Ouch make yourt friend pay for the repair. Just looking at that hurts my heart.

Aluminium is a semihard metal of course it will be dented if you drops something hard on it. However plastic casings like ipod and most other laptops casings will propably get cracks in simular situations.

Pismo's was like a tank! Could be tossed around without any damage.

I hope you had Safeware.com insurance ...... no deductable ..... free replacement plus extras!

I sent in a TiPB with a broken hinge. After screen replacement, they called and said battery was only holding 1 & 1/2 hour charge, so they replaced with new battery AND a new Apple charger!

What service..... I wish AppleCare was that good! ($60/year!)

Dropping (fairly) heavy objects onto your laptop is never a good idea, not matter what it's made of. Based on the damage, I doubt that plastic would have helped.

Is it really necessary to direct anger and blame towards Apple because you have a clumsy friend?

ouch, that's a nice one. but, just like car dents, only the first one hurts. and don't hate aluminum, hate your friend instead. be more selective with whom you let trudge about your powerbook.

That's the powerbook for you. All looks and nothing else.

These people who say that plastic is no better have no idea what they're talking about.

I have to agree with teknopimp..
Why are you hating aluminum when its not even aluminum's fault.
Your friend dropped the hard drive onto the PB.
Same thing goes with anything else.. you drop the hard drive on the hood of my car.. I'd make you pay for the damages and probably repaint the whole front clip so the paint matches...
If your so worried about nicks and dents.. get an iBook.. something that can be more easily tossed around.
Like they say.. you live and learn.. just be more careful of who comes near your PB

Hey fleaplus,

If you can't get things working yourself, I'd say take it to an Apple store and at least get an estimate on the repair. Make sure you put all the original components back in and don't tell them you've been in there.

Make sure your friend knows how much his carelessness costs, too.

Seriously

Well, we did take the machine to the apple store before opening it up. They said it would be a tier 3 repair, and would cost around $700.

I guess I hate aluminum because because it has proven to be the easiest material to scratch/dent/bend out of all the laptops I have had. Before this dent, it had other dents and the aluminum above the combo drive had bent down because I rested my palm on it while using the trackpad. Even my old 1400CS still runs and looks like a champ even though it was treated with the same level of care that the aluminum one was. (okay, the floppy drive was broken once when the 1400CS had been sat on, but that was a cheap $150 replacement..)

He said he would pay me $1200 for the entire laptop (which seems to be around what 1ghz base model 15" goes) and I might just take that and get the next ibook revision once it comes out..

I've heard of a lot of people whose AlBooks have gotten badly dented from falls/things dropped on them. Of course the dropping is always somebody's fault, not the PB's, but yeah it does seem the Al is more sensitive to dents.

What you really need to do is kill your friend.

a new g4 upper from pbfixit is 249 and a new 5400rpm 100 gig 5400rpm apple approved hdd is $179 from newegg. that sux man! i don't think plastic would have survived but, you hdd might have had a better chance!

I took the whole thing apart again and pounded the dent out. Now sleep mode doesn't freeze and the airport card works again. (I took care to keep the antenna from being peirced when I put the upper case back together this time...)

Maybe I can get him to buy a couple 1GB dimms and a 60gb 7200rpm drive (one of those new seagates with the 5 year warranty!) I certainly could deal with the dents then!

Don't hate your friend or cast the blame on the aluminum; that is so lame. This is in the same category as the risk you run by having open containers of drinks next to your laptop. You are just as much or moreso to blame than your friend. Aluminum? Don't even try it. I might as well leave my Powerbook open in a house on moving day. Anyone can accidentally drop things but you are the only one that can make sure your possessions are not under them.

I usually park my 2003 Mustang GT furthest away in the parking lot AND take up two parking spaces. My car sits there alone in the empty portion of the lot, where practically no one parks. Crazy huh? Here it is 2005 and where are the door dings? My car still looks brand new because of me seeing nothing wrong with NOT jockeying around the parking lot (like everyone else) for the closest space and not minding getting a bit more excercise by walking a bit further to the store entrance. Besides, I get to check out all the other car door dings of the overweight customers along the way. What I don't get to do is blow my top and blame the guy who chipped my paint and drove off without apologizing.

Get a grip, look in the mirror and see the real accomplice to this event because you are not the total victim here, you have simply failed to keep your Powerbook out of harms way. Regardless of what others have posted, this was an ACCIDENT, not a malicious deed on the part of your clumsy friend. Pointing fingers at everyone (and every thing) but yourself is so easy. It would be the right thing to do on your friend's part to offer assistance in the repair, but even if your friend is not able to make any recompence, in this case forgive and forget, and BOTH of you be more careful next time is the answer IMHO.

Yeah, it could have been avoided but the outcome is really the best it could have been. If I would have closed the screen, it would now be ruined and the machine would be useless as a laptop. To avoid the accident completely, I would have had to pack up the machine in its bag under the table before I had left his room to use the bathroom.

