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

d88co88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 8, 2009
301
0
MN
Hi, my dad has a non-unibody MBP with the dreaded 8600m GT graphics card. I know it's going to fail, and I was wondering if they give you a whole new laptop or just a replacement motherboard. Wouldn't the graphics card fail again if they just replaced the motherboard? Thanks!!!
 
Apple will replace the board. After the 3rd failure they should replace the computer. They did that with mine.
 
New here with same problem

HI: I just registered. My video card HAS died. At least that is what they tell me at the Mac Store, and at a private mac dealer.
However, mine is pretty old, and was deemed "Obsolete" by the guys at the so-called genius bar.
So, what can I replace this card with. It is a macbook Pro, 15 inch, and am not sure exactly WHAT is in it. It's at least 2004 or 2005.
It worked flawlessly until about a month ago, and yes it got way hot. Many times.
It started showing up with huge graphic digital junk on the screen at boot, and won't go to a normal screen no matter how many times I re-boot.
I took it to the Mac Store, and they said the Vid card is going out, and refused to work on it.
so, what card? I can read off data from the bottom of the unit, and under the battery, but cannot read "about this Mac".
PS: I am on the road, so I am in Des Moines, for now, and will be in Oregon after the first, about 400 miles from the nearest mac store. Mail order will have to be the way to go, but I have someone who can install for me.

Thanks
Hank
 
and was deemed "Obsolete" by the guys at the so-called genius bar.
So, what can I replace this card with. It is a macbook Pro, 15 inch, and am not sure exactly WHAT is in it. It's at least 2004 or 2005.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this Hank, but it's the end of 2013 - if your laptop is 8-9 years old you might want to think about getting a new one, it sounds like it's had a good run.

Also apple aren't going to service a machine from that far back as you've already been made aware.

Replacing the gpu in something like that is maybe technically possible (without actually knowing what laptop you have it's impossible to know), but the costs sourcing the part and having someone install it will outweigh it's future usability. Why not buy a cheaper machine from the past 3-4 years that has potential for an ssd/ram upgrade?
 
It's not worth the trouble.

Move on and get yourself an Air. Even the cheapest Air will be 3-4x faster.


The only fix is replacing the logic board, which is practically the same as getting a brand new machine. If it's out of warranty, it'll cost you $200-400. A Macbook Air is less than $1000 this Black Friday.
 
Last edited:
I was just at the Genius bar on Wednesday. He told me the free logic board replacement program has expired.

It has expired a couple years now, some geniuses just are more generous than others. But seriously though, the cost of replacing the logic board entirely would pay for a few models higher of a laptop on eBay, around a 2009 unibody 15". To put it bluntly, time to look around for a new computer. Sorry to say it, but if apple isn't willing to give the board for free it's going to cost more than the computer is worth to fix.
Edit: unless you don't have an 8600 laptop and don't actually care about what I put into my response, assuming you had one. :D
 
HI: I just registered. My video card HAS died. At least that is what they tell me at the Mac Store, and at a private mac dealer.
However, mine is pretty old, and was deemed "Obsolete" by the guys at the so-called genius bar.
So, what can I replace this card with. It is a macbook Pro, 15 inch, and am not sure exactly WHAT is in it. It's at least 2004 or 2005.
It worked flawlessly until about a month ago, and yes it got way hot. Many times.
It started showing up with huge graphic digital junk on the screen at boot, and won't go to a normal screen no matter how many times I re-boot.
I took it to the Mac Store, and they said the Vid card is going out, and refused to work on it.
so, what card? I can read off data from the bottom of the unit, and under the battery, but cannot read "about this Mac".
PS: I am on the road, so I am in Des Moines, for now, and will be in Oregon after the first, about 400 miles from the nearest mac store. Mail order will have to be the way to go, but I have someone who can install for me.

Thanks
Hank

You cannot replace the card. It's either the whole logic board or nothing. And only the one from your generation fits in the case correctly.à

If you do have the 8600GT, the oldest your machine can be is 2007, not 2004.

----------

I was just at the Genius bar on Wednesday. He told me the free logic board replacement program has expired.

It ended on december 7th 2012.
 
You cannot replace the card. It's either the whole logic board or nothing. And only the one from your generation fits in the case correctly.à

If you do have the 8600GT, the oldest your machine can be is 2007, not 2004.

----------



It ended on december 7th 2012.

Hank resurrected a thread from 2010 in order to ask his own question when he should've really just made a new thread. New user, likely new to forums.

He was saying his machine was from 2004-2005, the gpu mentioned in op's post has nothing to do with it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.