Okay, so I've seen a lot of comments recently
asking me about the M1 MacBook screens
and if they have some kind of screen defect issue.
Now this has become a somewhat of an issue
in the last two weeks.
There have been a lot of articles and news reports
and things like that floating around.
And so naturally a lot of you guys
have been worried about this
and I've wanted me to look into it.
So I have the tablet of truth here, guys.
I've spent a lot of hours researching
and looking into this particular issue.
Spoiler alert, if you don't want to watch the whole video,
it doesn't seem to be an issue at this stage.
Although obviously I will keep my eyes peeled
for future information.
That being said, though,
definitely do still watch this video in its entirety,
because I'm not only going to talk about
this particular screen cracking defect.
I'm also going to show you guys some ways
how you can actually prevent your MacBook screen
from getting cracked or damaged just in general.
Now, just to preface this video,
guys, I'm not defending Apple or anything like that.
They're not perfect.
They do screw up and make silly decisions
every now and then.
For example, they had a previous issue with MacBooks
where the anti-glare screen coding was peeling.
Also some keyboard issues.
But then again, so do other companies.
So that's not just limited to Apple.
But I think it's also important to debunk
each of these issues separately and with facts.
Now, speaking of facts, guys,
let's quickly talk about something
before we get into the facts.
Now, a lot of these issues are propagated
and instigated by a technology journalists
or blogging websites.
Now, the way these blogging websites work
and generate money,
is they post something controversial
or something they know is going to get clicks
because that draws people onto their site,
which means they earn money as a result.
As you guys know, drama generates money,
and there's a lot of drama
and controversy around Apple.
I've also noticed there's a large percentage of people
that just hate Apple for no reason
and they tend to spread these rumors and issues
more than what they should be.
And at the end of the day,
all it does is make unsubstantiated rumors like this one,
more widespread than what it should be.
Okay, now we can get into the facts.
So like I said, guys,
I have the tablet of truth here.
I've done a lot of hours of research
and I have my notes here.
So first of all,
millions of people now own M1 MacBooks.
So if this was going to be an issue.
I would expect it to be a little bit more widespread
than what I've been seeing.
I could only find about 30 or 40 instances
of a cracked M1 MacBook screen online.
And by instances, I mean,
people simply commenting saying
that their screen had randomly cracked.
So there really isn't much data out there,
so this doesn't really seem to be like a widespread issue.
Now, that being said with issues such as a screen defect,
sometimes it can take a little while to actually see
the effect of a screen defect.
And this is just due to everyday usage
and something called fatigue related breakage.
Now there are only a few images out there
of randomly cracked M1 MacBook screens.
And a couple of them were actually re-posted
from like two years ago.
And it's not even an M1 MacBook.
It's like an Intel Mac from 2018 with a cracked screen.
And some people are using this image
and circling it around acting as if it's an M1 MacBook Air.
And not only that guys,
but all of these tech journalism sites,
quoted a Reddit thread
from eight months ago with only 32 comments as a source.
So I'm not really sure why they've dug through Reddit posts
to find one from November, 2020
and are now actively posting it.
That seems like beating a dead horse to me.
And what's worse is that they use the exact same image
that was originally posted in November, 2020 on that thread
as the headline image for their articles.
Now, I know this is an old image
because I did a reverse Google image search of it
to find the exact date it was posted.
And it's from November, 2020 or nine months ago.
Now what generally happens with these tech sites
or tech news sites
is that one of them will publish a news article
and then all the other sites will see that and follow suit.
So they'll generally post almost exact same article,
the exact same wording they'll use the same pictures,
they'll even use the same sources.
If you can use a Reddit thread from eight months ago,
with 32 comments as a source,
and this just propagates the issue further
and just makes it seem more widespread
because when you type it into Google,
for example, you go onto Google now
and you type in M1 MacBook screen crack,
you're going to get all these different articles popping up
with slightly different headlines,
but they're all going to be the exact same thing,
if you actually look into it a little bit further in detail.
Now, one thing the thing to bear in mind guys
is the inherent bias in issues like this.
So if you did have an M1 MacBook and the screen cracked,
you'd obviously go onto the internet,
you'd post on threads,
make videos about it, write articles about it
as you should, you should be upset,
but that doesn't really account for the million other people
that maybe haven't had an issue.
So I find with issues like this,
and especially the SSD swap issue
and previous M1 Mac scandals we've had in the past,
people seem to group together
and talk about these issues a lot.
When in reality, that's a very small subset of users
and it probably only represents about 0.01%
of the total M1 Mac user population.
So I decided to do my own very unscientific poll
on my YouTube channel.
