Dropped the MacBook Pro
Today I accidentally dropped my MacBook Pro.
I had it open on a stand on a desk with some headphones plugged into it. I took the headphones off my head, got up out of my chair, caught my foot on the (overly long) headphone cord and, as I walked away, the mac came crashing to the floor, yanked off the desk by the headphone cord.
*crash*
*bang*
So, I picked it up, dusted it off and opened the lid (which had snapped shut during the fall). Much to my surprise, it came right back out of sleep as if nothing had happened. Inspecting the case there was no damage, not even a dent. The only sign of the incident is that now pressing down a specific part of the case makes a slight squeaking noise.
Impressive, most impressive. The aluminum clad MacBook Pro is one tough, sturdy, well-built, resilient, solid piece of computing equipment that knows how to take a punch and keep on going.
As a comparison: I once dropped my old Dell Inspiron 4150 from a similar distance while it was turned off and inside a protective laptop bag (Kensington Saddlebag). It still worked after the crash, but the plastic case was cracked and severely warped, the DVD-drive wouldn’t fit anymore and several keys popped out. Dell, to their credit, later repaired the damage under warranty when the motherboard died.
(The hard drive on the MacBook Pros is protected during falls by a sudden motion sensor. There is a gyroscope built into the Mac which detects if it is accelerating too fast for its own good and then, in mid flight, quickly moves the hard drive into a protective “parked” position so it isn’t damaged by the inevitable impact.)
March 8th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I had a very similar situation, but the outcome was very different. I dropped my MacBook Pro from about 30 inches off the ground. When I picked it up there were no dents or scratches but when I turned it on, the computer would not recognize the OS and the disc drive was making funny noises. Furthermore, my hard drive failed, wiping away all my important documents.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:57 am
I dropped my macbook about 40 inches on to a concrete floor . no dents or visable damage I tried to power up a white screen with question mark came up. I tried all the different ways to start it back up no blue screen.
May 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I dropped my macbook pro on a stone floor from table height. Very small scratches was the only outcome, except that the hinges from the lid, seems to be a bit looser. However, I still have a problem with my left fan, who always makes a lot of noise.
May 19th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I had a problem with my fan being very noise once (unrelated to dropping). It made a wirring/grinding sound, like something was caught inside of it. I phoned Apple tech support and let the technician hear the sound. He agreed to replace the fan assembly. So, I sent the MacBook Pro in for repairs and haven’t had any abnormal noises since.
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I dropped my mac 30 inches, landed on headphone jack. Now no sound. Mac store says I need to replace the whole bottom of the unit, $500 or so,
Any ideas?
June 7th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
This is the most bone-headed move of anybody’s so far. Was loading my truck while moving, and put my mac book on the hood of the car to free up a hand to open a door. Forgot about the computer, drove off. Got to the new place (about 10 minutes away) and realized what I had done. Thought I was going to be sick. Sped back to the old apartment, found the thing luying in the street next to the complex. Dented corners and a scratch on the bottom, but runs perfectly and can only see the scratches if light is shining directly on to it. One tough cookie that one.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:43 am
I “just” dropped my MacBook 15minutes back froma height of about a foot. Its running fine but the strip around the screen at the bottom center has popped out a bit…exactly where it says MacBook. I was pretty shattered by the machine falling, but apparently it seems to work fine except for the pop-out strip.
I got scared like crazy and searched for more such incidences…heartening to know I’m not the only one. I’m just hoping nothing irrepairable has happened to it though as the book belongs to my company. And the fact that it was given to me only because they thought I’d take good care of it.
July 24th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I dropped my MacBook onto a floor from about 3 feet and it turns on but all I get is a plain blue screen. Nothing comes up, does this mean that my harddrive is gone? Please let me know. I am praying that it will come back to life, but so far nothing has happened.
July 24th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Try inserting the Mac OS X install DVD and holding the “alt” key while turning the computer on. Select the DVD and run the disk utility from the menu that will eventually appear. This will check the hard disk for errors.
Another thing to try, if you have another Mac around: turn the computer on while holding the “T” key to start target-disk mode, where the computer acts as an external hard drive to any other Mac attached with a Firewire cable. You might be able to copy some of your files over from the broken machine.
