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Anything to fear about the 2011 MBP?

D

dirgeforfreedom

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 17, 2010
23
0
My early 2008 Macbook Pro just died after two and a half years. When I brought it into the Apple Store, they said my logic board had failed and wasn't my nVidia 8600GT. $1,100 to replace. I said no thanks.

I'll be needing a laptop this Sept for school and the new Macbook Pros look awesome. Is there anything about them I should be afraid of?? I don't want it to break down.
 
ECUpirate44

ECUpirate44

macrumors 603
Mar 22, 2010
5,750
8
NC
No. The vast majority of 2011 MBP users are having no issues. People come to a forum because they have an issue. It happens every time there is an update. For every one that has a problem there are hundreds others who have no problems.

Go for it and enjoy your new MBP.
 
Dadioh

Dadioh

macrumors 65816
Feb 3, 2010
1,123
36
Canada Eh?
dirgeforfreedom said:
My early 2008 Macbook Pro just died after two and a half years. When I brought it into the Apple Store, they said my logic board had failed and wasn't my nVidia 8600GT. $1,100 to replace. I said no thanks.

I'll be needing a laptop this Sept for school and the new Macbook Pros look awesome. Is there anything about them I should be afraid of?? I don't want it to break down.
Click to expand...

I would say you are OK. The issue that befell the 2008 MBP was strictly an NVidia 8600m GT issue and is not carried forward to the new unibody designs. Also, the non-unibody MBP tended to run pretty hot which didn't help the issue. The lower power CPU's and better thermal design of the unibody will reduce stress on the system components. In a nutshell, get a new unibody MBP without worry. You'll love it.
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
dirgeforfreedom said:
My early 2008 Macbook Pro just died after two and a half years. When I brought it into the Apple Store, they said my logic board had failed and wasn't my nVidia 8600GT. $1,100 to replace. I said no thanks.

I'll be needing a laptop this Sept for school and the new Macbook Pros look awesome. Is there anything about them I should be afraid of?? I don't want it to break down.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll continue to buy AppleCare even though I've only had to use it a handful of times. I'd rather pay 10 to 15 percent up front than get hit with a shocking bill later.

If you prefer to "take your chances", your luck has actually been pretty good. You made it past the expiration of normal AppleCare before hitting a huge repair issue.

Do you have your data backed up? If not, make sure you pull the hard drive and pop it in a usb hdd enclosure so you can get your stuff off since the logic board died your stuff is probably still there. The nice part is you get to keep using it as an external drive after you get your new system up and running.
 
T

T-bag

Guest
Jan 20, 2011
147
0
There are issues in all product lines. I got a screen with a little uneven backlight, but apple handled it perfectly. They even sent me a new one before demanding the first one back (now I have two in my room). Don't worry about things before you have to, cause chances are you'll probably be fine. :) At least eventually!
 
Hastings101

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,339
1,460
K
Nothing that I've heard of so far. Some people have trouble installing Windows under bootcamp on the devices but there's no hardware problems as of yet.

I think the problems usually are greatly exaggerated anyway. I bought a 27" iMac and those are supposed to have yellow screening and to overheat but mine runs cool and looks perfect.
 
B

Barnzee

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2010
204
0
Oak Harbor, WA
I have the 15" MBP 2011 and I love this machine. No issues whatsoever, plus gaming in bootcamp is really good compared to my last MBP.
 
B

bass93

macrumors regular
Aug 25, 2009
134
0
Yeah, I would never get one. My friend got one and got electrocuted. Stupid Thunderbolt :p
 
D

dirgeforfreedom

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 17, 2010
23
0
@r0k, I got all my data backed up already because I'm always paranoid lol. Also, I think that's a good idea; to use the HDD as an external device!

I'm going to get the new 2011 Macbook Pro! Thanks guys. :cool:
 
Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,644
4,044
New Zealand
Couple of networking issues:

- Wi-Fi is laggy (high latency).
- System sometimes emits a high-pitched squeal when using the network. Doesn't happen all the time and seems to depend on how much data is being transferred.
- Keyboard lacks the "internal keypad" that used to be accessible by holding Fn.

