I take back everything positive I've ever said about the Macbook Air.

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silent-circuit

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I have a 11" Macbook Air, mid 2011 model, 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM. Bought it used here on the forums.

Today, I closed it and put it in my bag between classes, opened it next class and the screen was cracked.

Well that sucks. Good thing I've got AppleCare right? Wrong. I call the support line and they politely tell me I'm out of luck, that damage to the LCD is deemed accidental damage and not covered by the warranty... and repair parts will be $600. I can bring it to a local authorized service center and have them look at it, and if they deem it a manufacturing defect (unlikely) it will be covered, but until I get the yes or no there nothing more can be done.

So I dropped off my $1200 (+$280 after tax extended warranty) roughly 6 month old laptop today, that's been babied its entire life and kept in a snap on hard case from the minute I got it... and in all likelihood I'm going to have to spend $600 (that I honestly can't afford right now) due to an incredibly stupid design that doesn't have any bumpers or tolerance whatsoever between the screen and wrist-rest / keyboard. I didn't even see what caused the pressure, it was like an oversized spec of dust, and this shit is going to cost me $600? Thanks a lot Apple. If I do have to buy a new screen I can guarantee you this fucking thing is going on Craigslist / eBay / FS/FT the second I get it back, and I'm buying a goddamn Dell.

Unless they handle this right, this is the first and last Apple product I ever buy. I never have before, and in all likelihood I never will again. Fun for the two months it lasted.
 
Nah, just go talk to the folks at the Genius Bar. I accidentally dropped a bottle of shampoo on the screen of my MBP years ago which dented the LCD, and the tech at the Genius Bar was like "oh, the screen should be way more durable than that, definitely a defect." Apple fixed it for free without any hassle even though it appeared to be completely my fault. It's part of the reason I recommend Apple stuff to so many people.

Don't take it to a non-Apple place for servicing, ever. If you must, call Apple and talk on the phone with techs, they will send you a free box to have it shipped for repair.
 
We really do not know how you carried this notebook and cannot say one way or the other, that you may have mis-handled it. This is why I always purchase an accidental insurance policy or my home/renters insurance will cover this. You should have done some home work on this prior to any purchase. ;)

Ingredient for an accident to happen....

1..Young
2..Placed into a bag
3.. In school

That may very well be the reason the screen cracked. Yes, its a guess, but a very good one.
 
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Genius Bar will replace it. They replaced my fucked up iPhone when it was out of warranty.
 
Genius Bar is 2 hours away. I dropped it at the local place, should I go get it before they make a determination officially one way or the other? Or is it too late?
 
silent-circuit said:
I can bring it to a local authorized service center and have them look at it
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Just read your post again and saw this important part. Go get it back. Take it to Apple directly. Don't let a non-Apple tech decide if the product is defective. Only Apple should make that call.
 
SR45 said:
Ingredient for an accident to happen....

1..Young
2..Placed into a bag
3.. In school
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So if OP were older and didn't attend school this never would have happened? Perhaps if you had attended more school when you were younger you'd have better deductive reasoning skills than that, friend.
 
CEpeep said:
So if OP were older and didn't attend school this never would have happened? Perhaps if you had attended more school when you were younger you'd have better deductive reasoning skills than that, friend.
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Fair or not, there is an assumption that younger people are more careless with their stuff.

It's certainly true for most teenagers I know. (I've had one set of iphone headphones for the last 5 years and they still work perfectly, stepsons - on the other hand - go through earbuds on a weekly to monthly basis (bud yanked off cord, lost earbuds, intermittent contact , etc. etc.)

It's the same reason why younger people pay higher auto insurance regardless of their individual driving records. Statistics don't work in their favor.

TIP:
When you go into the genius bar to inquire about them covering the damage, dress as conservatively as you possibly can. Be calm, speak respectfully, and use your best grammar. people will deny it, and not even believe it about themselves, but we all always judge people around us by their appearances.

