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SAJD

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2018
4
1
It seems people from around the world are experiencing a plethora of hardware faults with these new MBP's. This is not a troll post but a post from someone who is incredibly frustrated about the way Apple is handling or not handling these faults and is failing to even acknowledge that they are lemons. What makes this worse is that some people are being charged anywhere from $700 - $900 to "repair" these machines which are very clearly defective from the factory.

I think there are plenty more people from around the world that are having some of these faults but have either just not noticed them yet or are hoping that they will go away with software updates - they are hardware faults and they won't simply go away.

Please have a browse through this thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7825434) as it lists a number of known faults that people are experiencing from around the world although it is titled "Popping Sound, MBP 2016".

Some people are on their 3rd and 4th replacement. I myself am on my second machine which only lasted 3 months before a new hardware issue popped up. The thread lists, keys and keyboard issues, thermal issues, speaker issues, touchbar issues, software issues, quality control issues and worst of all - Apple has not openly acknowledged these faults. Please list your faults on this thread as well if you have or have had similar issues or perhaps you have new ones. The reason for this is that a lot of people with these issues are using this thread and threads like it to prove that these machines are in fact problematic because the technicians are failing to replicate these faults which is silly because in order to experience some of these faults they would have to be used day in and day out - not just put on a test bench to run some tests in the background and left on for a day or 2 with nobody in front of them. Some of these issues are intermittent and therefore hard to replicate on demand and some are permanent.

If this is not the correct way to do things I am open to some advice but what I am hesitant to do is create yet another thread on the support forums because that will "dilute" the problem. If Apple can see (which I'm sure they can) that particular thread is getting a lot of attention they may finally decide to pull finger and do something about it.

It's not about me, I have made up my mind, I am pursuing a refund for my machine and will not buy another one of these lemons and quite frankly I am off Apple for the foreseeable future. I have been a fanboy for 10+ years but a string of hardware faults with not only my 2 MBP's but 2 iPhones and Apple Watch all in the space of 8 months has put me off. Apple is not what it used to be.

This post serves to merely caution those who are super excited to buy one of these expensive machines as I was. That is all. If you have not had any issues with your new 2016/2017 MBP that is great news you are the lucky ones but should you have any problems in the future hopefully these posts will serve as a leg to stand on when they trying to charge you $700 to fix something that was a lemon in the first place.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,494
19,631
Maybe you can make a list of all these "hardware faults" instead of just linking a thread on some other forum? It could be a great community service.
 
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PBG4 Dude

macrumors 601
Jul 6, 2007
4,360
4,639
This thread has been done to death here. I don't understand how another thread will help, unless you add a multiple choice poll with all of the issues listed out as individual selection options so users here can quantify issues by type, or that they don't have issues.
 
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thesaint024

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2016
1,073
888
suspension waiting room
It seems people from around the world are experiencing a plethora of hardware faults with these new MBP's. This is not a troll post but a post from someone who is incredibly frustrated about the way Apple is handling or not handling these faults and is failing to even acknowledge that they are lemons. What makes this worse is that some people are being charged anywhere from $700 - $900 to "repair" these machines which are very clearly defective from the factory.

I think there are plenty more people from around the world that are having some of these faults but have either just not noticed them yet or are hoping that they will go away with software updates - they are hardware faults and they won't simply go away.

Please have a browse through this thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7825434) as it lists a number of known faults that people are experiencing from around the world although it is titled "Popping Sound, MBP 2016".

Some people are on their 3rd and 4th replacement. I myself am on my second machine which only lasted 3 months before a new hardware issue popped up. The thread lists, keys and keyboard issues, thermal issues, speaker issues, touchbar issues, software issues, quality control issues and worst of all - Apple has not openly acknowledged these faults. Please list your faults on this thread as well if you have or have had similar issues or perhaps you have new ones. The reason for this is that a lot of people with these issues are using this thread and threads like it to prove that these machines are in fact problematic because the technicians are failing to replicate these faults which is silly because in order to experience some of these faults they would have to be used day in and day out - not just put on a test bench to run some tests in the background and left on for a day or 2 with nobody in front of them. Some of these issues are intermittent and therefore hard to replicate on demand and some are permanent.

If this is not the correct way to do things I am open to some advice but what I am hesitant to do is create yet another thread on the support forums because that will "dilute" the problem. If Apple can see (which I'm sure they can) that particular thread is getting a lot of attention they may finally decide to pull finger and do something about it.

It's not about me, I have made up my mind, I am pursuing a refund for my machine and will not buy another one of these lemons and quite frankly I am off Apple for the foreseeable future. I have been a fanboy for 10+ years but a string of hardware faults with not only my 2 MBP's but 2 iPhones and Apple Watch all in the space of 8 months has put me off. Apple is not what it used to be.

