Well this is my first post and have been in the market for a MBP to switch from Dell/Windows and recently discovered this site. The nvidia issue is concerning. I want to take advantage of the education promos out now, but if it means getting a bum video card - that is not worth it.
I called Apple sales last night and asked them if the video cards in the MBP were affected by the recent nvidia defects. The sales person told me they were not aware of any issues with nvidia cards or the MBPs. He said that the MBP is a fine machine and if anything were to pop up, Apple's great warranty would cover any problems. I explained that I did not want to end up with a laptop that would be in warranty repair for known defective parts. He reiterated that they were not aware of any problem and that I would need to contact nvidia for more information. I asked to be transfered to a tech and he said he would, but when he did, a message came on saying "You have reached Apple outside of our normal business hours" and I got hung up on (nice first time call to Apple eh?).
I took the time to contact nvidia tech support today to see if I could get any information. The first tech I was transferred to simply read from his script, stating that "we do not have a list of the specific chips that were affected and that the laptop manufacturers were informed of what issues were in which cards". I then stated the obvious - "so you have a list" and after directing me to the nvidia support site to pull up knowledge base article "2214", which basically states to contact your laptop manufacturer, I explained to him that I already tried that.
I said I felt like a ping pong ball in this mess and all I want to do is buy a laptop, but when asked if my laptop will contain an affected GPU, all Apple will say is I need to call nvidia and nvidia says I have to call Apple.
Once he realized I was not hanging up until I got a straight answer, he asked me to hold while he got his supervisor. Once his supervisor got on the phone, I explained the whole thing again. He apologized for the back and forth and finally provided some useful information.
He said that the graphics cards being used right now have been corrected. He said that as of July of 2008, the cards being used are all fine. He did say that cards made prior to this date would have been affected. However, he said that if I am buying a MBP now, it should be fine as long as it was manufactured AFTER June of this year.
He then told me to contact Apple again, but make sure to ask for a senior technician to verify the MBP I am ordering was made after June.
So here I sit debating whether to believe any of this and take advantage of the education promos or wait and see if Apple will release a new MBP in the next month {sigh}.
