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I need Apple to replace my MacBook Unibody, what are the odds of getting a MBP?

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MrCheeto

MrCheeto

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Nov 2, 2008
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As I've posted on here and on the Apple discussions page, my MacBook and the one I originally bought in October (both unibodies) have an issue where if you close the lid it just won't stay shut if it's vertical.

As I said, the first time I had my MacBook repaired 3 times and then replaced completely. The problem has always been on the replacement as well but I finally decided to call Apple about it. They say they will repair it 3 times before considering a replacement.

1. If I take it to the Apple store, what are the odds of replacing it on the spot?

2. If I take it to the Apple store, what are the odds of receiving the MacBook Pro in return?
 
If this is your first repair on it the chances aren't great for getting it replaced for a MBP, however it wouldn't hurt to ask. I'd highly suggest being very nice to them. I've worked in retail in similar situations and the chance goes to 0% as soon as people start yelling or demanding things or whatever. I doubt you would, but just be as nice as possible, and I would say it wouldn't hurt to just ask about it. Most genius' I've dealt with are pretty cool people, and you never know what might happen.
 
AH, so leave the spiked baseball bat and medieval mace at home, check.
 
im having the same issue with my 13" unibody. let us know how it goes if you take it to apple. as a band aid solution, i find that if i squeeze mine where the hinge is, it will stay closed until the next time you open it.
 
Mine pops open like that and also makes a bit of a click noise when I shut the lid if I've been using it a while.

I don't consider it that much of an issue mind as it works and doesn't feel like its going to fall apart or anything?
 
neil1980 said:
Mine pops open like that and also makes a bit of a click noise when I shut the lid if I've been using it a while.

I don't consider it that much of an issue mind as it works and doesn't feel like its going to fall apart or anything?
Click to expand...

I also get that click!

In addition, mine has gotten worse over time. In the beginning it "popped" open only when I held the Macbook completely vertical, but now it pops open already at 50+ degrees! It doesn't turn on though, but it's still annoying. Guess I haven't noticed it so much as I keep it in a tight bag when travelling, preventing it to open.
 
Same problem

I am having the same problem here. I have always wondered why my battery has drained 50 percent by the time I get to work. Let me know what happens with Apple. I am going to take mine in and see if they will let me trade it in. I have less than a month and a half of warranty. I need to cruise Ebay to get some Applecare.
 
has anyone noticed this problem with the 13" MBP yet? I'll be buying a MBP in 2 weeks so wondered if it has the same issue.
 
MovieCutter said:
Looks like a perfectly fine laptop to me. Seriously? This is what we're complaining about? Really? It's come to this huh?
Click to expand...

I thought it was a non issue as well....till I saw that the computer wakes up from the computer just moving around in the bag. I think that's a good enough problem to bring it back again and again.
 
SpaceKitty said:
I thought it was a non issue as well....till I saw that the computer wakes up from the computer just moving around in the bag. I think that's a good enough problem to bring it back again and again.
Click to expand...

I have the same gap on my 15" and it doesn't wake from sleep. Maybe it's something else.
 
scubasteve03 said:
I am having the same problem here. I have always wondered why my battery has drained 50 percent by the time I get to work. Let me know what happens with Apple. I am going to take mine in and see if they will let me trade it in. I have less than a month and a half of warranty. I need to cruise Ebay to get some Applecare.
Click to expand...

no you need to cruise the Apple store and get some Applecare
 
Yes, it actually HAS come to this. Apple's products tend to be so perfect that we have to take a microscope to the molecular level to find something, ANYTHING to b*$# about!

At any rate, I'm tired of opening my bag and going, "oh great lawdy! please don't be dead with all that heat in dere niaw!" before commencing CPR. Watching a man blow into his MacBook's vent is...well...

Yes, I've had it repaired 3 times for this issue, I've got papers to prove. And THEN I had it replaced entirely. I'll never let those hot-dog fingers in the Tennessee repair center touch MY machine again. ALL of their repairs started a whole new issue! First time my screen came back CROOKED compared to the base, it didn't line up. AND they scratched my bottom case. THEN they made the power button somehow sink into the upper case so that I had to jiggle it like an NES cartridge to finally get it to click! THEN! After all this they switch out the screen and top case and bottom case!!!! What do I get? A fine bottom case, no problems there. A fine top case as well. But a screen from *insert demonic speak* Talk about crud! The gasket around the glass was disgusting, there were particles under the glass, as if someone picked it off, put it down and put it back without sanitizing it in IBM's clean room. And what I don't understand is it had several dead pixels.

I guess the Tennessee plant is some sort of forced-labor camp and they only receive bottom-of-the-barrel parts. Perhaps inside those repaired MacBooks were calls for help from people who had forgotten what the sun looks like....perhaps...:(
 
MovieCutter said:
The negligible screen "gap"? It's not an issue.
Click to expand...

