Nearly-Invincible Powerbook
Matt Johnston sent around this jaw-dropping picture of a Powerbook. There's no way to describe the scene in words so you just have to look at the photo.The accompanying comment:
"It boots......Airport works....".
Wow.
Nearly-Invincible Powerbook
Posted Apr 4, 2006 — 89 comments below
Posted Apr 4, 2006 — 89 comments below
Sacrilicious — Apr 04, 06 1003
Kool — Apr 04, 06 1004
Ben — Apr 04, 06 1005
Aaron Tait — Apr 04, 06 1006
This is a great site by the way! It is in my Safari RSS Feeds.
FeederBoy — Apr 04, 06 1007
Anders — Apr 04, 06 1008
Volker — Apr 04, 06 1009
mine was driven over by a car, looked much less damaged, tft only 1/4 working and dvd slot dent.... it is still working on a friends desktop as a desktop computer. The car was a ford station wagon.....
volker
tiffany — Apr 04, 06 1010
It looked AWFUL, but you know the dang thing booted, and actually functioned moderately well (except for the CD-rom drive, which fell out on impact) for almost two years before we had to replace it because... wait for it... power supply issues. The same reason I've had to replace every Mac laptop I've ever owned.
Eric — Apr 04, 06 1011
Eric — Apr 04, 06 1012
Mark Grimes — Apr 04, 06 1013
Ben — Apr 04, 06 1015
Oh, you can't plug them in, either, or the powersupplies BURT INTO FLAMES
Benita — Apr 04, 06 1016
Wyatt — Apr 04, 06 1017
Silver — Apr 04, 06 1018
zach — Apr 04, 06 1019
MJ — Apr 04, 06 1020
Jesus....here's the original shots.
Busted Powerbook
Honestly, some people. (And Scott, I use a 't' in my surname)
AB — Apr 04, 06 1021
Ben — Apr 04, 06 1022
I ran over my AlBook in a Jeep Wrangler in a very bizarre tadpole/rescue/newborn baby incident (don't ask).
Luckily it was in a laptop case.... I have a few strange dark spots on my screen, but other than that, its just fine...... I hammered the case backinto shape (it buckled by the power cupply connector) and its been fine since...
Apple's Rock.
Anon — Apr 04, 06 1023
Abhi Beckert — Apr 04, 06 1024
Dan Grady — Apr 04, 06 1025
how can u tell of its photoshoped? thank god it still works
Scott Stevenson — Apr 04, 06 1026
Joe Ragheb — Apr 04, 06 1027
It is the best computer I ever had. It takes a licking ( some glue) and keeps ticking.
Thanks Ben ( my son) for advicing me to buy MAC.
anon — Apr 04, 06 1029
Ray — Apr 04, 06 1030
Ray
Eric C — Apr 04, 06 1031
Matt L. — Apr 05, 06 1032
someone — Apr 05, 06 1034
sqk — Apr 05, 06 1035
aude — Apr 05, 06 1036
Run over mine with my Toyota.. ( cover's hinge had to be fixed) .
Sent it flying 5 feet away on concrete..because the bag was open when I pull it out of the car. Corner was crunched but it still worked.
I really love Mac..
John Doe — Apr 05, 06 1037
It had insurrance on it and I terribly wanted a new, faster one. I loved that machine and had a really hard time killing it off as needed to get myself another. I went to seethe friend of mine who had first suggested the scheme and told him I wanted it done quickly.. He proposed we took a closer look at his basement floor out of concrete and so we did.. I knew there'd be no turning back after giving it the first punch and took my time starting the procedure. Finally I grabbed the beautiful white machine, raised it over my head and slammed it as hard as possible into the hard grey floor. Nothing seemed to happen.. I repeated this about ten times before taking a look at it again. This was when I found the screen had cracked, but was still working. Everything else seemed intact. Didn't test the optical, but it didn't look to have any damage. By now I was pretty frustrated. I grabbed the iBook again and gave it 10-20 more throws. By now the screen was totalled and the optical seemed to be in about the same state. I pushed the power button and heard a familiar sound. It was still alive! Finally I jumped on it until theres was just about no more iBook left.
