MacBook Air 2012 RAM died, what to do?

[quark11]

Hello,

so the other day I was starting my MacBook Air 2012 and everything was fine until I had to do an update from the Apple Store. I clicked on the restart button and the installation started. After the installation was done the MacBook rebooted but the screen stayed black and there were continuously 3 beeping sound with a small break inbetween. A quick google search told me the ram is probably faulty and I need to pull it out and in again. Well that is not possible on the MacBook Air as you all obviously know.

The very next day I got an appointment at a genius bar and they basically told me what i already knew. The repair cost would be 450€ which is almost half the price I paid 4,5 years ago. It was a no-brainer for me and I did not ask any further questions, but know that I searched for an alternative laptop and haven't found anything interesing (MacBook build quality is exceptional) I am wondering what they are replacing. Is it everything thats soldered to the board (battery, ssd, cpu, ram)? Also would they update it to 8gb ram instead of the 4gb I have (obviously i would pay extra for that)?

The new MacBook Airs arent that much stonger compared to mine and I was more interested in a MacBook Pro (because of the screen), but the entry price of 1700€ is far beyond my budget.

Would you guys/girls let it repair, buy a windows laptop or even the newer entry MacBook Air.

I usually just browse the web (a lot of tabs with streams), use it for uni (excel), and I play a lot of League of Legends.

Thanks for your comments in advance

 

[bingeciren]

I got not so good news for you:
1) Since memory is soldered to the logic board, they will replace the entire logic board. SSD is not soldered, so it will be re used. Same with the battery, it has nothing to do with the logic board.
2) Apple does not "upgrade" during repairs even if you are willing to pay for it. They'll give you a 1:1 replacement board.

Sometimes you can find a Mac at the Apple refurbished store close to the price of the repair.

Get a new Mac from the refurbished store and sell yours on eBay "as is" for minimal damage to your pocket book.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't have a particular suggestion for which direction to take but keep in mind if there's any personal information on that MBA you're going to have to figure out a way to get it off if you decide to sell it.

 

[sracer]

How much do you

Hello,

so the other day I was starting my MacBook Air 2012 and everything was fine until I had to do an update from the Apple Store. I clicked on the restart button and the installation started. After the installation was done the MacBook rebooted but the screen stayed black and there were continuously 3 beeping sound with a small break inbetween. A quick google search told me the ram is probably faulty and I need to pull it out and in again. Well that is not possible on the MacBook Air as you all obviously know.

The very next day I got an appointment at a genius bar and they basically told me what i already knew. The repair cost would be 450€ which is almost half the price I paid 4,5 years ago. It was a no-brainer for me and I did not ask any further questions, but know that I searched for an alternative laptop and haven't found anything interesing (MacBook build quality is exceptional) I am wondering what they are replacing. Is it everything thats soldered to the board (battery, ssd, cpu, ram)? Also would they update it to 8gb ram instead of the 4gb I have (obviously i would pay extra for that)?

The new MacBook Airs arent that much stonger compared to mine and I was more interested in a MacBook Pro (because of the screen), but the entry price of 1700€ is far beyond my budget.

Would you guys/girls let it repair, buy a windows laptop or even the newer entry MacBook Air.

I usually just browse the web (a lot of tabs with streams), use it for uni (excel), and I play a lot of League of Legends.

Thanks for your comments in advance

I'm a fan of the Macbook Air. I think they are overall the best notebooks that Apple has produced. But I understand not everyone feels that way. Based on my firsthand experiences, I will never buy another Macbook Pro since none of the 4 Macbook Pros in our household lasted more than 4 years. In contrast, I have a ThinkPad T42 (circa 2004) and other Windows notebooks that are still going strong. The thing I like about these vintage ThinkPads is that virtually everything is user replaceable. But again, this is nothing more than a personal anecdote.

I would recommend buying a new Macbook Air. No one outside of Apple knows how long it will be before the Air is discontinued. This might be the last generation and if it is, it'll most likely last a good long time.

