
People Keep Finding Coins in Their MacBooks and Nobody Knows Why - dsmithatx
http://gizmodo.com/people-keep-finding-coins-in-their-macbooks-and-nobody-1790872620
======
eridius
It's a fix for noise created from vibrations. The most likely explanation is
the drive was originally owned by someone else and they stuck it in there as a
spacer for vibrations. I know the Gizmodo article claims at least one photo
was from someone who bought it from an Apple Store, but that may simply be
inaccurate, or maybe it was a refurb model.

~~~
PeterisP
Maybe a single technician working on repairing warranty/refurbished macbooks
before they're re-sold simply had this "trick" as his way to make stuff work.

------
dumbdude123
About a year ago I chose to replace my old MacBooks superdrive with a second
HD. I found a penny stuck under the plastic covering on mine as well. No penny
could have fallen into the slot to get to where it is located, and the device
is not refurbished.

The location of the coin is on top of the spindle motor, so I assumed that it
was for vibration dampening, and that it was cheaper to put a penny on it than
to cut a piece of metal to fit.

------
dmalvarado
It's either a calling card from a disgruntled employee, or a vibration
dampening shim.

~~~
DoodleBuggy
The latter was my guess, or it could be used to insure a connection. Many
years ago I used to have to wedge a piece of cardboard in my old MacBook
battery bay to get it connect properly and stay connected.

Anyway when was the last time a Mac shipped with a SuperDrive? These are old
machines.

~~~
Shank
2016, actually. Just recently phased out.

[http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/27/apple-discontinues-
non-r...](http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/27/apple-discontinues-non-retina-
macbook-pro/)

~~~
DoodleBuggy
Interesting, so much like continuing to sell the ancient Mac Pro today, they
sold the 2012 MacBook Pro for four more years.

~~~
Esau
I remember reading an article not too long ago indicating those machines were
still selling well because of how upgradable they were. I will see if I can
find a link.

EDIT: here it is:
[https://marco.org/2016/01/04/md101ll-a](https://marco.org/2016/01/04/md101ll-a)

------
dsmithatx
Is it possible kids just stick coins in the superdrives or has anyone every
verified these are vibration shims?

~~~
eridius
I was told there used to be an article online documenting exactly how to fix
the vibration issue in this manner, but the article may now be gone (or at
least, my friend doesn't know where it is anymore). So it seems extremely
likely that it is just a vibration shim.

------
burntrelish1273
Replaced superdrive and HDD with SSDs and Sugru'ed up the slot long, long ago.

Pretty hilarious that people still bother with spinning polycarbonate or
spinning rush.

------
SchizoDuckie
So a device produced overseas has currency inside it of the person that buys
it.

I'm call clickbait BS.

