Apple macbook air has a defect hinge problem
4th February 2009
UPDATE: Apple finally fixed my apple air under warranty, if you have the same problem please quote my serial number W880634NY5. This way they can not tell you they do not fix this problem under warranty. Good luck, and please post your experience.
Apple macbook air has a defect hinge. After 10 months the hinge breaks. Apple does not cover hinges under warranty.
links to problem below
http://mindspacemind.blogspot.
http://forums.macrumors.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://flickr.com/photos/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/macbook-air-hinge-defect-not-covered-by-apples-warranty/
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/160467/macbook_air_hinge_problem.html
http://macbookairhinge.wordpress.com/
Tags: Air, Apple, hinge defect, Mac, warranty
February 5th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Exact same thing happened to me. Started off by getting loose where the monitor side would just fall shut if it wasn’t all the way back. Then the plastic along the inside (when it’s opened) started splitting and by about a week, the hinge started coming out exactly like yours. Same side, same way, identical to stuff I’m reading on the net.
This is obviously a defect. I baby my Air like it’s made of gold. Took it to the Apple store, they first said “wow, can’t believe that happened, we’ll order a screen and fix it”. I was excited, left, the screen came in, they called me and said it would be $600. I freaked out, told them not to do anything I’d be right there. Told them I didn’t want it fixed, made a big scene in the store because I was very upset (first apple I’ve ever owned and was very let down). Manager remembered me coming in and said he was the one that said he’d fix it and he would honor that. I was very pleased with that decision. I am sure however, that I have gotten one of the last ones fixed ‘no charge’ that they will ever do unless Apple issues some sort of recall.
Apple has REALLY dropped the ball on this…I expect more from them.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Wow, that looks bad! Apple should be able to take care of you if you go up the chain of command. They’re a very reasonable company as long as you talk to the right person.
February 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Same thing happened to me. I have a tiny scratch on the other side of the computer, not even attached to the hinge. He asked what happened here. I told him I didn’t know, but that’s been there almost since I got it. They claim it might have something to do with the hinge failure. I know it doesn’t. As I’m reading how many times this has happened to other people. I was done using the computer, as I closed it, the hinge popped. It was nothing I had done.
I hope they cover it, because I’m not spending $800.00 for a little plastic hinge!
March 1st, 2009 at 12:25 am
We purchased a MacBook Pro on December 27, 2008, and experienced the same hinge defect less than 40 days of normal everyday use. The Apple Store denied a problem of this nature and attempted to place the blame on us. This infursted us and we let them know that we intended to pursue it further. They decided to replace the laptop but told us that if this should happen again that it would be our problem. I personally think it is a design problem in that they use a heavy glass in the monitor. Apple should fess up to this design problem and spare their reputation. This may be a subject for the Federal Trade Commission or possible a class action lawsuit. We have been very pleased with Apple support but are very disappointed with their stance on warranty for this obvious flaw in design (they denied knowledge of such a problem). Their deniel tells all.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:57 am
When I worked for Apple as a Mac genius, It was the same story with the MacBook over heating. Day after day people would come into the Genius Bar and yell that there was a heating problem with the MacBook. It took awhile but Apple finally admitted to it. I had to replace the Heatsink and sensor on alot of MacBooks. Then there was the software update that would sometimes kill the motherboard.
Then they had the issue with the plastic top case on the white macbook.
Apple replace the top case only if people complained. ( the top case would turn different colors)
I own a first gen MacBook Air that show no signs of wear. But i do keep it protected and away from friends and family! They can buy there own
As an FYI, Apple had an issue with the first G4 Titanium models. BAD HINGES! They just cracked ‘or’ Snapped. I know because I repaired them!
A (former) Mac Genius from Apple Fifth Ave NYC
March 8th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Same problem
March 11th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Mine just broke tonight. Bought it in June, it was my first mac. I was planning on buying a macbook pro for more heavy computing and if they don’t fix this under warranty then THIS WILL BE MY LAST.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
My less than two month old mac book screen now goes flat when it is opened up. Heard a crack this morning while opening it. No trace of any visible damage. This is the second one that did this..
March 27th, 2009 at 2:19 am
I have had the same problem with my MacBook Air, went into the Apple Store and the genius seamed to be aware of the problem and booked me in for an appointment and pretty gave me the impression that they would repair it under warranty. I will let you know how I get on with my appoint in a couple of days.
March 29th, 2009 at 6:44 am
My new macbook airs hinge popped while putting in down onto my bed (open)!
