After some furniture rearranging, I was looking for a new spot to setup my charging station for my 2013 MacBook Pro, as the previous cabinet surface was no longer available. I placed on top of a speaker (a sub-woofer I'm told), which looked very convenient. However, the question was raised whether the magnet in the speaker might pose a danger to the hard drive. Does anyone know?
MacBook Pro Retina
While the metal body of MacBook Pro could provide some shielding from magnetic fields
if left there some time, and the speaker energized too, that may have been problematic.
Further study of the shielding properties and the magnetic fields from speaker system may
reveal if permanent damages occurred to a macbook. ~ Maybe short-term exposure without
active speakers (stereo off) may have no significant effect. A chassis of MacBook Pro provides
some protection; it may have been enough. Likely if the Mac is acting up now, it had problem
from other source.
Can Magnets Damage or Wipe a Laptop's Hard-Drive?
https://www.howtogeek.com/231216/can-magnets-damage-or-wipe-a-laptops-hard-drive/
The Answer. While you can damage hard-drives with magnets, it takes a very, very powerful magnet to do any damage.
As this article explains, any magnet that your brother may be playing with will not be large enough to do any damage:
Article Quote: This myth was popularized by movies where hackers or criminals would quickly erase the contents...
An Apple store genius or product expert may be stumped; if conclusive proof could be found.
The short term effect with speaker not energized, should not have adverse effect: my opinion.
And time would tell, if lengthy duration and exposure to active magnetic field, damaged Mac.
From here without additional info, is speculative. How do you feel the MacBook was impacted?
Good luck & happy trails!🌞
Does proximity to a magnet pose a danger to a MacBook Pro?
