My Macbook has a chipped corner!

I have the newest (I think) MacBook version (Model Identifier: MacBook 4,1) & the palm rest plastic seems well supported & quite solid across its width, including where the top's ridges come into contact with it.

In any event, if the O.P.'s MacBook is covered by an Applecare agreement she should be able to get free phone support to assist in a repair (which probably would be a replacement part, not a replacement for the entire MacBook). International tech support phone numbers are listed at http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html. There are two numbers for France. One should work for her.

Do you have Applecare? How big is the chip? Does it go all the way through the case? Does the case flex near it or is it still as rigid as before? Any signs of other damage? How important is appearance vs. functionality to you?

Without more info from you, it is hard to suggest anything more specific than the general advice to have it looked at by a qualified technician, preferably an Apple-certified one.

See the "Cracked Plastic" thread above,

It would appear that all MacBook keyboards crack in the same place as a result of bad design;
The magnets catches are too strong,
The plastic in the raised areas either side of the eyesight is to hard, and
The palm rest plastic too thin and unsupported where it comes into contact with the lid.

But it's not the palm rest that is the issue, its the less than 1mm think section which laps over the top of the undertray. But all said and done .. does anyone want to go through 9 keyboards in 3 years? Applecare or not I don't for one, but with 3 under my belt already I'm well on the way.

This will be the last time I buy a plastic Mac laptop.

From what I can tell, there are a number of theories about the cause of the cracks or chips in the part, some implicating its shape or thickness & others the formulation of the plastic itself. There is also quite a bit of discussion about how many MacBooks are affected & if the problem, whatever it is, has been corrected.

Regardless, the O.P.'s concern is getting it repaired, & for that the first step is to contact Applecare.

Apple is not going to replace your computer regardless. They will repair the plastic, but that is all. You need to call an Apple store and make an appointment. If they can't do the repair right away, they may need to keep your machine for a while. How long? The only person that will know that is you, after you call.

Out of interest, How has it been corrected?, the only way I can see would have involved a redesign of the keyboard overlap area?

With the keyboard before last I was told the keyboard had been modified, it failed in 4 months!. But no matter what you do, impacting a piece of plastic approx 0.6mm think can only result in one thing cracking.

If a material is too brittle to withstand the stresses applied to it, it will fracture. Using more of it (like by making a part thicker) does not in itself make it less susceptible this kind of failure -- the material will still chip or flake to dissipate the energy of impacts. A better solution is to use a less brittle material that will "give" slightly under impact & return to its original shape, dissipating the stress energy over a larger area without damage.

This is as true of metals as of plastics, & why using metal parts does not necessarily make products more durable than using plastic ones.

So, whether the problem is a crack or a chip like the O.P. has noticed, it is possible that if Apple has recently changed to a less brittle plastic formulation for the part, a replacement won't fail even if it has exactly the same form factor as before.

Do you have Applecare?

Message was edited by: R C-R