MacBook Air Screen Cracks

You guys have to remember that the screen assembly on the Air is INCREDIBLY thin. Even though it is made of aluminum, it still has flex to it. ANY pressure that is exerted on the screen assembly might be enough to crack the screen, as it is made of GLASS. If you are putting the Air in a bag, or backpack, perhaps you should invest in a little protection in the form of a hard plastic shell case? I know its not much, but it might be enough to additionally protect your $1000+ investment from getting a cracked screen.

Also, consider the orientation of your computer when you put it in your bag. I use my Air at college, and accordingly, carry my computer in a backpack. MY backpack has a dedicated computer slot that is between my back and the carrying compartment where I keep my books and things. When I put my Air in my bag, I am ALWAYS mindful of putting the display part of the computer FACING my back, so that the body of the Air is facing the carrying compartment. This way, there is nothing that is oddly shaped pressing into the thinnest part of my Air. The screen assembly is always resting against the padding that is between my back and the Air.

Maybe this really makes no difference in the end, but it SEEMS to me that it COULD matter, in my case at least.

I talked to Apple Care telephone service when my Air was denied to repair under warranty. Through this online care, I had to talk with the Seinor Apple Care advisor. Give them a lot of pictures of my Air taken by myself as well as the staff from the Apple service. Then, they said the result is still the user's fault (perhaps an accident occured without me knowing). Totally in depression, I was expecting discount on replacement cost such as 50 percent ( before it was like you around 600 US $).At Last, they gave me a call, and they agreed to cover the new replacement cost at their own account. They changed the whole display( not repairing), and I had to pay only for labor cost of 50$.

I had a crack on the LCD of my 2011 MBA 13" after about a year of use.

Basically I woke up one morning and found a discouloured patch on the inside of the screen and it spread until the screen was unusable. It had just been sitting there overnight. No damage, no cracks to glass - nothing. Just the LCD inside was broken.The crack was right in the middle where the plastic Apple logo is on the other side. To me this looks like its a design flaw.

Laptop was covered by Applecare.

There is no Apple store where I am so I took it into one of the local repair places that Apple told me to take it to. The people who took the computer seemed to be familiar with this problem and they immediately started inspecting the part of the cover where the light-up Apple logo is. Apparently this is a weakness in the lid. They said it would be a problem, as obviously I hadnt damaged or abused the laptop.

Couple days later, I get a message from them that this damage is down to my misuse of the computer, bla bla bla, this is not covered under Applecare etc. Okay so I call them and ask how could I have abused this laptop that has no marks and no damage signs. They refuse to answer, they either want me to pay them money (almost as much as buying a new MBA actually) to fix it.....or I must pay them a fee for the evaluation, because the evaluation says this was my fault. But again no answer as to how I could possibly have been at fault. They also claimed they have never seen or heard of this type of problem before other than via abuse. Mrked contrast to the story I heard from the folks who accepted the computer for repair.

Basically this to me was near-piracy, as I had paid for Applecare and now was being told it is meaningless and not only will they not fix this problem, but I am to pay them money even if they dont fix my computer.

I called this BS and escalated to Apple. Made a lot of complaints. In the end Appple agreed to fix this under Applecare, but refused to take responsibility, saying the were doing this as a "courtesy" because I am a long term customer of many Apple products bla bla bla.

I accepted this solution and they fixed the laptop. But personally I think it was nonsense and I cant see how Apple expect I would buy another one. For me this is a design flaw and its unaceptable that Apple wants to put a flashy light up logo on the back of my laptop as advertisement for them, meanwhile it weakens the strength of the lid protecting the LCD - and then when this fails its the buyers fault?

And then this sorry nonsense of not accepting responsibility but telling me after I complain that they are fixing this as a "courtesty"? Total joke.

Sorry but they lost my business right there and then. Nice computer, but this is just not acceptable product performance or attitude.

Worst of all I think in their own twisted minds they see this arrogance and blatant refusal to accept fault as good customer service. Good luck to the company. I cant see a bright future at this rate.