September 15th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Here’s one for you - to my horror, my MacBook Pro went sliding off a bus seat and clattered onto the floor. Everything’s ok, EXCEPT the open/close mechanism seems to have been affected (I think it’s magnetic), and now the poor chap doesn’t shut properly. If anyone’s experienced a similar problem, any advice would be greatfully received.
September 17th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I also dropped my macbook pro from about 2 feet while inside a protective bag. No problems, except that occasionally I also get a small grinding sound under the hood on the left side where my left hand rests while typing. Seems maybe the fan has displaced minimally. Any ideas?
September 26th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I hate myself right now. A few days ago I had my MBP in my bad (which has a little pocket for the laptop) however the top part isnt covered… anyway i had my bag on one shoulder and was putting it down, but the bag kind of slipped from my shoulder as I was putting it down. I didnt think anythig would happen but I got a big dent on the side of the bottom case! I was going to cry! then i realize that the whole bottom case is slightly dented! like when it was close it wasn’t straight!
Im sooo paranoid about this (even though I was able to bend it into place). I just hate looking at that dent and hate the fact that it isnt as perfect as it was before.
Should i change the bottom case? i dont know, its really stressing me out
October 18th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hey Chen,
I did the exact same thing yesterday. MBP fell about 3 feet, in a protective plasic case and an incase sleeve. Landed on the front corner near the superdrive. The whoe unit bent up at about 2 degrees, but I managed to bend it flat again. If anyone else has this problem then apply pressure away from the superdrive itself, as I practically closed the opening by forcing the metal down. This was tough to bend back, but it is now OK, except the plastic shell case will not fit snuggly anymore.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:46 am
The other day, my macbook fell off my bed about a foot onto my carpet. Obviously, since everything was soft, there was no dents or anything…. but now my mac freezes quite frequently. Do you think this has to do with it’s fall, or possibly because I have been using it almost non-stop for the past day 1/2? I am not sure, but I want to make sure nothing is completely wrong with it.
October 21st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Hey, so i was lying on my bed watching South Park with big stereo headphones on. (it was rather late) I fell asleep for just a minute, and well i was asleep for about 7 hours and no problems. But the headphones were still around my neck, so im rustling and bustling in bed thinking about prancing sugar cones or what ever. I was awakened though, by the sound of macbook pro hitting the ground, i practically froze and wanted to puke or die..(about 3 feet fall to hard wood)..anything but to inspect the damage. Well i looked down and to my amazment the screen was closed, i have learned that it does this automatically in a fall, and something with the hard drive. Well i open it up and it says it is asleep but i cant turn it on. I wanted to puke or die at this point, more than ever. i plugged it in and the device turns on thank god. No visible scratches or anything. Then i unplug it and it shuts down again, i was like WTF!!!! i start sweating and wanting to cry. But it just had a zero charge and it works great.. oh ya btw that was like 4 hours ago.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:56 pm
My boss dropped my latop this afteroon! A dent, scartch and broken left side of the closing mechanism is the dreadful outcome. It does work OK so far though, but I am waiting for the problem, my paranoia confirms that something somewhere is broken and waiting patiently to be discovered. My only consolation is that my boss ows me one now. Can’t be bad, can it?
November 6th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
my mac book jus fell.. abt 2 feet. it was off.. when i try to restart it thought the OS wont boot. all i’m getting is a white screen. if i leave i i just turns itself off after a while..HELP!!!!!!
December 16th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
HELP!! my closed macbook fell about 2 1/2 ft onto a hardwood floor. there aren’t any dents on the outside, but when i open it the screen is all messed up (colored vertical lines and black splotches). i tried restarting it, but still the same messed up screen. if u know a way to fix this…pls reply!
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Rochelle,
Looks like your screen has cracked from the fall and it will need replacing otherwise it will stay as it is, so phone the Apple Techies up and see what they say!
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Last Nite. MBP Fell 2 feet to concrete (while closed). Big dent on lower right corners - to the point that aluminum is sticking out. Opened it up, got some startup problems. Restarted - now works as good as new. Seems the the aluminum absorbed most of the impact.
What a horrible feeling. My guts were twisting and the price tag was flashing.
