A large number of MacBook owners have reported cracks appearing in their notebook cases.
The cracks are mostly occurring in the palm-rest corners of the earlier generation, plastic MacBooks. The defect has occurred in enough MacBooks that a Flickr gallery is documenting the problem with over 180 photos to date.
Though the issue only appears to be affecting a small percentage of MacBook users, it's still a questionable defect coming from Apple — a company most famous for its meticulous, premium design.
iFixIt's Luke Soules, who performs repairs and disassemblies of Apple products, pointed at the design of the MacBook as the root of the problem. For MacBooks, the bottom part of the notebook is the box that holds the guts of the computer; the top part, where the cracks are occurring, is just a flat sheet.
Soules noted that cracks weren't an issue with the older iBooks, because the design was flip-flopped: The top part had sides, so it was essentially an inverted box; the bottom part was a flat sheet.
Affected MacBook users might view this as a design flaw on Apple's part. Some users have reported the defect is fully covered by Apple warranty. Of course, the new unibody MacBooks aren't experiencing this issue (since metal doesn't crack).
MacBook cases still cracking up [Macworld]
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Photo: Robplusjessie/Flickr*
