What is the latest on black Macbook repairs? Parts still available?

[MooseBlood]

I know that I ran into problems years ago when I attempted to get an "out of production" iBook repaired. It was still under Applecare warranty through my employer, but parts were hard to come by it seems. My employer was dealing with Apple on that one, and I ended up getting an entirely new model (I think it was a refurb, but I didn't care) rather than a fairly small repair (thanks Applecare!).

Now I am considering upgrading to a MBP for the sturdier case and glossy screen, but I took a good look at my black Macbook (or the Blackbook as I call it). It is a basic little Santa Rosa 2.4 with the 13" screen, 2 gigs of ram, and a 250 gig drive. It has served me well for the last couple of years. It was bought directly from Apple and I did purchase Applecare. Only repairs to it have been 2 straight swap replacements of faulty power supplies. No surprise there.

My problem is that I am getting that typical palm rest crack on the right side. My WHITE Macbook that I use at my job (employer owned) has basically cracked all the way around with big pieces falling off, and they've offered to have Apple fix it as they said mine was the worst case they'd seen yet, but I don't want it taken out of commission for an extended period so I've declined thus far.

My other problem is that many of the keys on the keyboard have worn through to just white. I didn't realize they were painted keys, but they clearly are, and many of them are just completely white. It doesn't bother me much as I type by hand, but my six year old is just learning how to type and it has made it almost impossible for him since he doesn't have the letters memorized.

I don't necessarily want to sell this computer, but I can see how if I'm upgrading to a similar computer in features and capabilities that there isn't much sense in keeping this one. I also feel like these are defects and since I paid the $200+ for Applecare then I should have them make sure my computer is defect free.

The big question.... do they still have parts to do this repair and will they replace these parts or deny me? Or swap it out with a refurbed white Macbook (the current model)? Will they deny the repair and say that these are normal wear and tear items? If that is the case then there isn't much sense in sending my computer off for a week to be turned down. That also happened to me once on an iPod and I was ready to never buy apple again. They claimed a battery that died after 20 minutes was "in spec" and after blowing all of my songs off of it for me sent the same one back and it was completely unusable from then on out and is now in my junk box.

If you've dealt with a Black MacBook service situation lately please tell me what your experience was. Yes... I did try search, but since this is a timely thing (model that has been out of production for over a year) then I figured I'd check and see what the most recent of you have experienced. I noticed that this has been handled differently at different times over the years by what I was reading in search. I just wanted to see what the most recent experiences and resolutions were for us Blackbook owners with defects.

Thanks!

 

[johnnyham]

I know that this isn't a personal experience with the "Blackbook", but I thought I'd offer my two cents.

All of the parts for the black Macbook, with the exception of the case, are identical to those found in the white Macbook. They're still doing repairs for the white Macbooks, so I would assume that they would be doing repairs on the black ones as well. I had a friend send in a black Macbook maybe six months ago, and they were able to repair it. You can either check your coverage status here or just give Apple a call and ask them if they are still performing repairs on the black Macbooks. Alternatively, you could just buy a black keyboard/trackpad off eBay and replace it yourself.

As for the cracks, Apple is (or at least was) replacing cracked Macbooks as long as the cracks were deemed to be a manufacturing defect and not user fault. The article I've linked refers to the white Macbooks; not sure if the same applies to the black ones. As I understand it, you would have to take the Macbook in to an Apple Authorized Service Provider who would then judge if the cracks are a result of a manufacturing defect or user negligence, then ship it off to Apple from there.

 

[MooseBlood]

Thanks for the info. I am not so worried about the internals. I know my white and black both run the same and are identical in every way. It looks like they just spray painted some white ones black to come up with the other model. I thought initially that it was molded black plastic. It sure doesn't seem that way.

The interesting thing is that in my home we have 3 Macbooks (2 white and 1 black). The white work model that is 3 years old has cracks all the way around the perimeter. It has basically just sat on my desk at work the entire time (I am a school teacher, and it doesn't get moved around a great deal since I do grades and such on my home Macbook).

My wife has a white model that I purchased for her right after they discontinued the black one, and it is basically the same setup as mine. But it also has a crack. The edge on the right side off to the side of the track pad is cracked and a piece is missing. It is about 2.5" long and in the EXACT same spot on both computers. It looks as if the newer models were improved upon the original Macbook which cracked all the way around, but it appears that it still cracks right on the spot where our palm rests and where the little foot on the lid sets down, but it only happens on the right side. The left looks fine. No cracking whatsoever. Just a little wear line wear the lift lid foot sets down on the wrist rest area.

 

[WhyYouSoBlurry]

The edge on the right side off to the side of the track pad is cracked and a piece is missing. It is about 2.5" long and in the EXACT same spot on both computers. It looks as if the newer models were improved upon the original Macbook which cracked all the way around, but it appears that it still cracks right on the spot where our palm rests and where the little foot on the lid sets down, but it only happens on the right side. The left looks fine. No cracking whatsoever. Just a little wear line wear the lift lid foot sets down on the wrist rest area.

My now 3 year old Blackbook has the same condition to the right of the trackpad where the lid foot appears to have broked off a piece of the plastic. Tried superglue to no avail, just broke off again. Disappointed because it's still a great little notebook but looking a bit more worse for wear despite my efforts at upkeep.

 

[MooseBlood]

Just an update... I called AppleCare and was less than impressed. They don't seem real interested in helping folks with older Macbooks (particularly the black ones), even if they still have a year left on their $200 Applecare plan. I guess my only chance is to do the 2 hour roundtrip drive to find out if the local Apple "geniuses" will do anything about it.

Bravo Apple.

 

[fluffyx]

That's disappointing. Call 800-APL-CARE again, tell them you want a mail-in repair. Be firm.

They'll send you a prepaid FedEx box.

Back up your data before shipping it, expect to be without your Mac for 2-4 days. (They'll quote a longer time, like 7-10 days, but it never takes this long, especially to fix the palm rest issue yours has.)