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Just spoke with Apple Tech Care via phone. Provided a serial number for a 2018 Air. They have nothing in their system that suggests a logic board is to be replaced. She couldn't even find a "program" for this type of replacement.
 
$799-

That's what an Apple repair costs.

Buy the new model.

You mean buy the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 instead?

Well, the Surface Laptop 2 got a 0/10 repairability score from iFixit.com as well - https://www.onmsft.com/news/ifixit-...airability-score-just-like-the-original-model - and getting it repaired for a defective battery OOW is $450.00 and all they do is send you a refurbished unit. So, no, I don't think so...besides, the Surface Laptop 2 is so close in price to the 2018 MacBook Air, I would rather have a laptop that I actually want to use as opposed to something I would begrudgingly deal with on a daily basis. Everyone has their own belief as to what constitutes value for the money they earn, and the MS Surface Laptop 1 or 2 are not it, at least for me. There are other Windows 10 laptops I would seriously consider over the Surface Laptop, if I was in the market for a Windows laptop.
 
This is completely different than privacy. Privacy is about customer's information, this is lies about Apple's devices owned by customers, which because they own the device now have a right to know about design and manufacturing flaws that prevent the device from delivering what the purchaser purchased.
Apple are keeping it private, you can not have it both ways. People seem to forget that companies are made up of people and they have intellectual property that should be kept private.
Yet here we are on a rumour site, hoping to see what's going to be new, what's been leaked from Apple, (and other companies) internal workings.
There is little difference, you are asking for privacy when it suits YOU.
 
What is wrong with the 2015 MacBook Pro? It is known as the best Apple laptop ever made, and the 2012-2015 MBP's were known as the best generation ever made.

https://mashable.com/article/rip-2015-15-inch-retina-macbook-pro/

:apple:

Everyone keeps saying that like it's God's Honest Truth and that's just a load of horse****.

• I have a refurb 2012 that still tells me I have a SATA Error after invoking Apple Hardware Test...its harmless, but incredibly annoying. Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203648

• The dreaded screen de-lamination issues - https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/24/apple-extended-anti-reflective-repair-program/ - I have never seen that on the 2012 model I own or the leased models for work, but I know its real. I have never seen or heard of it after 2012, but I think it has happened to 2013 and 2014, not 2015 unless someone here has had a different experience. YMMV.

• The NVIDIA GT650M spontaneous black screen issues - https://dhavaldalal.wordpress.com/2...book-pro-101-mid-2012-on-high-sierra-10-13-4/ - and here - 16:46Why 2012 15" Retina Macbook Pros with GT650M DIE - which indicates cheap soldering by Apple.

• The bad paste and high thermal temps 2012-2015 - Google that one for the endless suffering. At least that can be fixed. That's on my To Do list for my 2012 and my 2015 and possibly the Late 2011 I have lying around here, but that one suffers from AMD GPU Ticking Timebomb Disease, so why bother. It still has the best keyboard, just the worst GPU and a pretty lousy LCD, but not as bad as my wife's old Lenovo ThinkPad E420, what a complete POS...I mean, the old Powerbook 180C had a better LCD screen.

• I just had to have a 2015 MacBook Pro battery replacement OOW over a bulging battery before returning it to close out an Apple Business lease (February). $200.00 out of pocket. Machine was babied and hardly had 30 cycles on the battery, but I still had to pay for it.

• Co-worker's 2015 15" MBP suddenly went tits up with bad video and had to have logic board replaced. The video issue came and went and then black screen came and did not go away. Top of the line 2.8/16GB/1TB SSD/AMD R370X. Free, still under AppleCare. Saved at least $800 on that one.

• Another 2015 15" MBP hit about 300 cycles on the battery and then Service Battery came up and then went away (we think because of developer betas modifying firmware) and then about 375, the battery went south and stayed south. Free even though OOW, but bad battery diagnosed ahead of end of AppleCare+.

• I had one 2012 15" MacBook Pro die with GT650M black screen while being used production, suddenly and emphatically. KABOOM, not even any warning. Cost my designer precious time, but luckily had a backup 2012 for him to use. Under extended warranty, I think from the Service Repair program, but I think it was just at the edge of AC ending.

