Do all the recent Mac Pros have a toxic smell?

I got mine today and I don't smell anything bad.

If there are 50 I'd be surprised, and my guess is there are Mac Pros in the 100k's.

Manufacturing always has glitches, seems like this one is under the radar so far and not getting the Q&A.

Thinking of getting one? wait until MacWorld SF in a couple weeks would be my advice.

I got mine two months ago and I never noticed a bad smell. And I have a very sensitive sense of smell. However, I have read many posts about Mac Pros giving off a bad smell.

Steven

I read recently that someone fixed the smell by reapplying the thermal paste. It'd take me a long time to find the specific post but it'd be somewhere here.

My MacPro has always smelled very bad and despite we changed the power supply, the heatsink and the thermal paste, it still smells a lot.

There are several posts about this issue going back to the original G5 cases that had the same problem. On the G5 it was easy to see the plastic sheeting on the access door, and remove it to solve the problem.

On the MacPro you have to look very carefully for small plastic strips aprox 1.5 inches in length and about 1/4 inch wide.

They are generally along the outer edge and sometimes cannot be seen unless you hold the panel at eye level like a pizza, and slowly change the viewing angle so you can see them in the light. I have excellent eye-sight, and had an idea what I was looking for, and they were still extremely hard to detect.

Once removed, the smell has never returned. I have seen postings about the adhesive on the processors etc., but that wasn't the problem in this case.

BTW... I should point out that this fix has made me a "hero" with several clients, associates and friends 🙂

R Miller wrote:

On the MacPro you have to look very carefully for small plastic strips aprox 1.5 inches in length and about 1/4 inch wide.

Once removed, the smell has never returned. I have seen postings about the adhesive on the processors etc., but that wasn't the problem in this case.

Thanks for the advice. Could you please have a look at the pictures and tell me if this is what you are talking about:

http://forum.macbidouille.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=20908

http://forum.macbidouille.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=20909

I'm trying now to see if this removes the smell, but I doubt such small plastic can smell that bad in my office. I will let you know.

Yes, those are exactly the items to remove. 🙂

Glad it worked. 🙂

Cheers!

Great work! Only Here is my situation. I had an awfull smelling MP that got sent back. Got the new one and way a little nervious that it would smell also. Even layed my hands on it and prayed! Well it did smell a little but not the same. More like hot electronics that would get better in time. I ran the heck out of it for about 3 days with the windows open and processors maxed out for hours at a time. Now the smell is maybe a 1 out of 10. I dont consider it a problem.

Now I took a look at my cover and easily saw the stickers and removed them. The stickers dont smell at all but smelling the middle of my computer above the ram is where is smells like faint hot electoronics although it seems fine to me and I'm pretty parinoid after the first one. So I'm not sure if this fix can really be called fixed.

Maybe someone with a reall smelly one could take the cover off and see if it still smells? Or maybe burn those stickers and get a little smell although that may not be safe.

I just bought a new MacPro and I wouldn't call it a 'toxic' smell but I can definitely smell something which I think shouldn't be there. I will try removing these strips tonight and post if it makes any difference.

R Miller wrote:
Glad it worked. 🙂

Cheers!

Well, for me this did not work at all. Put the computer into another room to make sure there was no remaining odor, and it still smells as bad and I cannot use it.

I got a refurbed MP two weeks ago and no smell whatsoever. And my wife would've noticed -any- odd smell... she's got the most incredible sense of smell. For real.

Lang

I just have to get this out - I loved the smell my new Mac Pro gave off... like a new car smell! It was the best part, it actually SMELLED like it was loaded with 2.66GHz of powerful silicon

🙂