Magnetic field disables MBP lcd!!! Why?? Can it get damaged?

Hi used my MBP for a DJ gig, its not really serious just a office thing. I used Windows 7 and some simple DJ software all seemed good at home. The venue for the event was a underground club which has massive wall speakers and the DJ area also sport two woofers on both sides.

I took the MBP out of the bag, switched it on placed it on the woofer and poof the display was blank. I thought some connecter was lose i picked it up and just like that the screen was active....

I could not use the table i had to DJ sitting on the floor which was really uncomfortable.

Why does the lcd go blank when placed near a magnetic field? Also can it damage the laptop i tried to reproduce the event several times and got the same result every time... Since LCD does not have magnetic parts i am confused as to the reason why it happened?

 

You should never put any laptop or phone onto of anything that is magnetic like woofers or such. Usually screens change colors or turn off when you do it like that, so it's normal, but you shouldn't do that as it can damage the screen.
Doesn't matter if it's an apple product or windows based laptop..

 

ok going to agree about keeping your system in overly strong fields unless its made for it ( toughbooks, getac's etc ) because of the hard drive. make sure large speakers are 4ft away according to some sound techs. Your MBP screen was turning off because apple has 2-4 magnets in your lcd assembly and when you close the lid they trigger the sleep/suspend switch. Thereby killing the screen. the speakers were triggering the mag switches, I have the same problem in some industrial locations

you can also reproduce it with a couple of fridge magnets which wont hurt the system

 

Oh, didn't think of that! That's pretty smart, if now apple even thought of that (but i doubt it), then it should be no problem for the screen being close magnetic fields as it shuts down before any damage can be done. But the hard drive isn't gonna like really strong magnetic fields..

 

nope its a 13 year old trick that i know of, possibly older. but since magnetic fields decrease exponentially over distance I would guess a couple feet from large speakers is safe, but still wont help with the screen turning off without disabling the switches.

 

So they made it that way with purpose so it would turn off when there is a big magnetic field around, is that what you're saying? Because that's what i'm asking.


Or do you mean the tech that shuts off the screen? Because that i know is old and is commonly used on car alarms etc (magnet against magnet)

 

I remember MBPs having a magnet before as well, but with these models, the magnetic hook (that went into the slod when closing lid) is gone as mine went bad due to some reason and laptop wouldn't close completely.

It also makes sense since MBPs are in an aluminum shell and we know from physics that a magnetic field can be induced through aluminum.

 

I mean the tech to turn the screen off is a magnetic on magnetic field. its nice sometimes but a pain when near strong EM fields or magnets as the OP found

 

strong enough magnetic fields can kill anything.

 

i know this defeats the purpose of you getting a laptop but yes they are right about the screen turning the computer into sleep mode but if you have an external monitor the computer can still be used....just saying...