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My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

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Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#111
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this happened to a laptop of mine and I decided I would get a new laptop Equally true for Apple hardware, that you can get in most reasonably sized shopping malls basically anywhere over here (France). Most places that sell laptops also sell Apple hardware.

Maybe I do not understand your point, but can you go with a broken Apple laptop , without a schedule to shopping mall, have someone test it, tell you a diagnose and how much will it cost, ifv you decide you want a new one would the shop offer you money for the working parts of your Apple laptop( Apple is trying to make this illegal, reusing parts)

Oh, maybe it's just me that was confused and did not understand your case. Let me fix that: you went to the shop for a diagnosis maybe expecting a simple operation and was told the computer requires unexpectedly expensive repair, so you bought a new one instead? I thought you knew it beforehand since it was old already.

In that case where there is no Apple sanctioned repair presence such shops either usually sell Apple hardware and gladly perform support and diagnosis if that can bring them a sale, or they're nice enough to help you anyway with the diagnosis out of good will (people are generally like that in digitally scarce areas) and will direct you to get a new one at the mall (or, they're dicks and then, screw them).

You have every right to call me an optimist about human behaviour though ;)

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#112
post #99

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will t…

I do think it's interesting that the quality of the MBP have fallen so much. Obviously, they have improved specs, but my 2013 MBP is still going strong. I am kinda nervous about the battery swelling; maybe I should open it up and take a look.

To be fair, my 2011 MPB’s battery swelled. I think the securing screws were stripped during installation, and I couldn’t even replace the battery myself.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#113
"[Ineligible because our] records show that your device has already been serviced ..."

Cool, thanks Apple. Glad I got to pay like $700 for this when my 2015 MBP was overheating so much last year that the battery swelled and broke the motherboard. I just did a quick live-chat with one of the tech support people... no chance for a refund on the work I had done 8 months ago to replace the battery and repair damage it caused. It really sucks that people who proactively dealt with this can't get compensated for what is now acknowledged as a manufacturing flaw.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#114

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will t…

I think the swollen batteries are quite common in the MacBook Pros. Seems to be plenty of reports on the net. Typically people seem to notice this when the trackpad or keyboard starts acting funny. Not sure if Apple even considers that as a defect or if it is just the way some of the batteries are expected to behave when they get old.

I think old battery packs (and new ones for larger laptops) were generally cylindrical cells, and the new ones are flat packs which do seem to have more issues with mechanical problems (like Samsung's phones a few years ago) which cause swelling.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#115

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will t…

I think the swollen batteries are quite common in the MacBook Pros. Seems to be plenty of reports on the net. Typically people seem to notice this when the trackpad or keyboard starts acting funny. Not sure if Apple even considers that as a defect or if it is just the way some of the batteries are expected to behave when they get old.

Yep, I have 3 older models with swollen batteries.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#116

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will t…

I think the swollen batteries are quite common in the MacBook Pros. Seems to be plenty of reports on the net. Typically people seem to notice this when the trackpad or keyboard starts acting funny. Not sure if Apple even considers that as a defect or if it is just the way some of the batteries are expected to behave when they get old.

I have a new-ish Dell laptop, and its battery spontaneously started bulging. It was right after I took it away from my desk after many weeks of sitting on the charging dock. First I thought I had accidentally cracked it open, pushed it back together, and a couple minutes later it cracked open again on its own.

Fortunately this was a "work" computer, the IT crew fixed it in a jiffy. But I wonder if it uses a similar type of battery, looked like a thin black pillow when the tech took it apart.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#117
post #99

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will t…

I do think it's interesting that the quality of the MBP have fallen so much. Obviously, they have improved specs, but my 2013 MBP is still going strong. I am kinda nervous about the battery swelling; maybe I should open it up and take a look.

I also have a 2013 MBP that I use all the time, and it's slowly starting to show its age. I want to upgrade it, but I'm honestly lost as to what model to update it with. I've heard all sorts of bad things about the new MBPs. Does anyone know what Mac laptop I should buy?

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#119
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I do not understand your point, but can you go with a broken Apple laptop , without a schedule to shopping mall, have someone test it, tell you a diagnose and how much will it cost, ifv you decide you want a new one would the shop offer you money for the working parts of your Apple laptop( Apple is trying to make this illegal, reusing parts)

Oh, maybe it's just me that was confused and did not understand your case. Let me fix that: you went to the shop for a diagnosis maybe expecting a simple operation and was told the computer requires unexpectedly expensive repair, so you bought a new one instead? I thought you knew it beforehand since it was old already. In that case where there is no Apple sanctioned repair presence such shops either usually sell App…

Right, is the same here in Romania, a third party shop will try to help you fix any laptop,phone,tablet , I dislike the fact that Apple is attacking this shops with lawsuits, FUD campaigns, preventing others to buy parts etc.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#120

My desktop caught fire once. I pulled the plug and the fire went out. Turns out the graphics card burst into flames. That had never happened to me before in 40 years of desktops. I had a fair amount of smoke damage that needed cleaning up. Now it sits on a piece of sheet steel instead of the wood floor. Edit: I usually assemble my desktop cases from mail order parts. This desktop happened to have a metal case rather…

A buddy of mine had his computer catch fire, it turned out to be a shorted USB plug with some sort of add-on board inside the case.

I stripped it down and verified everything and now it's my gaming PC.

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