 

[purpleo]

Hello,

so the other day I was starting my MacBook Air 2012 and everything was fine until I had to do an update from the Apple Store. I clicked on the restart button and the installation started. After the installation was done the MacBook rebooted but the screen stayed black and there were continuously 3 beeping sound with a small break inbetween. A quick google search told me the ram is probably faulty and I need to pull it out and in again. Well that is not possible on the MacBook Air as you all obviously know.

The very next day I got an appointment at a genius bar and they basically told me what i already knew. The repair cost would be 450€ which is almost half the price I paid 4,5 years ago. It was a no-brainer for me and I did not ask any further questions, but know that I searched for an alternative laptop and haven't found anything interesing (MacBook build quality is exceptional) I am wondering what they are replacing. Is it everything thats soldered to the board (battery, ssd, cpu, ram)? Also would they update it to 8gb ram instead of the 4gb I have (obviously i would pay extra for that)?

The new MacBook Airs arent that much stonger compared to mine and I was more interested in a MacBook Pro (because of the screen), but the entry price of 1700€ is far beyond my budget.

Would you guys/girls let it repair, buy a windows laptop or even the newer entry MacBook Air.

I usually just browse the web (a lot of tabs with streams), use it for uni (excel), and I play a lot of League of Legends.

Thanks for your comments in advance

I have good news for you! You are very livekly to be covered by EU consumer law warranty. I have used this myself with my iPhone and MacBook Pro. If you did not cause the damage to the RAM (unlikely), you have the receipt somewhere (an Apple store email will do), purchased in the EU (you gave €uro price) and the purchase was made no more than 6 years ago (2012 Air) you are protected EU consumer law! Which entitles you to a repair or replacement of the machine with a similar version!

Apple respects it and even has a page for how to make a claim using EU consumer law.

I called Apple, described my problem, asked what sort of cover I am entitled to and she told me that I need to look at the EU consumer law page on their website to see if that might cover me. I thought it was odd to have to check for myself rather than be advised explicitly by them, but truth is they would rather you were not aware of it. She said I could then go to my nearest Apple store or similar and discuss it with them there.

I went to an authorised seller (Western Computer in Oxford) and simply said I would like to have the battery replaced and my iPhone 5 fixed, as the screen had gone wonky with the battery dieing in 5 minutes. The technician there told me that Apple doesn't promote the EU consumer law repair process but they follow it and he has 9/10 devices approved for this method of servicing. A day later, after they investigate and vouched for the legitimacy of my claim, I was told Apple had accepted a fee-less repair job and a few days later I picked up a replacement iPhone and another laptop with new parts.

He did say there was one caveat: if the device is replaced with a new one, it will have a serial number that doesn't match the one on your receipt preventing you from making a future claim with that receipt.

I hope that helps. It helped me the first time with my iPhone 5 and the second time with my 2011 MBP.

Good luck!

EDIT:

Addendum, the process is quite painless when you go to the store to make EU claim. Fill a form and let them take a copy of the receipt. But you must explicitly say you want to make an EU consumer law claim. It even works in the UK...

 

[quark11]

Thanks to everyone!

Based on that I will not repair it since it is simply too expensive for a 4,5 year old device.

I researched about the EU consumer law warranty, but I am from Germany and we are only covered for 2 years.

 

[madrich]

I will never buy another Macbook Pro since none of the 4 Macbook Pros in our household lasted more than 4 years.[/QUOTE]

My MBP early 2008 is still working. The only problem I had with it, is that in Dec. 2013 the MotherBoard died. It was replaced by Apple for about $300. I believe that the Mother Board died from installing Mavericks because it was fine with Snow Leopard until I downloaded Mavericks and kept getting kernel panic errors. When Apple shipped my MBP back to me. I only used Snow Leopard until El Capitan was released and installed it with a "clean install" which I am using now.