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17" uMBP just failed. 15" rMBP arrives today—is the 750M a dud?

quidire

quidire

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 11, 2004
349
0
Washington DC (in Kalorama Triangle)
So, my 17" MBP is toast now. Took it to the Apple Store and it appears the PSU failed and damaged part of the logic board to boot. As it's a mid-2010, it's long since out of warranty.

That's fine; between Time Machine, iCloud, and Dropbox I don't have any real data loss, and I got my money's worth out of the device these last 5 and a half years. However, I need a replacement, and cannot wait for the potential fall bump to the 15" rMBP line (and I do need a 15" minimum for my work).

So I have one that's being overnighted, ordered last night and should arrive in an hour or two. BUT, reading through this forum I'm wondering if I chose poorly.

I've ordered a new MGXC2LL/A (i7 2.5/16GB/512GB/750M); I got a good price (just under $2200, about $300 off). Did I make a mistake getting the 750M?

Price-wise, I don't care. The sans-750M was essentially the same price (smaller discount) so it's free. I just want to know whether the MBPr/750M is actually less stable/less reliable/inevitably throttled, as many threads seem to suggest.

Thanks!
 
If you're not a gamer, the 750m is absolutely fine.

People on the forums here don't like it because there are newer and better cards available for the laptop PC market and Apple haven't adopted them yet, or because they have been bitten by the problems Apple have had in the past with dGPUs.

I find the 750m a solid GPU that is faster than the Iris Pro for most general use, and significantly faster when using applications that can take advantage of CUDA (Adobe Premiere is a good example).
 
Well, it's arrived and seems pretty great—amazing what 5 years' elapsed progress can do, eh? ;)

Still concerned about the cooling situation, but I'll keep it. Any known circumstances where it is more of an issue?

Thanks again!
 
cjmillsnun said:
If you're not a gamer, the 750m is absolutely fine.

People on the forums here don't like it because there are newer and better cards available for the laptop PC market and Apple haven't adopted them yet, or because they have been bitten by the problems Apple have had in the past with dGPUs.

I find the 750m a solid GPU that is faster than the Iris Pro for most general use, and significantly faster when using applications that can take advantage of CUDA (Adobe Premiere is a good example).
Click to expand...

Yep. The 960M in the 2015 model of the Razer Blade (or even the 850M) is exponentially better than the 750M in the current rMBP (which is two generations old, as Apple failed to update the graphics card last year. This was due to the delay in the release of Broadwell, which was meant to come last year.).

If you're not a gamer then it should be a non-issue.

If you are a gamer continue ranting. It's what we do best (Apple fans) ;) :D :eek: :cool: :).

Update: If I were you I'd be concerned about the hardware redesign of the MacBook Pro (potentially resulting in a MBP 14".) with better cooling capacity (to support the 960M/970M), a thinner design, potentially 4K option.

Your current situation is akin to buying a MBA 11"/13" or the rMBP 13" right now, when the new MB 12" has just been released (due to be launched on the 10th, in 5 days).
 
rekhyt said:
Update: If I were you I'd be concerned about the hardware redesign of the MacBook Pro (potentially resulting in a MBP 14".) with better cooling capacity (to support the 960M/970M), a thinner design, potentially 4K option.

Your current situation is akin to buying a MBA 11"/13" or the rMBP 13" right now, when the new MB 12" has just been released (due to be launched on the 10th, in 5 days).
Click to expand...

I'd prefer to wait, but I can't hold out for August/September. I need the computer now. It's too bad, really, but there it is.
 
You say you need it for work. One day without a suitable computer could cost you more than what you lose if you buy now and sell it later. If you do this, say, within a year, it doesn't matter one whit if there's a long history of dGPUs failing prematurely (after 2-3 years of use).
 
xylitol said:
You say you need it for work. One day without a suitable computer could cost you more than what you lose if you buy now and sell it later. If you do this, say, within a year, it doesn't matter one whit if there's a long history of dGPUs failing prematurely (after 2-3 years of use).
Click to expand...

Oh, sure (though I'm a bit more parsimonious than that), I was initially just asking if the 750M was a terrible idea. Seems like it's fine, and I can always force the sole use of the embedded GPU if needed. Certainly now that it's arrived, I'm in love with the crisp text and the improved performance. My poor old 17" is no competition at all.

