Lawyers Researching Possible Class Action Lawsuit Over 2011 MacBook Pro Graphics Issues

Just about every 2008 Macbook pro I know of (including mine) ended it's day with a failing graphics card.

I'm happy running a 17 inch 2011 one now and this thread has worried me as I was hopping to make it last many years - I don't hold much hope for Apple doing much to help me in the case of a failure.

Anyone any thoughts on whether gaming might significantly reduce the life of the card?

It's about time.

alexgowers said:

If something is out of warranty I kind feel like apple doesn't need to do anything, but that depends on your warranty period in your country as to how fair that is.

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Luckily in the UK we have the Sales of Goods Act. If you purchase an item that is supposed to be premium for £2000, its reasonable to expect it to last for more then 2 years. All you need is an independent report showing that the item is inherently faulty, as would appear in this case and Apple have to repair it.

jreuschl said:

Do these models have switchable graphics? (meaning you could force the OS to always use Intel graphics) Guessing not.

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Yes, but as soon as you connect an external monitor, it always switches to the faulty graphics chip. In addition, the switch is not permanent. You must be able to boot the OS before you can switch to internal. The day will come when you freeze before you can boot. Mine was in such a bad shape that Apple couldn't even boot their diagnostics. They repaired it for free out of warranty. Then I switched to rMBP. Honestly, Haswell is the first CPU that's powerful enough and running cold at the same time, and the integrated graphics is fine for anything but gaming.

Applelad said:

Just about every 2008 Macbook pro I know of (including mine) ended it's day with a failing graphics card.

I'm happy running a 17 inch 2011 one now and this thread has worried me as I was hopping to make it last many years - I don't hold much hope for Apple doing much to help me in the case of a failure.

Anyone any thoughts on whether gaming might significantly reduce the life of the card?

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Gaming is not needed at all to have trouble with the 2011 MBPs.

I wish they would add the 2011 iMacs as well. My screen has all sorts of burnt looking marks on the inside of the screen (not the glass). Its actually caked in dust from poorly sealed panels. Very annoying.

I loved my 2011 15" MBP and never experienced any problems. I sold it on, however, with the expectation that problems would likely occur.

Class Action suits may be a way to force Apple to pay attention to the issue, but the real winners here will be the lawyers. The dollar-odd settlement payment each purchaser receives will be poor compensation for the costs of repeated logic board replacement.

The right thing for Apple to do is admit the design flaw and replace the affected units with a year warranty on the replacement logic board. I think that would go a long way toward settling the issue without having lawyers profit unduly.

I am not decrying the efforts of solicitors per se ... just aware that affected users really won't gain much after lawyer fees are paid.

1Zach1 said:

I need to start planning what to do with my $0.46 settlement.

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Buy yourself a coke, so you can suck it up

tbone7467 said:

Is this the only 15 and 17 model? Ive seen my 13 MacBook pro do the same screen as the one in original post. its random but happens

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Only the models with a discrete GPU, the 13" 2011 models have integrated GPUs.

Mine failed on my MBP Mid 2010 after 2 years. In the UK, a product should be in working order for a 'reasonable period of time' (sale of goods act) and I argued that a premium cost laptop should last at least 5 years, else it's not 'fit for purpose'. Apple replaced it free of charge, even though it was outside of the standard 1 year warranty.

Consumers need to understand the law and forget about 1 year warranties! Just because a product is outside of a manufactures warranty doesn't mean that it shouldn't be fixed free of charge outside of this. It's another reason why AppleCare is completely pointless (and a waste of money), at least in the UK.

It's not just the 2011 MacBook Pro. The 2010 MacBook Pro had a similar issue. I just had to spend over $300 for a logic board replacement when my GPU failed in my 2010 MacBook Pro after installing OS X 10.9 and having it stress out my GPU (note - If you search on line for OS X 10.9 GPU panic MacBook Pro, you will see that Apple was aware of the GPU issue and had a stealth replacement program (no longer in effect)).

I have lost any sense that Apple are anything but a typical greedy company that has no respect for their customers in any way other than their cash cow potential.

I have one such laptop waiting for some resolution.

