Apple Finally Addressing White MacBook Cracks

Users of Apple's polycarbonate White MacBook have been plagued by an issue, which the Mac maker has failed to acknowledge for several years – hairline cracks spontaneously appearing on the notebook's enclosure. According to a memo sent out to Apple service staffers, the company is now addressing these issues, regardless of whether or not a MacBook is under warranty.

Owners of a White 13-inch MacBook have been describing cracks appearing on MacBooks, in spite of ordinary usage, as well as casing discoloration, although these reports are somewhat scarce. Apple is now acknowledging problems with the casing on 13-inch MacBooks, a memo sent out to Apple's Support staff indicates. The memo states that Apple is willing to cover the cost of defective bottom casings, spanning four key sections of the plastic MacBook enclosure that are said to be at risk. According to a Macnn report, those include the area below the palmrest and trackpad, the regions around I/O ports, the rear ventilation and the two rear corners.

Avid Softpedia readers may remember that Apple has been refusing to cover repairs for bottom casings (while cracks on the top side of the enclosure were being addressed), at least since November. Users continued to report damaged casings, despite normal usage. One of our commenters (phillip) wrote:

my macbook has cracked, upper casing on the right side.

obviously a defect. discoloration has been an issue as well, but that doesn't bother me as much. them company should show more respect to it's customers and deal with these issues officially and with expedience.

Softpedia reader Lindsey chimed in with a similar story:

I love love my MacBook. I use it only to write my college papers and I was so put out when I also like chris had a 'hang nail' crack on the edge on my palm rest. It wasn't like I went out of my way to damage the thing either.

I asked a friend that is die hard Apple follower and he said that it was highly unlikely that I could get the crack replaced. But with hearing so many other stories, I think that Apple should own up, publicly.

Well, dear MacBook users, it seems your wait is over. According to several other reports, service providers are indeed being asked to investigate and determine whether the cracks were caused by accident (user-inflicted), or whether they are flaws on behalf of Apple's design team. In the case of the latter, Apple promises to cover the damages.