Obviously it's an issue for a lot of people. This is a purely mechanical glitch and clearly a design/quality-control fault. This is one of the bigger issues, IMHO. My cheapish Dell laptop closes better after abusing it for 4 years. The only worse I can think of happening to me is the headphone noise. Really, it makes it *useless* for listening to audio over headphones.
 
UPDATE:

1: After sending this notebook in for the second time and having it been returned just 7 minutes ago, Apple has successfully adjusted the hinges to allow the notebook to function 100% as intended! It now closes and stays closed with as much force as the MacBook Pro! The problem was that at least one of the hinges was too tight, and thus wanted to spring back to a different position once the MacBook was closed.

2: The Apple guy at best buy (hired and placed by Apple) explained that if they DID replace it, I would have gotten a MacBook Pro with equal or greater specs, the greater part makes me wish I had to send this in again =\

As a side note, as I type on my MacBook now, it is still about as cold as Martha Stewart when she feasts on orphans. It sat at the FedEx sort facility over the weekend and lemme tell ya, I'll never go plastic again if it means not being able to feel that coooooooold smooth metal...

<b>RE-UPDATE</b>

After using it for 20 minutes I noticed the issue was still there. I rang Apple and spoke politely and patiently about the issue and explained that my current MacBook is a replacement for my first MacBook for the same issue. They suggested a replacement and I said sure, "so long as I don't have the issue". The man came back on the phone 10 minutes later and stated they were giving me a, "13" aluminum...2.53ghz *heart explodes* 4gb ram 250gb hard drive MacBook Pro with 7 hour built in battery and Nvidia Geforce graphics" I played it cool and said "thanks for the help, is there a similar known issue with this model?" "not that I know of, the first gen were really the only ones effected, meaning the aluminum MacBooks and the first MacBook Pros. Your MacBook model is known to have this issue and the technicians are unsure when they'll have a solution for your problem."

I was beginning to feel like the MacBook was a bit of a mistake because the magnetic latch was near useless, now I've got a MacBook Pro on the way?

LOVE YOU APPLE!
 
Read the update to the update ;)

Man I always seem to get lucky. You know I had an issue (turned out it's the way it was designed to work so it wasn't an issue at all 0.o) with my iPod touch last year and the day that I sent it in via FedEx I just happened to drop and slightly dent it! After having it for months and never having a scratch it just HAPPENS to fall due to my 10" Klipsch subwoofer kicking. And what do you know? Within a week I receive a brand new iPod touch!

I hope Apple's losses for stuff like that isn't too great, I'd hate to imagine an Apple that doesn't care in the future if the cost is too much :(
 
My tracking information has been recieved by Apple and my MacBook Pro is on the way!!!!! Only Apple could make me this happy...and I won't call you crazy if you suspect a marriage proposal coming on
 
I think your motives were clear from your initial post. You wanted a new Macbook for free. You weren't satisfied with anything Apple did, and like a child begging for a chocolate bar in the grocery store line, you just wouldn't give up.

First the hinge was too loose, then it was too tight. You knew you could just tell them the same story over and over again until you got what you wanted: a new MBP. It's such a small and insignificant problem, so it makes it difficult for Apple to deny the fact that it was still an issue, and you too knew this.

You took advantage of a situation and a company. You can sit there and tell me how much profit Apple makes, and that you're not hurting anyone by getting a brand new replacement, but your actions were unethical.

I don't know where you got such a sense of entitlement, but I hope when the next revision of MBP's come out, you don't look for some other insignificant problem and demand a new laptop with newer specs just because yours isn't as good.

Kids these days...
 
Corrode said:
I think your motives were clear from your initial post. You wanted a new Macbook for free. You weren't satisfied with anything Apple did, and like a child begging for a chocolate bar in the grocery store line, you just wouldn't give up.

First the hinge was too loose, then it was too tight. You knew you could just tell them the same story over and over again until you got what you wanted: a new MBP. It's such a small and insignificant problem, so it makes it difficult for Apple to deny the fact that it was still an issue, and you too knew this.

You took advantage of a situation and a company. You can sit there and tell me how much profit Apple makes, and that you're not hurting anyone by getting a brand new replacement, but your actions were unethical.

I don't know where you got such a sense of entitlement, but I hope when the next revision of MBP's come out, you don't look for some other insignificant problem and demand a new laptop with newer specs just because yours isn't as good.

Kids these days...
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. Having worked for Apple, pretty sure they did this to shut you up. I've had managers do this for obnoxious customers who felt they were holier-than-thou....congrats I guess. And thanks for increasing "shrink"
 
I am going to have to agree with the previous two posters. But upon reading the OP's story I thought I'd check my MacBook out. I couldn't slip an even thinner sheet of paper in between the screen and body when closed, but turn the computer vertical and it readily pops open about 10mm - interestingly the computer still sleeps.

I purchased this Radtech sleeve when I first got my MacBook. Solves this "problem" and keeps it from getting scratched!:cool:

http://www.radtech.us/Products/SleevzNotebooks.aspx
 
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