• I had to take everyone of the 2012 15" MacBook Pros we leased (6) in to have diagnostics run on them for the GT650 black screen video issues before returning off lease. I had two qualifiy during diagnostics before sending back to leasing company. All of this stuff has to be taken care of before shipping back of the leasing company fixes them and charges back for the fixes. No money OOP.

• The 2013/2014 15" MacBook Pros with Intel Iris iGPU only have issues, the 2015 does not. See Lewis Rossman's GT650M video, he mentions the failure rate of the 2013-2014 Iris-only equipped models.My 2015 has been great in this regard. Source: Same GT650M video as above, IIRC.

• My 2012 15" MacBook Pro has a battery with 306 cycles and 83%-85% health in Battery Health 2, but let it go below 35% battery and the damn thing will randomly go to sleep at any time between 35%-22%...its a complete crap shoot. Need a battery and top case for it, $200 smackers OOP if I want it fixed.

• My 2015 15" MacBook Pro has trouble waking up after going to sleep on its own and then overnight...I come back to it in the morning and it doesn't want to wake up. I have to close and open the lid and/or disconnect the El Gato Thunderbolt 2 Dock to get it to wake up. I still get some funky distorted video out of it upon first wakeup when the above issue does not occur. Tried SMC Reset, PRAM Reset, have had it diagnosed under AppleCare, nothing showed up of course, subsequent macOS updates haven't fixed it, although Mojave seems to have made it happen less often. Why? FIIK!

• My 2015 spools up the fans to max when connected to a 4K display while the screensaver comes on running Arabesque, Flurry or Shell. This is a combo hardware/software issue that has been around since I bought the laptop (Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, HS and Mojave). Thermal paste related? Who knows, but it is on my list of things to service, when I can afford to update the SSD to an Apple SSD Polaris, sometime before I die.

I do love both the 2012 and the 2015 MacBook Pros and they have been pretty good, despite some quirks. My 2016 has been stellar so far. Had one soft key and one numb/flat key on the keyboard, but hit it with air and all has been good after that. The butterfly KB is still not my favorite and is too fatiguing after long periods, but my 2016 has been very reliable and I am not seeing the issues I saw with the 2012-2015 models...YMMV.

If you don't buy AppleCare+ when you buy a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and then complain if something happens, you deserve 100% what you get...AC+ has saved me too many time from Apple's issues and a few of my own screw ups. On an iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, maybe skipping it is okay...on a portable, AC+ is a no-brainer.

Bottom line, the people who are mythologizing the "legendary" MacBook Pro 2012-2015 are doing a disservice by spreading bull**** that simply isn't true, mostly because they are still pissed that Apple won't put ports back on the 2016-2019, won't lower the price and haven't changed out the keyboard. They have been at it for four (4) long years, pissing and moaning throughout the countryside, telling us how much Apple sucks and all their stuff has sucks, except the stuff they have or like and want Apple to go back to, only Apple isn't doing that and it just burns them up because they think Apple better listen to them or else.
 
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Hey - I'm just covering my ass. Do you know how many times Apple posts these things internally and then a customer goes to an Apple Store and the employee says "I'm unaware of this" or something along those lines. Then they come back emailing me asking why. I don't know why. I report what I see. The info is legit.

TL;DR: Your mileage may vary.

Exactly. As of five minutes ago Apple chat support wasn't able to confirm the program. I imagine this will take a few days to get out there. I have a MacBook Air 2018 here that doesn't reliably power on and I just was hoping to check my serial against the program scope and they weren't able to do it. Will keep waiting.
 
Rossman's profession means he gets a very skewed picture of the quality of the products he repairs. By definition all of the products he is working on have problems. I work in tech support and have done so since the beginning of the '90s and my impressions of my company's products are that they are a pile of crap. This being caused that very few customers tend to call in to say that product XXX has been very stable. You only come in touch with problems and that tends to colour your view of them.

I am not sure a lot of Rossman's viewers realize this.
When was the last time that Apple said, "only a small number are affected" that it turned out to be true? When was the last time the internet lit up about a problem with an Apple product that turned out to be incorrect?
 
What is wrong with the 2015 MacBook Pro? It is known as the best Apple laptop ever made, and the 2012-2015 MBP's were known as the best generation ever made.

https://mashable.com/article/rip-2015-15-inch-retina-macbook-pro/

:apple:
Agree with you despite the rantings of some troubled humans on this site. Used a 15” 2015 for 8 years as a photojournalist for a big newspaper. Not a single problem or repair and that went for the other six the rest of the staff used. And believe me, we used them in all conditions and situations. Missed it so much when I retired that I bought a 13” 2015 Pro in 2016 and it too has been perfect for the last three years. Didn't need to stop making such a great piece of equipment.
 
