I Have a Toxic Mac Pro

I recently wrote about how satisfied I was with my Mac Pro after more than two years of loyal service. Alas, my satisfaction has dropped a few notches in the past few days. Last Friday, I started smelling something strange in my office. Since I have several electronic devices (computer, monitor, router, telephones, etc.), I didn’t immediately think it was the Mac Pro. It took me part of the weekend to determine which device was causing the problem. This was, in part, because the other members of my family didn’t smell the same thing as I did.

I isolated the Mac Pro as being the cause by turning off different devices one by one, and letting the Mac Pro run for an hour or so with the window closed. It turns out that the smell was coming from the power supply, at the top of the machine. I called Apple, and the Mac Pro was picked up for repair on Tuesday.

Now, much has been written recently about toxic Mac Pros built two years ago (here’s the top hit on Google). I’m not actually worried about benzene or styrene, but it turns out that I’m allergic to something that came out of that machine when it started burning. (I confirmed this with my doctor this morning.) I can’t currently go in my office – more than a couple of minutes and my eyes, nose, mouth and throat start stinging – in spite of the fact that I’ve been running a fan for a couple of days with the window open all the time. I’ve had to toss two pieces of carpet, and I’m afraid that the two chairs I have are impregnated by whatever came out of the Mac Pro.

Computers contain a lot of funky chemicals, and the plastics they contain are extremely toxic when they burn. Normally, such a problem would resolve by airing out a room for a while, but if something is causing an allergy, I’m wondering how long it will take for me to be able to use my office again. Fortunately I have a MacBook Air, so I can continue working, but even that picked up the smell on its case; I’ve wiped it down, and I hope I managed to clean it. In the mean time, I’m awaiting the return of my Mac Pro, with a new power supply, and I’m going to contact Apple Care about the physical problems I’m having. I don’t expect them to clean out my office, but I want them to be aware of the problem.