I was working on a friend's Vaio laptop, when it dropped from the sofa to the carpet on the floor. Fortunately it seemed ot be okay. Have you ever damaged your laptop, or have it survive a fall?

Vaios are tough. Can't tell you how many times I forgot mine was in my backpack/messenger bag and just dropped it from my shoulder to the concrete. Thud! That was the reminder. But it keeps on keeping on. Maybe it's 8 lb. weight has something to do with it.

Dropped numerous times. Flung a carryon containing an iBook, a Fujitsu Lifebook S, and an Epson projector against the AS gate counter in IAD, once.

Total repairs were around $1100.



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-alan in sitges, home of the new, improved Si-Re-Do

Our sales guys use to drop their Dell's on a very regular basis, it was one of the resaons we use to have Dells, they can stand up to it very well. The case would get a crack or two around the thin areas, but in most cases it was all cosmetic.

The one weak point, if it was closed at the time it usually sheared the case closing latch off, easiest way to tell if they have tested gravity with it, if the case latch was busted.

One of the testing sites, don't remember which one, probably cnet, actually includes dropping onto a hard surface as part of their tests.

I've dropped my Fujitsu Lifebook C several times, and hard! Other than cosmetic scratches on the outside casing...the puppy is hummin' along just fine.

many drops, 2 resulting in failures
* once by my boss....didn't go bad immediately but eventualy the hard disk starting making funny noises...finally death to the disk
* another time the screen died (immediately) and screen replacement was not that different from a new laptop

I've dropped my laptops a few times over the years. Most of the time, it has survived without significant damage. The only time that my laptop suffered a violent death was when my backpack had a zipper failure, and opened up when I had reached the top of the stairs at the Park St. T stop in BOS. I turned behind me to watch my poor Dell laptop do cartwheels down the 2+ storeys and break apart into many little pieces at the bottom.

What did I do then? Call Dell and told them I dropped my laptop. They had someone out the next day w/ a brand new one! ^

Side question:

A friend of mine had given her laptop bag to the cloak room attendant in the J Arrivals lounge of a transatlantic carrier. The attendant had accidentally dropped her laptop and now, apparently, the screen has been damaged and no longer functions. She didn't discover this until arriving at her hotel room, however. Luckily this wasn't her personal laptop, but if you didn't have a comprehensive damage protection policy that covered situations like this, what advice would you all offer? I know most cloak rooms have limitations of liability statements, but is there really any shared culpability in these situations?

Dropped my Toshibas too many times to remember--but always when they were in my briefcase or rollerboard. That's why I keep my laptop in a padded sleeve.

Dropped Dells a few times - still works fine but like you said superficial cracks come pretty easily with them.

Dropped some older thinkpads - No damage whatsoever - they were solid!

Was about to post my own experience and found that it was already earlier in the thread (1993)....

But was wondering:
* I know you get padded sleeves with many of the laptops bags & backbacks but can you buy separately? recommendations?

* when clearing security do they ask you to remove from the sleeve or can you put laptop-in-sleeve in the tub without hassle?

At the TSA screening station in SLC last year, my Vaio TR3A was already out of the padded case and onto a TSA plastic bin but I pushed the bin accidently off the table onto the floor and the laptop flew out of the bin. The case bowed slightly but the works are fine and the wi-fi seemed to actually work better than before (The power of imagination.) I did however resolve from that time on to ensure that the computer went on a "slower track". Part of the problem is that at many TSA lanes, table space is narrow and it's easy for the bins to be "over the edge".

I had my IBM T40 fall out of my bag a few weeks ago, the strap on my messenger back broke and out came the laptop. Unfortunately as at the top of the steps (long flight of concrete steps), needless to say it did survive. Still powered on buy was pretty beat up. Luckily it was my work computer and was replaced the following day.

I went through SFO on Friday and they wanted mine out of its new sleeve. I'd be interested if that might be unique to SFO.

Just last night I tripped on cords and dropped TWO laptops from the dining room table onto the well padded carpeted floor with lots of noise!

Both the IBM Thinkpad and the Dell were fine after the fall!

Definitely dropped my IBM T40 a few times. From about desk level to hardwood floor. Nothing happened...at all...scared the $hit out of me though. Guess I was lucky