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"Apple has not publicly announced this repair policy, likely due to what it believes is a very small number of affected customers. While we are confident this information is accurate, as it comes from a consistently reliable source, we cannot guarantee that all Apple employees will acknowledge the policy." Like employees in the cafeteria might not know?

Seriously bad claim. You seem to think that Apple can't look up computers on its own in-house computer system for doing eligible repairs? Come on, pretty lame!

Hey, I called tech support and they said there was no problem with the logic boards on 2018 13 inch Retina Macbook Airs. To prove it, they referred me to their web site: https://support.apple.com/exchange_repair
 
I own one of these affected MacBooks. I bought it in September 2018 and yesterday sent it for a 3rd repair - they changed the logic board twice already. But the issues keep happening.

The issue started on Day 2 (the computer just shut down on its own) but there were really not significant and I was travelling so I didn’t bring it back immediately - it’s a custom built so they wouldn’t have swapped it immediately anyway (I still wish I did... I now live in another country and they cannot exchange it, only repair it over and over)

It escalated really quickly - it would freeze out of nowhere and had to reboot every time. Or wait 24 hrs before it would function again.
I brought it for repair. They changed everything, including screen and body as they were scratched during repairs.

Then it started again after a few months, this time freezing then it would be stuck in a reboot loop.

Repair again after arguing with customer service for a replacement (a US customer representative - a manager - told me they could ship it to the US for an exchange, but this wasn’t recognised by all the other people I talked to)

After using it less than 5 times, this time the screen froze, full of lines and turned black. This time I brought it back immediately.

So here we go for a 3rd round!

I’m a long time user of Apple and never had such an issue, I own many of their products I use every day. But this time it’s really getting on my nerves, I must say!
 

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I don’t know if I believe you... :p
I may be troubled, but I was not ranting...o_O
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Agree with you despite the rantings of some troubled humans on this site. Used a 15” 2015 for 8 years as a photojournalist for a big newspaper. Not a single problem or repair and that went for the other six the rest of the staff used. And believe me, we used them in all conditions and situations. Missed it so much when I retired that I bought a 13” 2015 Pro in 2016 and it too has been perfect for the last three years. Didn't need to stop making such a great piece of equipment.

I'm glad you didn't have any major problems at your company, however, both the 2012 and 2015 models that we used at my previous employer were not the model of reliability or perfection that seems to be thrown around on this website and others as the Gospel Truth.

They are some of the best MacBook Pros that Apple has released, but the Mid 2012 15" Retina MacBook Pro got off to a rocky start and had some major issues when they were released that persisted for some time and to this day.

Too much mythologizing does the 2012-2015 models a disservice. They were great in some ways and total crap in others.
 
I own of these affected MacBook. I bought it in September 2018 and yesterday sent it for a 3rd repair - they changed the logic board twice already. But the issues keep happening.

The issue started on Day 2 (the computer just shut down on its own) but there were really not significant and I was travelling so I didn’t bring it back immediately - it’s a custom built so they wouldn’t have swapped it immediately anyway (I still wish I did... I now live in another country and they cannot exchange it, only repair it over and over)

It escalated really quickly - it would freeze out of nowhere and had to reboot every time. Or wait 24 hrs before it would function again.
I brought it for repair. They changed everything, including screen and body as they were scratched during repairs.

Then it started again after a few months, this time freezing then it would be stuck in a reboot loop.

Repair again after arguing with customer service for a replacement (a US customer representative - a manager - told me they could ship it to the US for an exchange, but this wasn’t recognised by all the other people I talked to)

After using it less than 5 times, this time the screen froze, full of lines and turned black. This time I brought it back immediately.

So here we go for a 3rd round!

I’m a long time user of Apple and never had such an issue, I own many of their products I use every day. But this time it’s really getting on my nerves, I must say!
That sucks. You should just get a new computer at this point imo.
 
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no better or worse is not good enough, given the price quality should be superior. It used to be. Mac prices held so much longer than PCs and lived longer too AFAIK. new MBs are on repair programs day 1.
Maybe people aren't paying for reliability. They're paying for something, otherwise Apple wouldn't get away with these prices.
 