I once had an iPhone 3G screen crack on me, while the phone was in my pocket (I didn't fall, walk into anything, bang it, or have anything else in the pocket) They deemed it a manufacturing defect and covered it. I tend to dress pretty conservatively (dress shirt, sweater, slacks, dress shoes), and conduct myself in a business-like way. I have a feeling that had I been wearing dirty baggy jeans, a hoodie, a flat brimmed baseball hat and spoken like I belong in the ghetto chances are pretty good they would have just assumed I broke it.

(same thing goes for getting pulled over and getting out of tickets, btw)

It's not fair, but people subconsciously judge other people based on their appearance all the time. In the vast majority of cases they don't even have a clue they are doing it.
 
I suppose. (And good advice about dressing "professionally" when attending the Genius Bar.) On the other hand, if the screen has cracked due to defect, it doesn't matter if the OP if a rowdy teenager who trashes everything or a senile old fogie who babies their hardware. Other than saying the incident happened "between classes," OP did nothing to expose him/herself to the sort of ad hominem SR45 posted. The "young" part is totally out of left field.
 
It might be worth a two hour drive to the genius bar.

Protip: be nice.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038360996 said:
Fair or not, there is an assumption that younger people are more careless with their stuff.

It's certainly true for most teenagers I know. (I've had one set of iphone headphones for the last 5 years and they still work perfectly, stepsons - on the other hand - go through earbuds on a weekly to monthly basis (bud yanked off cord, lost earbuds, intermittent contact , etc. etc.)

It's the same reason why younger people pay higher auto insurance regardless of their individual driving records. Statistics don't work in their favor.

TIP:
When you go into the genius bar to inquire about them covering the damage, dress as conservatively as you possibly can. Be calm, speak respectfully, and use your best grammar. people will deny it, and not even believe it about themselves, but we all always judge people around us by their appearances.

I once had an iPhone 3G screen crack on me, while the phone was in my pocket (I didn't fall, walk into anything, bang it, or have anything else in the pocket) They deemed it a manufacturing defect and covered it. I tend to dress pretty conservatively (dress shirt, sweater, slacks, dress shoes), and conduct myself in a business-like way. I have a feeling that had I been wearing dirty baggy jeans, a hoodie, a flat brimmed baseball hat and spoken like I belong in the ghetto chances are pretty good they would have just assumed I broke it.

(same thing goes for getting pulled over and getting out of tickets, btw)

It's not fair, but people subconsciously judge other people based on their appearance all the time. In the vast majority of cases they don't even have a clue they are doing it.
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I'm a law student, I'm 27, and I'm wearing a six hundred dollar suit at the moment. fewer assumptions please.
 
Go get back your MBA immediately! Never take any Apple product anywhere but an Apple store for service.

Take it to the Geniuses. I fried my 2010 MBP when I upgraded the memory 'cuz I neglected to detach the battery cable. Took it to the local Apple store next day. I just told the friendly female Genius that it died while I was playing a game. She tried to turn it on. When it didn't she just asked if my files were backed up because she was going to give me a new MBP. In fact, it was a 2011 Sandy Bridge i7 model. Can't promise they'll do the same for you, but don't be surprised if they do.
 
Take that notebook to a Genius Bar. My sister had the same issue as you but it was her fault. She didn't see the MBP under the blanket and flopped her school books over it and cracked the screen. Went with her to the Apple Store and the Genius Bar said it'll take 3 days to get it back. 3 days later, screen replaced and good as new. She also had Apple Care.
 
Yep go to genius bar, it's amazing what they would do (if your nice). I bought a used Macbook Pro and decided to do a clean install of Snow Leopard. Not knowing that the optical drive was borked.
I went to the genius bar the following day and they did a clean install of Snow Leopard for me at no charge via firewire on a Macbook that is obviously out of warranty.
 
My mother had a very similar issue with a MBP. She broke the screen while opening the lid (not even roughly, I was sitting at the table with her) and the screen just spider cracked everywhere. We took it to an apple store (the closest one was about an hour away in Orlando) and they gave her a new computer that day.

Of course, they did try to pin it on her at first, but we made it a point that it was during normal usage and not a normal break. Just keep calm and play tech-dumb.
 
