🤦‍♂️ Hardware Damage Moments

I’m one of those people who thinks Apple Lightning cables are fine — I’ve only ever broken one in 18 years (including very similar dock cables) — so I have very few incidents to report.

The one that annoys me the most is my Apple watch (Series 5) which has a bunch of fine scratches on the screen. They will dent the resale value for sure but I don’t see them most days. How did I get them? Well, I’m not sure Apple included in their testing: watch glass versus architecture. The relative masses of the watch and the enormous concrete pillar I “brushed against” when exiting the railway station one morning did not favour the watch.

Others include putting a small ding (that was very visible) in my iPhone 3G screen — my keys have not shared a pocket with my phone ever since — and the one time I have dropped an iPad — off a tenuous pile of slippery books I was balancing as I entered the only hard-floored (i.e. concrete) part of the house; the garage with its narrow access between cars. I’ll claim that I was pioneering flat sides before Apple thought of it, though I only had one flat corner. Amazingly the glass did not break but bent!

Additional update: while in use, my computer smells like coffee. Also, the space bar now is a bit gummy. I’m guessing coffee residue under the space bar… melted?

Debating taking it back tomorrow OR trying to finish off teaching for the school year and take it in around late June.

Odds this gummy space bar issue somehow resolves itself?

At least 15 years ago, I was using my macbook at the dining room table and decide to join my girlfriend on the couch.

For some stupid reason, I decided to jump into a sitting position on the couch rather than sit down like a normal human. As I landed with my open macbook in my hands, the impact caused the screen to swing open way past its normal locking point and snap right off, hanging by the ribbon cable/hinge.

I definitely felt very stupid that day and a lot poorer as I had to pay for a new screen.

4 Likes

It will probably change over time, but I doubt the dried coffee will totally go away by itself. :sweat_smile:

Sitting with my laptop, doing some maintenance while waiting for my tea to infuse. When the reminder told me to get it, I set the laptop aside without closing the lid (which I normally do). When I came back the display looked totally ruined with all kinds of distorted lines on it, while not seeing any physical damage.

To this day I believe that one of our cats did something in the few minutes I was gone. Unfortunately, I can’t pin it to a specific cat… :joy_cat: The display had to be replaced, of course.

Since then, I always make sure I put the laptop away or close the lid, no matter how high the perceived inconvenience may be.

Good luck to you!

1 Like

I once left my very new iPad charging in a conference room in BFE, Illinois, and didn’t realize it until I went through security at the airport, which was a 2-hour drive away. The upside is that I was very early for my flight and made a very nice taxi driver’s day.

2 Likes

Same thing happened to me almost 2 years ago (minus the parrot). Had been delaying swelling battery change because I needed MBP every single day for work. Brought it in to get it checked after the spill, expecting to be told the inside was done and I would need to get a new machine. Liquid check passed, decided to change the battery. Turns out battery replacement comes with top case replacement, including keyboard & trackpad. Best 250$ spent ever. MBP 2014 looks like new and still going strong to this day :muscle:

EDIT: Meant to reply to ERJ_T… oh well… But in fact, I have a story about « lost device » too. Same MBP, left in my open bag with wallet, passport etc in a passenger seat on a train in Italy, from which I got off in a hurry to catch the next train. Realized what I had done on the next train :flushed:
Still cannot believe I got everything back, including all the money in my wallet!

2 Likes

Something similar happened to me with the same iPad model. In my case however it was somewhat more entertaining – I managed to sit on it. I guess a red Smart Cover and a red blanket on my bed were a particularly bad idea. Especially when paired with a semi-dark room and body weight of ~110 kg (at that time). Luckily I had AppleCare+ on that device, so as a result it only cost me €99 and I got a new iPad. Interestingly, despite a rather serious bend (really visible) the screen wasn’t cracked. The only “big” piece of electronics that I have actually managed to break in my career.

2 Likes

Waaaay back my Dad used to run a DOS menu we built on his PC. One of the options was the file manager software X-Tree. The family cat managed to jump up on the keyboard one day, launch X-Tree, navigate said tree to a reasonably critical file, and hit delete! She did not, however, manage to hit Y to confirm. :relieved:

This. Always this. Until 2020 I’ve always had cats in the house. But they’re not the worst. Kids and even adults don’t see things, or in some cases don’t value things as I do.

  • Never leave an open vessel of liquid unattended near something you value.
  • Never run a cable where it can be caught (yes, I think MagSafe is unnecessary).
  • Never leave a cover open when it can be closed.
  • Never trust your ability to “balance stuff” for “long enough”.

I’m getting on in years now and I can attest that the (very) minor inconvenience of following all of the above rules constantly is nothing compared to the angst of the one time you lapse and disaster happens.

See also turning lights off when you leave the room, never putting a beverage near the edge of a table/bench, don’t leave fragile stuff out where it’s unprotected, and… my big one… treat computer/phone cables like wires, not dog leads. Still only ever broken one white Apple cable in 18 years, and that in an unfamiliar hotel room.

4 Likes

Not an Apple story but: I was replacing a CPU module on a Sun Microsystems server that cost more than my house did at the time. It was around 2AM and I’d been up for way too many hours; the job was very fiddly. I thought I’d lined everything up but one pin on the motherboard wasn’t in perfect position, and ended up being bent at nearly 90 degrees. After my heart started beating again, I very carefully nudged the pin back up to as straight as I could get it, and then seated the CPU module. The server came to life and I continued to live :slight_smile:

4 Likes

OT, but this?

image

That brings back some memories…

2 Likes

It sure does! My first file manager.

5 days later my laptop still faintly smells of coffee. The goopy stickiness of my spacebar seems to have been improved. I did use this as an excuse to buy an iPad in case I had to send my computer away for repair.

Maybe this spell was for the best!

2 Likes

Key question, do you enjoy the smell of coffee?

1 Like

When I was in college, I spilled some Sprite in my PC keyboard and it gummed up the space bar. A similar Coke spill a few months later resolved the problem.

2 Likes

Heck yeah! This was some fancy organic vanilla flavored expensive stuff with a dash of my favorite oat milk so the odor is pleasant.

1 Like

Can’t you flag a warning in front of a disgusting content like that…?!
:nauseated_face: :face_vomiting: :rofl:

2 Likes

Ok ok ok I know flavored coffee is sacrilegious BUT I just needed to switch things up a bit.

2 Likes

In 2010, when I had just bought my first ever MacBook Pro, I was on vacation in the United States, I’d landed at Washington Dulles airport, and headed to the car rental place. In the queue, I got out my documents that were in the same pocket of my backpack as my laptop (because it keeps them nice and flat :wink: ) and while waiting, I rested my laptop on top of my suitcase.

Next thing I heard was a cringe-inducing earth shattering crash, as the solid aluminium body of my brand new MacBook Pro made contact with the solid tile flooring of the car rental lobby.

Amazingly, the laptop all still worked OK - but I forever had a lovely dent on one corner of it and the top case never properly lined up with the bottom case at that point ever again!

3 Likes

Exactly that. Finder could learn a thing or two.