Apple Updates Boot Camp Drivers to Fix Major Issue Causing Blown Speakers on New MacBook Pros [Updated]

[Dan From Canada]

What happened to QA testing at apple?

This ONE MILLION TIMES!!!

Quality control at Apple is getting continually worse. As a long time Apple customer since the nineties, Apple seems more about maximizing profit than anything.

 

[bladerunner2000]

So you report about this issue. Why dont you report about the wide-spread issues such as terrible battery life?

How about Apple's false advertising of the iMacs performing 5-15% slower due to their miserable cooling and airflow?

 

[monokitty]

Holy crap. A blown speaker because of boot camp. My now obsolete early 2011 17" MacBook Pro looks greater every day now.

Yeah, greater every day...

https://www.apple.com/ca/support/macbookpro-videoissues/.

 

[tremlock]

you installed it wrong

 

[scott911]

Thanks goodness they protected the user for those damn speakers by a slab of non perforated aluminum.

Only now does that design decision - which we all dismissed as yet another case of fashion over function - makes perfect sense!

 

[Arcus]

You get what you pay for when using Windows regardless of OS!

That makes no sense

 

[kemal]

Replacing the entire computer to fix a couple of speakers? Me thinks it is something that gets blown on the motherboard. Maybe the bad Windows driver causes a high DC offset that blows an under rated output capacitor?

 

[Dwalls90]

Nothing wrong with Apple's response to the issue. They're handling it well and quick and yes, it won't cost anything to the user.

But still sucks that something this potentially catastrophic made it through QA

Agreed, but catastrophic implies loss of life or not being unable to use the machine altogether, neither which is the case here. Creatives who are buying these machines to make a living, aren't relying on the internal speakers for audio output, let alone wouldn't be using Bootcamp on a Mac. I'm surprised we haven't seen this issue pop up on the forums yet (I could be wrong, someone can link that thread here if I'm missing it).

 

[ka-spot]

hahaha

"Can't innovate anymore, my ass"... keep on keeping on! 😀

 

[keysofanxiety]

I work for one of Apple's competitors and I know for sure we wouldn't have handled this even at Apple's level. Then again, you wouldn't even hear this much about the issue if we had it, because we're not Apple.

So, so true. The amount of documented problems from other OEMs are swept under the rug or not addressed because they're not as in the spotlight as Apple, or because they keep manufacturing a thousand different models every month and the laptop you just bought is EOL in no time at all.

 

[kazmac]

I am glad that folks are getting a replacement and fixes came rather promptly, but someone needs to talk to Mr. Cook about more rigorous Quality Control before products are released.

 

[Geert76]

What happened to QA testing at apple?

didnt you hear it yet? Its all and only about shareholders nowadays at Apple HQ.

Shareholders are nr 1, quality control and customer are at number 63 and nr 79.

 

[CaryMacGuy]

People are criticizing Apple for not catching this but when you think about it, not every tiny bug can be found in the QC process. It takes the product being released for them to be revealed. Most of these bugs are being fixed really fast and anyone affected is being treated right by Apple. I have no regrets buying the new 13" MacBook Pro. Its a pretty awesome machine!

 

[Bubba Satori]

What happened to QA testing at apple?

That's your job.
Get busy.

 

[atlatnesiti]

An early appearance of the 'stop whining' police. How dare are anyone critique your precious Apple and Tim Cook, etc

There is nothing but criticisms and trolling on this board to begin with. Have you ever had anything positive to say about Appple? Your comment is laughable, now go back to your usual bashing of everything Apple, everyone else is.

 

[Stratus Fear]

People are criticizing Apple for not catching this but when you think about it, not every tiny bug can be found in the QC process. It takes the product being released for them to be revealed. Most of these bugs are being fixed really fast and anyone affected is being treated right by Apple. I have no regrets buying the new 13" MacBook Pro. Its a pretty awesome machine!

Yep, QA teams won't always find every last bug. The average QA/QC team is a tiny fraction of the size of any installed user base. While no bugs is the goal, it shouldn't be a surprise that things slip through the cracks once you have a large base of users "testing" your product.

 

[xorjo]

The "genius" guy is of no help. I took in yesterday and he was clueless about this. At some point even acted like it was my fault for installing windows, that it was the windows software that messed it up and he didn't get the point that Apple provides the drivers. In the end, I have to wait 2 weeks before I can send my computer in for repair, in which case the will send it to a repair center and get it fixed, and then take up to 2 weeks to get it back in my hands. Very poor service for a flagship, $3000 computer that barely 2 weeks old.

 

[Steveo13]

Great now can we get a fix for the large file transfer issue? All this hype about thunderbolt 3/usb c speeds and everything I transfer larger files exceeding 200GB the system crashes.

 

[tubeexperience]

You're all mocking Apple, but its Realtek who makes the Windows drivers - and only in Windows could a faulty driver cause your speakers to receive speaker blowing spikes.,

Apple is the one bundling the drivers with BootCamp.

It's Apple's job to test the drivers to see if they work properly.

 

[Workerbee Redux]

I know how I laughed at Dell when they warned people that VLC could damage their speakers, how crappy their QA was.

Now its Apple...

 

[LordVic]

Agreed, but catastrophic implies loss of life or not being unable to use the machine altogether, neither which is the case here. Creatives who are buying these machines to make a living, aren't relying on the internal speakers for audio output, let alone wouldn't be using Bootcamp on a Mac. I'm surprised we haven't seen this issue pop up on the forums yet (I could be wrong, someone can link that thread here if I'm missing it).

ITS still a non-recoverable hardware failure.

I know if I just spent $3000+ on a brand new computer, and within 1 week, the OEM's own software physically broke the hardware, I'd be very very frustrated. sure, it's not a "priority 1" situation that prevents usage of the device complately. But it's still a high priority item that is impacting the device in a way that I cannot use all functionality that I have paid for.

 

[bladerunner2000]

You get what you pay for when using Windows regardless of OS!

Yeah, I certainly got what I paid for when I bought a $3,000 MacBook Pro in 2011 and had the AMD Radeon GPU fail on me.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[IPPlanMan]

We're getting back to this. So sad to see.

Time for you to go Tim... and you too Jony.

 

[6836838]

Like the iPhone 7, this new MBP really does seem like a downgrade.

 

[NY Guitarist]

Replacing the entire computer to fix a couple of speakers? Me thinks it is something that gets blown on the motherboard. Maybe the bad Windows driver causes a high DC offset that blows an under rated output capacitor?

Current Apple computers are designed to be disposable. 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' has been changed to 'If anything breaks throw it and your money away and buy another one'. The hypocrisy of Apple being 'environmentally conscious' is blatant.

Creatives who are buying these machines to make a living, aren't relying on the internal speakers for audio output, let alone wouldn't be using Bootcamp on a Mac.

I see this all the time. What type of 'creatives' are you talking about?