My Macbook Air has a Bruise
 

So mad at myself. I was getting my travel bag out of the car and the Mac slipped out of the back pouch, landing right on the pavement.

One front corner is bent - both top cover and bottom. Maybe 1/16 inch, but enough that the top won't quite close completely.

That, I can live with, but I'm worried I might have damaged something.

It works fine, and I ran a disk check for problems and the report was clean so I'm crossing my fingers. Are there actually any components right in the front corners that could have been damaged?

There's no hard disk in these, so no moving parts there to be affected by a drop. If it appears to be working, chances are it's fine. The biggest risk is usually the screen.

Here are some screenshots of the interior: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook...lacement/24756

An owie? @@

A boo-boo. But since it's an Apple, it's probably better categorized as a bruise :D

Bruise is perfect - and so changed in my subject header.

look for one of these"MacBook Air 13" 2014 Upper case" on ebay. i think the proper technical term for the damage on your case is an ouchie.

From the Urban Dictionary:

A word commonly used by small children or infants to describe a wound.

Mommy! I got an owie!

My Air is getting close to replacement age so think I'll just live with it for now. Still feel bad however, it was perfect, not even a scratch.

For this very reason, my Ultrabook (similar in size to MBA) is always double-protected - the ultrabok goes into a tight leather sleeve (protects cosmetically) which in turn goes inside a stronger fabric (lightly) padded sleeve. It all fits neatly in the padded laptop pocket of my Briggs and Riley backpack.

I'm sometimes aghast seeing how carelessly some people on airplanes treat their expensive machines

Maybe a shell case for the macbook air could hide the dent? Anyway.. it is an owie.. or a boo boo. :p

Carry some carpet around with you and whenever you are getting your bag out the car, place it on the ground beneath you where the laptop is likely to fall.

Surely inspired by Viz Top Tips?

Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. Thanks for the compliment ! :)

Component placement depends on the size and year of your MBA, but generally the mother/daughter boards are placed closer to the hinge. If this was your lid where the impact occured, there isn't too much to worry about as long as your screen still works and wasn't shattered. If this was the base, then you might want to reference pictures from a teardown to see how close the dent comes to your battery array. Google "macbook air teardown" and pick your year and size. iFixit has a great series on the MBA line. Although highly unlikely, a dented battery could prove unstable.

Depending on how old your computer is, the warranty is now void. They have a tool at the Apple store to check for dents, which they use to deny coverage.