does replacing the hard drive in the MBP void your warranty?

does it, cause i want a 500GB hard drive instead of the normal 200, 25, and 300 GB ones

 

I believe it does void the warranty. But if I'm not mistaken, you can still swap it out without voiding warranty if someone who actually works for Apple does it for you (I believe I read this in another thread).

Take this with a grain of salt, I'm not entirely sure myself.

 

Technically, I believe so. However there's nothing stopping you from swapping it back if you need repairs, and they'd be none the wiser. Just make sure you're careful and don't break anything while swapping.

 

just watch out for stickers! they could blow your cover.

 

Technically, changing your hard drive unless it is done by an Apple certified technician can void your warranty, but I have heard of reports where the customer support from Apple don't really mind unless you damaged something in the process. So they can if they want, it depends on the customer support person I guess.

 

I don't think there are any stickers.

 

Famous last words!

 

would a 500gb 2.5 work in a MBP ? , thought it would only take 300gb, due to heat/power porblems

 

Changing a HDD on an MBP will void the warranty if Apple decide to interpret the warranty terms strictly. On a Macbook it won't void it (thanks again to Syrc for pointing this out to me). A 500gb drive should have no issues with the MBP. I assume your looking at the Samsung M6 500gb. I'm looking at the same model but recent poor reviews are turning me off it a bit. High transfer rates but slower than expected access times might not make it good as a main OS drive. The 500gb drives made by IBM/Hitachi are 12.5mm in height and will only fit a 17" MBP. If its a 15" MBP check out this site for a tutorial on opening the lappy without damaging anything

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-2-Duo/115

 

Unless done by an Apple-certified technician, yes it does void your warranty. You should be able to get by without it being noticed if you're careful though.

 

I'm on my 3rd hard drive (always increasing my storage). Speaking of stickers, there is an orange-colored cellophane tape that holds down the keyboard ribbon, and this needs to be lifted. Hard to tell if it has any function, or just shows that it isn't on it's original stick.

Did I mention? - I am out of warranty...

And Jurisprudence is correct -- the 12.5 mm will not fit in the 15".

 

I had a spare hdd from a machine which blew up, and had it installed in my MBP by a genius at the Apple Store. He wouldn't even let me buy him a coffee as payment (there's a Peet's shop right next door). He had it installed in about three minutes.

Twice Apple has serviced my out-of-warranty machines for free. The other time, another Genius reinstalled the OS into an ancient G4 tower. The machine was given to my son without a disk; because the OS was a Chinese version it was useless to him. Again, the gent wouldn't accept any payment - not even a latte.

So, if you live anywhere near a store, I suggest letting the Apple folks take care of you. Maybe you'll be as lucky as I've been so far.

 

Yes it will so you'll never be able to upgrade!!! J/K as long as you dont fudge up anything while upgrading you should be straight.

 

I'm guessing the geniuses aren't ALLOWED to take payment of any kind other than a payment to Apple.

 

I meant that I paid nothing at all. There were no charges for the services I described - not even a coffee. lol

 

How does replacing your hard drive void your warranty? Doesn't The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act protect consumers?

 

Since Best Buy has started handling Apple products in stores, the Geek Squad has been trained and authorized for Apple service. For $35 they will swap out your hard drive and not void your warranty (although Apple will offer no warranty on the new non apple drive).

 

No idea what that "Act" contains, but it sounds like you are referring to some American law. Which might or might not apply to the Americans, but certainly not to the rest of us, even if Apple is an American company it is still bound by local laws

But anyway, I'd imagine that if there is any law that Apple could be interpreted as breaking, someone would have figured that out already and sued Apple for the hell of it. That seems to be the only reason necessary over there

That said, EULAs are considered binding contracts in general, but you can't negotiate away laws in them, so your example might very well be correct. Please do elaborate, I'm curious now.

 

Thank you Starlight I was going to say that myself but have been too busy and tired to post as working 11 hour days. If people are quoting laws can they please please say which country its from. I don't mean to sound bad or ungrateful (its great to see people educated as to their rights) but if someone from another jurisdiction places reliance on it they can end up getting badly burned. Thanks guys.

The MMWA does not stop any manufacturer from placing a 'no authorised alteration' notice on any product. Thats why doing something like laser etching an MBP, despite being cool and not effecting any component in any material sense, may be deemed to invalidate the warranty. From what I can see RAM upgrades appear to be seen as non-violational out of industry custom but HDD's don't usually get that approach from manufacturers. Replacing a HDD on Apples Macbook appears not to invalidate but this appears to be based upon the ease of access to the drive. Sony with the PS3 appears to be another big exception (they just seem to ask you to label the drive as 3rd party so they don't loose it, very nice attitude ). For the rest of us with MBP's and other laptops its play careful and leave no trace or face a repair bill.

I would say to anyone who has replaced their HDD with another and then develops a fault which is non-HDD related that if any company tries to argue warranty invalidation for a repair based on the HDD being 3rd party be nice to the techs and if no go basically open fire at the tech support management to honour your warranty for the faulty part. It does get results with most reasonable companies.