MacBook Hard Drive REP Ends
Over the years we’ve written a lot about Apple’s repair extension programs. When a particular part failure becomes statistically relevant, Apple will own up to that failure and cover the cost of repair or replacement of that part, generally for three years from the computer’s purchase date regardless of warranty status. It became clear some time ago that a specific set of first-generation style MacBooks (non-unibody) had abnormally high hard drive failure rates. Apple responded by covering the hard drives in these MacBooks.
That repair extension program expired last week. We did so many of these repairs that it seems any qualifying machine has likely been repaired already, so it’s not much of a loss to see the program expire. Apple has five active programs at the moment, and you can read about them here.
The iBook and PowerBook G4 battery program will likely remain in effect indefinitely, as there was a true safety risk with those batteries and there are still plenty of those older machines in active use. There’s also a program to cover specific graphics card issues in some MacBook Pros.
On the accessories side, the very first run of ultracompact USB power adapters can be exchanged for a revised model. You can tell if your adapter qualifies if it does NOT have a chartreuse dot near the prongs and submit your exchange request here. Finally, some Apple headphones (the kind with the remote right on the wire) can be replaced if the volume changes unexpectedly, controls stop working intermittently, or voice feedback randomly turns on.
It should be noted that many customers believe these programs to be recalls. They are not. The vast majority of products that qualify for these programs do not show symptoms.