mac mini warranty

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It's regrettable that your first post here has to be about this sort of issue! There has never been a direct and specific statement about the mini's warranty and opening the system, so it has always been somewhat at the discretion of the individual whether or not the warranty is honored after there have been signs of the user having opened the system up. In broad terms, it has been said (and usually accepted) that the act of opening the system does not void the warranty in of itself, but that any alterations or damage is likely to render that result if the system is subsequently returned for service.

The user guide for the system does make clear that there are no user serviceable parts inside, and it is clearly not intended for the user to open it up, but there are many people who have not had a problem getting their mini's serviced after 'minor' upgrades such as RAM. Much further than that (hard drives or optical drive replacement for example, or swapping out the airport card for an 11n compatible device) would almost inevitably lead to Apple declaring the warranty void however, as would be the case is they found any parts inside which were not 'supported' by Apple, meaning by and large anything that is not standard.

It's also worth saying that in cases where a 'Genius' says the system has been opened and the warranty voided, but where the user has done nothing but upgrade the RAM to and within Apple specs, it is worth talking to the store manager, and to Apple customer relations to see if that decision can be reversed. Apple are not unreasonable, even though the initial decision is at the discretion of the individual in the store.

Alternatively, one might take the system to an Apple Approved Service Provider in the area instead of Apple themselves. It can't be said in an absolute sense (any more than that opening the system does or doesn't void the warranty), but AASPs are often a little more flexible about these things.

Glad to hear they backtracked and honored the warranty! For completeness (and the benefit of other readers) there was widespread discussion of this issue when the Mac mini first came out - to the point that Macworld reported a response from Apple as being along the lines as I described above - that opening the mini would not itself void the warranty, but damage or adding 'unsupported' components would. Much, of course, is in the definition of 'unsupported'. Much has also proven to be in the mind of the individual, and sadly Apple stores are not immune from those who add their own interpretation to Apple's often (likely deliberately) wooly definitions.