The Rise of CrackGate?

[CWallace]

The displays at least on earlier Touch Bar MBPs felt quite flimsy to me, but it hasn't seemed to be a particular issue before now... I wonder if the screen assembly is different despite it being the same chassis since 2018/2016? Or maybe a different glass is being used, or they've had a bad batch of glass.

My thoughts, as well. This chassis design has been in place for years and one would think if there was an inherent design flaw, we almost certainly would have seen it with the Intel models (especially since the Intel MacBook Pro 13" is still being sold).

 

[turbineseaplane]

Based on that picture, looks like a camera cover was installed, and pressure applied to the lid cracked it. Cracks coming right from the facetime camera.
apple Even warns about it here https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT211148

There are people replying in the comments emphatically denying any usage of camera covers

I think we should at least not start from a point of assumption of user error when many are vehemently denying ever using such a thing.

 

[ArPe]

Based on that picture, looks like a camera cover was installed, and pressure applied to the lid cracked it. Cracks coming right from the facetime camera.
apple Even warns about it here https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT211148

Yep.

You can always tell when a crack has occurred by someone applying force or putting an object between the display and keyboard.

But that type of person will never admit they were stupid so they will look for attention and make up some story about a defect.

Putting a camera cover on a Mac is really misinformed. The camera’s light will come on if it is active. They are hardwired together. No one can activate the camera without the light coming on. It’s not a PC. You don’t need a cover or tape or anything.

 

[JMacHack]

Is this a Tim Cook alt account?

Tim told me to say no.

 

[Mitchryan]

M1 MacBook screen cracks occurring during normal usage - 9to5Mac

There have been multiple reports of M1 MacBook screen cracks occurring during normal usage of the machines, with both the M1 MacBook Air ...

9to5mac.com

I picked my M1 Macbook Air up by the display (mistake) and it cracked it so bad the computer is unusable without a external display.

 

[thenewperson]

Weird that this is an "M1 Mac" issue when this is the same design used previously, probably to curb this exact kind of narrative for the first models. We definitely need more numbers for this to really go anywhere I feel.

 

[pshufd]

I watch Craigslist regularly for local Macs for sale and I haven't run into any of these.

 

[usagora]

As an M1 MBA owner, I'm going to say I blame the users here, not Apple. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the display and I guarantee you the people who reported their screen cracked indeed had something between the top case and display when they closed it, set or dropped something heavy on top of the closed display, manhandled it during opening/closing, etc. Of course the users would deny that if they're trying to get it repaired for free.

 

[cmaier]

Given that the article does NOT quantify how many people have experienced the issue (and only provides 7 examples in the article), calling this any sort of scandal is overblown fearmongering and/or throwing shade at Apple. Unless you start seeing these issues occur by the hundreds, there simply isn't enough information at hand to determine whether this is a widespread issue or not.

Not to mention that people are motivated to claim they didn’t do anything wrong and they treated their MacBook like a precious fragile baby.

 

[Admiral]

I did have the experience where I left my M1 MacBook Pro open on a table and woke up to a mysterious cracked screen. I'm very willing to admit when I have broken a computer; this one was a real mystery to me.

 

[pshufd]

I once left my wedding ring on the palmrest of my 2014 MacBook Pro and closed it to leave but felt something was I tried to close it so checked and took the ring out. Some of the pixels around that area are brighter than others but I typically don't notice it in use because the screen is so bright. So back then, the screens seemed a little more flexible to allow that amount of pressure before cracking.

 

[4sallypat]

I say after many years with hundreds of screens damaged I have dealt with all platforms: PC, Mac, Chrome, iPad, etc = 100% user error.

Never have seen a screen go bad just sitting there....

The M1 screen is physically the same as the Intel screen - just the logic board is different.

 

[spiderman0616]

There are two things that people do in the Apple world that drive me insane:

1) Call every product an iSomething. For example: iWatch. There is no such product. There's also no iTouch. There's an iPhone, an iPod Touch, etc., but no iTouch. There's also no iPencil.

2) Calling every little rinky dink issue you see on clickbait rags a "gate". Watergate was called Watergate because Watergate is a proper noun describing a building. There is absolutely no such thing as a building, place, person, or object called Scratchgate, Scuffgate, Antennagate, Bendgate, Hissgate, or anything else.

I hate this lowest-common-denominator armchair Apple analysis, even when it's used tongue-in-cheek or to get clicks or whatever else. I immediately assume anyone who says something like "iWatch" is not worth getting into detailed discussion with regarding anything Apple.

So please, for the love of god, stop trying to make Crackgate happen. It's not going to happen.

EDIT: But by all means, if someone's laptop spontaneously cracked at the Crackgate Hotel or something like that, please proceed.

 

[an_apple.a.day]

there are heavy finger prints/smudging over the iSight/HD FaceTime/whatever apple calls it camera shown in the photo. either the owner is mishandling the MacBook and picking it up from the camera while pinching the display, putting too much pressure when opening or closing the screen, or uses one of those cheap "privacy" covers over the camera that have broken hundreds of displays throughout the years. the lcd fractures are clearly extending from the display camera point downward. humans are so disappointing.

 

[DanTSX]

there are just users who tape around the facetime camera and shut down the lid...
simple, it happened to some of my workers 2 years ago...
Physics dont lie, people do

Physics doesn’t have to “lie” here, and neither do people. It is wrong to call consumers who close their notebook computers “liars”. The product should handle that simple task.

Apple has been pushing their product designs to be too thin.

Also, this is more statistics than physics. A population will develop these defects over time.

Apple acknowledges the problems once a certain known defect subset of the overall population meets a threshold, and a design weakness is identified.