MacBook Air developing "play" or "slop" in hinge

[darkdss]

mines got it too.
anyone have a fix? can we diy?

also my unit was a preorder feb 2008

[maxdboy100]

yes it does affect me a little bit because when it's on my lap the screen shakes when i type.

[tomgallagher]

I have the same problem (about 1" of play or 'wobble'). Took delivery of one of the first batches in the UK and paid around £2,300 for it plus apple care. I also notice a larger gap to the left side of the right hinge on my model.

Is this now a recognised fault?

[houstonray]

Ditto here. Got mine back in March, and a few days ago, the hinge began to jack up on one side and now if I try to close it about halfway and leave it, it just falls forward and closes all by itself.

I came here and found this thread. Wow, seems like this is a major problem. Anyone have any suggestions yet? Any luck at the Apple store? Knock on wood, this is my only problem, I've loved it, but now, not even a year old, and I can't have the screen at one angle or it will just fall over and close by itself?? That's unacceptable, especially for the co$t.

[happyslayer]

Mine's not as bad yet, but it is starting.

It has about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of play. I have noticed that temperature affects it. Not as bad when it's cold.

I noticed about a week ago that closing the lid does not feel as tight anymore. It will now fall shut where before I had to push it closed.

No screen wobble when typing yet.

Purchased mine March 08.

[ursi]

and then it lays completely flat. And then the Genius Bar people will tell you it is not under warranty because you must have done something to "break it".

I was basically called a liar today at the Genius Bar in Reno Nevada. My MacBook Air is only 7 months old. Always was loose and made weird creaking noises on the left hinge and on Christmas eve, while surfing and typing, I heard a loud SNAP and the monitor flipped backwards.

Since when does typing cause an "accident"?

They have it right now and I am almost certain they will call me on Monday and tell me it is my fault and they can't fix it.

We were planning on buying a MacBook Pro in the spring. No way now. Not after the way I was treated today.

Back to Dell. After 10 years of laptops, I can honestly say they have the best warranty program and I was never called a liar. Macs are overhyped and overpriced.

And their $350. warranty is worthless to me.

[dancogswell]

Apple fixed this for me. I sent my MBA in for repair because the sound wasn't working. On the screen, I attached a sticky note that said "this hinge is loose" and I got back my same laptop without any slop in the hinge at all.

So they can fix it.

[ursi]

Talked to them today and they are going to fix it and honor my warranty. They haven't seen this problem in their store but are hearing that this has happened to some Air's at other stores/regions. So don't give up, people.

All is forgiven. My new Air will still be new.

[Mr Ikasu]

Just another quick post to say that I was having this problem and Apple have no replaced the whole top screen for me under warranty.

They told me it probably wouldn't fix it and that was how they were but that they could replace it if I wanted to. Might as well get it fixed now before it ends up getting any worse.

Oh and thanks, without seeing this thread I probably would have just lived with it.

[madmaxmedia]

It seems pretty obvious this is a design flaw. It doesn't happen to everybody but can be improved upon.

I think the hinge itself is metal and reasonably strong, but the screen assembly is attached to the hinge by plastic, and it's this plastic that bends and develops the 'play' until at some point it no longer holds onto the hinge at all.

I would be very hesitant to buy a used unit say on EBay, unless I could check out the unit in person and make sure the hinge assembly is nice and tight.

[buckawheat]

Mine had the 'play' in the hinge of about 3/4 inch, however, I also had one of the hinges lifting out of position - broke inside somehow. Apple replaced on warranty the entire screen assembly (screen and top shell), the entire aluminum bottom piece (around the keyboard, trackpad, etc.) and the bottom plate (I'm still trying to figure out why the bottom plate) to fix this.

No play now and I am treating it very delicately from here out.

I am still amazed that there is no way to just tighten the hinge.

Rev A - 1.6 - Great machine for what I need it to do.

[AIRniloc]

Originally Posted by dibara2003

In my experience, nope. They said it was within spec. and said that they couldn't really tighten them anyways.

i just quit my job as a mac genius...next time a genius says that something is 'in spec', ask him/her what 'spec' is for that particular issue, and then watch them squirm...whatever they tell you is a lie.

there is no such thing as 'specs' on any machine for anything aesthetic, cosmetic or such on the exterior machine (except for pixel anomalies).

