Apple Identifies Logic Board Issue With 'Very Small Number' of 2018 MacBook Airs, Will Fix Free of Charge

[karac54]

Article does not describe symptoms.

I have the 2018 air. I have noticed some occasional visual artifacts on the laptop screen. Not sure if it’s related.

 

[karac54]

my MacBook Air 2018 had artifacts on start up and Genius Bar gave my another out of the box. My new one has started exhibiting same artifacts. I think this is not a "small" number of MacBooks. Sometimes when I plug in to charge the screen turns white and it restarts. View attachment 845698 View attachment 845698

 

[TheSkywalker77]

And yet, another reason to not buy the new MacBooks.

 

[Tooldog]

Someone mentioned regulators... WE are the regulators. WE (the paying consumer) gave them that trillion dollar pile of cash out of our own collective pockets.

For personal use I have an original Macbook Air, a 2010 Mac Pro, 2011 13" Aluminum Unibody Macbook, 2011 27" iMac, 2012 15" Macbook Pro, 2012 Mini. The Air, Mini, and cMP are functional but the rest have GPU issues. I didn't buy another OS X/macOS system for personal use because the quality isn't there. I cancelled my Apple Music subscription because the quality isn't there. What has to happen for you to hold back your hard earned cash?

This is just another drip. What if the dam bursts?

 

[steve333]

Good luck, Paid $330 to have the logic board on my Mini and it crapped out 1 1/2 years later.
Apple quality not what it used to be

 

[Shirasaki]

*cough* was only an issue if you were a moron *cough*. My 6 is still perfect, as are all the others I’m aware of (hint: anecdote, just like bendgate).

I am no moron (or actually, you call whatever you like). But since I ever so slightly bend the iPhone 6 Plus, there is a noticeable click point near the edge of the screen and shell. Whenever I apply small pressure, I can feel and sometimes even hear the click. Bendgate is a thing, otherwise Apple won’t reinforce their iPhone 6s Plus next year with strong aluminium.

Skinny jean hipster generation wasn't around to understand.

Yes. Nor they are capable to understand. No respect to legacy. Throwaway society. That’s where they are.

 

[Macpro2019]

I’ll just get mac pro.

 

[derekamoss]

Same here. Waking up from sleep or opening the lid seems to cause some funky stuff happening.
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But does it run MacOS? End of discussion.

I am so getting sick of this.... Hey guess what we know you're intimately in love with MacOS and hate Windows... I used to have a girlfriend that I stood up for over everyone trying to tell me the truth but was to blind to see myself, and guess where it all ended up, me having no friends and no girl. Love blinds all we get that but here is the reality which I stated earlier in the thread.

Says you... Every single person who bashes a Surface can't say anything is better Mac wise other than the OS and never mention the hardware or usability that the surfaces provide. Everyone who used to have Macs and now own Surfaces and likes them never complains about well Macs have OS X and not Windows and you know why? Because we have actually used both OS's and actually can see the benefits and faults of each one and appreciate them. Even if windows was a little superior to OS X, which it is not, the fact of the versatility's of surface products (touch screen, tablet form factor that can be a laptop, laptop that can detach into a tablet, various ports people still use such as SD and normal usb, an "iMac" Surface Studio) that we wished since 2001 that an iMac can do, still a magnetic charger like apple used to have, no touchbar, can draw on it with a pen, etc etc) would make up for it anyways. I just can't understand why people are still holding Apple on a holy grail.

Do I wish Apple had come out with products like the Surface, Yes and would have stayed Apple. At this point, anyone who uses the excuse, it runs Windows is either, ignorant, so in love with all things Apple they are blinded by the faults and Stagnation of MacOS. (Back in the day Apple used to boast about the new features in their operating system like Job's saying Jaguar had 120+ new features) Windows isnt without its fault either but I can contest to having used both systems I tinker with Windows just like I did OS X ( up to mountain lion) and rarely have any issues. My dad, who has a Macbook Pro and only knows how to get on facebook and google and netflix has stability problems more often than my Windows machine. Hung/ or crashing of first party apple software. I used to tell people on windows restart your computer and fix the problem you cant leave it running all the time with out messing up and now I dont have to restart my Surface unless their are updates, but still have to tell my dad when he has a problem to restart to fix...

 

[R3k]

Either way, all of these “small problems” and “small number of customers” etc. add up. Every product they release seems to be coming with an apology and replacement program.

Id guess no more problems than for any other electronics manufacturer. Macrumors just reports them so the issues are out in the open.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I think the logic board on this MacBook Air is everything: the processor, the SSD, the RAM, the wi-fi chip, etc. "System on a chip" in other words. So it could be virtually anything that's wrong, minus the battery and fan.

 

[sinoka56]

my MacBook Air 2018 had artifacts on start up and Genius Bar gave my another out of the box. My new one has started exhibiting same artifacts. I think this is not a "small" number of MacBooks. Sometimes when I plug in to charge the screen turns white and it restarts. View attachment 845698 View attachment 845698

They will never or no company would admit that a lot are affected because they'll get with a huge lawsuit when that happens. An example would be the keyboard issue, they said a small number are affected even though it's a design issue. They even offer free replacement to the "new and improved" keyboard, they're not even sure that the fix they made fixed the issue.

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/03/27/apple-apologizes-about-third-gen-keyboard-issues/

 

[MacBH928]

Not sure if good customer support or flimsy products...

Is it possible other manufacturers have just as much issues but they do not report on them and do not give free repair programs?

