Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Care saved my day - MacBook Pro

iKaushal

iKaushal

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 7, 2011
459
62
Mumbai, India
I had bought a 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2011) model and it was quite an expensive laptop compared to others.

Also in India traditionally, Apple products are more expensive due to taxes and foreign exchange rates. My laptop had cost INR 1,05,000 approx $2000 in 2012 March.

Apple care cost me additional INR 18,000 approx $350 :eek: in 2012 rates

But after 2 years of use, finally it paid off :) all of a sudden there was a graphics issue and during bootup it showed a few horizontal lines and flickering followed by a white screen.

I promptly sent it to Apple authorised service Center in Mumbai, India...and they confirmed it is a graphics card issue and as Apple policy, they won't repair it....but replace the whole Motherboard itself :eek:

Got back my brand new from inside mac back in 2 working days flat....!!

Out of curiosity I asked the staff there, if I didn't have apple care, what would had been cost of the replacement...and I was like OMG :eek: INR 45,000 approx $750 in today's exchange rates.

I still have my apple care till March 2015 and I'm so happy about it. Thanks Apple for the wonderful after sales support and buying Apple care was the best decision after I got my MBP :):apple:
 
iKaushal said:
I had bought a 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2011) model and it was quite an expensive laptop compared to others.

Also in India traditionally, Apple products are more expensive due to taxes and foreign exchange rates. My laptop had cost INR 1,05,000 approx $2000 in 2012 March.

Apple care cost me additional INR 18,000 approx $350 :eek: in 2012 rates

But after 2 years of use, finally it paid off :) all of a sudden there was a graphics issue and during bootup it showed a few horizontal lines and flickering followed by a white screen.

I promptly sent it to Apple authorised service Center in Mumbai, India...and they confirmed it is a graphics card issue and as Apple policy, they won't repair it....but replace the whole Motherboard itself :eek:

Got back my brand new from inside mac back in 2 working days flat....!!

Out of curiosity I asked the staff there, if I didn't have apple care, what would had been cost of the replacement...and I was like OMG :eek: INR 45,000 approx $750 in today's exchange rates.

I still have my apple care till March 2015 and I'm so happy about it. Thanks Apple for the wonderful after sales support and buying Apple care was the best decision after I got my MBP :):apple:
Click to expand...

My 15" early-2011 was also affected by Radeongate and it just had to happen...3 days after my 3-year AppleCare expired.

You're one lucky chap.
 
yjchua95 said:
My 15" early-2011 was also affected by Radeongate and it just had to happen...3 days after my 3-year AppleCare expired.

You're one lucky chap.
Click to expand...

Thank God.

I didn't know about the faulty graphics issues in that model.

I hope the new logic board will survive
 
iKaushal said:
Thank God.

I didn't know about the faulty graphics issues in that model.

I hope the new logic board will survive
Click to expand...

According to the AASP in my place, they said that all 2011 Sandy Bridge logic boards with the Radeon GPU have Radeongate, because all of them have the same manufacturing flaw.

Several customers who opted for a logic board replacement suffered Radeongate again within 2 weeks.

The only real solution is a reball/reflow. No amount of logic board changes will solve it as it's a manufacturing flaw that affects all the Sandy Bridge boards with Radeon.
 
I am happy to hear that your failed PC experience was good in the end.

I purchased my 1st Mac ever about 2 years ago, a 2011 refurb. Before the warranty expired I purchased AppleCare and it has paid for itself many times over. Its first failure was a few weeks after the 1yr warranty expired.

I just purchased a new 13in rMBP and got AppleCare with it, I feel it is a wise purchase if you are confident you will have the PC the length of it. I plan on selling my iMac when I am down to a month or 2 AppleCare left.
 
yjchua95 said:
According to the AASP in my place, they said that all 2011 Sandy Bridge logic boards with the Radeon GPU have Radeongate, because all of them have the same manufacturing flaw.

Several customers who opted for a logic board replacement suffered Radeongate again within 2 weeks.

The only real solution is a reball/reflow. No amount of logic board changes will solve it as it's a manufacturing flaw that affects all the Sandy Bridge boards with Radeon.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm....in that case just before my warranty gets over next year march, I will sell this one and get a newer model. :)
 
I had asked a question whether or not AppleCare was necessary. This thread is tempting me to just get it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will now.

Did you have any trouble at all in the first year?
 
Hieveryone said:
I had asked a question whether or not AppleCare was necessary. This thread is tempting me to just get it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will now.

Did you have any trouble at all in the first year?
Click to expand...

I bought my MBP in March 2012.

I didn't have any issue till April 2014.

Apple care saved me a lot of money this time.

Also in past apple care helped me get free exchange on my iphone 5 and ipad 2.
 
Glad we have the laws we have in the EU.

A product costing as much as a Macbook Pro should last you longer than 3 years so even without Apple Care they have to repair or replace here in Europe.

I think the rest of the world should catch up with these regulations!!
 
yjchua95 said:
The only real solution is a reball/reflow. No amount of logic board changes will solve it as it's a manufacturing flaw that affects all the Sandy Bridge boards with Radeon.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine why this issue would not have been fixed in later board production once the flaws was understood, its not as if ALL logic boards with the issue were manufactured at the same time......? If that was true then from a certain point, with the spares stock fixed, repaired units would no longer be susceptible. Of course there would have been a period where repaired units would have got a board with the same flaw but by now this should be fixed in new spares stock....
 
simonsi said:
I can't imagine why this issue would not have been fixed in later board production once the flaws was understood, its not as if ALL logic boards with the issue were manufactured at the same time......? If that was true then from a certain point, with the spares stock fixed, repaired units would no longer be susceptible. Of course there would have been a period where repaired units would have got a board with the same flaw but by now this should be fixed in new spares stock....
Click to expand...

Apple never repairs logic boards. All they'd do is just to give a replacement, more often than not from refurb parts.

The flaw wasn't discovered until late 2013. Production of the Sandy Bridge logic boards stopped sometime in early 2012.
 
Hmm...

You're happy that you had to pay $250 extra to get a Mac that would last longer than 2 years.

What's the Indian word for "low expectations"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back