All of this was one of the worst experiences ever. I wasn't impressed with my own morals, but at least I had learned a thing or two about the iBook and it's roughness. These days I live with a new model and try not to think about my first love, but every now and then I wake up at night with a heavy sweat screaming out "iBoooook!!!"
Kool — Apr 05, 06 1038
Oh, and John Doe, that is just plain stupid what you did! You deserve those nightmares! ;-)
Tom — Apr 05, 06 1039
Oh and sorry to hear about the M- and P-Books lads.
Ianus Keller — Apr 05, 06 1040
Tom — Apr 05, 06 1041
Volker — Apr 05, 06 1042
Mine was for less than a minute waiting for me in front of my parents car park... and even so I told my daddy to take care driving the car out, he did not. Not take care instead of not drive out.
volker
Svenjick — Apr 05, 06 1044
That's boll..s! Mine fell, whilst in a bag, from shoulder hight to a staircase, and the case is "bent" in two places. But it works fine, and has done so for the last year.
About the "hummered" on, the blur on the photo seems coherent as the table has the same blur, so not a fake I would say.
Dennis Howlett — Apr 05, 06 1045
Works for me. Real destruction testing.
Ed — Apr 05, 06 1046
you should enter it into a modern art exhibition...
Call it "Death of digital"
Just shave your head, wear tight black clothes, thick rimmed glasses, stand next to the wreck looking ill and don't say a word.
All you need to really pull it off is an agent, but that's where my help ends...
Morgan Aldridge — Apr 05, 06 1047
I have witnessed PowerBooks that had fates ranging from failing logic boards from being twisted just slightly to those that have met with accidents like these. Some fare extremely well, others don't.
Unfortunately, I feel little pity for those that drive H2's. One could buy either a much faster car, or a much more utilitarian car for less... or {gasp} a real Humvee (and a new PowerBook)!
PeeGee — Apr 05, 06 1048
Zed — Apr 05, 06 1049
If you look at the photo above, most of the bending is in the front portion, where the drives are. There's a certain amount of empty space there that acts as a buffer during impacts, like a car fender. There's also a little empty space above and below the logic board, for heat dissipation.
Based on my 10+ years experience fixing Macs at one job or another, I see no reason to doubt that we are looking at an unaltered photo .
iBooks in particular survive fairly well, I've seen one that was thrown from the top of a moving car going at highway speeds that still worked. There was a Powerbook G3 that went through a house fire, right next to the couch that was burning, and survived because the dock it was plugged into protected the ports from the flame.
Titaniums, on the other hand, tend to shatter, but unless the board gets cracked, they also can often be used. I've seen a Titanium that was also run over by a SUV (don't know the make). It had been in a backpack leaning against the front wheel when the driver decided to back out, pulling the bag under the wheel. That one did not survive, it actually looked like an exploded view diagram.
So to those who think the image above has been Photoshopped - try working as a repair tech sometime and watch what comes into your queue.
drew — Apr 06, 06 1050
http://www.b-may.com/2006/02/powerbook-that-would-not-die.html
Bryan Mason, ran over it with his wife's car, a little 1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (granted it's not as heavy as a Hummer, but still - impressive).
drew
juan — Apr 06, 06 1051
;)
Tappah — Apr 06, 06 1052
Tuin — Apr 06, 06 1053
SammyJ — Apr 06, 06 1054
Jussi — Apr 06, 06 1055
http://www.mac-sys.co.uk/features/bustPB/
Richard — Apr 07, 06 1056
Richard — Apr 07, 06 1057
Mike Knell — Apr 07, 06 1058
Jesus Christ — Apr 07, 06 1059
multiio — Apr 07, 06 1060
Austin — Apr 07, 06 1061
Austin — Apr 07, 06 1062
there is nothing worse than breaking a laptop, especially when its unrepairable. Now people who drive HUMMERS know how the earth feels.
