Applecare and upgrading MBP hard drive

[Zedsdead185]

Hi y'all,
So I've decided to take the plunge and get a MBP for christmas instead of waiting for any updates in january. The main thing that bothers me tho is that i kno that 120gb HD space is gonna be filled up quite quickly for me. For now i was gonna get portable hard drive.

I would like to be able to upgrade the hard drive some point in the future but obviously this means opening the MBP up. I've heard mixed things about this. Some people say that it voids applecare, and others say that its against some sort of regulation and should not void the applecare. I was hoping if someone knew the definite answer?

P.S. I need to buy it from instore to take full advantage of my university ed discount and so therefore can't simply BTO the hard drive sadly. The next model up is also too expensive for my budget.

 

[kaiwai]

Hi y'all,
So I've decided to take the plunge and get a MBP for christmas instead of waiting for any updates in january. The main thing that bothers me tho is that i kno that 120gb HD space is gonna be filled up quite quickly for me. For now i was gonna get portable hard drive.

I would like to be able to upgrade the hard drive some point in the future but obviously this means opening the MBP up. I've heard mixed things about this. Some people say that it voids applecare, and others say that its against some sort of regulation and should not void the applecare. I was hoping if someone knew the definite answer?

P.S. I need to buy it from instore to take full advantage of my university ed discount and so therefore can't simply BTO the hard drive sadly. The next model up is also too expensive for my budget.

Well, you can get them, the Apple authorised people, to upgrade the hard disk which means you won't invalidate your warranty.

 

[Zedsdead185]

Well, you can get them, the Apple authorised people, to upgrade the hard disk which means you won't invalidate your warranty.

Thats a gud idea, but isn't this supposed to be more pricey? And do i have to do this when i buy it or can i do it in the future some point?

 

[Ubercolios]

If you get an Apple authorized technician, then it doesn't have to be at time of purchase.

And yes, changing the hard drive on the MBP does technically void the Apple warranty.

 

[GfulDedFan]

Just a crazy idea.....you need a backup device anyway so why not get a nice size (750GB+) external HD for your backups (Time Machine). You won't need the whole thing for backups so just partition it with a drive for say Music, another for Movies, one for Photos....etc.

Having to lug an external around with you is a pain but you need to have one anyway for backups. Keep the internal fit and trim for mobile needs and pass off the heavy storage to the external. It's kind of like needing enough luggage to fit your whole wardrobe.

Now isn't that crazy........

 

[kaiwai]

Thats a gud idea, but isn't this supposed to be more pricey? And do i have to do this when i buy it or can i do it in the future some point?

The cost? depends. The shop I tend to buy my stuff off, they'll install it for free. When I bought this laptop they installed the memory at no extra charge.

 

[aquajet]

Some people say that it voids applecare, and others say that its against some sort of regulation and should not void the applecare. I was hoping if someone knew the definite answer?

Now what makes you think that you'd suddenly get a definitive answer by creating another thread?

I've asked Apple this question before and was told it wouldn't void the warranty -- as long as I didn't muck anything up. I would suggest you read the Applecare terms and conditions document, and then formally ask Apple this question yourself, if it concerns you enough.

 

[squeeks]

Now what makes you think that you'd suddenly get a definitive answer by creating another thread?

i was wondering the same thing lol

I've asked Apple this question before and was told it wouldn't void the warranty -- as long as I didn't muck anything up. I would suggest you read the Applecare terms and conditions document, and then formally ask Apple this question yourself, if it concerns you enough.

you dont remove any VOID WARANTY stickers in the process so i would think its pretty safe

 

[Zedsdead185]

Well I've bought it now anyways. (Woohoo!)
Before buying it I asked both questions,

-Would it void applecare if i changed it myself
-would they be able to upgrade it at some point in the future

The answers to both were no. Once i've bought it there is apparently no way of upgrading the HD without voiding the warranty. I questioned them about this and they asked the genius bar and all that sort of stuff and they were definite that the only way of getting extra space in the future would be to use a external drive.

I thought about it logically and decided to just go with the 120gb. I could keep upgrading it until it was a maxed out 17", but decided that this was good enough for me and a portable hard drive can't be all that bad.

I'm still not sure about the answers the staff gave me tho cos I'm pretty sure I've known people have their HD's upgraded in store, or at least sent off.

 

[squeeks]

-Would it void applecare if i changed it myself
-would they be able to upgrade it at some point in the future

The answers to both were no. Once i've bought it there is apparently no way of upgrading the HD without voiding the warranty.

im confused, you just said both answers were no...why is there no way of upgrading without voiding waranty?

