MacBook Casing Defect: Prevalent Cracking

I thought that you'd taken a photo of my MacBook; I've got exactly the same crack - and scotch tape - on my unit!

I've also got issues with my bluetooth module crapping out ("Bluetooth: Not Available") sporadically. Tapping the left hand side of the machine sometimes gets it going again, leading me to believe that there's a loose contact somewhere. Forums are full of others in a similar situation.

I'm way out of warranty (I'm on a Core 1 Duo MacBook) but am going to try and fix the second problem (open the case an have a look) and ask Apple about the first.

Even with these issues, with hindsight, I'd have still purchased the MacBook. It's been, and continues to be, a great machine.

I had the same crack appear a couple of weeks ago and applied the same scotch tape fix. FWIW, I'm also a southpaw.

Despite the crack, I still love the MacBook; it's the best Mac I've owned. (I'm tempted to throw in a Brokeback Mountain reference, but that meme's seen its better days.)

I had this happen to my black MacBook, and when I took it down to the Apple Store, the genius said it was a known manufacturing defect, and they would repair it even though the MacBook was out of warranty. They replaced the top case, and it's been quite nice since then.

You might notice that there are ridges on the screen side of the top cover. If you put any weight at all on those ridges they penetrate the casing right in the area shown in your photos. It is not the magnet, it is a design flaw with the ridges, and the fact that Apple used extremely thin plastic casing where to covers meet. I had it happen on my black MacBook. An attendant at an Apple Genius bar fixed the problem with no questions. On this go-around I have surrounded those ridges with thin felt pads stuck on the top cover. It looks tacky and I should not have to do it but it works.

I have a black MacBook and it happened to me. It's not the magnets. It is the hard ridges at the edge of screen side of the top case. If you notice, they close at exactly the location of the cracks. If you carry your MacBook in a case with books or any kind of weight they will pierce and crack the keyboard cover. It is a serious design flaw because the cracks allow dust and contaminants to reach your motherboard. Apple fixed mine with no questions asked. I have since surrounded those ridges with felt pads so that they can't cause the problem again. All MacBooks should be recalled and the casing surrounding the screens should be replaced with a redesign without ridges. I can't believe that none of you other posters failed to notice the true cause of the cracks!

In any case I had the same concerns as you all before I went to the Genius Bar but they were very nice about replacing the damaged plate.

This literally happened to me 2 days ago, and I was at the Apple store today, where they said they'd fix it for free. It's a white MacBook about 2 months shy from its 1 year anniversary, so it's still covered under warranty

The problem seems to have to do with the ridge on the right in the lid hitting up against this spot. I wonder why it's always on the right side though, if it's affecting left handed people there too?

I barely got 2 sentences into explaining it, and they immediately knew what I was talking about and pointed at the opposing lid as the culprit. I was clearly not the first person they'd seen with this issue.

Kudos to Apple for not giving me any hassle about it.

Yep -- my white Macbook, purchased new in Dec 2007, has EXACTLY the same cracking problems on both sides of the trackpad area -- it appeared *suddenly* without much warning, manifesting to a peeling bit of plastic exactly like above pictures within 24 hours -- ended up cutting off these peeling with a fingernail clipper, as they were sticking me in the wrist and hand while typing -- they are similar to a hangnail in their appearance.

Since my Macbook is not yet six-months old, I figured that I would mosy on down to the Apple store and see what it would take to get the case top replaced under warranty -- time wise, I can't afford to part with the Macbook right now -- also, I have a intermittantly responding PERIOD key -- first time you hit it, such as when typing a URL, and *nothing* appears (very annoying) and you have to hit the PERIOD key AGAIN to get it to show a visual -- this needs to be fixed, too -- can't decide if it is a crappy keyboard, or a keyboard software driver issue.

Another set of examples with some reader input:
http://babygotmac.com/a/macbook-case-cracks-on-wristpad/

I've gone through half a dozen now (for those around me, not all mine) and have had each replaced with no qualms at all by the local Apple store.

This has happened to me also (I own a C2D macbook purchased September last year). Fortunately I can get it repaired via warranty, but they are taking their time over it. I too take great care off my Macbook; never dropped, always well protected.

The reason the cracks occur in the same places is due to the plastic riser on the LCD. Look at the top edge of the screen. I guarantee the cracks line up with them. People tend to put pressure on the top of the macbook while its closed and the risers dig into the case, causing them the case to crack. Usually it happens to people who put their macbook in a bag with other items, like school books, and it pushes down on the LCD lid or people who rest other items on top of their macbook while its closed.

Mystery solved.

Darn it all, I was just considering buying a MacBook again! I don't have the money or the need for something like the Pro or Air--the vanilla MacBook seems to fit my needs exactly. Can we fast-forward to the part where Apple releases a MacBook which doesn't have this problem?

Hmm.. Interesting, my black Macbook hasn't shown signs of this, thankfully. Though I did have the overheating problem that I fixed on my own.

I have had my macbook's case replaced twice due to this issue. I should imagine it'll happen two or three times more until my applecare runs out. At which point, it won't be replaced at all.