So you guys are obviously familiar with the content I post,
I would say the vast majority of my,
I think 106,000 subscribers at this point
probably owns an M1 Mac,
either MacBook Air, MacBook Pro.
So I sent this poll out to about a 106,000 people.
I've got a couple of thousand replies
and guys don't pay too much attention
to the actual people who voted yes or no here.
There's always going to be a few trolls click,
"Yes, my screen's cracked".
That's just the way people are, I guess,
but pay attention to what I wrote in brackets next to that,
I asked people if they had had an issue with their screen,
randomly cracking
to actually comment down below with details.
And then I would actually follow up with that person
request some videos, request some photos, more information,
and guys not a single person did.
There's zero evidence out of all 106,000,
of my MacBooks subscribers,
no one has come to me reporting this issue.
Now, again, that's not the most scientific result ever,
but it's definitely better than being a tech journalist
and digging up a Reddit thread from nine months ago
and posting about it nine months later.
Now, something else I found very interesting was
especially on Reddit,
there's a lot of chat about a class action lawsuit
surrounding this whole
random M1 MacBook screen cracking rumor.
And it seems that the exact same Reddit user
is commenting about this over and over and over again.
I'll put up a link to that profile on the screen now,
and all of these links link back to the exact same law firm.
And it seems that this particular law firm
has a lot of class action lawsuits at the moment.
So can actually see on their website,
they have over 32 pages of lawsuits.
They're trying to get off the ground.
So you can kind of see
how this would also contribute to a media buzz.
You know, if you've got someone talking about
a class action lawsuit over and over and over again,
it might take a while to actually realize
that's the same person in the same law firm,
trying to get their particular class action off the ground.
So I'll just leave it at that,
but take that for what you will.
Now moving on to some probable causes
to try and explain why some screens are possibly cracking.
I've seen a lot of people mentioned that
the M1 MacBook Chassis is exact same
as the previous Intel version MacBook Chassis.
They are very, very similar,
but there are a few minor differences.
So I noticed that the actual screen seems to be a new model,
as you can see on iFixit and eBay,
they actually made specifically for the M1 MacBook.
So it could potentially be that this new screen design
has a floor to it
and we're only starting to see issues now,
very unlikely but possible.
Now, the other thing is guys,
the reality is a lot of these people
talking about a cracked M1 MacBook screen,
they've probably accidentally broken it
or cracked it themselves
and they're just trying to get a free repair from Apple,
not all of them but I expect a fair amount are.
And these people have probably shut the lid of their laptop
while there's a small rock on the keyboard,
or they've used a webcam cover
that actually presses against the Chassis
and could put some stress on the screen,
or potentially they've suffered from
just a one and 10,000 manufacturing defect
that literally every laptop and PC component out there
suffers from.
So all of that being said, guys,
I'm competent at this stage that this is not an issue.
I don't think you should worried about it at all.
There's just not enough evidence.
There's not enough data.
There's only about 30 or 40 people online
that have had any issues with their MacBook screen.
That being said, though,
of course, we should just keep monitoring the situation.
You know, keeping an ear to the ground,
seeing this does develop into a more serious issue,
but for now guys, I really would not worry about it at all.
So moving on to the section on
how you can prevent your Mac book screen from cracking,
there's a couple of things you can do.
Number one, obviously be careful with the screen
and the laptop in general, don't throw it around,
you know, keep it in a case or a secure bag,
that kind of stuff.
But a couple of other things that I've thought of is,
obviously don't use any kind of camera or webcam covers
to turn your camera on and off privacy reasons.
If you want to do that, guys,
just get a sticker and stick like a piece of paper
or a tiny little,
you actually buy webcam stickers
off Amazon that can go on your webcam,
use something like that.
The other thing is just have a quick check of your keyboard
every now and then.
So before you close the screen
check for rocks or crumbs or things like that,
that might wedge between the two
and cause the screen to crack.
And a quick little side note here as well,
I've had a couple of people comment
saying that when they close the screen of their MacBook,
they hear a cracking noise.
Generally those people are using a case with their MacBook
and all you're hearing
is the bottom edge of the case
actually rubbing against the top edge.
So it shouldn't be a big issue.
If it's not the case,
you don't have a case
and it doesn't go away after about a day or two,
definitely do take it to your
local Apple authorized service provider
or your Apple store just to get it checked out,
especially if you are still under warranty
because a cracking noise,
unless you have a case or if it doesn't go away
after a day or two is not normal.
Anyway, guys, that's it from me and the tablet of truth.
Hopefully I answered your questions
and debunked this particular issue for you all.
If you have any comments or questions,
let me know down below.
But apart from that, I'll catch you in the next one.
(upbeat music)