Apple Warranty?

Can anyone enlighten me as to what exactly Apple's warranty policies are? One of my birthday presents this year (from my Grandfather) is a new laptop. At the moment, I'm stuck on the fence between a 17" MBP (UXGA Matte display, 7.2k drive, will upgrade the RAM to 4gb myself after I get it-whether it's my money or not I refuse to give Mr. Jobs $750 for $75 in RAM and 5 minutes of install time) and a Sager (pc notebook, similar specs to the mac, bigger, heavier, worse battery life, but a bit faster).

What's killing me right now is the warranty on the Mac. The thermal compound issue I can probably live with, but I've asked three apple store employees-at three different stores-whether upgrading the hard drive will void my warranty and all three have told me that it will.

They can't possibly be serious, can they? There's no possible way. I've read the warranty booklet (at least the first page) and nowhere does it say that. What it says is (and I quote) "This warranty does not apply: (a) to damage caused by use with non-Apple products; (b) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, flood, fire, earthquake or other external causes; (c) to damage caused by operating this product outside the permitted or intended uses described by Apple; (d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anybody who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider; (e) to a product or part that has been modified to significantly alter the functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple..."

Nowhere in there does it say that you can't make changes to the machine. What it says is *if you break it while making those changes (or as a result of those changes)* then the parts that you break will not be warrantied. Or is there something that I'm not understanding?

Geeky1 said:

(d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anybody who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provide;

Click to expand...

It will not void your warranty per-se, but if something would happen to your computer and it needed to go in for service you more than likely would have to replace the factory drive. And by no means if something happens to the computer when your a changing the hdd then will they fix it.

My advice get an networkable external

Could do the external route, but it kinda defeats the purpose. Right now it's not a big deal, the largest 7.2k drive out there is 200GB. But if the machine comes with a Toshiba drive it'll need to be swapped out ASAP, and there are 320GB drives in the pipeline now. When those come out and are available at 7.2k, I'm gonna want to upgrade. External works as a backup but it doesn't help if I want to carry everything with me.

Basically it sounds to me like exactly what you said... you're fine, as long as you don't break it, and you'll probably have to switch it back when you send the computer in. Which would make it no different really from any other laptop warranty. Except that Apple has a reputation for trying to squeeze out of theirs, I think. But if that's going to be a problem it'll be a problem whether I upgrade it or not.

You seem to have a pretty negative view on Apple. Apple takes care of their customers. Just look at the iPhone fiasco.

And why would you switch out a Toshiba drive ASAP?

Please elaborate on my negative view of Apple; I'm not sure I understand. And... er... what fiasco? The price drop? That's not a fiasco, that's business-and the "refund" such as it was was genius. Costs very little, makes them look great. That was an excellent business move.

As far as the Toshiba drives go: I've had two-one was a 4200rpm 40GB drive, the other a 50GB 7200rpm. Both drives (obviously the 7200 in particular, but the 4200 as well) had to be kept exposed to the open air to prevent them from exceeding their maximum operating temperature spec (50*C); the 7.2k actually needed a fan on it. Had to forget about using the battery in my modular bay because the drive would cook. Their drives (much like their computers) are garbage. Any other brand-WD, Hitachi, Seagate, even Fujitsu-I'm ok with. Not Toshiba.

Just your whole first post. I wasn't accusing you or anything. Just an observation.

I have never had a problem with Toshiba's stuff. Luck of the draw, I guess.