassis for the win!

 

If you dont mind me asking.... how did you drop it exactly? One time is understandable, but 2 times???? Seems like you need a thinkpad

 

I've dropped my MBP several times.. Fortunately it still functions but the distance wasn't as large just off my bed to the carpet'd floor.

 

You really need to get some accidental coverage.

 

I was going to say the same thing that Skinner said. A thinkpad. Have you ever been to the Lenovo/IBM website? They have some promotional videos that show their thinkpads being driven over, falling out of windows, burning in fires, in floods...amazingly sturdy machines. I think an Apple is a whole lot more fragile. NOT that even a Thinkpad would be problem free if you dropped it, but it might need minor attention. The person who drove over his, just had a chip out of the corner and the machine still worked. lol

In contrast, l just bought a new MBP and it came a few days ago, so I am going through all of the support material for new owners. Very surprised to see how careful they want you to be with them. They don't even want you moving them around. Why they call them portable notebooks, I don't know. They actually suggest you close it down and close the cover before moving it and recommend using it on a flat surface.

If I were planning on really moving around a lot with my computer, traveling, in and out of the car, I would have bought a Thinkpad. Something to consider...oh...and if you are just in love with the Apple, I would really urge you to get the accidental coverage. It would be well worth it.

Don't forget when you go to get a new one, student discount. Might be you need to order it before school is over?

adam

 

If you really want something sturdy and were willing to go the windows way, I'd recommend one of the panasonic toughbooks (like the Y7). I think that these are a lot more sturdy than the IBM/lenovo machines...

 

A lenovo T61p is in my head...still mulling over what i should do. I don't love Apple, it's just I really like OSX.

 

I am Stunner...

 

wow that stinks... i dropped mine once a few feet onto a hardwood floor. nothing happened. i was stunned. not even a scratch. dvd drive has failed about 6 months later, but that's probably unrelated.

 

Did you backup your hd?

 

Alright, I got the hard drive and I installed it this morning. Leopard installed fine and everything seems to be working alright.

I ran some stability tests like memtest and such and it has been running fine for about 6 hours now. I will keep it on and monitor it closely over the next few days. If it works fine I think I will continue to use it instead of buying another used MBP.

The faster hard drive definitely gives a performance boost, and I can only imaging how great a 2.5 ghz with this hard drive would be, as opposed to my lowly 2.16 ghz.

Also, I notice that at idle at 45-50 degrees celcius (normal idle temps for this machine), the fans running at the same minimum 2000rpm sound louder than they used to. This started happening before I dropped it. Any ideas on why they are louder? Perhaps there is much dust that has been gathering in the fans? I dont think I noticed much dust when I opened it but I was focused on the hard drive and not the fans.

Maybe it's just normal wear and tear?

 

Oh and yes, I do have a backup of my files.

And this time it dropped onto a marble floor from about 4 feet high.

Im not going to share details on this drop because I would be considered an unfit owner of such a nice machine.