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M1 MacBook Users Say Their Screens Are Cracking for “No Apparent Reason”
- racl101 5y agoKinda related .... It alarms me the number of people I see just slam their laptops shut. I get they're supposed to be tough but Jesus. Some people really slam those screens that you can hear it from another office with the door shut. Anyways, I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. Also, isn't the real kicker that these laptops only support one external display?
- mojuba 5y ago> It alarms me the number of people I see just slam their laptops shut. You can thank Hollywood movies for teaching people how to slam shut your laptop's lid (without saving your work or quitting apps, ever!) I'm serious. Every time it happens in a movie, which happens every single time when someone is supposed to end some work and close the laptop lid, - I want to ask: dear producers, directors and actors, do you do this in real life? Honest?
- cududa 5y agoI had a small chunk of glass pop out of the bottom of my 2017 MacBook Pro. Was just sitting there, it was getting hot, fans running, and just pop. They would t replace it.
- peakaboo 5y agoIt's been a long time since macbooks had quality. I think 2016 or around there?
- AdmiralAsshat 5y agoI remember having a similar issue with my HTC One M9. My first one randomly had the camera cover glass crack for seemingly no reason. It had a leather folio case around it at all times, and spent most of its time in my jeans pocket. Lots of other owners reported the same problem. https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/cracked-glass-camera-cover.3073421/page-2 https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/cracked-glass-camera-cove...
- serix 5y agoSame here but with Samsung S4. I just woke up, grab my phone and feel it by fingertip
- rcthompson 5y agoNow that I think about it, I had a Nexus 5x with the same problem. Luckily the crack was off to the side and didn't seem to block the image sensor at all.
- areoform 5y agoThis quote from the article is counter-productive, > I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that some of these “reports” are from users who shut their MacBook screen onto a keyboard with a bunch of Doritos crumbs stuck in it. > And if you, too, had a Doritos-related MacBook Pro screen incident, it’s worth driving that sucker right to the Apple Store and saying — with a straight face — that it happened for “no apparent reason”. Good luck. Does anyone remember when keyboard failures started to happen for "No Apparent Reason", and everyone said the same thing? Well, it turns out that was a faulty design. One that hadn't been extensively tested in the wild. That could very well be the case here, and further investigation is warranted. The following is speculation, but if Apple has been using a new pre-stressed glass design, then it's well within the realm of possibility for some of the screens to fail spontaneously. It happens frequently enough in the construction industry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage Modern materials are complex and display counter-intuitive failure modes.
- attheicearcade 5y agoIndeed, it's unnecessarily derogatory, especially considering Apple's history of questionable design choices to pursue thinness.
- millzlane 5y agoIt is apple though? Don't consumers prefer lighter and thinner devices that do what heavier and thicker ones do?
- ASalazarMX 5y agoIt's Apple. iPhones, for example, are unusable and slippery without a case, after which they're as thick as high-end Androids with Kevlar backs that can be used without a case. If my iPhone had good grip surface I wouldn't use a case, and the thinness would actually make a difference in my experience.
- 5y ago
- mproud 5y agoGlass typically will crack because of three reasons: applied force, sudden impact, or quick changes in temperature. How the crack appears also matters. This includes if there is glass damage, or only the LCD panel inside the display; if there’s a visible impact point; and if it’s a single hairline crack, or multiple cracks.
- baybal2 5y agoEpoxy which bonds front glass to the display can often warp, or stress the glass upon slightest imperfection during application. Simple bonding gel has no such problem, but it is very rarely used by big brands these days because it makes screen replacement much easier, and cheaper.
- millzlane 5y agoThis is true. A screen that cracks for no reason, will usually only have a hairline crack or crack under the LCD (which apple will fix under warranty). I have seen it and it's barely noticeable. We have deployed over 100 of the M1's in our ORG so my sample size is small, but of those 100's I have yet to repair a screen of an M1 that mysteriously cracked. We do apple care repairs on-site. With that said, I have seen most cracked screens come from shutting something (usually a writing utensil )in between the keyboard and screen. But's it's not our place to assume how it was cracked. Only that it is and it looks as if something hit it. Obviously, this is a simple explanation, but a screen that cracks on it's own won't look like it was smashed with a hammer.
