Redditor claims Apple employees gaslit him over new $2,000 MacBook Pro M5's creaking hinge and palmrest issues

Apple’s new M5 MacBook Pro debuted a few weeks ago with widespread praise for its improved performance, efficiency, and battery life. However, one Reddit user’s first-time experience with the M5 MacBook Pro hasn’t been entirely great.

Reddit user noss616, a first-time MacBook customer from Australia, spent $2,000 for a full-spec 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro. After using the M5 MacBook for 15 days, he noticed creaking sounds from the laptop’s hinge and palm rest area. This creaking happened whenever the user closed or opened the MacBook or applied pressure to the chassis.

Noss616 recorded a video of the MacBook demonstrating the issue. With an AppleCare+ subscription, he headed to two different Apple stores. Unfortunately, employees at both retailers dismissed the issue, stating they couldn’t hear the creaking sounds.

Despite a closer inspection, the employees dismissed the complaint, insisting that nothing was out of place. During his second visit, the customer described Apple employees “gaslighting” him, as one Apple employee stated that the noise came from the MacBook’s “metal-on-metal body” and claimed it was entirely normal.

The same employee said, “We’re not going to replace it because we don’t want to create a precedent. If we swap it and the new one has the same noise, it just becomes an endless cycle of exchanges.”

Under the same Reddit post, a former Genius Bar Technician stated that the creaking was a non-functional cosmetic issue and wouldn’t be covered under warranty. Another Reddit user said they secured a replacement M4 on the spot after persisting with store management for a similar complaint.

This isn’t an isolated problem; previous-generation MacBooks had been plagued by similar hinge creaking sounds, which were often resolved by tightening the screws around the mechanism.

However, such issues hit hard, especially after spending almost $2000 on a new M5 MacBook with a monthly AppleCare+ subscription. Whether this faint creaking warrants a complete replacement remains subjective, but for a company proud of its craftsmanship and engineering, it reminds users that even Apple has quality-control issues, even if it chooses to disregard minor cosmetic ones from time to time.

Many users under the Reddit post noted that if the noss616 remains persistent with Apple and escalates the issue to a higher channel, he might eventually be given a replacement M5 MacBook Pro by the Cupertino-based tech giant.