Hard Drive Upgrade & Apple Care

Technically replacing a hard drive in a MBP is not considered a DIY project by Apple. That means that any subsequent warranty problem that may arise Apple could claim it isn't covered because the problem was due to your negligence when replacing the hard drive. In simple words if your computer is in warranty you should wait until the warranty expires unless you feel confident you'll have no future need for the warranty.

If AppleCare approves the replacement then you can have any authorized Apple Technician replace the drive for you and transfer your data from the old drive. And, yes, they charge for the service.

Actually, replacing the drive in a MBP is a bit more than replacing components and requires two specialized tools. Substantial disassembly is required. You can see a video of the job here.

You asked, I answered. You can now make your decision. What's to argue about?

I am curious about what happened at the apple store? or did you upgraded the hard drive your self?

This is something that seems to frustrate a lot of people and I can never find a straight answer to. I'd be interested in EXACTLY what Apple's actual policy regarding self done hard drive upgrades to MBP's are.

I've replaced a couple of MBP hard drives, it's not difficult for anyone that's taken a laptop apart before. In fact in my expereince the MBP is easier to disassemble than most of the other laptop's I've taken apart over the years. What does hold true is that hard drive on a MBP is more difficult than 90% of the other laptops out there, it's just that since most companies design their laptop hard drives to be easily accessible via a door or panel rather than opening up the whole laptop as Apple has done on the MBP.

Regardless I am 100% confident I can replace the hard drive on my MBP without harming anything and if I DID harm something WHILE swapping the drive I wouldn't expect it to be covered under warranty. However, if days, weeks, months later something completely unrelated went haywire, I'd expect Apple to still cover it under warranty. I haven't seen anything reasonably definitive on Apple's policy in this regard.

Okay, I went to apple store and spoke with a "Genius" about this issue, cause I want to upgrade my MBP Hard drive too.

Facts:
-Apple stores do not provide such service.
-The "Genius" Gave me a list with authorized repair centers in my area.
-Even if I take my laptop to the authorized repair center, it will avoid the warranty.
-I asked, If I can do it my self... what is the difference? its not a user task but its about to you .. the "Genius" said.
-Spoke with 3 of the authorized repair centers and all of them insisted that if they do the swap .. it doesn't avoid the warranty, but...
-I will get manufacture warranty for the new Hard drive, which is normal.
-It will cost me from $50.00 to $100.00 just for the labor. (Each one gave me different price), plus the new hard drive price.
-They offering also data transfer GB/hour.

Decision:
-I am still in my first year warranty, expires in August 2009.
-I was planing to buy the apple care to extend the warranty to extra 2 years.
-I will not do that and I will wait until August and I will upgarde the Hard drive by my self because: *I CAN*.

Also please read:

http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/cpuwarranty.pdf

D section in second page

For others reading this thread, warranty obligations vary from one country to another. The advice given is the situation in the US but in Australia, for example, there are statutory obligations (Government laws) which can override company warranty conditions in certain circumstances. This applies to Apple as well as other companies even if they are foreign companies.

Here there would be no problem insisting on, for example, display replacement under warranty even though the hard drive had been replaced at home - provided that it could be established that the display problem could not have arisen from the other (unauthorised) work done.

Apple's warranty document suggests that this could be refused in the US even though unrelated. (I'm not familiar with any regulatory options available in the US.)

Neville

While AppleCare policy specifies that hard drive replacement voids the warranty, I replaced the HD in my 12" Powerbook and subsequently had the DVD drive and touch-pad replaced (two separate repairs) under warranty. Each time I shipped the PB off, I feared the consequences of my overactive desire to tinker, yet no questions were raised and I was (twice) very pleased with the service. Does this mean you should gamble with your AppleCare? I found this thread after a search because I; 1)want a new MBP, 2)think AppleCare is a great investment in security, and 3)am willing to pay for 1 hour for an Authorized Service Provider's labor to install a 320 GB, 7200RPM Fujitsu drive (when they ship) to have the security that the rest of the machine (sans HD, under MFR warranty.) will be covered.
ps- If AppleCare somehow dishonored warranty service because an Authorized Service Provider had pgraded the HD, I would have a friggin' cow!