I wish it would have been as superficial as a dent on a car door. Actually after seeing the inside of the powerbook quite a bit over the past few days I don't think any kind of metal or plastic could have stopped the hard drive from being damaged. It just seems to be one of the pitfalls of having a thin machine. Either way, it looks like things are going to be fixed now one way or another.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to the looks of my Apple hardware. If my G5, display, or Powerbook ever get a ding, dent, or scratch... they are gone. Seriously, I'd have to replace them. I couldn't stand looking at that beautiful aluminum case with a dent in it. That said, if I had the choice of a hot looking aluminum Powerbook or a bland looking black plastic Powerbook, I'd be all over the black plastic.

Having owned 4 Thinkpads before my Pbook, I can tell you that plastic holds up WAY better than aluminum. I've dropped my thinkpads, dropped things on my thinkpads, crammed up in a wiring closet with thinkpads propped on my knee, even (gasp!) holding the closed thinkpads by one edge! Stuff I would never dream of doing with the Pbook. The worst I've ever gotten was a cracked corner on a thinkpad A20p, and it didn't even bother me. With the Pbook, I carry it with two hands when it's not in the case, so that don't apply uneven pressure on the hinge and bend the screen. It's sad, really. But otherwise I LOVE my Pbook and I want to use OS X, so I got no other choice

Occupying more than one space is called double parking, and it is always an illegal act. I'm surprised you have not been cited before for it.

>I usually park my 2003 Mustang GT furthest away in the parking lot AND take up two parking spaces.

That's you?!?

I just saw a new mustang 2005? the new body / style. I'm not into muscle cars at all but I think they did a great job on the new model.It looked great.

actually double parking is when you park besides a car that is parked on a curb on the road, parking in two lanes at a supermarket/parking lot isn't really frowned upon unless the spots he's taking are (a) close to the door, or (b) the parking lot has no more available spots. as long as he parks by himself in the middle of nowhere outside of christmas season then he should be ok, still think taking two spots is a dick move, but whatever floats your boat.

same topic:

the next SUV i see parked in a compact slot is going to get a dent in its aluminum

I used to know guys in school that singled out people who did this because they (the school kids) thought they (the double parkers) were pricks. The kids would smash windows, kick in door panels, slash tires and that kind of stuff. I'm surprised that hasn't happened to you. But then again, that was back before kids had 23" wheels on their Tahoes or drove M3s.

BTW, I'm not saying you're a prick, just relaying the story. I don't care where you park.

Thats a nice dent man! Bummer. Wonder why you are having issues? There is absolutely no components under that part of the top case (trackpad is part of top case). Plastic is by far more durable...but it doesn't look as nice as these alums. Sorry bout your ding.

Aloha.

Thats the thing I loved about my Pismo...this thing took a huge beating...I would throw it around...on the bed, floor (carpeted) I dropped it a few times...this thing wouldnt die...I sold it for my Al 17" and miss it dearly. But every dog has their day...sorry to see the dent

in my area only ferrari owners and the like do the same. i have *never* seen a mustang (or any other american or jap car for that matter) do that.

I love the look of Al, but frankly after having two Al PBs, I much prefer our iBook's case.

Although I did get a warning slip one busy Saturday (Day before Easter) at a Mall I have never had a problem parking the way I do. It just makes sense to me as I like to keep things looking new and hate the careless behavior of folks who throw open their doors into your car; had enough of that back in 93 with my new black Camaro. Some people you have to think for, even when you drive. I usually time my braking gradually for tailgators. Some people you have to think for, at a Starbucks; where you place your coffee in relation to your laptop. You even have to think for yourself so you will not be the perpetrator of such accidents. We are all human and crap will hit the fan. This thread is a perfect example. All we can do is the best we can. Incidently, the day I posted here, which was yesterday, I prepared to leave my job, putting my baby Sony T250 laptop into its case:

http://homepage.mac.com/bhardy3/PhotoAlbum38.html

My attention was taken by another co-worker, and when I afterward picked the case up off the table by its strap to put it on my shoulder the laptop fell to the floor. Apparently I had not zipped up the case due to the distraction. Fortunately absulutely no damage from a probable 4 foot fall thanks partly to the carpeted floor and Sony quality and the 3 Lb light weight of the notebook. But there you have it. Craps happens, even to me.

Back to the dent; if you were able to hammer out the damage as you say, maybe you would consider ordering and replacing the damaged aluminum yourself.

It's never been a problem for me - I just watch my parking spaces and if it looks "too tight", I'll find another. No door dings or anything else like that.

Not to mention I always laugh at those who park in the back and take up 2 spaces with their Mustang's, Camaros, Firebirds, Civics, etc. Even when I had a Cobra (Mustang) I never did that.

Or when I drove my POS car (multiple shades af primer, rust, etc) I'd always squeeze right next to them.... Never ding'ed but was a funny "statement"

Freezing from what? You run a diagnostic on it yet? Wireless should not be affected as the antenna run up the side of the screen, and the card is under the keyboard more then by the trackpad. I say the freezing is from the HD being bad possibly.

The ibook would have cracked. The ibooks use diffrent plastic then then that of a PC laptop.