I had the same problem on a Macbook built in 2006; they change and substitute the upper case. It was an issue recognized also by Apple (there were some discussions about it in Apple Support) and it was among the authorized repairs list.
Starting from 2007 there has not been other issues about the case (just another annoying things I have seen on a new one: always the upper case, on the left where there are two "useless" screws, the case bounces and when it's heating make some noise: in this case no warranty repair...)

I work for a third-party Apple repair company in the UK, and I've seen tons of these. It seems far more prevalent on the original Core Duo MacBooks, and as for the colour, I don't remember seeing a black one with this problem. It could be that the white ones are more popular, but they have a lot more problems. A few Core 2 Duo machines have had this cracking too, but both CD and C2D MacBook owners have gotten them fixed out of warranty with Apple (on our advice).

A lot more significant than this is the hard drive failures in MacBooks. You think a slight crack is bad? Try total data loss after a few months, or a lot more commonly, just over a year. A lot of people don't buy AppleCare and they're convinced Apple's screwing them. It's not good press when Mac sales are just taking off — problems that could happen to any operating system or computer brand are magnified when it's Apple, and people walk away with pretty much the worst problem you can have with a computer straight away, and almost certainly bring it up when their friends say "Hey, how's that Apple laptop you bought?" when it's computer shopping time. Anyway, MacBooks are pretty solid now, but those early problems are pretty shocking.

I worked at an Apple Specialist/AASP for a while at the help desk position and I saw this issue fairly often, both from users who care for their MacBooks and others who abuse it. Personally, I think the problem is that the standoffs on the bezel of the display are made from the same hard plastic as the palmrest portion of the case. When the machine is closed, it creates a perfect pressure point for those standoffs to dig in to the palmrest and crack it. If someone picks up the closed MacBook by the front edge, it adds even more pressure, and exacerbates the cracking. Combine that with the staining problem of the early white MacBooks and we replaced MacBook top cases almost a few times a day.

I did not see the issue nearly as often on black MacBooks (probably a 15:1 ratio). I think Apple could solve it by making the standoffs on the bezel of the display be rubber, so they squish and compress instead of cracking the palmrest.

It looks like the casing sit slightly higher than the platform for the keypad. perhaps if they were to invert this, and then make the casing around the top stick out more so that when it is closed a compensation would occur it may fix it in future generations of macbooks.

I had the same issue: Apple recognizes this defect and repair it under warranty: after repair no more problem. It should affect Macbook made prior than 2007 (or early 2007)
(there were some discussions also on apple support).
On a new macbook I've seen another annoying problem: always the upper case, on left side where there two useless screws: the side is bouncing and after the mac start heating it makes also an annoying noise (no warranty in this case, it's aesthetic problem, they told me)

Both me and my wife have white macbooks and BOTH developed the cracking around the edges. Luckily (in a weird way) our keyboards also developed the discoloring so the Apple dealer replaced both our keyboards because of the discoloring defect.

This is amazing. The same thing happened to my Macbook. I didn't feel like i'd miss-used it and I deffinitly didn't drop it. As it was my first EVER computer i thought "who knows?". I've stuck one of the apple stickers that came with it over the crack. It looks ok and has stopped it from worsening. I'll post a picture on the flickr site when i get a moment. I have to admit I didn't think of sending it back, partly because I love the little thing and I don't want to be without her, but also because they work so flipping well that I assumed it was my fault. I can live with it, as long as it doesn't get worse, but I'm approaching the end of my warranty. Is this going to b**ch slap my life somewhere down the line?

I've had this problem twice... the first time was just coming up to the 1 year aniversary. They acknowledged that it was a known problem, and I had it fixed at the local Apple store.

After another 6 months, the same thing happened again, and as I had AppleCare, I called the local store. They were a real pain to work with, saying I needed to send it back, and I was demanding that they fix it at the Apple Store.

They finally agreed, but when I took it in there, they gave me a really hard time about how I must have been heavy-handed with opening and closing it. I told them how many examples I'd found on the web, and they finally went quiet, and just fixed it.

Definitely a known problem that they're not 'fessing up to!

I was working on my 6-week-old white MacBook tonight and it cracked in exactly the same spot as I moved my hand on teh palm-rest. If I wasn't so annoyed it would have been funny - I had two friends with me who had been ribbing one another with Mc vs. PC comments and this issue united us in commenting on Apple's legendary build quality ;-)

Seriously, this appears to be a very common issue - and I found other forums that speculated new MacBooks don't suffer from the problem because they have changed the top cover. Mine was ordered on 5 February, delivered on 14 February, broken on 31 March. How new does the top cover have to be?!

For the record, my MacBook has never been dropped, only been out of the house once, and most of the time has been sitting on my desk.

As most people seems to have splits/cracks on the right-hand-side (and most peopleare right-handed), I'd guess that this is more to do with the way that a hand rests on that edge whilst using the keyboard - what?! I actually rested my palm on the palm rest and didn't use an external keyboard/mouse on a notebook PC... that must be a user error ;-)

I'm off to my local Apple Store tomorrow morning to see what they have to say about it...

Like most customer service-oriented issues, I guess it just depends on who you talk to.