17", no way to replace hard drive?

[kastenbrust]

The 13" MacBook, 15" MacBook Pro and the new 17" MacBook Pro are all members of the unibody family, right? This means they share the same design heritage and details.

Now, on the 13" and 15" models, to change the RAM you have to take the large bottom plate off the machine, exposing the RAM, logic board, SuperDrive and all the other internal gubbins. This does not invalidate your warranty, as long as you don't damage any parts whilst changing the RAM.

So, the new 17", part of the exact same family of laptops has the same big panel which you have to remove to access the RAM (and also, in this case, the HDD). This means that removing the panel will be covered under warranty as long as you don't damage any parts when you do so.

Apple are not going to change the warranty on the 17"er to make it different to the 15", as it is exactly the same process. Sure, 4 more screws, but that's because the laptop is, y'know, bigger.

The MBA has nothing to do with this, as it is not user-servicable (RAM is soldered on, HDD is not a "standard" drive). It may be unibody, but it doesn't have the same components.

The 13", 15" and 17" are part of the same family but they dont have the same heritage or internal design build whatsoever. similar, but not the same. The new 17" doesnt have the big panel that the 13" macbook and 15" macbook pro's have which can be removed and tada easy acess! you have to unscrew things and move battery components out of the way to gain access to the RAM and HD. look at the dissasembly instructions on the Apple site.

 

[darngooddesign]

Screw the MacBook Air, it shouldn't even be in this discussion, it doesn't have a unibody frame.

It was the first to have the Unibody frame.

 

[darngooddesign]

The 13" MacBook, 15" MacBook Pro and the new 17" MacBook Pro are all members of the unibody family, right? This means they share the same design heritage and details.

Now, on the 13" and 15" models, to change the RAM you have to take the large bottom plate off the machine, exposing the RAM, logic board, SuperDrive and all the other internal gubbins. This does not invalidate your warranty, as long as you don't damage any parts whilst changing the RAM.

So, the new 17", part of the exact same family of laptops has the same big panel which you have to remove to access the RAM (and also, in this case, the HDD). This means that removing the panel will be covered under warranty as long as you don't damage any parts when you do so.

Apple are not going to change the warranty on the 17"er to make it different to the 15", as it is exactly the same process. Sure, 4 more screws, but that's because the laptop is, y'know, bigger.

The MBA has nothing to do with this, as it is not user-servicable (RAM is soldered on, HDD is not a "standard" drive). It may be unibody, but it doesn't have the same components.

I agree with everything except that if you order your 17" with SSD then it has the same kind of drive as the Air.

 

[Kevlar]

The 13", 15" and 17" are part of the same family but they dont have the same heritage or internal design build whatsoever. similar, but not the same. The new 17" doesnt have the big panel that the 13" macbook and 15" macbook pro's have which can be removed and tada easy acess! you have to unscrew things and move battery components out of the way to gain access to the RAM and HD. look at the dissasembly instructions on the Apple site.

I am not getting what you are saying. You remove the entire bottom panel with all three computers (13/15/17) to put in new ram. Since going to the unibody design they no longer have the easy access ram slots on any models. The early 2008's were the models that had the easy access ram slots not the late 2008 unibody models. The battery on the new 17" is not in the way of the ram slot or the hard drive either, so you wouldn't have to touch that in order to do the upgrade.

Edit and to quote myself from earlier and the warranty:

This warranty does not apply: [snip] (d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider ("AASP")

 

[reemrevnivek]

Consult the manuals and warranties....

OK, so the 17" MBP has no bottom battery cover. What does that mean for replacing and upgrading the hard drive and memory?

First, let's look at previous notebooks and how to upgrade them per the manual. Visit http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_Pro_15inch_Late2008.pdf for the Apple-published manual for the 15" unibody MBP, which does have a cover but no access to the memory. See pages 42-43 for a description of how to access the memory. I quote from page 42:

To install memory in your MacBook Pro:
1Follow the instructions for removing the battery on page 34.
2Remove the eight (8) screws that secure the bottom case of your MacBook Pro,
and then remove the bottom case.

We have now ascertained that Apple does direct persons who wish to upgrade to remove the screws securing the battery cover on the 15" MBP.
No manual is yet available for the 17", so we'll have to see.

Now, the whole warranty business. The Apple hardware warranty is at http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/cpuwarranty.pdf (from http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/, it applies to all hardware other than the iPod and the iSight). On page two, it lists exceptions. I quote:

This warranty does not apply (a) to damage caused by use with non-Apple products (b)...(flood, fire, earthquakes etc.)... (c) damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions....

 

[peskaa]

The 13", 15" and 17" are part of the same family but they dont have the same heritage or internal design build whatsoever. similar, but not the same. The new 17" doesnt have the big panel that the 13" macbook and 15" macbook pro's have which can be removed and tada easy acess! you have to unscrew things and move battery components out of the way to gain access to the RAM and HD. look at the dissasembly instructions on the Apple site.

They do have the same panel. If I flip my MacBook Pro 15" over (unibody), if I want to access the RAM I have to remove the entire of the bottom of the laptop. To do this, I have to take six screws out. Apple lets me do this, as long as I don't break anything.

If you flip a 17" unibody over, to access the RAM/HDD you have to remove the entire bottom of the laptop. This needs ten screws removed (bigger laptop, more screws). Apple lets you do this.

Further, I talked to a friend at MacWorld at the moment, who kindly asked Apple on site what the situation was. He was told that you will be allowed to remove the bottom panel to access the RAM and HDD, but not to touch the battery and other parts otherwise you would lose the warranty

I agree with everything except that if you order your 17" with SSD then it has the same kind of drive as the Air.

Actually no. It's an SSD, but the Air uses 1.8" drives rather than 2.5". So no, not the same drive types.

 

[darngooddesign]

Actually no. It's an SSD, but the Air uses 1.8" drives rather than 2.5". So no, not the same drive types.

Hmmm, I was under the impression that they both used 1.8" SSDs. My mistake.

 

[drlunanerd]

. look at the dissasembly instructions on the Apple site.

Link please.

 

[maccam]

You guys are funny.

You can completely take your computer apart and put it back together, and still have your warranty as long as you don't ruin anything.

Even if Apple says no, they have no way of finding out.

 

[JWest]

I'm betting the battery itself has some sort of "void if removed" sticker covering the screws required to remove it. But it won't void the warranty to just take the bottom cover off- as everyone has said, you have to do that to upgrade the RAM.

 

[Niiro13]

That has nothing, NOTHING, to do with what we're discussing.
Everyone knows that damaging your machine when taking it apart voids the warranty.

If you read their post, you'll notice they're replying to something as opposed to simply posting. So they're covered under the "what we're discussing."

The original repsonse was:

Unless you DAMAGE the MBA in the process, your warranty will not be voided for simply taking the cover off.

The poster that you replied to stated that if you took off the cover, put it back on, then a month later broke a key on the keyboard, took it into the Apple store to have it replaced, then they'll void your warranty if they find out you took off the cover because really, there's no way to tell if the person broke it after opening it, before, or during. The poster you're replying to was making a point that there are people who do break something during the disassembling of the machine still take it in claiming they did it after or before taking "off the cover".


As for the original topic, no one knows for sure. The answer is still neutral with a slight bias towards the replacement being that it does not void your warranty.