"Bent my macbook :(
(from this photo it's a MacBook Pro (note speaker vents).-Mike)
Posted: Nov 6, 2008 9:25 AM
I've had it for two days.
I dont know if anybody else does this, but if I need to move my laptop I'll pick it up by one hand on either the left or the right side. Anyway... I picked it up on the left side with my thumb over the ethernet port (like this photo) and bent the chassis slightly.
... I also have a few little depressions in the left speaker grill from my fingers. Also if you hold it one handed on the right side it bends the superdrive slot slightly.
I just wanted to let people know that this isnt as "robust" as one might think..."

Down the thread he posted photos of the side of the case showing the bend with display lid closed and display open. Here's an example showing the bend:

This initially surprised me considering the fact the new enclosures are milled from a solid alum billet, but as shown in the photos, the enclosure in that area (Ethernet port) is very thin (plus the machined out speaker area on the Pro model) and may not be able to support lifting the entire notebook by that edge apparently. (It may be possible to straighten it although you might have to disassemble it first.)
FYI: After an email marathon with one reader (new MBP owner) doubting the above happened as described, on Saturday I drove to a BB store (only 25mi vs 60mi to an Apple store) and was able to test this sort of one-handed extreme 'edge' lift at that area on a new MacBook *once* - it did not bend or flex. Granted it's lighter than the MacBook Pro and doesn't have the machined out speaker sections on the side like the Pro. I was not able to try a MacBook Pro however, as the mgr came by and wouldn't allow it. The MacBook case is more solid adjacent to the keyboard sides (no speaker cutouts) and seemed very strong/rigid to me.

But regardless if the above MBP owner's bent case is an isolated one (softer than spec case alum, repeated lifting by that edge alone, etc.) - the main take-away from his post is to use some care when lifting the MBP (avoid doing what he did, which isn't a good way to lift any notebook really).

"Hi Mike, Don't know about write caching but I'm using a 1.5TB (firmware SD17) in a raidage 5 bay port port multiplier enclosure with heavy Final Cut and Compressor use with no problems so far.
(I asked for more details.-Mike)

Mac Model and OS X version used?:
Mac Pro 8 core 3ghz first rev, OS X 10.4.11

Is the external case connected to a PCIe Controller card? (or are you using a Mac Pro's spare SATA ports w/ext cable kit)
Sonnettech 4 port PCIe card. (assuming the Sonnet Tempo SATA E4P PCIe card using their current "Tempo SATA E4P Mac Pro Installer/Driver Updater v2.1.4" released June 20, 2008) The enclosure is port multiplier so it has to be connected to a pci card. I do have the extender kit as well hooked to a couple other drives though. I have 18 drives connected to my mac pro at once.

Is the disk formatted w/journaling enabled?
(disabling journaling has been used as a workaround for this drive's issues)
No, I only journal the start-up disk.

Multi-1.5TB drive Raid? or is the 1.5TB used alone (single drive)
I currently only own one of these drives. I don't do raid as of yet..
Only final cut project on this drive.. Seems to work fine rendering movies and other video editing related tasks.
Cheers, Scott
Ambient Sky Studios"

I'm curious if Scott's lack of problems (such as the commonly reported periodic performance issues/stuttering on media file playback - usually showing Console log error on Journal flush issue) is just due to no journaling on the drive (previous reports noted disabling journaling helps) or due to using a 3rd party controller/driver.
If you're using one of these 1.5TB Seagates on a PCI/PCIe SATA controller card with journaling enabled (drive formatted as Mac OS extended/Journaled) let me know the details and if you've seen any problems. Thanks!

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