Nothing comes cheap with the Macbook screen repair esp with those of macbook air screen, and even worse Retina ones. You could try services from Pantip plaza, or Zeer or IT square, but they all ask for holy price with no gurantee. I went to one of their authorized services believing this will be covered under warranty, and was asked abt 20000 bahts for 11 inches Macbook air. I was shocked, not surprisingly, but the Apple genius gave number to call to Apple Service team.

I called Apple Toll free support (possibly from Singapore), explained problems, when I first noticed, and how it emerged, what I thought happened and explain clearly about it's not at my fault etc. They would probably request you to take a picture quickly and send it to them.

If they deny it's their defect, ask for any possible assistant. I insisted it's no way at my fault. I was told to go to one of their Authorized reseller, and I went to

www.maccenter.co.th/ MCC at Siam Discovery.

There, again, they took some careful pictures, and probably ask you to await for a few days. I asked there, how much it would cost? , if I had to pay, and there it was 15000 approximately. Price may vary depending on different cases. Just try to be friendly to them.

Still, They denied that it's manufacturer's defect, but they offered to replace it with only 1500 bahts for service fee with no additional charge for replacement.

Hope this helps and good luck. If you dun mind, return to share your outcome.

P.S. My Thai langugage is very limited, so it's like a heaven when I contact Apple Service Team. Also, I sold my macbook air for 2/3 original price and have been in love with Lenovo Thinkpad business laptops. They have amazing keyboard and are versatile.

Unfortunately,

I have to report the same issue and the poor apple service in this case.

am writing with regards to a MACBOOK AIR - 11 Inch screen- I purchased March 2013 . I have a padded cover for the computer which is always used. On a recent business trip, I turned the computer on to find the screen has bled - this affects the LCD not the glass panel. WITHOUT ANY ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE!

After visiting the Apple Genius bar at Regent street - London and I was told that this could only be caused by blunt impact or dropping the computer neither of which has happened. Upon further exploration with the Apple assistant, I found out that this has been a regular occurrence to this type of Airbook "because it is light" and was told of 2 incidents with other customers where they have been on the tube and a knock had caused the same damage.

I don't think that this is satisfactory for an expensive computer, and definitely not an Apple one. If they are so sensitive to this sort of thing why was I not told upon purchase? The Apple assistant also told me that it is difficult for covers to "protect" the computers - which in itself if completely ridiculous, Why do Apple sell covers if it isn't going to help? She recommended I speak to Apple Care given the amount of complaints the store had had re this issue.

I am a regular Apple customer and am genuinely disappointed that through no fault of my own, the cost to fix what seems like a systematic fault with the laptop is £289 plus VAT and would like this escalated.

I also offered to trade in my 1 year old mac book air with a more "heavy" product as the macbook pro but this offer was refused as the product is not in "good " condition.

I asked fot Which.co.uk Legal adivse and they suggested that accroding to section 14 of the sale of Goods Act 1979 requires Apple to supply goods of satisfactory quality and also that this laptop showed lack of durability as this inconvenience can be classified as latent defect from the product, therefore they should repair the laptop as it is in warranty.

Gabriel

When you open and close the lid, do you hold it by a corner? I stongly recommend holding it in the center. Same goes for adjusting the tilt. It seems to me that you could be putting a strain on the screen that could be causing cracks along the side.

If the LCD is cracking behind the display, it is likely because of force applied to the lid (around the Apple Logo). A possible culprit would be placing the Air into a case next to something that presses against the lid. This could be the power block, a cell phone, car keys, etc.

Similar deal! I set the MBA on a carpeted floor with no people or animals in the house, with it closed, went to lunch and returned to the lcd screen cracked. It had not been touched. We were told that we had to pay $450 to replace it, although it is nearly new, still under warranty and we always buy the additional warranties. We have purchased 2 iMacs, 2 MBA, 1 Macbook Pro, 1 13" macbook, 2 iPads and 6 or 7 iphones. I am livid over their treatment and very tempted to take them to court over this issue. I am a lawyer and a mediator. When I asked if they had any room to negotiate any resolution whatsoever, they said 'absolutely not!' Nashville Apple store.

We pay for our own damages and I have never asked Apple to repair anything that was my fault. It has replaced one or 2 phones perhaps due to their product problems. They treated us like we were liars and cheats. I will definitely stop purchasing Apple products!