All that's left is to enquire where one finds 2880x1800 native images for one's desktop ;)

Thanks all!
 
Sorry to hear your 17' died. You can always trade/sell the 15" you just ordered when/if a newer 15" refresh suits your fancy in the fall.
 
quidire said:
Oh, sure (though I'm a bit more parsimonious than that), I was initially just asking if the 750M was a terrible idea. Seems like it's fine, and I can always force the sole use of the embedded GPU if needed. Certainly now that it's arrived, I'm in love with the crisp text and the improved performance. My poor old 17" is no competition at all.

All that's left is to enquire where one finds 2880x1800 native images for one's desktop ;)

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

You could use it for now, sell it when the new one comes out and buy that one.
 
quidire said:
Well, it's arrived and seems pretty great—amazing what 5 years' elapsed progress can do, eh? ;)

Still concerned about the cooling situation, but I'll keep it. Any known circumstances where it is more of an issue?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...


If you use Bootcamp much, having the NVidia GPU will decrease battery life under Bootcamp because graphics switching isn't supported. Otherwise there isn't really much of a downside.

On my 2012 rMBP I use gfxcardstatus under OSX to keep it locked to the Intel graphics most of the time for maximum battery life.
 
quidire said:
Great! I'll check if that will work on a mid-2014 model, but thanks for drawing my attention to this!
Click to expand...
I don't know if this is universal or not, but there is one thing you should note about gfxCardStatus. On my Mavericks system, I have to use the menu bar icon for gfxCardStatus and select the Integrated only option twice before it sticks.
:eek:
 
As long as you keep the thing cool(er) while under load, you shouldn't have any problems ("shouldn't" being the operative word ... if you do have problems, then it's not something you will be able to control anyway.) Keep it cool (relatively, anyway, as much as you can.)

FWIW, I've had dGPU heat-related problems on almost every single laptop I have ever owned. They were driven pretty hard, though (used to do lots of gaming on them.) With the exception of the HP Pavilion zd8000 that I had (the last PC laptop I ever personally owned) ... oh yeah, and the early-2008 15" MBP (go figure, that one never had any problem) they all died due to GPU heat-related illness. That HP, though? Still going strong after being over 10 years old. It's got some stress cracks along the hinges for the display (plastic, not aluminum,) but it still does the web surfing job for which my dad uses it. No idea about the early-2008 MBP. That one was stolen, albeit past the date that I stopped actively using it anyway, so no really huge loss there.
 
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no issues with any of the dGPUs in any of my MBPs... I had the 15" 2010 with the 330m, and now the 2012 retina with the 650m. The 750m is almost an identical chip to the 650m. Obviously its not for gaming but I've been very pleased with the performance its given me for all of my work.
 
ron1004 said:
I would have paid the $320 flat rate repair at the Apple Store and installed an SSD in the 17"
Click to expand...

I don't know how much ancillary damage there is to logic board etc. Also, it was getting a bit pokey for my needs.

This new rMBP really scoots about! I notice that you have the same laptop I did—wait for Aug, but take a new rMBP for a spin. Retina is so relieving for the eyes, I'm quite a bit happier now.
 
quidire said:
I don't know how much ancillary damage there is to logic board etc. Also, it was getting a bit pokey for my needs.

This new rMBP really scoots about! I notice that you have the same laptop I did—wait for Aug, but take a new rMBP for a spin. Retina is so relieving for the eyes, I'm quite a bit happier now.
Click to expand...
The $320 flat rate repair covers all.

The 1TB Samsung SSD's in mine and my wife's 17" MBP breathed new life into them and there's no way that I'd consider replacing them for anything but a new Apple 17", which is unlikely to be back on the market soon, if at all.
Also added USB 3.0 ExpressCards to our 17" MBP
 
If reliability is a primary concern, then the iGPU-only 15" rMBP might be a better choice but, for the same money, I would probably choose the faster machine and accept the higher risk of failure inherent with a discrete GPU.
 
Enjoy your new machine. I'm sure you're appreciating the battery life, resolution, and weight gains over the 17".

Consider applecare or square trade warranty in case you get bitten by a display bug or poor video card down the road or just for peace of mind. You'd think these problems are widespread from reading here on macrumors but remember people mostly come here to complain.
 
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