- BitwiseFool 5y agoThe full title is: "M1 MacBook Users Say Their Screens Are Cracking for “No Apparent Reason” LOL" Seriously? LOL! What is journalism becoming? I really hope this style doesn't catch on and the author starts to write like a professional again. "Container ship Evergiven gets stuck in the Suez Canal. LMAO!"
- allpressitute 5y agoThing is most press runs on ads and the art that IBM perfected and apple copied is pulling ads from negative publications. So if a story absolutely needs to be published and you still want to keep ads, you have to come up with a way.
- elicash 5y agoI think this is a low-quality article. At the same time, different styles of writing, including those that some may see as "unprofessional" because it mimics how people actually write to one another, can actually at times be MORE interesting to me personally. My issue is with the substance, not the style. On substance, the entire argument here is "well they're probably lying because SOMETHING has to explain it." I get if you want to stick to traditional news articles. For me, I like seeing writers express themselves. I just prefer they bring more reporting to the process than this writer did.
- BitwiseFool 5y agoI'm perfectly fine with a more casual tone but I think plenty of authors are conflating conversational writing with being "hip" by peppering the text with internet lingo. There are also bloggers and substackers who utilize one-line asides to great effect. But maybe I'm just a cranky old man and this is what the audience likes nowadays.
- elicash 5y ago"LOL" goes back to the 80s. I'm not sure you can call it somebody trying to be hip. Almost certainly it's just a term they use like millions of others.
- epaga 5y agoA few years ago, my iPad suddenly developed a crack in the glass all on its own. It was just sitting there on the table, I heard a quiet "crack" sound, and there it was: a small crack all across one corner of the display. I can only assume it was some kind of temperature, pressure issue of some kind? I brought it to the Apple Store, told my story, got the weird looks, but they determined it wasn't fall damage nor me dropping something onto the iPad, so they shrugged their shoulders and replaced it. After that, I would not be so fast to accuse these people of closing their cases on Doritos.
- MengerSponge 5y agoGlass is weird. Improperly annealed glass can spontaneously break due to little more than atmospheric oxygen and water. Its breaking stress is a function of time, but on a human timescale: seconds to days! Check out the lower figure on page 9: https://glassproperties.com/references/MechPropHandouts.pdf https://glassproperties.com/references/MechPropHandouts.pdf
- caf 5y agoA sliding glass door in the foyer of an office I worked in once just spontaneously turned itself into a pile of glass granules one day. I'm led to believe it's not a particularly infrequent occurrence.
- Arrath 5y agoI'll never get a glass top table after a friend's coffee table did the same. Yeah it was likely chipped or damaged or abused by years of coasters and glasses and controllers and books dropped on it, but one day we were minding our own business in the kitchen when we heard an unholy crash, come to find the tabletop in shards on the living room floor.
- castlecrasher2 5y agothere's a YouTube video of someone making uranium glass that had this exact issue come up. Very interesting to see in practice
- 2mol 5y agoHow about M1 MacBook users are complaining en masse about insane mouse jitter/lag [0]. It really drives you slightly insane when it happens a couple of times per hour. [0]: https://www.google.com/search?q=macbook+m1+mouse+lag https://www.google.com/search?q=macbook+m1+mouse+lag
- post_break 5y agoSounds like the good old usb 3 interference. Tons of people experience it and it's frustrating because there is no real fix.
- zinekeller 5y agoAnd before someone rushes to say "Apple bad", this affects everyone, even Raspberry Pi (although in HDMI): https://hackaday.com/2019/11/28/raspberry-pi-4-hdmi-is-jamming-its-own-wifi/ https://hackaday.com/2019/11/28/raspberry-pi-4-hdmi-is-jammi.... The problem is in the cable not having enough shielding (since the modern standards like USB 3 series and HDMI 2 series actually operate at GHz frequencies, and WiFi et al. operates at the same frequencies, effectively turning the cable into a broadcasting antenna). The only wire standards which mandate shielding at all are twisted-pair wiring (used in Ethernet) and coaxial cables.
- post_break 5y agoYeah my friend with his new 16 core AMD build no expense spared, had to use a usb extension cord to his logitech mouse receiver to get it far enough away from the board.
