MacBook falls off car roof, gets run over at least 2x, survives!
So my 2013 MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) made an improbable and impressive escape from the jaws on certain death! Read on!
I make a huge blunder
A week ago, my wife was sick and I offered to work from home so I could take her to the doctor. I brought my laptop in a Mandarin Duck sleeve.
While I was loading my wife into the passenger seat, I set my laptop on the roof of the car (!!!), loaded her in and then went to put my ice scraper and gloves into the trunk. Of course, I then proceeded to get in the car and drive off.
About 8 blocks away, (right at the x on the map) I heard a thunk on the top of the trunk. It must have been my laptop sliding off my roof, hitting the trunk and then falling to the road.
As I drove on for another minute, I tried to imagine what the noise was. It dawned on me to check around for my laptop. "Honey, do you have my laptop?" "No" "OMG, I think I left it on the car and it just fell off!". She awesomely offered to walk the rest of the way to the doctor, maybe 6 blocks. I felt terrible to leave her but knew that the window to salvage the situation was closing!
I rescue my MacBook
I retraced my steps and spotted the black laptop sleeve in the middle of the right lane of a busy intersection (2 lanes each way, divided) -- just then a F150 came down the lane and ran right over it!
I pulled a U-turn and carefully got out of the car. A white Accord turned into the right lane and ran over the laptop again! I darted out and snatched it -- the case was soaking wet (Ottawa in March, right?). I pulled out the laptop from the wet sleeve and it was still dry! (Thanks Mandarin Duck sleeve!). I was able to scoop my wife back up and get her to her doctors appointment. When I got home I set about inspecting the damage.
I assess the damage
- The exterior shows that it clearly absorbed a significant trauma. Note the indented component lines visible from the bottom and the bulging screws.
- There is a clear dent from a strike on the corner. Also the hinge and screen are slightly out of alignment. My best guess is that this from the impact of falling from the roof to the ground.
- Amazingly --
** the screen is not cracked, though it has some "damage lines".
** It booted up right away and I was able to go home and run a backup (Time Machine) and sync Google Drive.
** USB ports, trackpad, and keys seem to work fine.
** I ran a hardware diagnostic which showed no issues:
Recap: Amazing Engineering and Fantastic Luck
I have now had the MacBook running and operational for a whole week!
- I think that the sleeve was responsible for keeping the MacBook dry, which was a saving grace. It might also have slightly reduced the impact from falling from the roof, to the trunk, to the road. It might also have helped it lie flat.
- The two times it got run over both looked like direct hits. This might mean that the force was well distributed.
- Even though MacBooks are more expensive than comparable laptops, their engineering is really impressive. I witnessed it get run over twice and it had enough time to be run over 3-10 more times than that. Having a solid state drive probably helped too. I know that this MacBook is on borrowed time, but when it finally dies, I'll be getting another to replace it.
- Even though I was traumatized about the whole event, 90+% of my data was safe because of my use of backups and the cloud. Yay!!
- And finally, DO NOT PUT THINGS ON TOP OF THE CAR, EVEN FOR A MINUTE! It is too easy to switch modes and forget about it.
- Thank you Apple and God bless all of you!
I haven't received any money from any of these brands. This is literally what happened and it was all pretty amazing.