Now my screen goes back 180 degrees.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Can we do anything about it? I’m very unhappy about this myself.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:30 am
mine broe,k after 10 months the apple store in sheffield uk accused me of doing it so a letter has now gone to apple, but it will be the last product i buy from them if they dont sort it and that includes i phones or anything else. It s a bit like a car manufacturer telling you a door hinge isnt covered and uve broke it because u have been opening the door. Im amazed no one in America has started some sort of legal challenge
April 11th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
wow i was thinking of buying a mac book air but after reading all these comments and how alike they are im thinking twice about buying one now, i dont want to be paying out for a hinge that breaks through no fault of my own
June 30th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Mine has just now broken as well, call in to Apple in the UK and they just passed on the buck to go to the Apple Genius bar, when i went there same old story not covered by Warranty you need to pay to get it repaiered.
June 30th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I have no macbook pro nor air ,
but here in Japan, some users have same
problems about hinge, and I read a blog,
which said, took his note pc to genius bar
and got repaired it for free.(late June 2009)
July 12th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Same hinge problem with my air, two months after the warrenty ran out. Took it in to the apple store, and 5 days later it was returned fixed. They also fixed the loss of sound too, all at no charge to me.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:35 am
I have the same problem. I’m live in Romania. They Apple does not cover hinges under warranty.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I have a mac air and have not had the hinge break. I did just drop the computer on my hardwood floor. It now has a gap between my top and bottom cover. I was searching to find out much it cost to replace the case pieces if anyone knows. Just as a coincidence I help big companies with online reputation management. It is hilarious (read sad for apple) that this site ranks so well for mac defects in the case, but that they have not taken steps to handle this.
Apple if you read this, google me so you know who I am, figure out a way to actually fix the problem, then feel free to contact me about sites with reviews like this! L.O.L.
August 14th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I have the same issue. Exactly like in the photo, cause by simply opening the computer. I send my Air to the factory, and they called saying that I have caused the problem myself. They were incredibly rude, and offered to repair it for 400£. I told them to send it back and that I would contact Apple again. Now I am waiting to get it back and send pictures of the cpu to Apple. They admitted at the call centre that there ‘have been issues with the hinges, and we will see if this matches to other cases.
Thanks Hunter for the serial, hopefully it helps to make my case. Will update as soon I know more, I will fight this all the way. It is a DEFECT that seems to be repeating itself in an identical form. Apple will eventually recognise this, I will go and camp in front of an Apple Store if needed.
August 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 am
I have the same problem too. My MacBook Air is like a human with no backbone. I have to get something really hard and heavy to support the back while I’m using it. I brought it to the apple store and they told me that the screen must be replaced and it will cost me like $800. Sucks! Its still broken and I’m not paying that much to repair it. It’s Apple’s problem and they must do something about it. I didn’t even drop the laptop or anything, it was a defect.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:15 am
To all of you who have the hinge problem, I bought a month ago the mew macbook air 2.13 ssd 120 gb and it had a hinge problem, when I opened the it, the screen would fall again down ( closes ) and it was difficult to work with it so I brought it back to the apple reseller and they fixed it ( replaced the entire screen with it ) UNDER WARRANTY. I have apple care but I spoke to a guy who works as a reseller and he told me that apple finally recognized the problem as a manufacturing problem. I bought my macbook air in Belgium - Brussels. Of course I was happy that it was ” fixed” but now each time I open the mac I hear a sound which seems like 2 parts scratching each other. Went again to the store and there they told that they don’t hear or feel anything. There was a lot of noise in the store so tomorrow I’ll be going to a apple technicien and ask his opinion instead of those stupid fucks in the store. I’ll let post tomorrow . Don’t give up, we paid enough !!!
September 14th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Apple seem to be accepting responsibility now. Mine is being fixed free of charge as we speak.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2948
September 18th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Just got off the phone with apple they are fixing my notebook for free, they are even sending me a box!
I love apple even more now…
October 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I had to fight to finally get mine repaired. Apple said no then I went in and the store talked to AppleCare and FINALLY they agreed. Gee thanks. I guess I am supposed to be forever thankful to Apple for fixing a hinge on a 6 month old MacBook.
Yes, they tried the “customer broke it by opening the cover too fast” but I called BS.
October 18th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
My mac book air screen is doing the same flopping over thing… any ideas how to fix? i’m thinking duck tape? i have taken very gentle care, unfortunately i’m 6 months out of warrantee, the sound card went.. and they blamed me because of a very sight barely visible dent that happened the first week i had it.. they said the solid state was “almost indestructible” ..maybe so long as you dont ever subject it to normal use! they wanted $320.00 for a new sound card..there are new computers coming out now for less then that. i like the soft ware lit buttons, light weight.. but not impressed with its durability.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Fantastic post. Thanks everyone for all the great comments. This just happened to my air.
How long does it take them to fix it. What is required?