The MBA in question was purchased in the fall of 2010 and cracked in December 2011. I have yet to research more, but am thinking of paying the fees to join ATLA, a private service for plaintiff's lawyers which keeps records on products, etc. I used it litigating against Pepsi and Coca-Cola and may be very informative. The problem is that this is a small claims court value.

If everyone with similar cases would take them into small claims court, we may get better customer care in the future. This is about justice, not the cost. It is unfair when companies get so large that the consumer has no power whatsoever. Corporations have grown too large and too powerful in this country. We are nobodies, now. They can just sell to the billions of Chinese and to **** with Americans.

did anyone has open any website for this issue...

I will post my experience here..

I bough the MBA for my wife as anniversary gift in dec 2011.... she liked the MBA so much that she didn't wanted to use any other laptop.... on the other hand I am not a fan of Mac at all...... no offense...

she baught a leather cover, a screen protector and even a keyboard protector.. she takes care of all her items very well....she is a casual user of computer and mostly use it for her school work or surfing.

in last month she watch some video on it in the night... closed the lid and placed it on top of shelf. the next day morning she found a crack. on the lower right corner of screen in front of toolbar.....

My first reaction was same that it may have caused because something between screen and keyboard or due to something hit the screen... but she said that nothing like this ever happened. I believe her 100%. Though we both tried to find out if that was the case and tried to see if there are any sign of something hitting the screen any scratch or anithing on screen protector or outer cover...... nothing was there....

We went to apple store where they said its law of physics.. there must be a force to break the screen... still the manager suggested me to contact the customer care on phone....

We called the customer care (actually apple care) , the representative initially refused to talk to us because we didn't baught the apple care plan, but when I said that I didn;t call for apple care or support, I called to talk with any customer care representative, he transfered me to his supervisor...

I had a long polite conversation with the supervisor explain him all the story... he might have heard this story before as well..... he asked me if I own any other apple product... I listed all what I own... He simply offered a courtesy repair.. but didn;t accept that it was a design fault... On my side I politely insisted that it was not our fault...

We got our MBA repaired withing a day....

We have the same issue. A university-owned MacBook Air with a cracked screen which appeared out of nowhere. The laptop was never dropped or had been impacted by anything which might have caused the crack. Our Apple-authorized service department informed us that the repair would not be covered by AppleCare. See below:

In reference to the computer that you have in for repair:

MACBOOK AIR 13 - C0*******JWR

The display issue is due to an impact to the display and as such will not be covered by the computer's warranty.

A full quote for your repair follows:

There are too many instances of the same experience for it to be a coincidence. What worried me is that if the display is replaced with another which may at some point spontaneously crack we will once again be forced to fork over another $600.

<Edited by Host>

It's a torque problem. The frame is not build to withstand any torque at all on the body of the machine. This includes being carried in a backpack and using it on a lap as both places allow some pressure on the frame. It's a great idea -- a small thin laptop -- it is just not strong enough to withstand being a laptop. What give is the screen. I don't think it is as bad with the 13 inch, but the 11 inch cannot withstand the pressure.

I have every sympathy. Being accused by an almost-faceless corporation of what amounts to willful misuse or crass stupidity with a piece of equipment which to them is virtually worthless and to you is a significant investment of your own money is - at best - insulting. While it's inevitably true that some users do cause screen faults because they simply are not careful with their equipment (or other peoples') and Apple are right to be wary of warranty claims under these circumstances, to be tarred by the same brush as part of a broad policy is fundamentally wrong.

However, while not excusing Apple in any way, there are two pieces of information pertinent to this issue which you do not have and which they do: the torsional rigidity of the display panel (ie, how easy or otherwise it is to break) and the proportion of MacBook Air models sold which have been reported to suffer one or more screen fractures. These two pieces of information tell Apple what the balance of probabilities is that a screen crack may be caused by component fault or mishandling, and likely is influenced by where the crack has appeared, and also whether or not there is a design weakness with the product.

