Macbook pro 17" 2011: from dream to the trash can

[TiberioG]

When I decided to switch to mac I have decided to do it without compromise, it was 2011 and I bought the early macbook pro 17" 2,3Ghz 8 Gb with 250 Gb SSD It was the top of the line and I have paid it 3000€ (with educational discount).
About a year ago it started to have the well known GPU issue, it started to freeze, to have kernel panic and at the end it didn't boot anymore. When I brought it to a premium reseller they asked me about 550€ for the logic board replacement but I preferred to brought it to a non-apple service in order to change and reball the GPU. After 3/4 month of waiting the reballing was successful, I have paid 250€ but after one month I have noticed two new issues: the service had stolen the cable that connects the superdrive to the logic board and they had damaged the left speaker (with the microphone). I have asked the service to fix the damages but after 3 months they gave me back the macbook broken and the 250€.
Now I have brought the macbook to an official apple service and they ask me 900€ for the repair because the logic board is broken and also the housing, the top case with the keyboard.
Well, they say that in these conditions my macbook has a value of 0€.

What should I do?

1) Pay 900€ ( so much!) for the repair with the fear that in future the GPU issue could happen again ?
2) repair the macbook an sell it as soon as possible about at 1400€ ( it's a good price?)
3) sell the macbook parts on e-bay so I have to unmount manually the computer (how much I could earn?)

So after 3 years the computer of my dreams has become trash.

If I repair it I have no warranty that the GPU issue could't happen again but if I don't repair it I have to buy another mac or maybe a PC because a new macbook is too expensive, but after having used a top macbook there are non equals.


For example: the new retina 15" i7 2.0 ghz costs 2000€ and compared with my old unibody hasn't a discrete GPU, has less 300mhz, it's only 15" and the RAM and the SDD are not upgradable.

So i ask your advice, please, if you were me what would you do?

Thank you in advance and sorry for my grammatical mistakes, I'm italian.

Tiberio Galbiati

 

[hamiltonDSi]

the new retina 15" i7 2.0 ghz costs 2000€ and compared with my old unibody has less 300mhz

Doesn't matter. The CPU is faster than your old unibody. It's Haswell.
2011 vs. 2013 Technology.

 

[TiberioG]

Doesn't matter. The CPU is faster than your old unibody. It's Haswell.
2011 vs. 2013 Technology.

Ok, of course, but my old unibody if it works it's still a powerful machine.
I use (used) it with photoshop perfectly.

 

[maflynn]

Option 3, its really the only feasibly option imo


Option 1 - There is no guarantee that the repair will offer a long term solution
Option 2 - you'll not get your money back from the report.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

Ok, of course, but my old unibody if it works it's still a powerful machine.
I use (used) it with photoshop perfectly.

Of course it is. I did not say it isn't powerful.
I just explained it doesn't matter if Haswell is clocked at a lower speed than Sandy Bridge.

The 17" Macbook Pro is a awesome machine. Man, that screen kicks a*s.

 

[TiberioG]

And what about replacing the logic board with a late 2011's one?
Does the AMD 6770m suffer the same issue?

 

[TechGod]

For example: the new retina 15" i7 2.0 ghz costs 2000€ and compared with my old unibody hasn't a discrete GPU, has less 300mhz, it's only 15" and the RAM and the SDD are not upgradable.

So i ask your advice, please, if you were me what would you do?

Thank you in advance and sorry for my grammatical mistakes, I'm italian.

Tiberio Galbiati

The SSD is actually upgradeable in the rMBP's.

 

[pmau]

The 17" Macbook Pro is a awesome machine. Man, that screen kicks a*s.

I own both the old MacBookPro 17" and a brand new Retina MBP 15" and I still miss the screen of my old machine. Sure, Retina is great and all but I really love the size of the screen and the slightly bigger fonts.

Maybe I'm getting old. I really think the 2011 MBP 17" was the best machine Apple ever made. (I owned quite a few models from 2006 up until today)

 

[yjchua95]

And what about replacing the logic board with a late 2011's one?
Does the AMD 6770m suffer the same issue?

All the early/late-2011 15"/17" Sandy Bridge logic boards with Radeon GPUs (6490M, 6750M and 6770M) have the same manufacturing flaw with the GPU that causes Radeongate to occur.

So logic board replacements don't work.

The only real solution is to reball the GPU with leaded solder and reapply thermal paste properly.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

I own both the old MacBookPro 17" and a brand new Retina MBP 15" and I still miss the screen of my old machine. Sure, Retina is great and all but I really love the size of the screen and the slightly bigger fonts.

Maybe I'm getting old. I really think the 2011 MBP 17" was the best machine Apple ever made. (I owned quite a few models from 2006 up until today)

I never owned a 17" Macbook Pro (only a 17" HP way back in 2006).
Now I have just like you a 15" rMBP, as you said, the Retina is great but sometimes I need the extra 2".

When I switched to Macintosh in October 2008 it was huge gap for me, because I went from a 17" screen to a 13" screen. I bought the high-end 13" Macbook Unibody Aluminium on launch day. I still remember that day.

 

[imm22]

I own a mid 2010 17" macbook pro, and for now no problem what so ever.

500Gb Samsung 840 SSD drive
Data doubler with a 250Gb Sandisk SSD drive
8Gb of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512MB de Memória GDDR3)
Intel HD Graphics

It's link new

Selling it for 1500€
http://ferreiros.olx.pt/macbook-pro-17-iid-456648935

 

[AlexMaximus]

there might be more options..

Sorry to hear your macbook pro is broken. However you may have more options than you think.

1. Every company has an insurance or they run into legal risks. The service company that screwed up your macbook has to repair your macbook or has to reimburse you for the damage of the machine. Alternatively they can give you a replacement with equal value. You can not except the machine you got back that is broken. -> You should go to a lawyer. (Leege di contratto)
Maybe someone in your family has an insurance that pays for private law issues. (here in Germany many have that, sometimes combined with car insurance)

2. Ebay offers spare parts from time to time. The missing cable should not be a big problem to replace. The speaker and microphone could be replaced or repaired as well. Check that!
I would go the route "repair and sell" because you usually don't get much from parts and it takes a long time. Avoid that hassle.

 

[TiberioG]

Sorry to hear your macbook pro is broken. However you may have more options than you think.

1. Every company has an insurance or they run into legal risks. The service company that screwed up your macbook has to repair your macbook or has to reimburse you for the damage of the machine. Alternatively they can give you a replacement with equal value. You can not except the machine you got back that is broken. -> You should go to a lawyer. (Leege di contratto)
Maybe someone in your family has an insurance that pays for private law issues. (here in Germany many have that, sometimes combined with car insurance)

2. Ebay offers spare parts from time to time. The missing cable should not be a big problem to replace. The speaker and microphone could be replaced or repaired as well. Check that!
I would go the route "repair and sell" because you usually don't get much from parts and it takes a long time. Avoid that hassle.

The problem is that the service company where I have gone has subcontracted another company to do the reballing. The reballing worked all right, but when I have given back the macbook they say it has broken itself, in fact actually is broken another part, not he GPU.
They have given me back my money, but the problem is not only the cable, the logic board is "fried": when I plugged the magsafe and I have tried to switch on the macbook the fans started to revolve for just a second and the led blinked, then after a while happened the same, every time after regular intervals happened the same.

I think I have no choice: I can only sell it for spare parts, if I repair it after 1/2 year the GPU issue could represent.

Apple engineers have failed the engineering of the BGA and the heat dissipation.