This post serves to merely caution those who are super excited to buy one of these expensive machines as I was. That is all. If you have not had any issues with your new 2016/2017 MBP that is great news you are the lucky ones but should you have any problems in the future hopefully these posts will serve as a leg to stand on when they trying to charge you $700 to fix something that was a lemon in the first place.
Sorry, couldn't help myself. Buying a higher end computer does not mean entitlement to 0% failure rate. These things happen, not with the frequency they apparently happen to you, but nevertheless. These are high tech machines, and things don't always work perfectly. I'm sure we've all had WinPC's as well, and their failure rate and supposed "support" is on another level. My personal experience with PC laptops is over 50% failure rate, not exaggerating and it's on the conservative side. I'll only get one if it's free to me.

The assertion of massive volume of failures in Apple products cannot be fact based. You are using a support site as a proxy for the real world. If you go to iFixit, I'm sure you could use their users to support a 95% failure rate. Fact is, the vast majority do not experience failure within the life of an MBP. They just don't tell the world in a post that "yep, my computer is still working." In addition, the numbers just wouldn't work out for Apple if that were the case. Even if they had a hypothetically high 20% failure rate, their Mac business wouldn't be profitable if you factor the support and service they'd have to provide. In the PC world of lean margins, they remain industry leading profitable, which you could conclude means they don't have a failure rate that you imply. They have industry leading support as well, so it's not like they are selling computers as-is.

Defects are real for sure. Your personal bad luck is strange to say the least. I personally wouldn't let you touch anything I own because it seems cursed to break. Yes, I'm suggesting you are exaggerating. I have had all of the Apple products that have been involved in a "-gate", yet I haven't experienced any personally, nor do I know anyone who has. I'm sure some have, but just saying the "stats" on the forums about the frequency are exaggerated to make a point to Apple. Of course you have a right to state your opinion on reliability, and people will have to choose how to take that opinion.
 

ZapNZs

macrumors 68020
Jan 23, 2017
2,310
1,158
With virtually all laptops, our evidence on failure rates is more anecdotal than statistical. That leaves a lot to be desired. I do feel the reliability of the keyboard needs to be improved, but I really can't say how common such an issue is. I can say that the two butterfly mechanism keyboards I have/had have performed flawlessly. But again, that's anecdotal, and obviously others have not been so fortunate (for those that wind up with a defective machine, the fact that others are/are not having problems really doesn't do much for their individual situation.)

The reality is that any tech purchase is partly a calculated risk and partly just a gamble. Mass-produced machines have issues that are both systematic and individualized. The current MBP is far from the first to have what could be said to be a "plethora of hardware faults" - quite a few Apple systems of the past have also satisfied this (subjective) classification, as has virtually every system from virtually every Maker. What even constitutes 'excessive' is hard to say...0.0005% of all cases? 0.005% of all cases? 0.5% of all cases? 5.0% or all cases? Certainly, it is an established fact that a consumer experience that is negative is more likely to be reported than one that is equally positive.

The bottom line is that a Buyer has to realize that the MacBook Pro is not perfect - it's not a handmade Ferrari, each model is not personally inspected by Mr. Cook, and it's ultimately an expensive and complicated electronic device with tons of things in it that can (and invariably will) go wrong. Weighing the potential pros/cons of the current generation MBP vs. a previous generation MBP vs. a higher-end PC is something each Buyer has to do on their own because what makes the most sense will vary to that individual. The end User has to make the call...but the reality is that they are going to find a plethora of threads on problems on most machines!
 
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mallende

macrumors newbie
Mar 25, 2018
9
2
Hello,

I'm new on Forum and I'm having to find these tools to expose my terrible situation with Macbook Pro mid 2017 (2.9hz, 16gb ram, radeon 560 4gb, 512gb sdd, space gray).

I have this computer for less than 6 months. It is at Apple for repair for the third time. They changed the screen the first time, the second time the lied that they had changed the screen, coming back with exactly the same problems after the first repair and now they claim the computer has problems with fans and antena. Total, whitin these 6 months, I'm without my computer for one whole month.

They refuse to give me a new computer, and I still not sure when I will have it back. How can I make them give me a new computer or refund my money? I'm contacting an attorney next monday.

You can check my situation in detail.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unds-apple-refuses-to-give-a-new-one.2111800/

Regards,
 

bhatiak

macrumors member
Oct 25, 2017
65
17
My friend and I both have issues with our 2017 MBPs (13" nTB and 15"). His B key is double entering, whereas my X key doesnt always register and my space bar double enters.
 
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