IAAACMT (I Am An Apple Certified Macintosh Technician), so I have replaced lots of drives in lots of Macs :). It is pretty easy to do however, if you are confident with a screwdriver. There are a couple of points at which you need to be quite careful, but it is not a difficult operation. Bear in mind of course, if your machine is under APP (3 year warranty) you will be technically voiding your warranty by opening the case up.
Checking the terms and conditions for AppleCare, you'll find that damage caused by modifications by non-Apple technicians isn't covered by the plan (section 1 b ii), but modifications themselves aren't prohibited. As in, they won't pay to fix it if you break it, but it doesn't "void" your APP unless it directly causes damage.
I should mention I've never had a disagreement with Apple over whether they should cover a repair in a situation like that, so I don't know how they would interpret it.
Noig: jofizz Are you available to replace this drive? In the Nelson area? Thanks
Hi Noig, Sorry I am in Auckland, so not much help to you. There is only one Apple Authorized Service Provider in Nelson, SouthTec. If your unit is out of warranty, then it doesn't have to be done by an AASP, of course.
There are excellent instructions available at Make should you choose to do it yourself.
Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly
to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.