“It can cost a pretty penny”: MacBook Pros are breaking en masse due to design flaws (photos)
MacBook owners are experiencing a massive breakdown that leads to the appearance of purple vertical lines on the screen. Experts blame it on the poor design of laptops.
The problem occurs when the MacBook lid is opened at a certain angle. It has been spotted on several models of Apple laptops. Ricky Panesar, the founder of the iCorrect repair service, told Forbes that the problem affects A1989, A2251, A2289, A2338, and A2141 devices that were released between 2018 and 2020. However, the 2016-2018 versions have a similar design, so they may be susceptible to this malfunction.
Experts suggest that the problem is caused by the flexible screen cable that connects the display to the main laptop body. There is a gap at the junction between the screen and the keyboard that can collect dust and dirt. Debris gets on the cable, and the constant closing and opening of the lid causes damage to the cable.
Panesar says he repairs at least four damaged MacBooks a week, and over the past year he has had more than 50 such breakdowns. Stefan Steins of the NotebookNerds repair shop also notes that his company receives several laptops with this problem a week. A common malfunction was called Dustgate (from “dust” and “-gate” – similar to the Watergate scandal).
Both masters note that repairing this malfunction is difficult and expensive. They say that in cases of Dustgate, it’s easier to just replace the display completely, which can cost customers more than $625.
“The difficulty is that the damaged cables are connected at the back of the screen itself. To repair it, we have to remove the screen from the outer shell without breaking it and solder new flexible cables. There is a high risk of breakage,” Panesar explained.
Repair experts also claim that Apple has solved this problem in later MacBook models (2021 and later). However, owners of older models are advised to clean their laptops regularly and thoroughly to prevent this problem.