Thank you!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for the post. I’m going to try and bring mine into the apple store and see what happens. I’ll take a print of that link you said about apple fixing it for free: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2948
I will get back to you and let you know how I get on.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Happenned to my wife’s air tonight. Bought it Feb 08 from the online Apple store. Happy to find this post, I’ll bring it with me to the apple store tomorrow. I fear it’s going to be a battle has the warranty has expired and we didn’t buy apple care.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I have the same problem. However, I had a dent which was made a year ago on the same corner where the crack in the hinge happened. I took it to the Apple Store today, they told me because of the dent, the call back will not apply to my machine! I explained that the dent was there a long time ago and had nothing to do with the crack. They said I’m to pay SGD75 for them to run a diagnostic before determining whether the machine will fall under the “Call Back Catergory”. So in the event that my machine doesn’t fall under the category, then Apple would have made SGD75 from me nonetheless!
Still trying to pursue the matter.
December 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Mine has just broken..
Just over 12 months old - it gets used every day, still.. you should expect the hinges on a laptop to be heavy duty.
I’ve got two toshiba’s that are a couple of years older & still going strong.
This is the second major issue with the Air - have had fan replaced - that was a stupid fight with apple support.
I hate apple support..
January 5th, 2010 at 8:37 am
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January 20th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
same problem here…. Mac Book Air overheats all the time.
the hinge got broken about a year after the purchase. i took it to the Apple dealership in Dubai, they refused repairing it. same in Moscow, Russia. finally in Canada Apple fixed it for free, which was really nice. 4 months later, it’s broken again…
February 24th, 2010 at 8:51 am
My Macbook Air was out of warranty and I couldn’t even find the receipt but the London store fixed it for free. The sound card was also broken and that was fixed at the same time.
Unfortunately, six months later, the hinges have gone again and I have to bring it to the Genius bar tomorrow.
I am glad I have seen this thread as the customer care people told me today on the phone that I must be very unlucky as they have not heard of this problem before!
March 25th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
This just happened to me.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:59 am
yup just had my macbook air do the exact same thing - I set up an appointment for the genius bar today, I’ll re-post with my results.
April 24th, 2010 at 9:22 am
u f#####g whingy f#####g people make me sick. as an apple technician, in a genius bar, i can tell u, this repair is free. THERE IS NO NEED TO COME IN A BE A #### ABOUT IT. before like u lot get nowhere. ok, this is a recognised issue, so apple say its free - great. but when a customer comes in quoting consumer rights and defects and ‘oooh ive googled it and seen 1 other person with the same problem’, you get nowhere. i have it in my power to overide the warranty on your machine if i want to. if you come in and you’re a pr##k- i wont do it simple. so the customer says ‘i want to speak to manager’, then i go out, find the manager, and bearing in mind im gonna speak to them first, say something, ‘ive got this ####head at the bar…blah blah blah, he’s a ####… don’t give it to him’, and boom, you don’t get what you want. ‘im going to small claims court!’, f#####g good luck with that, you’ll get nowhere.
short story, if you’re sound and polite to the technician, you’ll probably end up alright
April 29th, 2010 at 2:06 am
this happened to me. when i opened my mac for a demo in our company the hinges broke. went to apple reseller in the philppines and was told i have tp pay them for the whole replacement as its out of warranty already, its crazy! ifs this has been recognized as factory defect then why on earth this apple reseller monsters were ignorant about all this. shame! i have high respect with apple products then , i will keep this shit of apple spread more.. shame on you sucker!
May 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
This has happened to me as well, just now.. Not covered under applecare, I don’t know if I will be charged for it in India. I tried to buy applecare pack after couple of months after warranty but apple refused to entertain….
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
It happened to me today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GROWL!!
May 25th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I am living in Belgium and my MBA got the same problem (warranty expired) and I took it to a Apple retail stores to get it fixed but I have been waiting for 2 weeks now and the ppl told me they are still waiting for the response from Apple whether they will fix it for free or not, if not, I have to pay 500 to 600 euro for that!!! That’s crazy!!! What am i gonna do??
June 13th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Just happened to me, this past week. Took it to the local NC Genius Bar, but they took it back and then said it would be 400 dollars. I will call Apple tomorrow. This should be recalled by Apple and fixed! (4 free!)… I brought my AIR to the store… the honcho guy in the back didn’t seem to want to repair it. This seems odd, if it is a known issue.
kgs
June 16th, 2010 at 6:07 am
my macbook air did the same thing, the plastic peice between the hinges broke, and both hinges did. when it happened it snapped the wire to the screen, i took it to apple, they said it would be $755.00 to get it fixed. i then went home and called the 1 800 number to apple, then man was a real nice guy and he said there was an arcticle that was sent out that is on the website(i cant seem to find it), so he told me to take it back up there and tell whoever was helping me at the genius bar that there was a so called recall on the hinges and other problems that happened as a result from the issue would be replaced for free. i did not purchase apple care, and my macbook was way out of warranty. so i went up there, and told the guy, and he said that there was an article. so they are replacing my LCD screen, both hinges, anteena, wire going to webcam that was snapped, and the other wire going to the screen that was starting to rub off.
