News Factory fumble blamed for MacBook complaints

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/06/07/Factory_fumble_blamed_for_Macbook_complaints/

 

wow it took them that long to notice that there is a piece of plastic over the vent, no offence, but doesnt this kinda show how competent apple users are, i mean, shouldnt they notice this piece of plastic (which i would have thought would melt off with these "extreme" tempreatures) and remove it ... who here leaves the packaging on their products ....
And as for their other "excuse" - pathetic IMO, but then again for prolonged periods, ive allways found that laptops get rather hot (as i usually find out if i use a dell laptop)

 

It wasn't even Apple that noticed it. Some flikr user posted a set about it a couple of weeks ago.

 

Why should Apple (or ASUS) remove it? You don't buy a new mobile phone or MP3 player or another piece of electronics without something being covered by plastic to protect it. It's always down to the consumer to remove.

What Apple should have done is make a point of removing it in the quickstart manual or for the plastic to be coloured instead of transparent so it's obvious it's out of place.

 

Agreed, this is common practice in the industry, and we're always greatful when they do it (because it makes our hardware actually work the first time we get it home), but it should definitely be documented somewhere, and it should be clear that it doesn't belong...

(btw, the plastic stuck to my laptop's monitor to protect it during fabrication stayed on there for 2 months before I noticed, and I'm a PC user, so people make mistakes, and it isn't indicative of their tech choices )

 

Manual

As an owner of a macbook pro the heat is really way too hot but if you go through the manual apple never refers to the macbook pro as a laptop so they dont really intend for it to be set on your lap.

 

I like the protective plastic that comes on 90% of eletronics, camera screens, dvd player fronts, an indicator bar on my laptop (which btw gets pretty hot from time to time).

I cant stand people who dont remove these plastic covers, i want to smack them and rip it off their camera/laptop/whatever. But thats just my personal gripe. I cant imagine how people wouldnt have noticed this, unless it really is unoticable. Perhpas a picture would help to get the point across..

 

Mine too

Strange really, as removing that film is great fun, feels like new electronics

 

Urgh, too true . What's worst is when there are air bubbles under the plastic and they still won't rip it off...

 

A recent batch of Fujitsu Amilos had a similar problem. They have sheilding on the internal side of the rear cover and on some laptops this went straight over the main cooling vent as it wasn't cut out at the factor. Fortunately all you have to do is remove the panel and cut around the vent with a scalpel and peel the shielding away otherwise the laptop would overheat in about half an hour and shut down.

 

I've still got the protective plastic on my mobile, but there are no air bubbles to give away the fact it's still on there. If there were, I'd take it off immediately.

I left the plastic on my Zen Vision:M's screen for about a month before I took it off as it started out completely flat and you couldn't see it at all, but as time wore on it started to peel away at the edge, so it was removed. I now have an InvisibleSHIELD protecting the entire front.

 

I've always considered it quite illogical that almost all laptop manufacturers put the cooling vents on the bottom of the machine where they're invariably covered up whenever you put it on something that isn't a hard surface. My wife often takes our laptop (sadly not a macbook pro) to watch a DVD before going to sleep, and 9 times out of 10 she falls asleep without shutting it down and I come in to find the tiny fans screaming as they try to suck air through a 14 tog duvet. Surely it would be more sensible to have the vents on top, behind the keyboard for instance? But maybe that would harm their market share in that sector of the market who buy laptops to use as central heating.

 

Well, notebooks have been getting hotter for a long time. In fact most are now refered to as notebooks and not laptops because they are nit designed for lap use. Many have fan intakes on the uderside and only function on a hard flat surface. I wouldn't dream of using any current notebook on my lap unless it was an ultraportable. I wouldn't dream of using my notebook on my lap but then it might crush me. LOL 5.8kgs of 17" DTR... I'd fry me and my machine using it on anything other than a hard flat surface.

Most vents are underneath draw cool air up and send it out the back or sides. Because of the way fan fit inside comfortably it is best and quietest this way. If it was side intake and exhaust it would be a LOT louder.

 

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE RIP THAT PLASTIC OF YOUR SCREEN IT HAS F*** AIR BUBBLES IN IT" i have screamed (forgot the correct word in english, something like yealed, please help me correct this) this into my friends ear, he has a laptop for about 3 months now, it is all bubbly and he says it is only coming off when the warranty has ended.

edit: i am not alone @ hitman012 and ElThomsono

 

They put it back on if you send it in for repair so that the screen doesn't get scratched. I can't see how anyone can use something set up like that.

 

you have a good point there, i can understand the plastic cover on screens and stuff, but once it impairs your vision - its gotta come off
Shame that you can never apply them yourself, i know quite a few people who leave them on, to protect the screens and such
And if apple are going to leave them see-through, what are they thinking, it definetly should have a marking on it or somthing

 

and most of the people that replied to that thread had said their 'book didn't come with the plastic over the vents....so explain that? lol

 

My old Dell Inspiron 8100 has it's fans and vents all on the top, side, and back in the upper right corner above the keyboard. It still gets too hot to use on the lap espeically when doing anything other than typing with it. It is an older computer too so the CPU is the only thing that is activley cooled. The GPU just vents its heat into the underside of the keyboard.

But yea, I never understood having all of the air intakes all over the bottom of the computer.

 

I think there is a deeper issue here. modern users demand more power, longer battery, faster chips, more hdd space, more everything really. it really is an engineering marvel how the mac (and any other laptop for that matter) are put together.

take apart any laptop and they have all managed to cram in a massive amount of hardware. it's very impressive. and dont even get started on that crazy rock laptop with the SLI installed, i mean we should be taking our hats off to these guys for the engineering marvel they have produced, not bitcing that it runs too hot. i mean what do you expect, we normally cool these chips with 80-120mm fans (and in most cases we have multiple fans), we have a huge amount of airflow around the components and all is good, now you expect that same power from a device that can only use 30-40mm fans, has no airflow what-so-ever, and has to run on batteries???

personally i dont think they run that hot, considering what they are capable of. if you demand more power, then your going to have more heat, and that is the way it will always be.