You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Apple macbook air hinge defect -closing lid is considered accidental damage

Hi Apple

Is closing the screen normal operations of the macbook air?

my apple air has a defect with the hinge. could apple please change your policy to accept hinge as warrant on apple air models

purchased my air 28/2/2008 from Sydney Broadway apple shop. I think this was the first day they got delivery in Sydney.

Last week when closing the screen, it was about half way down, it made a crack noise, and the hinge moved. (see photo from link below)

I have been to two apple care centres in Saigon, Vietnam this week. Spoke to apple in singapore and usa. They all told me i broke it and the damage is accidental. Offically on paper it was "it might be accidental damage, warranty repair declined"

Many people have had this problem, mostly in USA.

Below is the link to a post i made on the problem. It has a photo of my laptop hinge, it is not as bad as others, because i stopped using the air as soon as it happened

http://www.crashzone.com.au/2009/02/04/apple-macbook-air-has-a-defect-hinge-prob lem/

some more links to more of the same problem

http://mindspacemind.blogspot.com/2008/06/macbook-air-damaged-hinges-little-too. html
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=495259&page=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7uEMfJVm4U&feature=related
http://flickr.com/photos/landung2008/3247328478/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJLUMBCF98&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Siq84YBlv7E&feature=related

Regards Christiaan Hunter

PS. Apple Air is the BEST laptop yet for me personally. light, 13" screen, full size keyboard, multitouch huge touch pad, nice casing, no dvd player and osx
I have owned these laptops:
compact portable iii
dell latitude d600
toshiba portege 3500 tablet
fujitsu lifebook p7010
motion ls800 tablet
apple macbook air

Macbook Air, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Feb 3, 2009 11:19 PM

190 replies

Mhui08

Level 1

0 points

Aug 24, 2009 11:14 AM in response to tztztz

I'm having the same issue with the left hinge. I took it to the genius bar near my house in NJ. My computer has the extended apple care. They wanted to charge me $600!! Their response was that I must have dropped it and subsequently pointed to a dent on the right side of the computer. Any suggestions on what to do?

Aug 24, 2009 2:49 PM in response to FredTheTech

I have a first gen Macbook Air that's out of warranty. The hinge problem cropped up last week, and I immediately took it in to an Apple store. Since the warranty was out, and there was also some damage to the top of the clamshell caused by my dog kicking my laptop onto the floor, I expected to have to pay for the repair out of pocket. But instead, they fixed the hinge issue and replaced the entire display piece for free. I didn't have to call customer support or plead my case or anything. My harddrive was fine, so my computer (along with all my data) came back intact and good-as-new a week later. I was thrilled, to say the least.

kimle9i6

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2009 12:30 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

The right hinge on my MBA broke after closing it today (8/25/09)! The screen was a little loose and then BAM! huge crack.
I'm extremely careful with my mba and it was in pristine condition. I bought this right when it came out back in FEB of 2008, and didn't have any issues with it until now.

Made an appointment with a Genius at Arden Fair mall in Sacramento for tomorrow and I will call apple's cust service line for further assistance before going in. I don't have apple care either, but this is obviously a design flaw! I am very disappointed in Apple. After paying $2,200 for a laptop I never expected something like THIS to happen! I hope Apple will be able to fix this! I'll update after tomorrows meeting with the genius...

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Aug 25, 2009 4:36 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

"IS IT POSSIBLE THAT APPLE NEED TO CHANGE THE WHOLE SCREEN..."

The FRU is the entire clamshell (cover, display, hinges, cables), and that's how it is repaired. If you take it to a third-party, they might repair be replacing the hinge only - a good question to ask when you contact them.

kimle9i6

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2009 5:46 PM in response to kimle9i6

I went to apple's genius bar (arden fair mall sacramento) today with hopes of getting my broken hinge on the right side of my mba fixed free of charge since I see this looseness as a manufacturer's flaw in the design...

Genius told me i COULD'VE gotten it fixed for FREE, but!! because of two very tiny ***** on the top of my laptop from my brother that happened months after I first got the laptop I could not. He said cost would be $430 'cause they have to give me a new screen and bottom piece along w the hinges.
They were going to give me a new top piece when it gets fixed anyway so why does it matter!? The hinges are an obvious flaw in design and I believe apple should be responsible for its damages. I am very disappointed in Apple....