June 17th, 2010 at 5:09 am
I’m adding my testimony to this list, hoping that if enough people document this defect then Apple will recall it or at least repair it under warranty. I bought my MacBook Air in May 2008. Just yesterday I noticed the hinge had come loose yesterday and I’ll be taking it to a store to find out about repairing it today. I’ll report on what happens.
ss
June 18th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Sometime last year I experienced the same problem. While closing my MacBook Air as I always do - gently - I heard a loud crack. I brought it to an authorised Apple servicer (Sapura in Singapore), and they made me pay a compulsory diagnostic fee of SGD75. Several days afterwards the staff called me to tell me exactly what I had told them when I brought my MacBook Air in for repair - that the hinge was cracked. Worse, they explained that because of the way the product is designed, I will have to pay a total of SGD1070 to replace the hinge and the LCD screen that comes with it, despite the fact that my LCD was functioning perfectly.
It isn’t very bright to manufacture a portable computer that does not come with durable hardware. Less so to attach it the LCD screen, making it troublesome and expensive to replace!
The service staff insisted it was not a design flaw but my fault. When I said I was merely closing my MacBook Air, the staff even audaciously suggested that maybe I have been stacking heavy items on it, resulting in the strain on the hinges … I know that the MacBook Air is not a shelf.
I paid the $1070, but a few months down the road (i.e. today), the hinge has cracked AGAIN.
If i only had to fork out a nominal sum to replace the cracked hinge - even if it is a manufacturing flaw on Apple’s part - I would. Unfortunately, $1000+ is way too unreasonable a price to pay for Apple’s mistake. I will be bringing my MacBook Air down for servicing tomorrow. Hopefully Apple and its service staff handle the problem responsibly this time around.
June 28th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I got my macbook air 2 years ago and the hinge suddendly made a noise when I closed it. I opened and closed 3 more times to see what was happening. It started to crack on one side. I just travelled from the us to far east with the macbook air. I have a bag for it ( the especially for macbook air) and I put the bag in a carry on luggage. i am very unhappy about it.
July 14th, 2010 at 2:23 am
I also bought my MacBook Air 2 years ago and the plastic hinges are cracking and broken to the point where I have to hold the screen otherwise it will fall flat like an open book. I’m going to see the Genius Bar today and see what they have to say, stay tuned….
July 18th, 2010 at 8:03 am
@Katie: Happened to me 4 weeks ago, brought it to the local Apple ‘reseller’ in Kuwait, they even refused to talk to me cause the warranty expired and they claimed I dropped it. I even didn’t bother argue with them. Support in Kuwait really really s*cks horribly. Wish I never bought it there.
Waited until my holiday and brought it to an Apple reseller in Europe 3 days ago. Guess what? They looked at it, and promised to contact Apple. I didn’t even refer to another customer or website. They called me two days later, and said it was fixed. This is exactly how service should be. Well done Apple on recognizing this issue, otherwise you would have lost a 20years+ loyal customer.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:47 am
This happened to me three days ago. You can’t believe my anger. I always here this cracking and annoying noise. The screeen is very wobbly and is very quick to close. I’m not sure how long it’ll last but I am NOT paying 800 dollars to get it fixed.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I just experienced this - my hinge cracked when I was closing my lid.
Reading from the apple support forum, someone posted this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2948
I have printed this copy out and will be going to the apple store to get my lid replaced.
As they say on their official site from that link, they will replace it out of warranty and even give a refund for the cost of fixing it if someone claims that the user broke it.
Hopefully this helps
September 1st, 2010 at 8:23 am
I bought my macbook air almost two years ago, and recently heard the dreaded crack when I opened it one day. I did not see any obvious damage, but each time I opened and closed the air, it would crack. This weekend a chuck of plastic by the hinge near the power button came off. I can see the broken hinge inside, and the screen will now fall back if I don’t position it correctly. I read a few comments on here before calling apple, and after a 8 minute wait I spoke to someone and they said that it should not happen, and asked the typical questions (did I drop it, put something heavy on it or try and open it 180 degrees).
Well after chatting with the Larry, he informed me that the repair would be covered. I should expect the fedex packing box to arrive tomorrow, and once I ship it, I should have it back in about a week! Although I don’t look forward to being without my mac for a week, at least they are covering the cost of repair before the crack gets worse!
The two men I talked to were extremely nice and helpful!! I do hope that if this happens to anyone else they will receive the same treatment.