Bottom of laptop expanding?

Question

Bottom of laptop expanding?

Now ive heard of the battery expaning, but the acual bottom of my macbook has expanded. I noticed it when I noticed that it didnt sit flush to the table, and on the right hand bottom coner where the HDD is, there is about a 1.5mm gap between the rubber thing and the surface, and it moves when you use it. Is this a problem anyone else has suffered from, or is it only the battery what tends to expand?

Its slightly annoying and dont really want to send it away again for repair, as ive just got it back from a discolouration repair.

If I were to take it to where I brought it (which is also an apple repair centre) would the fix it, or do you think they will replace it?

Mac Mini PPC 512mb RAM 1.42Ghz, Macbook 512mb RAM 1.83Ghz, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Jul 13, 2006 11:27 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 13, 2006 11:35 AM in response to Christian Haslam

It's not a defect -- 1 in every 10,000 Macbooks is actually a BigMacbook 🙂

More seriously, if I understand what you've written your Macbook is actually warping. Probably this is due to heat. I don't know if Apple will consider this within spec or not.

If if bothers you enough to take it in please let us all know what happens.

G5-B Dual 1.8, Blackbook, PPC Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.6)

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Answer 2

Mac-Medic

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Jul 13, 2006 11:47 AM in response to Christian Haslam

as ive just got it back from a
discolouration repair.

It's possible the repair tech didn't get it put back together exactly right. There are very tight tolerances inside the MacBook. When I used to repair camcorders, they could be a SOB to get back together right.

- Bmer
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Answer 3

Jul 13, 2006 3:09 PM in response to Mac-Medic

HHmm ok I will take it into the shop tomorrow. If the plastic has warped, then they should order a replacement plastic and replace it or would the possibly replace the whole thing?

Its not hugely noticeable but its like a dead pixel, once you know its there it bugs you, esspecially when your paying so much for the machine.

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Answer 4

Mac-Medic

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Jul 13, 2006 3:27 PM in response to Christian Haslam

HHmm ok I will take it into the shop tomorrow. If the
plastic has warped, then they should order a
replacement plastic and replace it or would the
possibly replace the whole thing?

Take it in, point it out and have them look at it. If it is the case warping, they can replace it.

- Bmer
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Answer 5

Jul 13, 2006 3:53 PM in response to Mac-Medic

Can you tell me exactly what warping means? Is it like buldging or cuving out of place?

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Answer 6

Mac-Medic

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Jul 13, 2006 4:00 PM in response to Christian Haslam

Can you tell me exactly what warping means? Is it
like buldging or cuving out of place?

To quote the dictionary, "the state of being twisted or bent out of shape."

- Bmer
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Answer 7

Jul 13, 2006 4:05 PM in response to Mac-Medic

Ah Thanks very much. I have tried to take some photos off it to show you what I mean. I have to say its harder then it looks to take a close up picture of a white shiny macbook in a dark room haha.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC00999.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC00997.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC00994.jpg
Like I said, sorry about the quality. As you can see, it should be flush to the battery, but isnt.

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Answer 8

Jul 13, 2006 4:14 PM in response to Christian Haslam

I see. Not warped at all. It just looks like the battery isn't exactly flush. It may be annoying but I doubt it's a defect. Still, it doesn't hurt to take it in and ask. If you think that's bad, you should see the bottom of this Dell Latitude I'm typing on -- it's got more bumps and ridges than the Himalayas!

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Answer 9

Jul 13, 2006 4:14 PM in response to Christian Haslam

It is really hard to make out from those photos what your problem is.

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Answer 10

Jul 13, 2006 4:25 PM in response to jeromeperry@mac.com

Yes. Tried to take some better pics if this helps. Basically the battery is closes to my hand plastic overlaps it.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC01002.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC01003.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/chaslam500/DSC01004.jpg

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Answer 11

Mac-Medic

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Jul 13, 2006 4:34 PM in response to Christian Haslam

Like I said, sorry about the quality. As you can see,
it should be flush to the battery, but isnt.

Something doesn't look right there.

You know, I found sometimes when things look a little warped, a few " Old Fashions" straighten them right out.

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