Bomo said:
Just keep calm and play tech-dumb.
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+1. The Geniuses have wide latitude on whether to do a replacement or not. Whatever you do, don't be rude or impatient or get smart. Just be tech-dumb and nice. And talk to the people around you.
 
Best of luck with the Genius Bar, but you should realize that AppleCare is an absolute joke when compared with the warranty plans offered by others (e.g., Dell, Sony, etc.). Even with all these great stories about how lenient the Genius Bar is, it is obnoxious that they do not offer an accidental damage plan (except for AC+ for the iPhone obviously, and even that is new). I would look into the above-mentioned device re renter's insurance, as most offer/include a rider for electronics for a very reasonable price (and covers theft as well).

Worst case scenario you can always sell that suit to pay for the repair! ;)
 
Laptop in a backpack and the screen magically cracked?



Gee, i only saw this scenario play out 3 or 400 times when i worked at bestbuy. It was almost one a day. Laptops belong in dedicated laptop cases, not in backpacks.
 
Verge said:
Laptop in a backpack and the screen magically cracked?

Gee, i only saw this scenario play out 3 or 400 times when i worked at bestbuy. It was almost one a day. Laptops belong in dedicated laptop cases, not in backpacks.
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It's a dedicated sleeve, yes it's in the bag but it might as well be another bag. I've used the same bag (Samsonite Professional laptop backpack) without issue for 6 years, with three different laptops (two Dells and a HP 2510P Elitebook). Never had any damage to screen before. This is a new issue specific to the Apple. My behavior hasn't changed, the bag hasn't changed, the other things in the bag haven't changed -- if anything I was carrying less than usual when this happened.

I realize my thread title is a little inflammatory, but if you read what I wrote I'd hope the reason for my frustration would be fairly clear. At very least it speaks to poor industrial design; if I look around in my classes at least half the laptops are MacBooks. Apple knows who their customer base are, and what their normal usage scenario is. That includes putting laptops in backpacks, inside laptop sleeve areas. Releasing a product that can't take that "abuse" is irresponsible and unrealistic. Making something in such a way that it's likely to break during normal usage doesn't make sense.

Truth is I pride myself on taking care of my things. The woman working at the local service center even commented that but for the small pressure point crack in the display the Macbook looked new. The 2510P looks excellent considering it saw daily use for three years (I'm using it now -- glad it hasn't sold yet or I'd have no backup). I have a Lian Li A05B case that doesn't have a scratch on it, and I used that for years, even carried it to LANs. The machine is damaged, it is through no fault of mine or bad action on my part. It should've been as simple as calling them and getting it sent off. It wasn't. I came here to vent, which was admittedly a bad idea, and while many people have come forward and offered advice I really appreciate, some of which will hopefully help get the situation resolved, there've been a lot of negative assumptions made that I really didn't expect here. Maybe I'm naive, maybe it's because I haven't spent time in the Apple sub-forum before, I don't know. It's just strange to see from [H].
 
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You just lost your case, counselor. A MacBook isn't an Air. To expect the Air to take the same level of "abuse" as a much sturdier MacBook is unrealistic.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
You just lost your case, counselor. A MacBook isn't an Air. To expect the Air to take the same level of "abuse" as a much sturdier MacBook is unrealistic.
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Didn't lose anything. Of all those "MacBooks" at least half are Airs. My point is valid.

Found a replacement LCD for $75. If they won't cover it I'll fix it myself (exact same part number) and sell the thing ASAP. Not going to play this game in the future.
 
Shrug

You put a Macbook Air into a backpack -- what did you think would happen?

If this was a common problem due to poor design there would be a flood of people complaining about it happening.

It happened to you because you mistreated your Air.
 
silent-circuit said:
Didn't lose anything. Of all those "MacBooks" at least half are Airs. My point is valid.

Found a replacement LCD for $75. If they won't cover it I'll fix it myself (exact same part number) and sell the thing ASAP. Not going to play this game in the future.
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You left out that part in your previous post. Perhaps they're more careful with their Airs.