Maybe people aren't paying for reliability. They're paying for something, otherwise Apple wouldn't get away with these prices.

I guess they are paying still thinking its the old quality, not noticing things have changed. Kind of like buying a certain brand, but in reality they just license the name and other manufacture it.

Kind of like buying a Sony tv but it probably is just bought from Samsung or LG and slapped the SONY name on it.
 
Comments on Rossman's YouTube videos are just the worst kind of echo chamber I've ever seen. People incapable of making their own educated opinions.. they've just seen a YouTuber critique Apple products and just regurgitate the same crap. It's a total dumpster fire.

I agree with a lot of what Rossman says but I have also very respectfully called him out for his bias too on numerous occasions. He then recently banned from commenting. He's a hypocrite. Nail him down for fair criticism and he does just what Apple does in its forum, silence and ban you. Just like Apple can’t tolerate criticism, neither can he. His ego has gotten quite big and it’s exposing him for what he really is.

I was going to log in under another account to call him out on his hypocrisy but in the end I just unsubscribed. Not worth it. He would have just deleted the comment and blocked me again. Notice that there are essentially no critical posters commenting on his channel. People that do give criticism are obviously being banned. Of course the way disgusting YouTube management works you could be posting for a long time and not know you've been blocked from a channel since along with disgusting censorship, YouTube uses the shadow banning method of blocking people.
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Rossman's profession means he gets a very skewed picture of the quality of the products he repairs. By definition all of the products he is working on have problems. I work in tech support and have done so since the beginning of the '90s and my impressions of my company's products are that they are a pile of crap. This being caused that very few customers tend to call in to say that product XXX has been very stable. You only come in touch with problems and that tends to colour your view of them.

I am not sure a lot of Rossman's viewers realize this.

Most are irrational Apple haters that don’t even use Apple products or know very little about them. I'm very critical of Apple under Tim Crook but it’s because I know the products and the history of the company very well.
 
I own of these affected MacBook. I bought it in September 2018 and yesterday sent it for a 3rd repair - they changed the logic board twice already. But the issues keep happening.

The issue started on Day 2 (the computer just shut down on its own) but there were really not significant and I was travelling so I didn’t bring it back immediately - it’s a custom built so they wouldn’t have swapped it immediately anyway (I still wish I did... I now live in another country and they cannot exchange it, only repair it over and over)

It escalated really quickly - it would freeze out of nowhere and had to reboot every time. Or wait 24 hrs before it would function again.
I brought it for repair. They changed everything, including screen and body as they were scratched during repairs.

Then it started again after a few months, this time freezing then it would be stuck in a reboot loop.

Repair again after arguing with customer service for a replacement (a US customer representative - a manager - told me they could ship it to the US for an exchange, but this wasn’t recognised by all the other people I talked to)

After using it less than 5 times, this time the screen froze, full of lines and turned black. This time I brought it back immediately.

So here we go for a 3rd round!

I’m a long time user of Apple and never had such an issue, I own many of their products I use every day. But this time it’s really getting on my nerves, I must say!

I wouldn’t recommend any current MacBook. In fact for four years so far. Way too many problems and a lousy keyboard that's also unreliable. So much money for flawed junk.
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Agree with you despite the rantings of some troubled humans on this site. Used a 15” 2015 for 8 years as a photojournalist for a big newspaper. Not a single problem or repair and that went for the other six the rest of the staff used. And believe me, we used them in all conditions and situations. Missed it so much when I retired that I bought a 13” 2015 Pro in 2016 and it too has been perfect for the last three years. Didn't need to stop making such a great piece of equipment.

Are you a time traveler? :)
 
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I guess they are paying still thinking its the old quality, not noticing things have changed. Kind of like buying a certain brand, but in reality they just license the name and other manufacture it.

Kind of like buying a Sony tv but it probably is just bought from Samsung or LG and slapped the SONY name on it.
I don't think Macs were ever more reliable than they are now. Personally I had way more problems with early 2000s Macs than I ever did with other computers, and the 2006-2012 ones were just average.
 
I don't think Macs were ever more reliable than they are now. Personally I had way more problems with early 2000s Macs than I ever did with other computers, and the 2006-2012 ones were just average.

Well, Apple never had a keyboard problem that lasted four years!