Meanman

Level 1

0 points

Aug 26, 2009 2:08 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

Same problem here in spain.
They say it's not covered by applecare, because warrant finished two months ago.
They want 800 Euros for the screen and the instalation costs.
My first and last mac if things don't get fixed.
A new Macbook Air, is about 1300 euros, and the repair will cost about 1000 so there's no sense in the solution they are giving me.

werpu

Level 1

5 points

Aug 27, 2009 12:50 AM in response to Meanman

Same problem here, first the display was wobbly, then one day at a normal open operation a snap and the left hinge was broken.
Anyway I have a better story, the machine had AppleCare on it, and I brought it in mentioned it was a serial problem of rev a macbook airs, and got it repaired without additional costs.

Aug 28, 2009 4:02 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

The same problem with a hinge - NEVER buy Macbook AIR!

jaykk

Level 1

0 points

Aug 29, 2009 7:20 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

I had the same problem with Rev A macbook air. One day suddenly, the hinge started having issues, then a few days later, even screen stopped working. But I have the best apple support experience ever. I didn't have a applecare, I bought it almost 18 months ago, so its 6 months out of warranty. Apple is still repairing it for free. Thank you, Apple.

werpu

Level 1

5 points

Sep 1, 2009 1:11 AM in response to jaykk

Ok as it seems Apple finally has responded, a colleque of mine pointed me towards it. Two days ago apple has released an offical troubleshooting document, which also says that in some instances you can get the hinge repaired even if you are out of warranty. Here it is:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2948

So all you guys with broken hinges and being out of warranty go to the next service provider (who maybe in the past has refused the repair) and show them that document!

Sep 5, 2009 8:54 AM in response to werpu

Just wondering if anyone who has bought a macbook air in the past 2-3 has had any hinge problems like everyone else on this forum. I am kinda hoping that apple has fixed this problem so I can buy MBA without worries. Thanks.

Sep 6, 2009 8:39 AM in response to macbook air?

I had 2 macbook airs. The first was first gen and was purchased on release day. It broke and despite Apple care was told that it would be repaired for $800. I opted to buy the just released second gen with better graphics and larger ssd. The first one I removed the screen completely and used it as flat mini. The second one after about 8 months (the same time period it took for the first to break) also broke. I just started to take the first one completely apart to see if I could replace the hinges when I saw the technote posted on friday. I made an appointment at the Apple store with a genius. She asked why I was there I gave her the whole story in 15 seconds. She said ok filled out some forms and Apple will fix both computers. I was only really expecting to get the second one replaced. I'm glad that Apple has finally started to do the right thing. When you see how pathetically undersized the hinge is it frustrating to see such a crucial piece given so strength.
I'm hard on laptops I expect that I will need a new one every 18-24 months. I doubt anyone has macbook air for more then 8 months without the hinge breaking.

Sep 6, 2009 9:42 AM in response to tztztz

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT APPLE NEED TO CHANGE THE WHOLE SCREEN RATHER THAN REPAIRING HINGES ONLY BY OPENING THE MACHINE AND CHANGING THE HINGES WITH NEW ONES??? AND THAT'S WAY IS APPALLINGLY EXPENSIVE!!??

Having taken one apart to change the hinge yes definately easier to swap out the whole screen. When the hinge breaks it cuts the wires that run through that are the power and signal for screen/microphone/camera. It could be with the right tools replacing the hinge could be eaiser, I think the air is about to go through a shift and Apple decided to either up the final production run to replace all the macbook air screens or is using the existing inventory of parts to perform the repair before the cease production. It is such a great computer marred by stupid physical problem.

Mo78

Level 1

0 points

Sep 6, 2009 3:09 PM in response to ben@cogs.com

I bought a month ago the last generation MBA 2.13 SSD and the screen was loose, the famous hinge problem, I brought it in for repair and got it back after 1 week. They replaced the entire screen and the hinges are very tight now, the only thing is that the screen makes a little scratching noise, like 2 parts touching each other when openeing the MBA, other than that it's ok. I ahev apple care but they never mentioned anything about paying or my warranty, it took 5mins to fill in the form and gone was my MBA to the repair centre. The MBA was bought at MacLine in Belgium-Brussels

Sep 21, 2009 7:09 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

I have the 1st gen macbook , out of warranty period and my hinge just broke. Apple says that they "might" repair it so we'll see how it goes. I also have a deformed space bar and my computer never could handle video, it just overheats, the second core shuts down and it freezes up. I have 10 apple computers, 3 ipods, iphone, etc. etc. so I'm obviously an Apple fan but this computer is the WORST laptop I've ever owned. I really regret purchasing it. I would rather have purchased the aluminum MBP. I hope they fix it for me or replace it...

Apple macbook air hinge defect -closing lid is considered accidental damage