I believe that the first issue happens for everyone (edit: no it doesn't), however the second issue doesn't seem to be as widespread.
 
Last edited:
T

TypeGray

macrumors newbie
Apr 10, 2011
6
0
I have a 2008 MBP as well. Also had a logic board failure.

I was able to have it replaced for $300 by the Apple store. It was out of warranty.

From what they told me, you can have anything fixed for the max price of $300. Only took about a week.

Aside from that, I'd hold off on the new MBP. I can easily see the next update doing away with the optical DVD drive for a second hard drive. There are many people currently doing this. The performance gains are astounding.
 
J

Jaimi

macrumors regular
Jul 22, 2009
135
2
The only thing to fear is that the machine is so awesome, that it will ruin you for other notebooks.
 
P

pna

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2005
318
0
dirgeforfreedom said:
My early 2008 Macbook Pro just died after two and a half years. When I brought it into the Apple Store, they said my logic board had failed and wasn't my nVidia 8600GT. $1,100 to replace. I said no thanks.

I'll be needing a laptop this Sept for school and the new Macbook Pros look awesome. Is there anything about them I should be afraid of?? I don't want it to break down.
Click to expand...

My original core duo macbook pro just died after 5+ years of daily use. The graphics card died (non-nvidia, so not covered). It would have been $900 or so to replace the logic board in the apple store, but they also have a flat rate repair that's $300 or so that will cover shipping to their repair facility in TX, and then cover labor and absolutely any parts that need replacing. I hadn't realized this was an option -- it's like paying $300 or so to have your laptop covered like it was under applecare again.

I love the 2011 mbp I'm typing on right now, and I'm sure you will love yours too, but if I could pay $300 and have a 2008 mbp working again? I'd do it. In the end I even paid the flat rate to have my original mbp repaired. For $300 I've definitely got uses for it, and it has sentimental value (I wrote my dissertation on it). I would presume that you could pay the $300 to have it fixed and then sell it for much more than that if you just wanted to help finance your new machine.

Potentially worth looking into. I'm surprised it's not more publicized as a service.
 
MrXiro

MrXiro

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2007
3,850
599
Los Angeles
pna said:
My original core duo macbook pro just died after 5+ years of daily use. The graphics card died (non-nvidia, so not covered). It would have been $900 or so to replace the logic board in the apple store, but they also have a flat rate repair that's $300 or so that will cover shipping to their repair facility in TX, and then cover labor and absolutely any parts that need replacing. I hadn't realized this was an option -- it's like paying $300 or so to have your laptop covered like it was under applecare again.

I love the 2011 mbp I'm typing on right now, and I'm sure you will love yours too, but if I could pay $300 and have a 2008 mbp working again? I'd do it. In the end I even paid the flat rate to have my original mbp repaired. For $300 I've definitely got uses for it, and it has sentimental value (I wrote my dissertation on it). I would presume that you could pay the $300 to have it fixed and then sell it for much more than that if you just wanted to help finance your new machine.

Potentially worth looking into. I'm surprised it's not more publicized as a service.
Click to expand...

I think it's $310 and they only allow it if your machine still looks in good shape. So as long as you take care of your laptop it's fine. At least that's how the guy at the genius bar explained it to me.

I really lucked out with the genius I got. He actually replaced my logic board for free cause of my 9400m flicker issue from the late 08 MBP. On top of that they discovered that my Superdrive went bad so they just swapped that out for me too! :)
 
2

2ndname

macrumors member
Mar 19, 2011
57
0
Yes. All the hot girls that will swarm you, lol, I kid I kid.

I truly think you're just unlucky with the failure on your Logic board. I had a Powerbook G4 for 5 years and it never failed me. It was my college sidekick and I took it everywhere. For every story of a person with a failed Apple product I am sure that there are 100s of success story such as mine. Then again I have not had any HP/Toshiba/Sony product failed on me. I say go for the 2011 MBP and don't worry about all of the ifs.
 
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