Glad this has happened, Apple should have sent everyone with the affected models an email regarding the issue.

Having paid £1500 for my 15" pro I think they should be replacing the logic board for free!

I had to get the logic board replaced in my late 2011 MBP because the GPU gave up the ghost. When I took my machine (which wouldn't even boot) to the Apple store and described the problem she said the diagnostic tests she had to run were basically a formality which made it sound like they commonly serviced MBP's with this issue.

Mine has never skipped a beat in it's three years but my Applecare ran out last month.

I shall watch this thread closely.

Also, is there a definitive test for a dodgy GPU?

BeamWalker said:

Dedicated GPU's on Apple's mobile Computer's don't really have the best track record when it comes to a long lifespan.

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Nope... I had the dreaded nVidia nightmare GPU fail on me 4 times in my 2007 MBP - now my 2011 17" has been better but the GPU has failed once, it was fixed under AppleCare though. Now that I am out of warranty I hope it holds up.

DMod said:

I wish they would add the 2011 iMacs as well. My screen has all sorts of burnt looking marks on the inside of the screen (not the glass). Its actually caked in dust from poorly sealed panels. Very annoying.

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I had that same issue with mine within a few months of ownership, got it replaced under warranty. I'm also on my 4th graphics card in it as of last week. Very annoying.

1Zach1 said:

I need to start planning what to do with my $0.46 settlement.

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If you add the time it takes to look up things and fill out the paperwork, (not always necessary) you owe them money.

Don't get involved

Waste of time. Apple will not give everyone a replacement and by the time this is over people will get a few dollars at most.

Plutonius said:

It's not just the 2011 MacBook Pro. The 2010 MacBook Pro had a similar issue. I just had to spend over $300 for a logic board replacement when my GPU failed in my 2010 MacBook Pro after installing OS X 10.9 and having it stress out my GPU (note - If you search on line for OS X 10.9 GPU panic MacBook Pro, you will see that Apple was aware of the GPU issue and had a stealth replacement program (no longer in effect)).

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That's exactly what happened to me and they replaced it for free.

MacRumors said:

...Typically such programs provide for free repairs and reimbursement for those who had previously paid for repairs to fix the issue.
....

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alexgowers said:

It was quite clearly a issue with subpar components, I feel like it's more of an old apple trick to make you pay for parts that are going to fail anyway.

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The problem here appears to have a bad system design component. The 2011 bake the GPUs to death. For it to be purely bad AMD GPUs there would have to be a rash of GPU failings in other laptop/all-in-one systems by other vendors.

If 2011 just run too hot for too long then part replacements aren't going to fix the issue.

If something is out of warranty I kind feel like apple doesn't need to do anything, but that depends on your warranty period in your country as to how fair that is.

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Hence the ambulance chasers rush to jump in and file before the standard AppleCare 3 year window expires ( 2011 + 3 = 2014 ).

Class action with no particularly real, long lasting resolution? .... the lawyers are probably going to be the ones that get the biggest bang for the buck out of this. The MBP 2011 still probably won't last after the suit is settled.

sparky1499 said:

Mine has never skipped a beat in it's three years but my Applecare ran out last month.

I shall watch this thread closely.

Also, is there a definitive test for a dodgy GPU?

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Why did you pay for AppleCare in the UK? You're already covered by the Sale of Good Act.

Traverse said:

Waste of time. Apple will not give everyone a replacement and by the time this is over people will get a few dollars at most.

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But the lawyers who file the suit will hit a huge payday since they will take a significant chunk of the money.

Apple could offer reduced/affordable repairs on failure for 1-2 iterations going forward. Long enough to so that machine got to 4-6 year span and died a relatively "normal" death.

Headline should read

"Lawyers researching ways to make themselves rich while getting consumers a $4.87 settlement......"

maflynn said:

I'm not a fan of class action suits but its these types of situations that its meant for. Clearly their is something wrong with the 2011 model and apple's refusal to listen to its customers if shocking. Hopefully they'll change directions and fix the MBPs

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I don't think you can fix the 2011 models. At least not permanently. They would need to replace them all which I just don't see happening.