It’s been on my mind what might come about after a fall - but now i feel a little more comfortable - thanks for the posts everyone.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
My briefcase literally flew from the copilot’s seat into the double-carpeted floor of my car (I suddenly hit the brakes). I then remembered my MBP was in the brifcase, although protected with an InCase sleeve. I was about to cry, because I knew these computers (or any other regular laptop) could not resist great impacts. I immediately took it off the sleeve and realized nothing had happened to it externally. Then turned it on and worked perfectly well.
However, I just noticed a slightly darker strip (around 5 pixels-wide) that crosses the upper area of the LCD screen from left to right. You could hardly see it (I’m a bit picky, so I see it) and, still, it bothers me like hell. I am aware that this failure is just insignificant compared to yours, but still freaks me out! I even think that this idiotic strip could have been there before, but never saw it! What do you think? Is it derived from the impact or is it just me being a bit paranoid?
Best, DM
April 27th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
My Mac Book Pro recently had an accident. I was staying at the Mariott Marquis in New York, and had to check out and go to the UN building for a academic conference. I checked out with a group, and we put our baggage on a cart for the bellman to tag. I placed the bag containing my laptop on-top of the all the other luggage and told the bellman there was a laptop in this bag, he looked at me and continued tagging. Now I have A Chrome laptop sleeve and a Chrome messenger bag, and I had the laptop in the case, in the messenger bag, with clothing to change into around to pad it further, because I was paranoid that it would be ****ed up. Also I have only had my MBP for about five months, and it has never been out of my sight, I treat it like glass. So we checked our luggage @ ten/ten twenty, went to the UN, came back around two/two fifteen got our luggage, and booked it down to the port authority to catch our bus back to PA. The messenger bag never left my sight, and I kept it close to me, I put it in the overhead compartment and went to sleep on the bus. I get home go to set up my laptop and to my horror as I pull out my MBP I find a huge dent on the left corner near the hard drive. The bottom of the computer is bowed a little, the front half inch has a huge dent, and the computer still works, but i don’t know what is damaged intenernally. I am currently in contact with the Mariott to get this act of gross negligence fixed.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
So I was lying down on the couch watching my favorite show online, and then sat up suddenly due the pets attacking each other, the macbook pro slid off the sofa 2′ off the ground and fell on carpet. The computer is fine except for on the bottom left where i rest my left hand, near the casing plastic and aluminum. There is a small metal pronglike thing sticking out, I’m not sure if it’s the latch that keeps the case closed inside or part of a component. It’s along the seem of the border. Any ideas on what it is and how to put it back in without demolishing my MBP would be wonderful. Thanks.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
same problem today morning, my headphone wire got stuck to my feet and my macbook pro crash landed on the ground… this was the 4th time… and sadly it did not survive. it was working all fine till i shut it down to check if it restarts properly… i just get a blue screen. Luckily my harddrive is fine as i connected it as slave and i could copy my important documents out. The apple guys asked me to change the top and bottom (id rather buy a new mac).. god i hate them… Any suggestions as to what i should do??
May 24th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Use an iPod. Seriously. I’ve had a few near misses, where I’ve almost yanked my MacBook Pro off the desk with the headphone cable. Now I’ve started listening to music with my iPod while working at my computer. The iPod is on my body, so if I get up and forget the unplug the headphones the Mac is in no danger.
As for the broken casing, check out the following website for tips on how to repair all kinds of broken electronic gadgets:
http://www.ifixit.com/
May 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
thats a really wise suggestion!! got my casing fixed though, had a damaged hard-drive so got it replaced with a 250gb now… the whole deal was as good as buying a new hard-drive… i was quite lucky this time!!
May 29th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Hi guys i dropped my Macbook Pro onto half plastic (the slideing doors railing on the bottom) and half on the carpet while in sleep mode! My Superdrive failed and I am now scared my laptop may have problems with other hardware that may not be obvious yet (cpu, graphics card, logic board, ram) is there a program that can test everythign to see they are 100% ok? i’m paranoid =(((((((((((((
May 31st, 2008 at 6:20 am
hi everybody. I dropped my macbook yesterday like 2 feet from a table. I was scared…… I turn it on and shows a white screen and that’s it, nothing else. I tried run the mac hardware test but seems like is not working.
Well I think it was the hard drive, now I’m trying to get a new one.,,
hope you guys can fix yours!.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Just dropped my macbookpro down the stairs and big dent on the right corner (top and bottom). Now i can not close my laptop. It just pops back up. I am very scared. What do i do ?!?