- jondwillis 5y agoOr, as I have observed with too many (4+) bluetooth accessories connected and being used, my mouse being one of them.
- Confiks 5y agoI'm also having a weird issue related to the screen on a M1 Macbook Pro. Every other month, the screen randomly turns blank. The backlight still works, and every time the laptop opens it flickers for a couple of seconds with a bit of the image visible, so it seems that the screen itself is still working. After a few days, it randomly works again after a reboot. But never immediately. I suspect something with the GPU, as a Shadertoy visit once triggered it. The issue is irreparable. Once it gets into repair, and I've lost my laptop for a few weeks, it will randomly work again after a few days and they'll say there's nothing wrong.
- millzlane 5y agoI haven't stress tested an M1 yet, but you can try this. With nothing else running. Load up the CPU with YES outputting to /dev/null. This should bring CPU usage to 100%. Then open several games of chess, make it CPU vs CPU and make them full screen. See if you experience the same issue. $yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null &
- ransom1538 5y agoSlightly off topic. My iphone screen cracks every year. Case no case. It just happens. I used to have a flip phone - left it in the snow for a week after I dropped it 30ft off a ski slope. No broken screen. After finding it, it turned on and even had power. These cracking screens are by design.
- londons_explore 5y agoIn a premium product like a MacBook, I'd expect Apple to replace any fault like this no questions asked. And if it happens again, replace it again. And if it happens again, offer a full refund. It doesn't really matter if these cracks are caused by issues in apples glass-making process or caused by users shutting them on bits of rice. In either case, the machine isn't suitable for its usecase. And on a premium product, I would expect the manufacturer to make it right.
- jinder 5y agoCorrect.
- millzlane 5y agoWhy should any manufacturer replace a product that you eat around the computer and crack the screen with hard as rock crumbs? I'm sure apple knows what the screen looks like when it cracks on it's own. Apple would replace it if it's a single hairline crack. They will not replace it if it looks like you shut anything in between the keyboard and screen. Why would they? https://www.engadget.com/2017-09-04-apple-leaked-warranty-repair-guide.html https://www.engadget.com/2017-09-04-apple-leaked-warranty-re...
- londons_explore 5y agoBecause on a premium product I expect it to be sufficiently robust to withstand common minor abuse like being dropped from a table, crumbs dropped on it, drinks spilt, etc. That gives apple an incentive to make their product survive those things, which leads to both a better product and less damaged returns.
- jagger27 5y agoI find this farfetched given that the chassis design is effectively unchanged from the previous Intel models and this issue doesn’t appear to have existed before.
- babl-yc 5y agoFWIW I had a non-M1 Macbook screen crack due to overheating recently, not sure if that is related. I had quickly unplugged the Macbook from an external display and immediately put it into a backpack. Due to some OS condition it didn't go into sleep in time.
- nindalf 5y agoUnlikely to be related. M1 laptops don't have heating issues. I say that typing on a laptop that doesn't have a fan and still stays cool.
- millzlane 5y agoYes they throttle themselves, and will shut down before burning a hole in your bag. If it's shutting down due to overheating it's possibly a bad thermal sensor. I've usually only seen this on systems that have had Liquid damage or a device that was previously repaired.
- Toutouxc 5y agoIt's not really "issues", but under heavy workloads the SoC will absolutely stay above 90 °C for extended periods of time, which, especially in clamshell mode, can cause the bottom part of the screen to heat up a lot.
- gpm 5y agoM1 macbook air owner here, it absolutely heats up when working hard, especially at the top of the keyboard. It doesn't catch fire or anything, but it's hot enough to be unpleasant to touch, I don't doubt it's hot enough to cause some expansion in the screen (especially if closed).
- drpgq 5y agoHuh. I had this happen to my M1 within a month of buying it. I was totally mystified as I woke up in the morning and it had been sitting on some thick carpet over night and suddenly there was a crack in it. I took it in and they said I must have caused the damage. I still haven't repaired it for months, as it was quite expensive and I was just assigned a new work laptop and was strapped for cash. I've had plenty of Macbooks before that have taken a lot of abuse, but this was just bizarre.
- abledon 5y agoEven if this is a risk.. the fanless macbook air M1 is a gamechanger