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Crack on Unibody MBP LCD hinge..

J

jakesean

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
5
0
a few weeks ago while i was wiping clean my unibody MBP, i found 2 small hairline cracks on the hinge.. i am very sure that there were 2 hairline cracks on the hinge last week...

today while having a closer look at it again, i've found out that theres 5 hairline cracks altogether.. very thin, hairline cracks.. no idea why but more cracks are appearing.. i seldom bring my MBP out, but i close the lid quite often.. i have a thinking that more cracks will appear in future.. do you think that apple should/will repair the hinge for me? refer to the pics below.. first pic (with2 hairline cracks) was taken on December 2.. will take another pic later on today that will show all 5 hairline cracks on the hinge..

img0676he7.jpg


i went to a apple premium reseller and according to them, the AppleCare warranty does not cover small cosmestic defects..

i'm not sure whether this can be considered as some cosmetic defect, or manufacturing defect.. but however, i am afraid that these hairline cracks may grow bigger and may lead to bigger problems with the hinge later on in future..

what do you guys think?



---------------------- 6 months later! -------------------------

83608984.jpg
 
imho those seem to be where the pieces of that hinge join together...i find it hard to imagine cracks forming perfectly perpendicular lines to the way the hinge opens. i would think the stress of opening/closing would result in a horizontal split if anything.

are these cracks evenly spaced?
 
e12a said:
imho those seem to be where the pieces of that hinge join together...i find it hard to imagine cracks forming perfectly perpendicular lines to the way the hinge opens. i would think the stress of opening/closing would result in a horizontal split if anything.

are these cracks evenly spaced?
Click to expand...

nope.. they appear anywhere.. wait till i take another pic and you'll see clearly that those are not the joints of the hinge..
 
ARK said:
Are you sure its not just light scratches?
Click to expand...

surely not.. cause i can feel the grooves of the cracks while moving my finger nails across the cracks.. if those are light scratches they would appear horizontally as i always wipe clean my hinge from the right-left or vice versa, not vertically..

hmmm..
 
K, some of you guys get a little ridiculous with your microscopic inspections.

Your Macbook is fine. If that's really a problem its gonna get worse, and if you have apple care, then you can get it fixed.
 
tony4d said:
K, some of you guys get a little ridiculous with your microscopic inspections.

Your Macbook is fine. If that's really a problem its gonna get worse, and if you have apple care, then you can get it fixed.
Click to expand...

Good grief I was thinking the same thing. There isn't a need to stare at every square inch of the computer looking for imperfections.
 
i've got he same problem... the service center escalate the case and apple reject it saying normal usage will not result in this problem...

i've neither drop it or has lose hinge but more and more hairline cracks are appearing... help!!!
 
It shouldn't be a problem to replace. This is the same as cracks on the white MacBook's. I love the excuse "normal usage will not result in this problem." What? The user took a hammer and started to smash the hinge to get those cracks? LOL. Besides, it's just the hinge, so the repair isn't that serious, they would just need to replace that ONE part. If Apple chooses not to repair, I wouldn't care too much as it is just the hinge an doesn't affect anything. If it was on the screen, THEN I would complain.
 
tony4d said:
K, some of you guys get a little ridiculous with your microscopic inspections.

Your Macbook is fine. If that's really a problem its gonna get worse, and if you have apple care, then you can get it fixed.
Click to expand...

Hey I come from a world where you pay $2000 for something, and it better be perfect.

The company I do work for builds a high end product and if its not perfect the customer doesn't pay.
 
My guess is it is part of the casting process when they form the alu.

No way in hell that "cracks" are just gonna appear that are perfectly straight, and that don't actually affect usage.

The old TiBook hinges cracked. Real cracks! The hinge got wobbly, and it was clearly a defect.

I don't see anything in your pics, and I'm not denying that you see something. But I don't think it's cracking.

Get better pics if you can please?

Cheers
 
Apple REALLY needs to find a new source for their plastics. Good grief. Macbooks, iPhones, now this?
 
hmm.. its been 6 months, have not repaired my hinge yet.. and here's wat it looks like now..

taken on iphone 3g, so blame the iphone for the poor image quality :D :D ..

83608984.jpg
 
They look like scratches, not cracks. Can you even see them when using your MBP in "normal conditions"..?
 
Kilamite said:
They look like scratches, not cracks. Can you even see them when using your MBP in "normal conditions"..?
Click to expand...

yeah from the quality of the pic its hard to distinguish whether those are scratches or cracks, but in fact those are small hairline cracks..

i want to get it fixed, but the nearest apple store is like about 4000 kms away, right across the country.. bringing it to an apple retailer will probably take about 1-2 weeks, and since i need a machine to use everyday, the retail shops are charging $25 (australian dollars) per day to rent a machine..

hell no im not gonna pay $25 per day to rent a spare machine while the machine is sent back for a repair, and when its a manufacturing defect.. i'll try my luck and see how it goes, probably i can get a spare machine from the shops, using my hard disk since i need my stuff for work..
 
jakesean said:
yeah from the quality of the pic its hard to distinguish whether those are scratches or cracks, but in fact those are small hairline cracks..

i want to get it fixed, but the nearest apple store is like about 4000 kms away, right across the country.. bringing it to an apple retailer will probably take about 1-2 weeks, and since i need a machine to use everyday, the retail shops are charging $25 (australian dollars) per day to rent a machine..

hell no im not gonna pay $25 per day to rent a spare machine while the machine is sent back for a repair, and when its a manufacturing defect..
Click to expand...

call apple care then. tell your problem.
 
dlewis23 said:
The company I do work for builds a high end product and if its not perfect the customer doesn't pay.
Click to expand...

Well then, have your company build you a MacBook Pro, and don't pay them if it isn't "perfect".

Seriously, some of the whining on this board just blows me away. The kids whining about shipping delays on their custom builds is pathetic. And this rant about "cracks" is just as weak.

Did you buy the thing to put it in a showcase, or to use it? Quit looking at it through the Hubble Telescope and get back to work.
 
KevinC said:
Well then, have your company build you a MacBook Pro, and don't pay them if it isn't "perfect".

Seriously, some of the whining on this board just blows me away. The kids whining about shipping delays on their custom builds is pathetic. And this rant about "cracks" is just as weak.

Did you buy the thing to put it in a showcase, or to use it? Quit looking at it through the Hubble Telescope and get back to work.
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, when one shells out this much money for a product, they expect it to be free of noticeable cosmetic and/or functional defects. Why should the person behind me in line get a pristine product for the same amount of money that I paid for a slightly less pristine product? It's easy for you to complain because it's not your problem, and honestly, that's more annoying than a paying customer being unhappy with their product. If you are tired of these complaints, you don't have to click on threads that clearly contain them. This is a message board where people will post problems, opinions, questions, and complaints; whether anyone wants to read them is irrelevant.
 
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