I've just purchased a MBP on ebay and found out that the previous owner upgraded the hard drive himself. Does this void the warranty?
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MBP Warranty Question
- Thread starter Benjamin Black
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Technically yes. You might be lucky that if he did a good job (no toolmarks, etc) and should Apple engineers not notice that there's a different drive inside.
Was the item advertised as having had the harddrive replaced aftermarket? If not then you could take this up with eBay.
Was the item advertised as having had the harddrive replaced aftermarket? If not then you could take this up with eBay.
No it wasn't disclosed that the hard drive was replaced aftermarket. I assumed that it was installed by Apple, but the box it arrived in had a CompUSA sticker on it. I've just received an email from the seller confirming my suspicion. He's offered to send me a receipt for the hard drive, for warranty purposes. But if it's not covered, then...
Well the only way the warranty would still be intact is if the replacement was performed by an Apple authorised engineer. So if CompUSA replaced the drive for him then it should still be covered. If, however, he bought the drive separately and replaced the drive himself then you're back at square one.
The question is was it replaced with an Apple "branded" hard drive? If so then you should be fine.
I wonder if you were to have an Apple engineer replace the drive for you and then sell the drive inside the laptop that should fix you up should you find that he did indeed replace the drive himself.
The question is was it replaced with an Apple "branded" hard drive? If so then you should be fine.
I wonder if you were to have an Apple engineer replace the drive for you and then sell the drive inside the laptop that should fix you up should you find that he did indeed replace the drive himself.
ffs, shut up, all of you, the hard drive upgrade does not at all void apples warranty in any way shape or form unless something was damaged during the repair which caused a fault with another part in which case apple will not repair that part, otherwise the applecare is completely intact it's just apple wont replace the HD if it fails you need to use the receipt that the guy gave you and take the HD out yourself.
this complete myth is propagated by idiotic sales staff that just want you to order the optional extras from apple
this complete myth is propagated by idiotic sales staff that just want you to order the optional extras from apple
It doesn't void the warranty persay. However if something breaks, if they caught on to the fact that the hard drive wasn't one apple put in they could blame it on that and not fix it for you.
I don't have any experience with this and have just heard it in passing. I don't know if Apple is that shady when it comes to repairing, I doubt it, it is possible though as I have heard stories of this happening from people i know.
I don't have any experience with this and have just heard it in passing. I don't know if Apple is that shady when it comes to repairing, I doubt it, it is possible though as I have heard stories of this happening from people i know.
Hector said:
Indeed. Where do people get ideas like this? It most certainly does NOT void your warranty, at least on the MacBook. Go to Apple's site, go into the "Do it yourself" repair section, and you will notice three "DIY" parts listed, one of which is the hard drive.
If you download the PDF instructions, the very first paragraph says:
"Follow the instructions in this document carefully. Failure to follow these instructions could damage your equipment and void its warranty."
So basically, unless you do something stupid while you're replacing it and break it (which obviously isn't the case here), your warranty is quite fine. And really, unless they can prove that you broke it doing the replacement, it's probably still covered.
Note here that MPBs and PowerBooks might be a different matter, since they require near-complete-disassembly to replace the drive. But in the MacBook they EXPLICITLY intended it to be easily replaceable by the end-user.
If you download the PDF instructions, the very first paragraph says:
"Follow the instructions in this document carefully. Failure to follow these instructions could damage your equipment and void its warranty."
So basically, unless you do something stupid while you're replacing it and break it (which obviously isn't the case here), your warranty is quite fine. And really, unless they can prove that you broke it doing the replacement, it's probably still covered.
I haven't heard of this ever happening. Not saying it couldn't, but it's not an issue I've heard of.kevin.rivers said:
Note here that MPBs and PowerBooks might be a different matter, since they require near-complete-disassembly to replace the drive. But in the MacBook they EXPLICITLY intended it to be easily replaceable by the end-user.
The hard drive is user servicable in the MB but not the MBP.Makosuke said:
Yes, true yoru warranty will still be OK as long as you do a good job and don't break anything. That does, however, require Apple not to notice that you've opened it up.
All depends on the day the tech has, and whether the drive is the problem.
If the drive goes bad, they may or may not charge you to replace it. But it will likely be replaced with what is in the machine's build sheet.
If they do charge you, shame on you -- since you could have called and gotten a replacement from the manufacturer of the drive.
If the drive goes bad, they may or may not charge you to replace it. But it will likely be replaced with what is in the machine's build sheet.
If they do charge you, shame on you -- since you could have called and gotten a replacement from the manufacturer of the drive.
Whoops, my stupid. For some reason I thought the initial post was about a MacBook not a Pro. Not the case, so while it's probably ok if the guy who replaced it did a good job (depending on how good and what model drive, it might be impossible to even tell), it could void the warranty if the tech notices and is being a jerk about it.PatrickF said:
Eh?Sun Baked said:
If a third party drive goes bad, Apple won't touch it. They won't replace it with anything, because it is not covered by Apple warranty. It's purely an issue between you and the drive manufacturer's warranty.
I said, it all depends on the day the tech had.CanadaRAM said:
It may slip by, happens a little more often than you may think.
Edit: of course if the tech is too tired or drunk to look for the Apple logo, you probably don't want them working on your machine.
Take it to CompUSA, you are more likely to find those drunk/inept Apple Authorized Service Techs.
Especially if CompUSA was the one that added the drive, where you can balance the chance of damage to the machine against a free repair.
Note: I personally wouldn't use CompUSA even if it means paying Apple to fix the machine.
Especially if CompUSA was the one that added the drive, where you can balance the chance of damage to the machine against a free repair.
Note: I personally wouldn't use CompUSA even if it means paying Apple to fix the machine.