Cracking Hinge on 15" Unibody MBP

[puma1552]

Last night I noticed about 8 little hairline cracks on the bottom side of my unibody hinge when I turned it in the light just right. They are small, but they are definitely cracks in the hinge.

I'm rather irritated since the machine is essentially a desktop replacement and has only ever traveled to work with me 10-20 times, if that. The machine is absolutely pristine otherwise.

If I make an appointment at the Genius Bar to have this replaced, what can I expect them to replace? Do they have to replace the entire display/clamshell/hinge/lid as one piece? I REALLY don't like the idea of them replacing the whole entire thing because the one I have is great with no bowing and the display is fantastic, and I have a feeling I'll end up with something lesser if I send it off.

Also I am worried they will somehow blame it on me since Apple seems to be pretty crappy about warrantying hinge issues...

 

[joekix]

Last night I noticed about 8 little hairline cracks on the bottom side of my unibody hinge when I turned it in the light just right. They are small, but they are definitely cracks in the hinge.

I'm rather irritated since the machine is essentially a desktop replacement and has only ever traveled to work with me 10-20 times, if that. The machine is absolutely pristine otherwise.

If I make an appointment at the Genius Bar to have this replaced, what can I expect them to replace? Do they have to replace the entire display/clamshell/hinge/lid as one piece? I REALLY don't like the idea of them replacing the whole entire thing because the one I have is great with no bowing and the display is fantastic, and I have a feeling I'll end up with something lesser if I send it off.

Also I am worried they will somehow blame it on me since Apple seems to be pretty crappy about warrantying hinge issues...

got pics?

 

[puma1552]

No, I don't have any pics...it would be too hard to hold the machine at the right angles to see them while taking the pic, especially since I sold off my SLR and only have a crappy point and shoot these days.

The cracks come out from the vents, in the direction the air flows and go to the back edge of the hinge, but one of those then makes a turn and runs along the axis of the hinge for an inch or so.

I'm surprised I noticed them at all, since I've checked the hinge for cracking before based on hearing other peoples' reports, but since they are on the actual bottom side of the hinge and not the back side, they were hiding quite well.

 

[puma1552]

Ughhh, genius bar is booked for the foreseeable future

 

[puma1552]

Well I got some good pictures of it and was hoping to post them here but iPhoto won't recognize my camera nor let me import manually since installing snow leopard, and lightroom only recognizes half the photos on my memory card (and seems to change which dates it recognizes every time i try for some damn reason) and the canon utilities are also useless to import my pics

so, yeah, no pics for now but they are definitely cracks

 

[puma1552]

I made an appointment at the genius bar for last sunday at 1:40 in Osaka's Shinsaibashi store. I got there at 12:30, had a look around, and sat down up by the genius bar at 12:40 and was happy to wait patiently until my turn at 1:40 (I was #5 on the screen).

A guy came right up to me and asked what was wrong so I told him, and he told me they would take me right away (awesome).

I explained the hinge cracking and brought my camera to show him since it was difficult to see in person. They agreed right away to fix it, and to make it better I didn't have to replace the whole lid/display--the black plastic that was cracking is just an aesthetic cover, a tier 1 repair ($100 or thereabouts, but covered under warranty). That was even more awesome.

To make it even better, they told me they had one part in stock and could fix it on the spot and it would take three hours. Freakin' sweet since I'm 4-5 hours from the Apple store.

They called me 40 minutes early and said it was done, even better still. Picked it up, computer looks fantastic.

Excellent service in the Shinsaibashi Osaka store, and my laptop is healthy again.