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Warning: Upgrading your Samsung Series 9 notebook SSD could void your warranty

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imageI was doing a little weekend reading and stumbled across a thread about the Samsung Series 9 notebook computer.  In that thread, one of the forum posters had contacted Samsung about a drive upgrade for their Samsung Series 9 notebook.  Apparently the customer service representative for Samsung pointed them to the following link: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00032140&fm_seq=32308. 

The contents of the FAQ entry is the following:

“Notebooks: Can I Upgrade The Hard Disk Drive On My Notebook?

Most Samsung notebooks use a standard 2.5” SATA hard drive. You can upgrade the hard drive as long as the replacement hard drive meets the specifications of the laptop. Upgrading the hard drive will not void the warranty. However, if your computer requires service and the problem is caused by the upgraded hard drive, Samsung is not responsible for the hard drive or problems caused by the upgraded hard drive.

Note: The hard drive compartment door for the Q310 is located along the left side of the laptop case.

Important: If you upgrade the hard drive on the X360, NF310 and Series 9 laptops you void the manufacturer’s warranty on the computer because you must open the notebook to access the hard drive.”

I highlighted the important part in red.  I’ve heard of the OEMs calling these ultrabook designs “sealed case” but I don’t recall seeing a policy like this before.  It’s really a shame especially since Samsung is shipping 128GB mSATA SSD storage from Sandisk instead of their own flash storage.  I had planned to buy a 128GB model and upgrade it but looks like I won’t be doing that.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2012
    It's no secret that the trend is towards sealed laptops (thus Apple's quasi exit from EPEAT). Warranty repairs would basically be replacements, repair shops and their technicians will no longer exist. I don't yet understand the math behind this but several manufacturers are hinting similar policies; disposable computers at sub $500 retail I understand but it's not the same with over $1K SOA portable machines. Maybe there's a hardware insider reader that could shine a light on all this for all of us!

  • Anonymous
    July 16, 2012
    I 4 sure will never buy systems like this one. A PC is a device what can and should be customized. That the reason why I didn't like Appple. Just my 2 cents Thomas

  • Anonymous
    July 18, 2012
    The comment has been removed