Nevertheless, you won't have any trouble selling it. Nothing hangs on to its value like an Apple product.
 
another thing in addition to dressing well which it seems like you have covered, is to look like an apple fanboy. listen to an ipod (borrow one if you dont own one) in line and then pull it out of your pocket to turn it off when you get to the "genius." also pull your iphone (again, borrowing is ok) out of your pocket and check your texts a minute into talking to them. :)
 
rhouck said:
Best of luck with the Genius Bar, but you should realize that AppleCare is an absolute joke when compared with the warranty plans offered by others (e.g., Dell, Sony, etc.). Even with all these great stories about how lenient the Genius Bar is, it is obnoxious that they do not offer an accidental damage plan (except for AC+ for the iPhone obviously, and even that is new). I would look into the above-mentioned device re renter's insurance, as most offer/include a rider for electronics for a very reasonable price (and covers theft as well).

Worst case scenario you can always sell that suit to pay for the repair! ;)
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Errrr.... Only thing worse than Sony's service, is Toshiba...
 
ekuest said:
another thing in addition to dressing well which it seems like you have covered, is to look like an apple fanboy. listen to an ipod (borrow one if you dont own one) in line and then pull it out of your pocket to turn it off when you get to the "genius." also pull your iphone (again, borrowing is ok) out of your pocket and check your texts a minute into talking to them. :)
Click to expand...

And wear a $600 suit too, right?
 
rhouck said:
Even with all these great stories about how lenient the Genius Bar is, it is obnoxious that they do not offer an accidental damage plan (except for AC+ for the iPhone obviously, and even that is new)
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There's always SquareTrade (and the like).
 
wonderfield said:
There's always SquareTrade (and the like).
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I have that for my iPad...with accident coverage too. However, I've been afraid of actually having to use it...for fear that they could not come through or have some flakey rules I don't foresee.
 
+2. Take it to the Genius Bar before the non apple people touch it. They might do something that screw up the MA more....

$600 repair for free at Genius Bar is worth the 2 hour drive IMHO. I know it's inconvenient, but that's just how it goes some times.

Sorry this happened to you bud.
 
I stepped on my ipad and shattered the screen, they still replaced it for free with no hassle. If they don't help you out it's probably because you were acting like a dick. :)
 
MatDef said:
I stepped on my ipad and shattered the screen, they still replaced it for free with no hassle. If they don't help you out it's probably because you were acting like a dick. :)
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I've yet to act like a dick, and everyone on the phone has been courteous, so it'll probably get resolved without any major issues at this point. Sadly that doesn't change the fact that this thing is clearly too fragile for my purposes -- I can't have it self-destructing because there's a speck of something on the palmrest when it's closed -- so I'll probably be replacing it regardless. That's unfortunate, because I really did enjoy the build quality and it was pretty quick for its size and weight.
 
silent-circuit said:
I've yet to act like a dick, and everyone on the phone has been courteous, so it'll probably get resolved without any major issues at this point. Sadly that doesn't change the fact that this thing is clearly too fragile for my purposes -- I can't have it self-destructing because there's a speck of something on the palmrest when it's closed -- so I'll probably be replacing it regardless. That's unfortunate, because I really did enjoy the build quality and it was pretty quick for its size and weight.
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Any laptop designed to be thin and light in weight is going to be more fragile than something thicker and heavier. It seems this should go without saying.
 
God the internet really brings out the sanctimonious assholes.

The guys laptop broke under circumstances it should be able to deal with. I think apple can afford to replace a screen or two at this point.
 
!@#$%^&*() said:
Shrug

You put a Macbook Air into a backpack -- what did you think would happen?

If this was a common problem due to poor design there would be a flood of people complaining about it happening.

It happened to you because you mistreated your Air.
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the same thing that happens when I put my Studio 1558 into my back pack and carry it around? that it won't get a cracked screen?

I travel 28 miles to work each way on a Vino 125 to work 4 days a week and I have NEVER had a problem with a laptop screen cracking.... The Vostro 1400 before that endured the same treatment for 2+ years and so did the Gateway that was before that.... in addition to the laptop I carry a 50 disk sleeve of Blu-Ray movies plus the associted external full sized drive and power brick......
 
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