Smoking kills your Mac too

Apple refuses to fix smoke-stained Macbooks

23 November 2009 1:49 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Smoking is not only bad for you, but it's bad for your Apple Macbook according to Apple.

Consumerist, a blog that tries to look out for consumers in the US, is reporting that Apple has refused to repair two unrelated broken Apple laptops because their owners smoke.

"Two readers in different parts of the country claim that their Applecare warranties were voided due to secondhand smoke. Both lost", reports the site.

According to letters of reply from the owners of the laptops, Apple claims the smoke from the smokers "voided the warranty" before saying that it wouldn't work on the machine due to "health risks of second hand smoke".

However, according to experts, cigarette smoke could easily kill a laptop by covering the insides with a sticky tar like goo.

"Electronics are hot, and naturally create an environment for dust to collect around its circuitry. What makes cigarette smoke the worse kind of "dust" is that it isn't dry. The smoke carries moisture with it", Ryan's Computer Consulting Services says."So in time, the smoke and all of its by-products attach themselves to the computers fans, heatsinks, capacitors, and anything else that has heat".

The company recommends "using compressed air, cotton swabs, and rubbing alcohol 70% or 90% (90% is better)", if you are going to attempt to clean the computer out yourself.

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