Repair Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Intensive surgery on an old MacBook Pro yields huge performance gains (Updated)

by Chris Rawson (Aug 19th, 2011)

Installing OS X Lion on a 3 1/2-year old MacBook Pro made it clearer than ever just how slow my old machine had become. Beachballs left and right, UI lag, incredibly long reboot times, dismal application load times... as someone accustomed to the "instant on" feel of an iPad or iPhone, I was ...

Flex testing iPad glass

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 25th, 2011)

The folks at iFixYouri had some glass panels from an iPad 1 and an iPad 2 laying around the shop and did some informal tests to see which panel would break under stress. An earlier analysis by iFixit revealed the glass in the iPad 2 was 27% thinner than the iPad 1. The California repair company ...

This is why I stay with Apple

by Chris Rawson (Mar 21st, 2011)

When I described the problems I've had with Apple's notebooks thus far, a few commenters asked me why I stick with Apple at all. "Have you considered a different brand of computer? A Dell or something?" one asked. Another said, "I find it strange that your answer is to buy another product from ...

Have a MacBook Pro with a faulty GPU and no AppleCare? You may still be covered

by Chris Rawson (Mar 8th, 2011)

If you own a MacBook Pro with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT GPU and an expired warranty, you may be unaware that since late 2008 Apple has offered a free out-of-warranty service program for the faulty graphics chipset. Apple's replacement program for the 8600M GT was initially valid for three ...

iFixit releases iPhone 4 liberation kit for Pentalobe screws

by Dave Caolo (Jan 20th, 2011)

The good folks at iFixit have noticed that iPhone 4s taken in for service often return without their original Phillips 00 screws. Instead, they're being replaced with Apple's own proprietary Pentalobular screws. These are the same screws that are in the current-generation MacBook Air. Here's a ...

Apple trademarks 'Express Lane' and 'VoicePass'

by Mike Schramm (Dec 23rd, 2010)

Apple has filed two new trademarks right before the holidays this week. VoicePass is the first one -- it's filed in the category of "construction and repair services," so it likely has to do with supporting broken devices. MacNN says that the VoicePass service is used when calling in to customer ...

AppleCare Adventures: How to get a faulty MacBook battery replaced

by Chris Rawson (Oct 27th, 2010)

The old saying about cars depreciating the moment you drive them off the lot goes double for notebook batteries, which lose a bit of their maximum capacity with every charge cycle. The battery is the one component of your portable Mac that is all but guaranteed to fail eventually... though ...

iFixit tears down the 11-inch MacBook Air

by Chris Rawson (Oct 21st, 2010)

Less than a day after the new 11-inch MacBook Air hit shelves, iFixit's already dissected it. The repair site gave the new MacBook Air a repairability rating of 4/10, with 10 being easiest to repair. Two major obstacles face any user trying to do their own repairs on the MacBook Air. First, the ...

Study: iPhone 3GS more reliable than 3G

by Kelly Guimont (Jun 23rd, 2010)

Poor little iPhone 3G. You are my first iPhone, my first smartphone, my first "I got it the day Apple released it" device. I love you so, and yes, I will miss you when you are gone, replaced by the shiny iPhone 4. Apparently, I was one of the lucky ones. First off, the iPhone 3G is forsaken by ...

What to do when your Mac dies

by Chris Rawson (Apr 30th, 2010)

In general, Mac hardware is very reliable. Like any complex gizmo, a Mac will have its quirks, but only rarely do those quirks turn into a full-on, machine-killing meltdown. When that does happen, as it recently happened to my wife's MacBook, there's a few things you can do to keep the death of your ...

AppleCare without Apple stores... still worth it

by Chris Rawson (Apr 18th, 2010)

Once upon a time, I worked for a major American retailer in its electronics department. The manager of that department, above and beyond all other considerations, wanted us to push extended warranties to customers. These warranties represented almost pure profit for the company, because they cost ...

Fixing a broken iPhone screen doesn't have to be a pain in the glass

by Sang Tang (Apr 15th, 2010)

That old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder: it couldn't be more true of the relationship that I have with my iPhone. It's become such an integral part of my life that I don't know how I ever managed to get by without it. Not since Fox cancelled "Arrested Development" have I missed ...

Macworld 2010: iFixit.com

by Dave Caolo (Feb 22nd, 2010)

One website that must reside in nearly every Machead's bookmarks collection is iFixit. They provide detailed, step-by-step repair guides (and parts) for nearly every Mac, iPod or iPhone fix you can think of. Their instructions are always clear and thorough enough to make even the most daunting ...

Apple offering free hard drive replacements for certain MacBooks

by Dave Caolo (Feb 17th, 2010)

Apple has begun replacing failed hard drives in MacBooks purchased between 2006 and 2007. The program will run until August 15th, 2010. Here are the details: The following models are covered: The 13-inch MacBook, 13-inch, Late 2006 model and the 13-inch, Mid 2007 MacBook (black and white). You ...

Purported pics of next-gen iPhone front face surface

by Chris Rawson (Feb 8th, 2010)

iResQ, the iPhone/iPod repair site, has posted pics of what they claim is the front faceplate of the next-gen iPhone. Two things about this piece of hardware are particularly interesting. First, the part is approximately 1/4 of an inch taller than the iPhone 3GS, indicative of a slightly taller form ...