Q: Macbook Air SSD failure?

One more disappointed 2012 MacBook Air user here. Failed on 14th month today. I thought Apple was different than others. But they aren't. SSDs have more than a year of warranty and it is Apple's problem to solve an issue caused by a part didn't last as long as expected.

gmutlu wrote:

 

One more disappointed 2012 MacBook Air user here. Failed on 14th month today. I thought Apple was different than others. But they aren't. SSDs have more than a year of warranty and it is Apple's problem to solve an issue caused by a part didn't last as long as expected.

Why do you say that about SSDs?

Toshiba's warranty on SSDs of the type used in the MBA is "1 year (from date of purchase.)"

http://storage.toshiba.com/ProductDatasheet.aspx?product=THNSNF

The manufacturer of all parts used in a complete systems void all warranties they may offer and leave that up to the makers of the systems.

So the Toshiba warranty is invalid. That warranty is for Retail items not OEM products. Especially because the SSDs used in Apple notebooks that only come with a SSD, the Air and Retina models, are of a special design to fit into the case Apple uses for those model notebooks. Toshiba and any other SSD manufacturer that Apple may use do not sell those specially designed drives to the general public.

William Kucharski wrote:

 

gmutlu wrote:

 

One more disappointed 2012 MacBook Air user here. Failed on 14th month today. I thought Apple was different than others. But they aren't. SSDs have more than a year of warranty and it is Apple's problem to solve an issue caused by a part didn't last as long as expected.

 

Why do you say that about SSDs?

 

Toshiba's warranty on SSDs of the type used in the MBA is "1 year (from date of purchase.)"

 

http://storage.toshiba.com/ProductDatasheet.aspx?product=THNSNF

Yes, I know that.

The original poster said that the SSD had a warranty longer than one year, and I was showing them that in fact it too only had a one year warranty at retail.

Hello All,

My 9-month old MBA SSD also failed and would only boot to the progress bar. Unable to partition the disk. Apple is replace the HD, but over a week later just told me that there's a shortage of SSDs and have no timeframe on when they'll actually fix and ship my MBA back to me.

I forward, correctly, that this board is a magnet for those with problems that come here for resolution of a problem. As it is designed to be.

That you can find "10 posters on another board with a failed SSD Toshiba" is not surprising. Nor does same constitute an issue with the Air whatsoever out of countless endless 100's of 1000s of Airs out there.

distinctions should be made between the use of the term "issue" :

A: "I have an issue with X part which failed, and so does Bob, and Suzy"

B;  "X product has an issue with X part inside (in general)"

To forward from 10 people, or 20 people which constitute A, ....that this someone also posits B, or implies B is false.

There is no parameter set in stone for B on any product made.

Suffice to say as per the SSD reported by an extremely limited number of people its certainly MORE than 1, and FAR FAR LESS than  0.2% of total product (200,00  ~ 300,000 +)

As such demanding 100% absolute perfection in 300,000+ highly (incredibly so) complex products is beyond the pale unrealistic.

If a 500 Million dollar satellite put together by the finest international minds on earth can burn up in Mars re-entry due to an insane mistake of a software line of code (as was the case a few years ago), ...........then maybe some REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE should be shed in the arena of incredibly complex computers covered by Apple with #1 customer service.

No, you didnt do any such thing

Some however jump to conclusions on a board where people come for problems.

I love my Air too, Ive owned 3 of them.  Anything can fail on any computer, theyre all complex, but Apple is #1 in cust. service, and the Air is very robust indeed.

Air is only second after the mac mini online in very high resale value out of ALL computers put together, theres a good reason for that.

No-one is demanding absolute perfection. Most people on this board are asking why Apple only provides a limited included warranty for such a major part and has a policy of absolutely no exceptions. Particularly irksome is that Apple's warranty is less than that offered by the same parts manufacturers when the part is sold directly.

Car manufacturers also make complex and large volume items. The car manufacturers with the best customer service ratings and re-sale values also stand behind their products with long term warranties and an interest in protecting their reputation by addressing customer situations. Apple's base warranty and no exceptions policy is the real problem here.

