Apple will not fix your computer if you smoke around it.

[Rson]

Take a look....Second hand smoke for repair personnel is a risk.

Apple to smokers: butt out or void your warranty | The Apple Core | ZDNet.com

[Rson]

Smoke Gets In Your Imac: Smoking Near Apple Computers Creates Biohazard, Voids Warranty

[S-Man]

Good thing I don't smoke. But it sounds like a bit of a lazy ripoff on Apple's part. Just another excuse to void warranty.

[zebulus]

I can kinda sympathize. Ive worked on computers that belonged to smokers and they (the computer) can be kinda gross. They tend to accumulate dust, tar, and nicotine. This can also attract spiders, roaches, and ants.

I dont know if i need to go any further.

[kenw]

Here's a clue: computers with fans suck in anything in the air, smoke or not. Floating microbits of Cheetos, pizza crust dust, cat fur and hair spray are commom items found in well used computers. Bugs are attracted to perfectly clean electronics for warmth and a general attraction to magnetic fields.

Apple's move smells (no pun intended) of a knee-jerk for California workplace laws and not real science.

[Rson]

Nicotine is a registered OSHA hazard. My cat Fluffy is not nor is my wife's burnt pizza, the roaches that eat it and her hair spray.

:)

I know that my cases have air filters on the fans and the internals barely have any dust on them.

[Flea77]

Originally Posted by Rson

Nicotine is a registered OSHA hazard. My cat Fluffy is not nor is my wife's burnt pizza, the roaches that eat it and her hair spray.

:)

I know that my cases have air filters on the fans and the internals barely have any dust on them.

OSHA also uses alcohol (used quite a bit as a cleaner for electronic parts) and talc (used by many people at home). In fact, OSHA mandates MDS for virtually all chemicals that can be harmful or fatal, including anything that can burn your skin after four hours of exposure (can you say bleach, ammonia, drain cleaner, and probably Windex). Of course that is in the workplace, not the home :-)

Apple is just getting lazy. If the smoke deposited tar on the blades of a cooling fan and slowed the fan down then I would not cover the fan under warranty. That however would not affect other components (assuming the fan did not reduce airflow to the point of total system overheat).

There are exceptions to every rule, but as a general rule smoking has little to no adverse affects on computer components. This coming from 26+ years of experience with computers, and probably 10+ of that with me smoking right in front of my personal machines, which I have not done in at least 8.

Allan

PS. OSHA specifically lists carcinogens as hazardous, and I would be willing to bet good money that a burned pizza would indeed release carcinogens (low burning temperature and lack of oxygen in the oven would prohibit the burning off of the hydrocarbons (assuming I remember my chemistry correctly).)

[tropicpine]

I too have had to work on computers that have had so much second hand smoke they are STICKY.
I have also had to work on printers that are filled with loose toner because the owner bought the absolute cheapest remanufactured cartridges they coud find or shipped the printer with the toner cartridges installed. (For those of you who do not know loose toner is a significant health hazard.)
I have also been requested to work on equipment with a significant amounts of rodent droppings.
I for one brush my teeth before going to the dentists office, spray deoderent in my shoes before dropping them off for repair and clean out the major pieces of trash from my car when I get it washed. OK maby some of you are getting out your lable makers and typing in 'N-E-A-T- -F-R-E-A-K!' at this moment but I expect a level of respect from those I contract with for service. I start this respect by showing it.
I, myself, smoke cigars. Still, I have no desire to work on anything that smells like an ash tray.
Please be nice to the people you a paying to help you by making a small effort to clean the equipment you drop off to them.

[blevey]

I used to work on them also....before I returned them. I would clean the case...nicotine would just drip off the case....imagine what their lungs look like!!!

B

[kenw]

do realize that some of the stickiness is flux. Many manufactureres use a "no-clean" flux that hangs around forever. It doesn't hurt anything but does catch anything and everything that comes by. And since it is a rosin flux, it also happens to be slightly brown in color, and darkens with time and heat and gets stickier too.

[sldi]

I just banned the two smokers in the house from doing it in the computer room while I am there... not really a whole lot I can do for the 28 days a month I am not there....oh by the way, mine crashed last Thursday morning and their smoking was, I believe part of it.

[ChristopherCoy]

Good thing I'm a PC... Apple, and California are smoking way worse than nicotine.... CRACK!