FINAL VERDICT: Does Installing an SSD Void Your Warranty?

Maxx Power said:

Essentially, if you live where there is such a legal wording in the law, you can modify the equipment to suit your needs as fair use (computers, cars, etc), so long as when you eventually claim warranty, your actions CAN NOT BE PROVEN by the manufacturer to have caused the issue at hand.

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Good point. I forgot to mention earlier, but in bma's example of an SSD upgrade and a flickering screen, I disagree that that would be clear customer damage. Clear customer damage would be an SSD upgrade, flickering screen AND scratches, broken components or other physical damage on the GPU, cable or port. The onus would be on Apple to prove the customer caused damage directly if it was Apple that wanted to void the purchase contract.

My 2006 imac had developed screen problems which is a common fault of that machine's particular gpu. As I mentioned earlier, there was no problem with a warranty replacement. My SSD upgrade had clearly not interfered with the faulty hardware.

pubjoe said:

Good point. I forgot to mention earlier, but in bma's example of an SSD upgrade and a flickering screen, I disagree that that would be clear customer damage. Clear customer damage would be an SSD upgrade, flickering screen AND scratches, broken components or other physical damage on the GPU, cable or port. The onus would be on Apple to prove the customer caused damage directly if it was Apple that wanted to void the purchase contract.

My 2006 imac had developed screen problems which is a common fault of that machine's particular gpu. As I mentioned earlier, there was no problem with a warranty replacement. My SSD upgrade had clearly not interfered with the faulty hardware.

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Oh I agree with you. My intention is to point out what I understand on warranty and the law. I was not passing judgement on bma's example at all.

I had flickering screens in laptops and desktops that were caused by all sorts of reasons, with the most recent example being a MBP where the Nvidia chipset flickers the screen for some logic defect reason. I can't imagine that I would be pleased if Apple claimed that my RAM upgrade caused this.

Oh I agree as well, and again.

Especially your capitalised line about proving the cause of issue.

I just understand the law to be that if one party wants to claim a violation of contract, the onus is on them to prove the violation.

There would need to be actual evidence that action A caused problem B for there to be suitable proof. Or at least, that is my understanding.

I don't mean to dispute bma's experience either. He's brought up excellent insights. I just wanted to explain my understanding, and the flickering LCD was a good example. I don't mean to argue his point because that still stands - that obvious damage caused by the customer can void the warranty. I really just nitpicking on semantics.

As bma also stated, if anything, Apple technicians let a lot of things slide. I bet there's been all sorts of customer caused damage that they've turned a blind eye to. I certainly have no complaints there either, in my few dealings with their CS, they've always gone beyond the call of duty.

inscrewtable said:

I can definitely see the day approaching where Apple is going to explicitly state that anyone but their guys cracking open an iMac will void the warranty. In fact that is a good argument to use against the vague wording of their current warranty, it would be so frikken easy for them to simply state that breaking the glue seal is akin to voiding the warranty, that the fact they don't say it, allows for what they mean by 'authorised' open to interpretation.

Further it could be argued in court that their requisite to get written permission from Apple is absurd in the real world.

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I agree that the current wording is too vague and is open to interpretation. However, if Apple chose to not perform a particular repair under warranty because an unrelated modification had been done, I bet that most people wouldn't take them to court.

I also agree that Apple will someday change the wording to say that opening the iMac for any reason will void the warranty.