[tubbymac]

Originally Posted by AIRniloc

i just quit my job as a mac genius...next time a genius says that something is 'in spec', ask him/her what 'spec' is for that particular issue, and then watch them squirm...whatever they tell you is a lie.

Oh I like that idea! Devious.

[Srai-W]

Originally Posted by scrapit

yep the same with mine. sorry to say the air is a ok machine but by far the powerbook 12 inch was apples best

That's what I'm on and the screen is still as tight as it was originally. I have lost the "P" key, but can live with that - gives it personality!!! One thing I have noticed - my 12" G4 seems to be "zapping" me though. I am too lazy to check if there are any threads on this, but has anyone else had this problem????

[chunter]

Same problem has happened to my apple air. last week when closing the lid the hinge plastic came out. Took it to apple care they said that hinges are not covered under warranty! and that I broke it. Nice of them to put down a man that is without his air.

After that I called apple care for an hour (singapore). All they could say is take it to another care centre. When I got to the next apple care centre the first thing they said to me is hinges are not covered by apple warranty. Got them to take it. Hope tomorrow they will fix it.


The funny thing is, I was going to buy a new apple air rev.b yesterday since i can not wait a 1 week for it to get fixed, as I am traveling to Sydney, Perth, Singapore, Saigon all in a week for business. but how can one buy a laptop knowing it has a DEFECT and that apple will not provide any warranty for this DEFECT?

So I have just bought a eeepc901 500AUD

Photo below
http://flickr.com/photos/landung2008/3247328478/

Purchased mine 28th feb 08. rev A.

Apple Air is the BEST laptop yet for me personally. light, 13" screen, full size keyboard, multitouch huge touch pad, nice casing, no dvd play who needs that now days? and osx

Christiaan Hunter

[manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by sparkolator

I have recently noticed my 3 month old MacBook Air has "slop" in the hinge.

I took it to the Southpark Genius Bar

Sparky

Seriously: no.
But not seriously: I can totally believe that Terrence and Phillip had no idea of how to fix it

[manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by chunter

Purchased mine 28th feb 08. rev A.

Seems like this is a rev A problem.... anyone with the rev B had this problem?

[mikey28]

I have both Rev A and B.
There is a bit of play in my Rev A, which I THOUGHT wasn't too bad...until I got Rev B, which is tight as a drum.

So now I am very annoyed. Overall, I am VERY pleased with my new Rev B. (and I love my Rev A or I would not have gotten the B) But I can't help but think that THIS should have been the FIRST version that they released...

[madmaxmedia]

I wonder if they actually changed the design of the Rev. B though.

I once came across an Apple patent involving insulating the LCD from shock. The patent didn't seem to be obviously related or incorporated in existing notebooks, but then I thought maybe the reason for the plastic housing around the hinge was for impact protection.

[justit]

Originally Posted by chunter

Same problem has happened to my apple air. last week when closing the lid the hinge plastic came out...
Photo below
http://flickr.com/photos/landung2008/3247328478/

Purchased mine 28th feb 08. rev A.

Hard to follow how it popped out on it's own, the grey plastic has 4 screws (2 on each side) to secure it. You would have had to crack the plastic from the inside which means you had opened the insides. I'm just saying ...

[chunter]

Originally Posted by justit

Hard to follow how it popped out on it's own, the grey plastic has 4 screws (2 on each side) to secure it. You would have had to crack the plastic from the inside which means you had opened the insides. I'm just saying ...

I was closing the lid of the apple air because the apple was overheating for no reason (normal for revA) when the hinge defect happen.

I think the problem could be heat related, the constant heating and cooling around the hinge could cause some sort of fatigue problem. Its the left hinge so there is some relation with the CPU heat on the left side of the air.

Apple declined to warrant the repairs today. They said "it might be accidental damage, warranty repair declined"

From my understanding apple has a policy not to fix hinges under warranty.

I just called apple Australia, but got transferred to apple singapore customer relations. Gave them the case number, and then they asked me which apple care centre i took the air too? and asked for there phone number.

I would strongly suggest not to buy apple macbook air until they delare the defect hinge. As they will not fix the defected hinge under there own internal policy.

