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Ask HN: My Macbook is about to die. What do I do?

2 points by macuser1234 ↗ HN
I have one month left on the Apple Care (3 year plan). My macbook has begun crashing as of late. It's just in a barely usable state and I can't really afford to buy a new macbook. Also, the CD drive doesn't work and the battery dies after just less than an hour when unplugged. Did I just over use it?

A few months back I reinstalled the OS, that did very little help. Often when I have Coda, Firefox, and Photoshop open, I have to force the laptop to shut down in order for it to allow me to be productive again.

Do I suck it up and just buy a new one just before my warranty expires? I just about have had enough.

10 comments

[ 1611 ms ] story [ 1302 ms ] thread
warwick
Is there a reason this isn't covered under warranty? Did you physically damage the machine?
macuser1234
It's still working, somewhat.
martey
If the machine is having hardware issues (which is probably the case if you did a clean install of the operating system and the issues are still recurring), and they are not the result of any accidental or intentional damage (as grandparent poster stated), they should be covered under AppleCare.

The only exception to this would be the battery (most laptop batteries are only covered under a one year warranty). It is extremely unlikely that your battery is causing applications to crash, though.

RBerenguel
How old is it? My Macbook (which I am currently using) is 2 years old and only got a screen backlight problem (one vertical strip is dimmer)... What have you done to hurt yours so badly? I mean... I've had mine at 90ºC for more than two hours several times, while doing calculations (before I got to use my office's computer)
dctoedt
Impressive that your MacBook worked at 90ºC -- how'd YOU make out? (That's 194ºF, so I suspect it was a typo.)
sorbus
I assume that that's the CPU temperature, not the ambient temperature. If so, the number would be illustrating that the machine appear to be damaged by excessive CPU temperature.
RBerenguel
As sorbus points out, this is CPU temp, not the overall computer. The base was at around 45, I think.

I guess it was an overheating damage, but could not know. Since then, I've avoided CPU intensive things from happening on it, and the usual CPU temp is now around 60º. Which looks pretty high, but manageable.

I considered buying a lower platform with cooling (they sell it in some computer stores, plates with fans on them) but gave up.

macuser1234
I have no idea. I have had 2 hard drive replacements in the past. The 2nd time they told me I might have a defective machine but I had a paper to write than night and they could only give me a hard drive so that I could have the laptop back. It's almost a 3 year old machine.
gtani
Do you have SMC fan control? You want to avoid that much heat. Propping a laptop on altoids tins might help a little. Also you want to avoid flexing the logic board, i.e. avoid holding the laptop by just one corner.
Mankhool
I'd say you are like a friend of mine who has killed numerous Macbooks, since v1.0. He always uses his machine to the maximum - number of applications, jammed hard drive, lots of media content, used in a mobile state 16+ hours a day, etc. He's had numerous issues with them because he uses them heavily and they are a lightweight machine. And every year or so, when the latest one is in its death throws, he buys a new Macbook, but never the Macbook Pro - the extra robustness of which, might just save him a lot of grief. If you do nothing else, make sure everything is backed up, then nuke and pave it. Good Luck!