 

[Gordy]

As long as you cause no damage to other components your warantee will be fine. They simply cannot refuse to honour just because you upgraded a single component. If you break something while installing it thats different.

 

[Inconsequential]

I emailed a Apple Certified Support Center or whatever they are and they said they can do it for £50 + whatever the HD costs.

I said I wanted a 7K200 which I can give to them with my MBP. They said no it has to be a APPLE SPEC hd

Its quite shocking TBH

 

[Zedsdead185]

From what i can make out its either applecare, or ability to upgrade hard drive.

I was told that as long as you don't break anything when changing the hard drive then your applecare is still ok. But if ever anything was to happen to the mbp in the future, they will instantly blame it on the hard drive swap, and then void your warranty. Very sneaky.

Also, i was told that this applies to anyone that isn't an apple certified technician. I don't know if this is different to the us (I'm in uk) but apparently no-one in an apple store is able to upgrade anything in the mbp but the ram. A bit pointless and a waste of time that the only people that can change your hard drive without voiding applecare aren't actually allowed to do it.

To be honest, i don't think we are going to find the correct answer until apple know what the correct answer is themselves.

 

[Gordy]

From what i can make out its either applecare, or ability to upgrade hard drive.

I was told that as long as you don't break anything when changing the hard drive then your applecare is still ok. But if ever anything was to happen to the mbp in the future, they will instantly blame it on the hard drive swap, and then void your warranty. Very sneaky.

Also, i was told that this applies to anyone that isn't an apple certified technician. I don't know if this is different to the us (I'm in uk) but apparently no-one in an apple store is able to upgrade anything in the mbp but the ram. A bit pointless and a waste of time that the only people that can change your hard drive without voiding applecare aren't actually allowed to do it.

To be honest, i don't think we are going to find the correct answer until apple know what the correct answer is themselves.

The burden of proof at least in the UK would be on them to prove that it was your actions that caused the issues. I've heard of plenty of people upgrading hard discs and then using apple care with no problems.

 

[Inconsequential]

Yep, next year im planning to get a 250Gb 7200RPM drive and 4Gb RAM.

I'll get a Apple person to do it but custom HD

 

[Zedsdead185]

Yep, next year im planning to get a 250Gb 7200RPM drive and 4Gb RAM.

I'll get a Apple person to do it but custom HD

So how are you gonna do that? Do you have to phone up applecare and arrange to send it off?
Or are you using an apple certified technician from outside of the apple company?
Please explain. If this works then I might do the same at some point.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

It's funny because I called apple and they told me it does not void the warranty. I kept reminding the woman, this is a Macbook PRO, are you SURE? And she kept saying yes, just that the drive would not be covered by warranty. Weird

 

[aquajet]

I said I wanted a 7K200 which I can give to them with my MBP. They said no it has to be a APPLE SPEC hd

What does that mean, I wonder. Does it have to be an Apple-OEM drive? Or perhaps the service provider just wants you to buy one of theirs...

 

[teerexx52]

I'd like to know too. I asked at my Apple Store and they said they would not do it. Would love to have mine upgraded but I'm not comfortAble doing it myself

So how are you gonna do that? Do you have to phone up applecare and arrange to send it off?
Or are you using an apple certified technician from outside of the apple company?
Please explain. If this works then I might do the same at some point.

 

[Inconsequential]

What does that mean, I wonder. Does it have to be an Apple-OEM drive? Or perhaps the service provider just wants you to buy one of theirs...

True. Apple OEM I assume...

Im thinking of actually leaving it and selling this thing next October and getting a new one

I did one of those survey things and put my point across that the fact users can't access the HD is a very very very bad move.

Might get the point across sometime

So how are you gonna do that? Do you have to phone up applecare and arrange to send it off?
Or are you using an apple certified technician from outside of the apple company?
Please explain. If this works then I might do the same at some point.

Nah take it to a apple center with the HD I want. So then its installed by a apple spec engineer but the warranty doesn't cover the hard disk, which I couldn't care much about really cos if it does break I buy a new one and send the other one back.

 

[PimpsMac]

If your HD for some 1 in a million reason did somehow fry your board, why not just keep the original HD handy, and replace your botched up version with the original? Apple would be none the wiser. After all, they'd have to change the parts internally, and add a brand new hardrive before they could even boot up properly, so it's not like they'll be able to tell you were using your own upgrade. But I rarely hear stories of a HD screwing up the whole computer. It's usually a malfunction that stays local(in the HD). Another option would be, if the HD fails, just upgrade to the same HD again. But it's good to always keep a backup in case something like this happens. Go buy an external as well.