A Small Rant to Speck Products

I generally research any product I am interested in before I purchase it – it’s safe to say most people do. I generally make it a point to choose products that have good reviews, nice aesthetics, and that will benefit my overall objectives. So I make the following “complaint” with the utmost consideration for the reputation of the company it is about – I generally do not like ranting, but after the results I have just witnessed and the scars left on my Mac I find it my “duty to warn”.

A few months ago I purchased the Speck “SeeThru Hard Shell Case for my 17″ Macbook Pro out of concern from minor scuffs the notebook received from daily pack ad unpacking from it’s case and normal travelling to and from work. As the website advertises “SeeThru MacBook cases are made of translucent hard plastic to beautify and protect.” Now anyone reading this would assume the case will protect the computer it is designed for. Well, I followed all the installation directions to the “t” and took extra precautions not to scuff or mark up the laptop even more during the easy installation process. Well, not only did the “protective” case mar the hell out of my Mac in a few places, it also will make your laptop run 10-15 degrees (F) hotter! I monitor my notebook with a few different tools (widget and finder bar app) and the average operating temps for CPU, GPU, HDD, Ambient Case TEMP, Both Heatsinks (Core DUO) and the memory controller ALL INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY. For those who are not familiar with the basic fundamentals of electronics, HEAT is the ENEMY – especially to critical components like Hard Drives and Batteries. So basically after using this product for 1 month and noticing the huge difference in normal operating temps as compared to the insane Hell Heat generated form the Speck SeeThru Case I have decided to take the case off and to never purchase from Speck again. Now I fully realize that some will argue that the increase in temp is minimal and is well within the operating temps the notebook is designed for, and I agree for the most part, BUT, I find it interesting that I had a Hard Drive Meltdown a few weeks ago and lost the primary drive in my notebook completely! Does this mean Speck’s product should be held accountable? Probably not, there is no way to prove their product as the culprit to my hard drive failure, however, I do not find the link between the two impossible, in-fact I find it highly probable since that was the first time I have ever had a notebook hard drive go before my very eyes, another interesting point is the average HDD temp without the Speck case is now 97 degrees (F), with the case on it was operating at about 112 degrees (F). So beside the obvious rant I just laid out I urge anyone extreme caution if you are considering using the Speck SeeThru Laptop Case – your laptop and wallet may get burned, literally.

Speck Website