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 Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:39 pm
Yahoo Tech Heads up, schmokers: Lighting up near your computer is heresy enough that Apple says it voids your warranty should you need to bring a smoke-exposed computer in for repair. Specifically, in at least two instances in different parts of the country, Apple has voided the warranty and refused to provide repair service on Macintosh computers exposed to environments where cigarette smoke has been present. Calling cigarette smoke residue (tar and whatnot) inside a computer a health risk and a "biohazard," in both cases Apple customers have been denied service despite having time left on a valid warranty. Apple is standing by the decisions, saying that repair centers have the authority to make decisions like this on their own, citing OSHA rules that include nicotine in a list of hazardous substances that could damage the health of someone exposed to it. (Consumerist, which digests the issue with its typical aplomb, adds that sucrose, talc, and calcium carbonate are all also on the OSHA hazardous materials list.) Apple isn't formally commenting on the issue or responding to media requests for comment, namely regarding whether there's a threshold for cigarette smoke exposure beyond which a computer won't be serviced. Is one cigarette too much? 200? The answer is probably far less scientific than that: If a technician doesn't like cigarette smoke and your computer smells a bit smoky, it probably won't get serviced. I can understand the policy here, but Apple's failure to mention this issue in its warranty materials is out of line. To leave consumers on the hook for repairing their multi-thousand dollar machine by themselves, without notifying them in advance that cigarette smoke exposure could void their warranty, well... sounds a lot like typical Apple behavior, to be honest. No word on whether other computer vendors have the same or similar policies. If you've encountered this issue in the past, please let us know about it here.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:38 pm
They're really ******** overreacting on it. My dad's a Mac tech. He took apart a Mac from a chain-smoker's house. It literally OOZED nicotine. The reason it had stopped working? The CPU fan had clogged up ON NICOTINE. He fixed it, but it was ultra-disgusting, and cost almost as much as the computer was worth in labor fees.
I stand by any Apple tech who looks at a computer like that and says "******** this s**t, I'm getting cancer just looking at it."
In related news, if you smoke so much your computer gets cancer, maybe it's time to cut back.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:48 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:45 pm
Fresnel They're really ******** overreacting on it. My dad's a Mac tech. He took apart a Mac from a chain-smoker's house. It literally OOZED nicotine. The reason it had stopped working? The CPU fan had clogged up ON NICOTINE. He fixed it, but it was ultra-disgusting, and cost almost as much as the computer was worth in labor fees. I stand by any Apple tech who looks at a computer like that and says "******** this s**t, I'm getting cancer just looking at it." In related news, if you smoke so much your computer gets cancer, maybe it's time to cut back. Thats just messed up. eek
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:51 pm
It's pretty much common sense that smoking too much near a sensitive machine could ******** it up. One or two cigs.... meh. Smoking like a chimney by your computer, that's an issue. It's like taking your phone in the small bathroom while you take a super hot and steamy shower. It's no mystery that that could ******** up a phone. I haven't read the warranty, so I won't comment on it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:08 pm
OO23OO It's pretty much common sense that smoking too much near a sensitive machine could ******** it up. One or two cigs.... meh. Smoking like a chimney by your computer, that's an issue. It's like taking your phone in the small bathroom while you take a super hot and steamy shower. It's no mystery that that could ******** up a phone. I haven't read the warranty, so I won't comment on it. I did something like that once, except it was an electric lantern, and the power was out.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:38 pm
Fresnel In related news, if you smoke so much your computer gets cancer, maybe it's time to cut back. Or get off your damn computer. xp
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:18 pm
Shrantic Fresnel In related news, if you smoke so much your computer gets cancer, maybe it's time to cut back. Or get off your damn computer. xp Good luck. The altitude change of standing up would cause a stroke.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:07 pm
Funnily enough, mom smokes between one and two packs a day, right next to a Dell that is never turned off. For the last four years.
Well, we turn it off, open it up to harvest parts...
None of the mysterious nicotine goo. Just the usual dust and dust bunnies, and a dead spider.
The only way I can think of that you're getting nicotine goo, is blowing the smoke directly into the computer's fans.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:30 pm
owenmarco Funnily enough, mom smokes between one and two packs a day, right next to a Dell that is never turned off. For the last four years. Well, we turn it off, open it up to harvest parts... None of the mysterious nicotine goo. Just the usual dust and dust bunnies, and a dead spider. The only way I can think of that you're getting nicotine goo, is blowing the smoke directly into the computer's fans. Your Dell is a two-piece unit, no? Monitor and tower? Tower under the desk? Macs are most often one-piece units. The one my dad took apart was a bubble G3 iMac. ETA: Come to think about it, if your computer is jammed with nicotine and/or tar, what's the difference between that and spilling a coke in it? It's a good call to void the warranty at that point. The computer was never made to operate at the bottom of LaBrea.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:37 pm
Mostly the issue between the smoke and the computer is with the hard drive.
It's not really the case too much unless you've got a computer with a hard drive that's either really old, and not sealed well, or one with a breather hole.
Smoke particles are small enough to close the gap between the plates and the head which would cause serious damage.
Most other particles are too big and bounce off, but can still cause some damage.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:54 pm
"Kids, I just had a conversation with General LeClerc.
He told me he was first into Paris, and by God, he wanted to be first into Berchtesgaden.
I told him I understood his point.
Now you fire up Second Battalion and outflank that French son of a b*tch!"
-Col. Sink, Band of Brothers
Sorry, but I would add "smoke related damages from smoking" onto the "void" list too. Maybe they're just trying to get people to stop smoking in general.
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:45 am
In the computer repair class we've had a lot of computers that had their heat sinks completely caked in dust, it was ******** gross.
It was pretty bad, on one we had to use a plastic pen and then a plastic knife to pic off the crusty dirt that was so bad, the air compressor couldn't dislodge it.
In another, there was a channel at the bottom front of the tower that sucked in air, that was clogged with the biggest hair filled dust bunny I've ever seen.
I found pron on one computer, s**t was funny.
Didn't have a smoker bring in theirs though.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 12:18 pm
OberFeldwebel In the computer repair class we've had a lot of computers that had their heat sinks completely caked in dust, it was ******** gross. It was pretty bad, on one we had to use a plastic pen and then a plastic knife to pic off the crusty dirt that was so bad, the air compressor couldn't dislodge it. In another, there was a channel at the bottom front of the tower that sucked in air, that was clogged with the biggest hair filled dust bunny I've ever seen. I found pron on one computer, s**t was funny. Didn't have a smoker bring in theirs though. Oof, I've seen heat sinks like that. SO NASTY. Last time I had one of those, I just ditched the whole damn sink and installed an identical one from a KIA machine. @Knight: That motivator annoys the hell out of me, because it's obvious that whoever made it has no ******** idea how targeted marketing demographics work.
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