mercury in the MBP

Does anybody know how much mercury is being used inside the MBP and in what form and for what purposes? I know at least for the keyboard backlit.

 

possibly to kill cute bunny rabbits.

I can't think of many places where you would want a metal that is at the very least liquid if not in vapour form at the temperatures that a computer operates at.

I would perhaps be more concerned with the lead that is probably used to solder the PCB connections.

 

Apple has been criticised for it's use of Mercury in many products.
See here for more info :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.#Environmental_Issues

 

apple use the mercury for the fluorocent tube lcd backlight.
i'm not sure if they use fluorocent tube for the keyboard backlight. IMO they use LED for thr keyboard.

 

Although I'm not an expert, I do have doubts now that the MBP complies with the RoHS directive (Apple claims it does).

EDIT: Looks like you can ask for a greener Mac via http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/mact-write.html. BTW, I'm quite shocked to learn that Apple according to Greenpeace ranks the worst in terms of environmental issues.

 

RoHS is a pain in the a$$.

 

You will eat more mercury in fish then it will harm you from your macbook.

Mercury is naturally occurring on Earth

 

who gives a shhit about mercury in a mac

you gonna crack it open and drink it?

 

You got that right... the manufacturing of notebooks is challenging as it is with the new technology and all. The cost of changing these technologies to something environmentally friendly may benefit us in the long run, but I'll doubt that every manufacturer will jump to the bandwagon very soon.

Manufacturing processes will need to be changed to comply with RoHS in addition to costs for R&D.

 

I don't know why people are worrying about this matter. I have yet to hear anyone suffering from these "Harmful" substances in mac laptops. If there were such events, it would have already been on TV or articles. Apple isn't the only company with these substances in their products. Any other brands probably use them as well.

 

I'm sure the MBP was grandfathered in as it was released in early 2006, before July.

In any case, I doubt the mercury in the MBP is anything to be too concerned about. Sure, it's bad, and it would be nice if they didn't use it. But rest assured that when the next MBP comes out, it will likely not have any mercury as it will then fall into the RoHS jurisdiction period.

 

I think the OP was more worried about environmental hazards.

but what ****tard throws their laptop in the trash? It's also illegal to do that.

thats why dumps and such have special areas to handle laptop/computer and battery disposals.

 

Whatever. Apples last twice as long as the typical Dell. What about all the materials and the waste needed to buy that second laptop as opposed to keeping one for 5-6 years?

 

I still have a Dell Inspiron 3000 from '96, using every day as an MP3 player on my home network. That's more than 10yrs! Only the battery has lost its capacity, but that's to be expected. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to buy a Dell now either. In my opinion, although the past 10 yrs the specs have increased dramatically, the overall build quality has dropped and I suspect that's the case for every laptop manufacturer. A drop in build quality means shorter life spans, more profit and a higher burden on the environment. That's where Dell, Toshiba and HP went just to name a few and I hope Apple will now follow. They have a loyal customers base that values high quality. That's why they should replace the toxic substances, include better displays and as far as I'm concerned also better keyboards.

 

There's mercury in a laptop. Most of our houses have asbestos in them. Most of our wall paints have lead in them. Most of our TVs have lead and other harmful crap in them. I don't think the EPA would have allowed Apple to sell their laptops if there's enough mercury to kill them...I've heard of laptops catching fire, but not people dying from mercury poisoning from using a laptop.

 

There's a bunch of environmentally harmful crap in a notebook, desktop, TV, microwave, remote control, etc. Some of the things found in those items: lead, mercury, cadmium and flame retardants for the plastic. And the main problem comes when we dispose of these things.

The main concern is disposing of all this stuff (or recycling) it in a responsible way. You can find local electronic recyclers at: Ecycling Central, Ecycling, and the National Recycling Coalition.

Many of the things we consider "disposable" are actually reusable. You can donate electronics to a number of charities and get a tax deduction for it too. Or you can trade or sell your stuff on Craigslist, here, eBay, or "Freecycle" it at Freecycle.org.