I recently purchased a brand-spanking-new Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro. This is my third Apple laptop in about 6 years. My last Aluminum Powerbook G4 was a workhorse, but my patience wore out after the Airport card went and Apple people told me the logic board needed to be replaced to get wireless working again. No Applecare = $800.

Now that I have the new one, I am super-happy, AND I bought the Applecare this time. It is a seriously powerful, fast, beautiful, stable machine. I love it. But there is this one thing…

I thought there was a weird problem with my old Powerbook, but now that the new one does the same thing, I started asking around. It seems that what I am about to describe is happening to other people too.

When I lightly touch the metal of my Macbook Pro (MBP), I get a mild electric shock. When my wrists touch the edge while I type, I get a mild electric shock. When I lick the edge, I get a mild electric shock. At first I wasn’t sure what was going on. When it first happened on the old Powerbook, I thought the hairs on my arm were getting pinched on something. But, it is clear now, electricity is running through the OUTSIDE of this laptop. If you run your fingers very gently across the surface, you feel something that could be texture of the metal, but when you unplug it, the odd texture goes away, and it feels simply like metal, as it should. This “texture” covers the entire metal surface, on the body, the lid, the underside, everywhere.

Recently I found out that two other MBP-owning friends had the exact same problem. We theorize that it had to do with grounding, and we all experimented with the plugs, in adapters, out of adapters, directly in the wall, extention cords, etc. One guy claimed that using the Euro-style 3-prong grounded plug worked the best and completely eliminated the shock (remember, I am in Dubai and am using all kinds of adapters and odd plugs). For me, the 3-prong did nothing. 3-pring, 2-prong, US 2-prong, Euro prongs, nothing…

However, just last night, I attached the US extended cord (the one that comes with the MBP) onto the end of my power-brick, just because I needed the extra length, and plugged into a universal world powestrip. Guess what? No more shock. It seems as if moving the power-brick away from the outlet is fixing the problem.

Tonight, I did a little Google search and found this forum post on MacRumors.com, “Getting small shocks from my MBP?”. Well, let me assure you, this is no rumor. This shit is real. And it’s not limited to the MBP. Posters on the forum seem to think this is caused by “dirty power” and that significant grounding solves the problem. I don’t understand if it is static electricity or actual current, but I am inclined to think it is current. Seems like a serious design flaw to me…

Bottom line, use the extension plug to eliminate the problem, and respond to this post if the same thing has happened to you.