toxic smell?

Hi cassius2001,

Have you taken your MacBook Air in to an Apple Retail Store or service provider for evaluation? Do others notice the smell from your computer? It sounds like it would be good to get it checked out.

Also, FYI, here is the Environmental Specifications for the different models,
http://www.apple.com/environment/resources/specs.html

Ivan

I'm looking for the same info on the Late 2008 machines.

Bought a Macbook Pro early this year. Returned it with a headache after two days of burn in - it was 12 feet from my desk. Smell was like swimming in a chemical vat.

Our Mini is so bad I can only use it for a few hours per week. Can't even keep it in sleep mode - must unplug the stinker.

The green hype Apple keeps promoting keeps me hopeful that the machines will become easier to tolerate. The new laptops, with less plastic in the construction, look promising.

Remarkably, the new iPod Touch 2G has no odor that I can detect and I don't get ill from using it. As a result it is now my favorite 'computer' but it ***** as a development platform, typing is way too slow, etc.

The late 2008 machines are supposedly bromine and chlorine free. Chlorine is a big part of PVC (wire insulation) and bromines are used for flame retardants, mixed in with ABS plastics and used on circuit boards to help deal with the heat of modern processors and the risks of Lithium batteries.

The Mac Mini, for example, has pretty high levels of brominated compounds in the white plastic housing (detection method: XRF). I'd expect the same is true of any Apple plastic laptop. Not only does that plastic decay over time (look for color changes, cracking, dust production) but the heat cycles speed up the decay.
For more info Google for Boston University PBDE and Tom Webster.

The list of chemicals released off the plastics, thermal compounds, adhesives, component packaging, PCBs during computer operation is quite huge. Many of the emitted chemicals can result in headaches, breathing problems, allergic reactions, skin inflammation, and CNS damage that can surface as sleep, memory, balance, and vision problems. The problems can easily take a week of Mac avoidance to clear up and long term exposure could be harmful.

I suspect most of the Mac odors are not related to the halogens like chlorine and bromine. But still we need to be very clear - bromine is extremely toxic and is classified as toxic to the central nervous system. While the Apple hype claims these machines are 'Free' of the elements, the fine print in the Apple environmental statement actually defines 'Free' as 'less than 900 parts per million' which is a very significant contamination problem if your body isn't good at tolerating chemical exposures.

Laptops are really a bad choice if you have trouble staying healthy around such chemicals. The hot processor, circuits, fans, thermal compound - all the smelly stuff - is positioned too close to your face and the exhaust path on the MacBook and MacBook Pro directs part of the airflow directly at the user from the hinge area.

If you'd like to chat about this off line, give me a way to contact you.

Apple has been intent on pointing out that they've gotten rid of toxins from their products. That said, I imagine that the heat within a metal laptop might have some chemical smell that a person might be sensitive to, and if that's the case, I'd probably avoid the metal MacBook.

I can say that I have the MacBook Al and I've smelled nothing. Also, it stays relatively cool, which might keep the occurrence of any such smell to a minimum. Likewise, it's construction is different. It all depends on what was causing this smell and your sensitivity to it. If it's the metal, than if they've changed that metals composition in order to create these new bodies, there may be no problem.

Why not go to a store and hang with a MacBook for a while and see if you smell anything or have any reaction?

I think you're a bit confused. The so-called 'toxic smell' was reported for the Mac Pro not the MacBook Pro or MacBook.

I'd check your working environment if you have a toxic smell, and see the doctor if you are suffering repetitive headaches as that could be sign of something more serious.

cassius2001 wrote:
ok, I got that point mistaken, but the rest is still valid. I would like to know if anyone with the new macbook is experiencing the "toxic smell" that has been reported with the macbook pro, mac pro, and possible other machines?

As I wrote only the *Mac Pro* has been reported to have this so-called 'toxic smell' - not the MacBook Pro or any 'other machines'.

So far I haven't read anything about the new Macbooks smelling. Other than that, I own a Macbook Al and haven't had anything remotely similar to what you describe. I hope that gives you a peace of mind.

Can't speak for the OP but your response is thoughtful. It just may not help much since YMMV.

The seemingly obvious thing to do is demo machines at the store and sniff away. However they often have many burn-in hours on the units, the store is heavily ventilated, there are many products near by, and the amount of time you can spend with the machine is really limited. Odors are good clues, hypersensitive detection of specific but faint odors suggests the individual's body is reactive to the substance, but oddly the harmful chemical may have no detectable odor at all.

So the best situation is to live with the machine in a normal work environment for a few hours or days. That can make some folks sick for days and Apple doubles the pain by charging restocking fees.

Not only are we not seeing complaints about odor and no posts about people sniffing these new MacBooks for the pure pleasure of it, but the complaint rate on hardware problems seem a bit higher than normal.

The lack of a normal Apple Mac smell could 'hurt' the unboxing experience for some fans but does that translate into lower satisfaction with the purchase? Maybe.

One of the really strange facts about allergy and toxicology is that humans tend to get very addicted to foods and chemicals that cause harm. It doesn't matter if it is beer, wheat, sugar, formaldehyde, paint fumes, or Mac fumes - you can become addicted to it and crave exposure without realizing it. Any change in dose could be fun or make you feel worse. A new machine could be a nice hit while a couple of days off the equipment could make you edgy with classic withdrawal symptoms. Go cold turkey for 4 days or more and it is possible, certainly for folks with a history of allergy or chemical sensitivity, to 'unmask' exposures and learn the hard way exactly how much harm the stuff is causing.

Call me silly, call me crazy but I suspect people are griping because they miss the firewire not because they are suffering from withdrawal symptoms from some mysterious plastic smell.

I haven't smelled anything with my new MacBook, but then again I never smelled anything with my old iBook.

I don't discount chemical sensitivity, but I just think there may be legitimate concerns and/or problems with the new MacBooks.

I think you are delusional. You need to visit a Shrink real soon, before your head explodes.