I don’t recommend any MacBook to anyone. Too many flaws and poor thermal qualities. I only recommend the regular 27” iMac, and with minimal upgrades beyond the best processor. My late 2012 iMac is still going strong and has been running mostly non-stop since new. Recently upgraded it to 9TB of internal storage and ac WiFi.

The Mac mini is a rip-off. The old base models used to be a good value. Not anymore. Same as MacBooks. Poor value.
 
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usb-c to hdmi cable. i carry one "dongle" that has two usb-c plug two usb-a, card reader and hdmi. Its really not a huge deal for the ADVANTAGES you get from 4 usb-c ports. Some people just dont like the idea that they have to buy a few extra things when you are already buying a 3000$ computer i understand that but its not anything for me. I have all kinds of audio and video cables and plenty of usb-c cables i can use with apples charger which is nice. Not a fan of white so i have a braided usb-c black cable thats 10 feet and its nice. You couldnt do that with the old machines. You where forced to buy apples charger even when the cable frayed or turned green and they never warrantied them.

I don't see how those "advantages" balance out frustration from the extra steps of scrambling for dongles, troubleshooting dongles and troubleshooting the USB-C port itself, which is the flimsiest port I've ever dealt with (good indicator is the number of google searches on USB-C port replacement). Calling non USB-C legacy is a joke as long as >50% of accessories don't use USB-C and as long as it is <50% reliable than its predecessor.

I used to consider the premium I paid for apple products a lump sum to guarantee seamlessness. You can explain away how you want it, but dongles are not seamless. When you feel that your 5 years old computer offers more seamlessness, then you know there's a problem.

But yes, now you can use a black charging cable.
 
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I don't have a problem with USC-C. But you will, for quite a while, need dongles. So what does Jony Ive and/or some other moron at Apple do? But the ports so close together on the Apple laptops that you can't use both of them if you're using dongles or adapters. The sheer stupidity of this makes any self-respecting person want to take his money anywhere but Apple.
 
I don't see how those "advantages" balance out frustration from the extra steps of scrambling for dongles, troubleshooting dongles and troubleshooting the USB-C port itself, which is the flimsiest port I've ever dealt with (good indicator is the number of google searches on USB-C port replacement). Calling non USB-C legacy is a joke as long as >50% of accessories don't use USB-C and as long as it is <50% reliable than its predecessor.

I used to consider the premium I paid for apple products a lump sum to guarantee seamlessness. You can explain away how you want it, but dongles are not seamless. When you feel that your 5 years old computer offers more seamlessness, then you know there's a problem.

But yes, now you can use a black charging cable.
well certain people complain about little things like adapters and getting different cables. Most people find it to be annoying and get on with their life. I will definitely take having the ability to use any side of the computer for power as I use the right side and the left side daily. That alone makes it worth putting up with. I don't miss having my 2011 machine one bit. I got a few new cables and moved on with my life. One dongle with everything you need isn't life changing either its a small inconvenience for more options imo.
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I don't have a problem with USC-C. But you will, for quite a while, need dongles. So what does Jony Ive and/or some other moron at Apple do? But the ports so close together on the Apple laptops that you can't use both of them if you're using dongles or adapters. The sheer stupidity of this makes any self-respecting person want to take his money anywhere but Apple.
which dongles you using? my hyperdrive uses both of them. The rest of my adapters I haven't run into the issue with being too close besides my L shape(90 degree) adapters.
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I don’t know if I believe you... :p
he's living in 2023. ask him about stocks
 
well certain people complain about little things like adapters and getting different cables. Most people find it to be annoying and get on with their life. I will definitely take having the ability to use any side of the computer for power as I use the right side and the left side daily. That alone makes it worth putting up with. I don't miss having my 2011 machine one bit. I got a few new cables and moved on with my life. One dongle with everything you need isn't life changing either its a small inconvenience for more options imo.
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Good for you. Pros will complain because of the introduction of uncertainty/lowering reliability of their high-end otherwise future-proof equipment (e.g. high-end sound cards). Needing more equipment to do the same is not advancement anyway. USB-A is not legacy (yet). The USB-C port is prone to failure due to much stronger side pull on the cable and that healthy click to secure the cable goes away with time. An issue that is quite prevalent and we hardly discuss (just google it). Lastly, custom cables = custom lengths charging side just shouldn't matter, especially if you are to use both sides for connectivity.
 
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