July 1st, 2008 at 3:23 am
OK Hi everyone, I’ve fallen over on wet bricks with my 17 in macbook pro in a protective laptop bag in one hand, belongings in the other just after locking up the work place and the damage to one corner is visible as displaced metal edges. The screen and hinge is fine but the CD DVD drive spits the disc out each time I insert it. Small claim on insurance I hope. Has anyone had a similar experience of the CD DVD drive getting replaced?
July 31st, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Wow everyone here a similar problem like me. I was at a hotel, fell asleep watching movie with powermac. I had the power chord plugged in. The computer slid off onto the carpet. It fell and hit the carpet precisely where the power chord plugs into the computer. IT is obvious that it pushed in the area and damaged the power input. Anyway the computer will not start now. Here are my questions: #1 can i get the DVD out that is still in the superdrive? # 2 can i access the hardrive if it will not boot? (I do have a desktop MAC also) #3 Is there life after this for my mac?
August 6th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Did exactly the same thing. Headphones -> chair -> got up, *crash*
Except in my case it landed on a corner and bent the casing inward, so that the top panel was bend up and not flush with the case. Apple told me it would cost $650 to repair. So I went home, took a pair of plyers, wrapped them in electrical tape, and bent it back. It’s not perfect, but I’m probably the only one who can tell something’s wrong.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:43 am
The horrors of dropping a Macbook. So I was sitting on my bed with the Macbook on the bed near the edge (about a foot away) and I needed to get up in a hurry because there was a huge bug on the wall so I had to go kill it. I completely forget about my Laptop and it falls to the carpet floor, everything seems to be working fine just the left side of the screen frame seems to be damaged when I open it, it makes a clicking sound because the plastic is scraping against the other plastic and when I close it there’s more of a space on that side then the other. If this has happened to anyone could you give me a hand on either 1, how to fix it 2, what Apple would need to do/replace and 3, around how much would it cost.
Also side question - If I go into an Apple store and tell them what happened could they check the whole system and ports to see if everything is ok?
September 27th, 2008 at 3:16 am
same thing happened to me re: disk drive- my bag slid off the hook on the back of the toilet door, obviously not enough padding in it.
Now the top right hand corner near the keyboard is a little bent open, but my disk drive keeps making a whirring noise when i put one in, and then spits it out.
Any ideas about prices??
September 28th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I dropped my MBP in a bag from about 1/2 a meter. Kind of stuffed up the top right hand side of the cover (though i can still plug in through the DVI) but the aluminum casing is dented and warped. Man was I annoyed… luckily though everything still works. The only noticeable problem is whenever I put something in the cd drive it sometimes makes an almost grinding noise.
November 15th, 2008 at 3:29 am
recently baught a black macbook. been keeping it like a baby and suddenly yesterday, it goes bam on the hardwood floor when i was trying to pick up my cell phone and forgot that the cabl got wrapped up around my feet. And when i got up, there came down the macbook on the floor exacty sitting on floor as it wa on table with screen wide open. haven’t seen any pblms yet except today when it got really hot for few mins and fan statrted running like a generator for fw secs. not sure if this is only the beginning!!
January 26th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I have got the flashing question mark in the grey file on my laptop, which i discovered this morning! All the things that people have said to try and fix it have included installing the Mac OS dvd, but I already had a dvd in my laptop from last night. I really need to get it out but I don’t know how??? Can someone please help am really stressing!!
April 19th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Oh lordy, I have read this whole page and I dropped mine further than every single one of you! i think it’s done for and i’m just telling y’all to cheer you up - because hey, at least you didn’t drop it on its fragile little corner from six feet up!
May 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Love the drop stories, makes me feel less like an idiot. Although - dropped my Macbook Pro onto pavement (the clasp of my laptop bag gave out). The MBP was in a laptop bag with cushion on the bottom. The screen separated from it’s holder but I squeezed it back together. The metal above the PCI slot warped. I unscrewed the case and just bent it back. There’s a ding on the left side and the cover doesn’t line up any more. It still shuts though And - the computer runs as if nothing happened. Unbelievable. I’m pretty bugged about the cover not lining up, and of course I just lost some resale value. I’m also worried about the hard disk dying prematurely but other than that it could have been much worse.