Forums | MacLife

AaronS wrote:

Jehannum wrote:

Yeah, because it's the user's fault that he/she didn't open up the machine with "no user servicable parts within" just to blow the dust out!

Obviously!

If there is that much dust inside the machine, they obviously have it in an environment that isn't fit for a running computer. The thing is yellow because of all the smoking that has gone on around it. That is something the user must realize can cause problems.

as

An environment that isn't fit for a running computer?

I've had my iMac in my room for something like six years now. The inside is filled with dust where the fan is, which means there's dust all over parts of the processor, RAM and motherboard. It's not like the iMac has been sitting outside in the dirt for half its life, so how is that an environment that's not fit for running a computer? Should I be buying an air dedustifier thing with every new mac?

benightedbastard wrote:

MacManMeff wrote:

I thought it was common knowledge that an owner should at least on occasion open up and clean out their computer.  Every few months or so, at least once a year.  It is not like that iMac is hard to open.  If I recall correctly you just have to unscrew 3 screws on the bottom(?) to pull off the top.  I could be wrong, it was a few years ago I had one of those G4 iMacs, but I do remeber it was user upgradable (RAM, HD) plus I had to open it up other times for various reasons like resetting the PRAM, battery and such.  Not a monumental task at all.

Common knowledge?

I'm having difficulty imagining people pulling open their computer, TV, VCR, DVD player, stereo etc on a regular basis to clean out dust.

Not only that but the iMac does NOT open up with a couple of screws.  The bottom reveals only a small laptop memory slot when opened via the user serviceable cover.  The main housing, which is prohibited by Apple to be opened by an end user, is much more difficult to open and then close as it involves thermal paste being applied between the bottom housing cover and the processor heatsink contacts.

So no, the iMac is not something a user is expected to "clean out" on a regular basis. 

--ndugu

Can you get a pick of the back of their refridgerator?

I was putting an Airport card in some guys brown clamshell iBook the other day.  I think it was supposed to be a graphite one, but it was completely brown. When I went to pull off the keyboard, my nails scratched off a small layer of brown film from the keys.  I was totally disgusted but I did my best to keep my cool because the guy was watching me put it in. As son as he left I ran in the back and washed my hands.

Man, I never knew smoking could smurf a computer up that bad. He must have been blowing smoke directly into the keyboard for years to get something so nasty. Oh, and yes, the guy was French..

don't inhale
tito

Switcher wrote:

jkahless wrote:

If that's what the smoking did to their computer, I'd hate to see their lungs.

I smoke but I am not stupid to do it next to my electronic equipment.

I smoke but I only smoke outside.

I've seen worse. An old server I got that ran 24/7 for 5 years in the offices of a bakery. Taking the metal outer cover off the insides were as i'd expect. But taking the plastic front off i found a mat of dust which disintegrated in a cloud when I tipped it onto the floor. I guess it made its own dust filter. Hours of vacuuming out the insides and i had a nice clean server.

Currently in my cellar, i'm hoping to get another 5 years out of it. The one on the left.

I know that my computers, Apple and PC, have dust in them. Hard to control with dogs in and out of the house all the time. They do bring in outside dirt, not to mention their hair.

Last year, my Sister-In-Law was having problems with her old HP. Had a bad HD. I replaced the drive and upgraded her memory at the same time. About six months later, the computer began acting strange... crashing and freezing up quite often. Her employer bought her a new home unit (eMachine...eeks!) and I got the old one to fix for her. Power supply had died. Upon close inspection, the insides of the supply was packed with... you guessed it, gooey dust. Found the processor and fan gooed up as well... imagine that! Ugly keyboard as well. Both the Sister-In-Law and her husband are both smoking fiends and she is at the computer a lot. I told her that she killed her computer with second-hand smoke. She felt bad, but I doubt she will ever change her ways as long as she has a Brother-In-Law that fixes computers.

I just opened up a Beige G3 desktop that has been sitting in a college computer science department since '98 without any work done, and I must say that thing was dirtier than that.  I couldn't even see the Ram due to it being buried in dust.  I had to blow the dust off in order to get the thing to even boot.  The one fan was completely plugged, and I am amazed that the fan kept spinning.  It does pay to clean the thing out every once in a while.  It just takes a few seconds with some compressed air.

It's probably the "crap" part of "dust and crap."  As in the other chemicals in the cigarette smoke.

I just opened a G4 I've had for a few years to see how bad it was inside, and it wasn't that bad. We have a lot of cats. Filthy little worthless beasts. (But we adore them all and indulge them terribly.) Still, the inside of the G4 wasn't bad at all. Fancy that!

Um it wasn't racist, he just said he was french.I'm french and I didn't feel any racism there.

I still stand by my point that ethnicity or nationality has nothing to do with the discussion at hand, and has no place here.