I have posted a blog about the problem on the website below. It has links to other posts that have the same problems.
http://www.crashzone.com.au
http://www.crashzone.com.au/2009/02/...hinge-problem/

Christiaan Hunter

[MacFever]

Originally Posted by VS007

Same here.

Of all the laptops I have seen, only IBM has an hinge which stays strong for long time.

Funny you should say so.

I looked in this thread for the same reason for my current Lenovo Thinkpad T61p

and it too has a 1" play or free flopping loosely.

It has been accepted by Lenovo as an issue and should not be like that in the first place. usually indicates a strained or faulty hinge of some sort...

[buckawheat]

Originally Posted by chunter

I was closing the lid of the apple air because the apple was overheating for no reason (normal for revA) when the hinge defect happen.

I think the problem could be heat related, the constant heating and cooling around the hinge could cause some sort of fatigue problem. Its the left hinge so there is some relation with the CPU heat on the left side of the air.

Something is just not adding up about your post:
1. Why would you close the air if it was overheating? That is just trapping more heat.
2. Rev A (if you are up to date on Mac updates) doesn't get the overheat issue like it used to - fans kick in earlier now.
3. The apple store just replaced my entire shell for a broken hindge - on warranty. - they are seeing something that is not looking defect related to them.
4. It would have taken some force to pull the plastic away like this.
5. You are the only user I've ever seen to encounter this exact issue on these forums in the past year.

[madmaxmedia]

There's little point in questioning his claim, since Apple is not using our judgement to approve or disapprove his warranty repair.

Sometimes people try to cover up accidents, other times ***** happens and stuff breaks through no fault of their own.

When people first started reporting MacBook case cracking, people here were accusing them of abusing their computers and causing the damage. Later it was pretty clear that there was a design defect.

He might be closing the computer to put it to sleep for a bit, if the fans were running high and he was worried about overheating.

And Apple has denied a lot of warranty repairs at first, only to recant later when it turns out there may be a design defect after all.

In any case, who knows for sure.

Originally Posted by buckawheat

Something is just not adding up about your post:
1. Why would you close the air if it was overheating? That is just trapping more heat.
2. Rev A (if you are up to date on Mac updates) doesn't get the overheat issue like it used to - fans kick in earlier now.
3. The apple store just replaced my entire shell for a broken hindge - on warranty. - they are seeing something that is not looking defect related to them.
4. It would have taken some force to pull the plastic away like this.
5. You are the only user I've ever seen to encounter this exact issue on these forums in the past year.

[chunter]

1. Why would you close the air if it was overheating? That is just trapping more heat.

Closing the lid puts the laptop in sleep mode, in sleep mode cpu does not produce heat.


2. Rev A (if you are up to date on Mac updates) doesn't get the overheat issue like it used to - fans kick in earlier now.

Yes all updates. But if your an revA user you will know it will still get very hot. Try running 720p movies and surf youtube at the same time.

3. The apple store just replaced my entire shell for a broken hindge - on warranty. - they are seeing something that is not looking defect related to them.

Thats great to hear, perhaps your not in Vietnam and they have seen the same problem. Apple Asia reply "the warranty policy that any signs of physical or accidental damage will void the warranty. "

where in the warranty does it say physical?

Please note that the tech at the apple care centre said "only physical damage was the hinge as per the photo. machine in a1 condition for 11months old."


4. It would have taken some force to pull the plastic away like this.

Not if the hinge is defected. I closed lightly the lid.


5. You are the only user I've ever seen to encounter this exact issue on these forums in the past year.

in this thread you have these users with the same problem.
user : tomgallagher, houstonray, ursi, buckawheat

If you this blog you will find more.
http://mindspacemind.blogspot.com/20...ittle-too.html



PS I got an email from Apple Asia saying final rejection two days ago. So I ran USA where they have agreed to fix it. Before fixing my laptop I plan to and get this problem on the know problems with Apple Air. I will post the defect code if there is such a thing on this forum. And the blog www.crashzone.com.au

So that everyone after me does not get told they broke there Air. And have to take there apple air to three repair centres, and make 6 calls to apple, including 3 hours of international calls to Singapore and USA before they will listen to you.

This is a defect with the Apple air and perhaps the new macbook models too, only time will tell.

Christiaan Hunter