Extend the base warranty to two years on the SSD, screen and CPU and demonstrate to customers that you stand behind your product and that you are confident major components will not fail in less than two years.

No-one is demanding absolute perfection.

 

praeteritio

Most people on this board are asking why Apple only provides a limited included warranty for such a major part and has a policy of absolutely no exceptions.

What would be a feasible 'exception' to a manufacturer's warranty?

Particularly irksome is that Apple's warranty is less than that offered by the same parts manufacturers when the part is sold directly.

Samsung warranty includes remittence after one year. You are liable for 75% of the replacement cost within the second year and 50% of the cost within the third year if your SSD fails. Toshiba provides a one year limited warranty on their current client SSDs.

Applecare covers all parts of your machine for three years from the date of purchase, and you have the option to purchase it anytime within the one year base warranty. Oh, yeah, and Apple is providing a warranty for a computer, not an individual component.

Car manufacturers also make complex and large volume items. The car manufacturers with the best customer service ratings and re-sale values also stand behind their products with long term warranties and an interest in protecting their reputation by addressing customer situations.

The only thing car manufacturs and Apple have in common is both subject their products to extensive crash testing.

I am far from an Apple apologist, and you make me sound like one. It's a testament to the irrationality of your comment.

Add one more MBA SSD failure to the list. Just under a year old.

After a valient try at the Broomfield Genius Bar it was shipped out for repair with an expectation that it'd be returned on August 30th. However its status since August 28th has been "Diagnosing product."

I run my business on this machine and am already missing deadlines.

While I've always bought AppleCare (4th Mac) this is the first time I've put Apple service to such a test. I find Apple's lack of promptness, or at least of updates, very disappointing. Particularly if SSD failure on this model of MBA is not such a rare occurance after all.

Another failed MBA ssd hd herer. Mine failed last Sunday - I have to wait until next week to get my MBA back from apple which makes it 2 to 3 weeks downtime?! - luckily under warranty - still a horrible experience. I use it for work.

aussieinsf 

Particularly irksome is that Apple's warranty is less than that offered by the same parts manufacturers when the part is sold directly.

That is commonplace in both cars and computers.  When car mfg. buy X part for their car they take it upon themselves (often, not always) to acquire the mantle of X warranty / replacement service, in turn the car mfg. gets a discount for X number of 1000s of X parts for X car.

Same is the case with most all computer mfg.    The Air is incredibly simplex part-wise.

monitor, fan, battery, logic board, chassis, and SSD, other than $10 worth of cabling inside, the macbook Air is  for all intents and purposes a 5-part computer (not counting the chassis and keyboard). Making it very robust in fact, along with only 1 moving part.

Your having equated CNC machined steel car parts with micrometer level computer parts however is a false analogy not sensibly enjoined.

Apple does stand behind its product, and its service is #1 for a reason. Not to sound an Apple apologist, but having repaired laptops (non Apple) for nearly 12 years both commercial and private, Apples SOP (standard operating procedure) for service and warranty is second to none by a long shot.

Electronic devices do not have a very long warranty for reasons far far too long to list here, .....comparing same to car parts is a nonstarter.

However extended warranty per-1000$ on a laptop is 1/30th as much thru 3rd party insurers as that per-1000$ for a likewise car. As such once again there is no comparison.

One more:

My wife's ssd on her 2012 mba also failed.  It was 2 months past warrantee.  I called Apple and without much of a fuss, they extended me a one time coverage.  Perhaps the problem is starting to pop up enough that they are aware it might be an issue.

For those of you that have had your drives replaced already, I have a question: are they replacing the drive with the same Toshiba drive we have been having problems with?  To be safe, I will have my wife start using an external drive for all her important data, and backing that drive up regularly.  I anticipate the possibility that I might be replacing the new drive myself in a year (give or take 2 months).  So . . .

For those of you that have used the OWC drives, how is the experience?  Any install issues?  Any failures out there? 

Thanks

owc doesnt make HD

there are only 3 conventional mfg. of HD on earth.  seagate... western digital (dont get one)....and hitachi/toshiba

get a hitachi or toshiba (both hitachi made)