 

[bobjonesco]

To

I am so getting sick of this.... Hey guess what we know you're intimately in love with MacOS and hate Windows... I used to have a girlfriend that I stood up for over everyone trying to tell me the truth but was to blind to see myself, and guess where it all ended up, me having no friends and no girl. Love blinds all we get that but here is the reality which I stated earlier in the thread.

Comparing hardware specs on 2 completely different operating systems is like comparing two movies in completely different languages.

I don’t hate windows, but comparing hardware specs and pricing is moot if the OS experience is so different.

 

[calstanford]

No wonder these things are so expensive

 

[Trusteft]

To

Comparing hardware specs on 2 completely different operating systems is like comparing two movies in completely different languages.

I don’t hate windows, but comparing hardware specs and pricing is moot if the OS experience is so different.

While I am on your side, that's one poor example!

 

[x-evil-x]

What design problem did the iPhone 6 have ?

the hardware was too flimsy and bent easy. I had a 6+ and my mom had one too but we never had issues. Ive seen a few people i didnt know with bent iphones.
Apple quickly strengthened the frame of the 6s a year later so i guess not that quick. Every phone since then has had very good structural rigidity.
No idea why apple released the ipads last year with structural issues after they delt with the phones back in 2014 and the ipads have much worse strength than any phone.
I wont buy a new ipad till the frame is built better and i think this year they will fix it just like they fixed the iphones after a year.

 

[l.a.rossmann]

Apple should figure out how to get Rossman on board as a consultant.

Apple runs a trillionaire class business. I run a thousandaire class business. I think they are doing well without me.

I have no idea what it is that could be wrong with this model since we have only seen about three of them. It is too new. The fact that the programs are now coming out before the machines have been out for a year is frightening.

 

[snowboarder]

Funny how Apple doesn't quantify numbers...
Tim Cook's fav: "Off the charts" ... what if the chart only goes to 1?
Issues reporting: "Very small number" ... 10 million is small if their chart goes to 1 billion.

It's their way to avoid any lawsuits and be caught lying.

EVERYBODY I know who bought a MBP newer than 2016 has keyboard issues.
Apple is kind of admitting it by extending the warranty to the brand new "fixed" ones just released.
Still, it's a "small number". Something impossible to prove, one way or the other.

 

[torana355]

All the pre-Retina Airs have awful displays for 2019.

Yet people are still buying them over the newer machines, that is a statement in itself. I'm currently in the process of replacing my 2011 mba that died yesterday. The 2017 mba is one of my options, as much as I really would love a 2018 model im starting to lean torwards a Surface laptop 2 as apples quality control has gone down the ******* latley. This is coming from someone who has been using OSX for over 20 years and loves the operating system.

 

[Shirasaki]

All the pre-Retina Airs have awful displays for 2019.

Compared with an unreliable machine, I believe people will go for a worse display unless they absolutely need better display.

 

[aleni]

Thing like this will be a pain in the arse for customers who don’t have the official apple store in their countries. Way to go Apple!

 

[fairuz]

People complain like always, but Apple's support is one of the best. First of all cause they have tons of physical stores. I never really thought about it until I was trying to help a friend with his messed up Samsung Galaxy and felt totally helpless, same again with my Acer laptop.
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Compared with an unreliable machine, I believe people will go for a worse display unless they absolutely need better display.

Get a pre-2016 MBP, get the best of all worlds
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I really don't get this.
They are releasing for each line one to two "models" per year, at best.
They are a trillion dollar company.
Why can't they make computers which aren't affected by these faults?
I remember back at the turn of the century there were more than one computer companies (Windows based laptops) which had various issues with mainboards etc. With the years they managed to more or less almost erase any such issues from happening. Yes there is the occasional model that has issues, but we are talking among several companies with god knows how many different models released each year.

I just don't get what appears to be Apple either not being able (why?) or not caring (why?) to pay more attention to their computers.

Why can't Boeing make planes that don't nosedive? Stuff's complicated, and at some point throwing more people/money at the problem doesn't do anything, or even makes it worse.

 

[Shirasaki]

Get a pre-2016 MBP, get the best of all worlds

Yeah, that is my upgrade plan once my 2014 MacBook Air dies. At Least I have a chance to run high Sierra on that machine. Too bad that Apple will not include USB-A and a sortie of all other ports anymore, even after the departure of Johnny Ive.

 

[fairuz]

Not sure if good customer support or flimsy products...

Is it possible other manufacturers have just as much issues but they do not report on them and do not give free repair programs?

Yep, others just have the problems and let people get screwed if out of warranty. From what I've seen, Mac hardware is about as reliable as others, not better or worse.
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Yeah, that is my upgrade plan once my 2014 MacBook Air dies. At Least I have a chance to run high Sierra on that machine. Too bad that Apple will not include USB-A and a sortie of all other ports anymore, even after the departure of Johnny Ive.

Well if you follow through, my 2015 rMBP is a wonderful machine. By far the best laptop I've ever owned. Only downside is the keys are noticeably cheaper than on the 2012 rMBP, but the better battery life, faster graphics, and increased reliability more than make up for it. And I used to use every single port each day at work.

The new MBP is a travesty. Every single decision they made about it was so awful that I can't imagine what they were thinking other than that they wanna sell more dongles.

 

[gregohb]

I am losing a lot of confidence in Apple. My 2016 MacBook has had constant problems - randomly restarting, disk with question mark, etc.. and I have taken it in to Apple care several times and they never find any issue.