In the latter instance it seems reasonable to believe that some structural rigidity was compromised for weight and thinness, but with a product that has been on the market for almost 4 years now, it is highly unlikely - most improbable in fact - that the level of faults reported would show a failure of design or a proclivity to structural weakness. There has been a lot of time to correct an issue such as that with successive models, and there has been no correction.

In terms of the screen itself, if the crack in the screen fits the profile of a mishandled system, they will deny warranty cover in the interest of both themselves and other customers.

Put in that position myself, I would be as upset and angry as anyone else, but in the end neither that, nor the 'I-will-never-buy-another-Apple-product-EVER' attitude will help get the problem sorted. I would call Apple Customer Service and explain what has happened and why you are upset and feel that you are being unfairly accused of damaging your own property, and have basically been called a liar by staff in the store whom you had approached to help you resolve a problem that was not of your own making. Further, that while you know it won't impact on Apple's bottom line, this incident and the failure of the product makes it very difficult for you to justify any further purchase of Apple equipment - which is a shame because you've been a committed user for years because the products have always been better suited to your needs than those of the competition. Ask them if they can help you resolve this problem, and if necessary ask for it to be escalated if the first respondent cannot.

You may end up with the same answer, but you may not. Apple does have legendary customer service as regular surveys have shown, but it isn't flawless.

Again, if it were me (and who knows, one day it might be because I'm typing this on a MacBook Air) if that didn't get me a satisfactory outcome, I'd buy a new display panel off the internet and repair it myself - closer to $200 than $800. And I might just consider asking a lawyer to mutter the word 'defamation' into Apple's corporate ear into the bargain too.

I have seen 3 cracked 2010/2011 MBA 13" screens in the last 2 months at work, all starting around the same spot, all starting with a small crack that just appeared out of nowhere. Each user are long time MBP/MBA users who have never had an issue with previous models. First person who got it tried to Applecare unsuccessfully, others did not bother to. I don't think its an isolated incident.

I just had a crack appear on my 8 month old 11" Air yesterday. I usually just use it at my house on the couch. I hadn't touched it in two or three days, and the crack appeared after waking it from sleep that morning. I always had it in a sleeve, and last took it out of the house over two weeks ago. I took it in, and they immediately classified it as an accident/my fault... I was flat out shocked! I agreed to pay the freakin $425 to hve it fixed, but I saved up a long tine for this thing, and I am seriously depressed over this. Mac everything since the 80's. I feel ripped off.

I am now on my fourth 13" MBA. My first two had hinge problems: The hinges eventually gave way, leaving me with a dangling lid and a black screen. Apple refused to repair the first under AppleCare, so I didn't bother getting it repaired. When the second machine's hinge went, I did some research online and discovered that it was so common an MBA problem that Apple finally started covering the hinge repairs. Fortunately, MBA #1 still had a month to go on AppleCare, so both MBA #1 and #2 were repaired without cost to me.

MBA #3, purchased December 2010, developed a subsurface screen fissure out of nowhere this past May. One minute my MBA was sitting on my desk in pristeen condition (except for the keyboard, on which the lettering had worn off a number of keys), the next it had a pinhole crack a pixel or two wide with a faint starburst scattering around it on the lower left of the screen-- oddly enough, underneath the surface of the screen.

At first, the subsurface crack only showed up on a dark screen and didn't really get in the way. However, over time, every time someone (my son, for instance, sitting on the sofa to my left) tilted the screen using the bezel on the left, the screen audibly cracked further. Every time there was the slightest pressure on the closed lid, it cracked more. By this month, it became unusable. Now I've migrated to MBA #4.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment at a nearby Apple Store to get MBA #3 repaired. I will arm myself with a sheaf of printouts from all here who had the problem and put in my 2 cents (40,000 cents?) about how Apple should cover the repair. At some point, they may have enough evidence to cover this kind of repair routinely.

With MBA #1, I was grateful that I have packrat tendencies and still had the machine sitting around when Apple finally decided to cover the hinge defect. AppleCare on #3 runs out in a couple of months, but it is much to good a machine to mothball (I have the 250 GB SS model), so I will likely (or rather my business will likely) pay for the repair. I will keep the bills around until Apple finally covers the spontaneous cracking. There may even be a small claims court in my future.

I will post again when I have Apple's answer on this.