That is also a joke.
Vlad Sorkin — Apr 07, 06 1064
Go AMD64!!!
Edward — Apr 07, 06 1067
Brian — Apr 07, 06 1069
sounds like you were lucky! find a cool way to show it off. i like the art exhibit idea. maybe apple would make an ad about you...
AlexP — Apr 07, 06 1070
Paulo — Apr 07, 06 1071
Dan — Apr 07, 06 1072
<a href="http://www.macworld.com/downloads/powerguides/7ub2namcdikcf8/pdf/vol3_diy.pdf" target="_blank">Try this when you get a new one</a>
The home automation thing seems really cool. Especially with a laptop, you could go wireless.
Dan another — Apr 07, 06 1076
sgolbotohp — Apr 08, 06 1077
Jauhari — Apr 08, 06 1079
blank — Apr 08, 06 1080
I have been using some form of notebook computer for the last 6 years, and have yet to do such a ridiculous thing.
BliQu — Apr 08, 06 1082
im not saying thats whats goin on, but it would be a more logical approach to such a deception, no?
MacBook Pro Wrecker — Apr 08, 06 1083
MacBook Pro Wrecker — Apr 08, 06 1084
another story — Apr 08, 06 1085
i havent wrecked my own powerbook, but while in the car with a few friends one of them took out their powerbook to show us some photos. while i was looking at it, we had to swerve around this other car and i let go of the laptop and it flew out my open window!!!! it hit the road and the car we had just overtaken ran over it with a crunch...
Virtual — Apr 09, 06 1086
Virtual — Apr 09, 06 1087
Though I do see the battery indicator on the monitor in the other shots, which works toward the confirmation. Other way though, the desktop is the default desktop, and I find it hard to believe that a laptop that is getting used has nothing on the desktop.
Michael Martz — Apr 09, 06 1088
Russ — Apr 09, 06 1089
the case is now fractured,screen bent,hinge broken,case dented but it still works fine- It has fallen on concrete,tiles & mud (I,m a building contractor) I have replaced the HD & the DVD (the usual thing that suffers) I never use my Aston Martin to crush computers-but my girlfriend caused the most damage by jumping on it during one of our 'conversations'!
Scott Stevenson — Apr 09, 06 1090
The DVI plug is on the right on a Powerbook.
Jeremy — Apr 10, 06 1095
http://static.flickr.com/53/126443114_311002561a_o.jpg (1680x1050)
http://static.flickr.com/54/126443113_5cfa3a09ff_o.jpg (1280x1024)
Joseph — Apr 15, 06 1104
J. Scott Anderson — Apr 23, 06 1125
For example, I know of PowerMac G4's that have survived partial dunking in Katrina's storm surge salt water and are still running just fine. I thought that the salt water would have killed them, for sure.
jox — Apr 28, 06 1147
Scott Stevenson — Apr 28, 06 1148
A few comments before yours had the link:
http://static.flickr.com/53/126443114_311002561a_o.jpg
Me — Jul 06, 06 1434
thanks!
Dan — Jul 31, 06 1488
Ken Murley — Sep 21, 06 1838
Mikesh — Nov 14, 06 2406
Stephan — Dec 02, 06 2524
my powerbook fell from by backpack and still works. However the power supply seems flaky. It does not recharge the battery prperly. The powerbook fell on the corner where the power inlet is. Has anybody experienced this ? Is it worth trying to open it myself ?
thanks
Scott Stevenson — Dec 02, 06 2525
I think you should definitely have Apple repair it.
francesco — Jul 08, 07 4505
francesco — Jul 08, 07 4506
marecesko@hotmail.it
Chris Connolly — Jul 27, 07 4548