Brand new 2013 MBA - Not impressed

[SuicidalTissue]

So, i got my MBA 13" CTO I7/8/128 Yesterday, beautiful machine indeed. Booted up nicely, installed a few apps and charged it up, while charging i was just browsing as normal.

Trouble started today...

I'm a young student who has a large ish Minecraft server, i do alot of gaming in general and a fair bit of programming so it is needed that i can access minecraft and play decently.

So i boot up the machine, open Minecraft and skype, and start playing, 3 mins in, computer crashes, pixelates. I have seen this on here happening on other laptops, or something similar.

This was the screen

I forced shutdown and tried to restart. Wouldnt turn on. Googled it and was reccomended to reset the SMC and PRAM, did that. Tried to turn it on, nothing.

So i put the laptop back down and waited about an hour. Turned it on, it wouldnt load OSX, just a grey screen with a circle.

Googled again and rebooted into recovery mode. Reformatted the drive and tried to reinstall, it failed 2 times while doing this, due to it crashing and showing this pixelated screen.

I left it for a while and then began to try again. Finally, got OSX back running, installed my apps again, tried minecraft and it crashed again; luckily enough it restarted straight away.

I called apple and they told me to do a Hardware test, completed it. It said the mac was fully functional.

Called up my local apple store and they managed to squeeze me in even though they apparently had no slots left. They basically said it could be 3 things. Screen, CPU or Graphics card. I know its defo not the screen, as it is usable, as long as the CPU isnt being used intensively. So its either the CPU or Graphics, Graphics is built into the CPU on this mac. So its the CPU. I arranged to get it replaced at this point.

I'm back home now and decided to install smcFanControl, and began monitoring temperatures, the mac got up to 100oc and was still on 1300rpm. Which is unusual. That was about 3 seconds before it crashed.

I rebooted and slammed the fan up to 6500RPM and ran a CPU test, ran fine for about 3 mins. Before it crashed. Did the same again, but without smcFanControl, Crashed in about 20 seconds.

Even though this is probably going to be fixed when the replacement arives. This is not acceptable for a product of this price IMO. I payed £1100 for it with the student discount. Seems like they apparently dont stress test the CPU before sending the laptop out.

Anyway, just though i would make this post. I'm really stressed about this, as im a young student who saved for this for quite a while, only to be delivered with a disappointment.

[EDIT] Also, this is my first mac. Great right

 

[simsaladimbamba]

This is not acceptable for a product of this price IMO. I payed £1100 for it with the student discount.

Price has nothing to do with a product not being able to function. MacBook Airs are mass produced, thus there is always a chance to get a not working product.
You might get a Škoda for under 10,000 € and a BMW for 50,000 €, the BMW can still fail despite the high price tag.

Anyway be glad you live in a time where warranty is possible and honoured, thus you will get help from Apple. Good ride.

 

[SuicidalTissue]

Price has nothing to do with a product not being able to function. MacBook Airs are mass produced, thus there is always a chance to get a not working product.
You might get a Škoda for under 10,000 € and a BMW for 50,000 €, the BMW can still fail despite the high price tag.

Anyway be glad you live in a time where warranty is possible and honoured.

Well, i would have hoped they had have a much better testing system, the "hardware test" said the system was fine, when it wasn't.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Well, i would have hoped they had have a much better testing system, the "hardware test" said the system was fine, when it wasn't.

I hoped so too, but ever since the switch to Intel the machines seemed to be more wonky than before and as to their testing mechanisms, they probably only have a consumer orientated test which does not include high CPU activity.

 

[neiltc13]

You don't need the i7 or the 8GB RAM to have Minecraft and Skype running at the same time. You could have saved a ton of cash here!

 

[SuicidalTissue]

You don't need the i7 or the 8GB RAM to have Minecraft and Skype running at the same time. You could have saved a ton of cash here!

For the extra couple hundred quid, i dont really mind. I also run alot of test servers at the same time, each consume around 1-3gb of ram each and about a fair bit of ram. Considering im using around 70% of a 5GHz overclocked 3770k on my main rig. I'm pretty sure i can max out this little laptop in no time.

 

[Lunfai]

For the extra couple hundred quid, i dont really mind. I also run alot of test servers at the same time, each consume around 1-3gb of ram each and about a fair bit of ram. Considering im using around 70% of a 5GHz overclocked 3770k on my main rig. I'm pretty sure i can max out this little laptop in no time.

It's just really bad luck here, it's not your fault, it's clearly Apples (or more specifically whoever manufactured your laptop/processor). Although you bought this computer broken, I'm sure Apple will deliver your new computer quickly.

 

[gnasher729]

I forced shutdown and tried to restart. Wouldnt turn on. Googled it and was reccomended to reset the SMC and PRAM, did that. Tried to turn it on, nothing.

Their advice was wrong. If a brand new Mac has problems like that, you return it to the store.

Whatever product you buy, a certain amount will be faulty when they arrive. Obviously unfortunately if it happens to you. But if you want to criticize Apple for that, you'd have to buy 1000 Macs and count how many are faulty, buy 1000 other computers, and compare the numbers. When these kinds of comparisons are made, Apple always looks a lot better than the average.

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I hoped so too, but ever since the switch to Intel the machines seemed to be more wonky than before and as to their testing mechanisms, they probably only have a consumer orientated test which does not include high CPU activity.

My 2006 MacBook has been running quite recently for about two weeks without any break with both CPUs at 100% without any problems. In general, the Macs that I use at home as a consumer do a lot more hard work than the Mac that I use for work.

 

[MacYost]

Your Air has a broken logic board or graphics card. Once in a while this happens, and it cannot be fixed. If you return it to the store, you should get a replacement under warranty. Good luck.

 

[Diversion]

Sounds like this particular unit you have has a improperly seated heatsink, underload involving the GPU it straight locks up. Or like the above poster, actual faulty CPU/ram. Just exchange it, it isn't normal.

 

[Abazigal]

Return your Mac if you are unhappy with it.

This isn't meant as a snide. That's what I like about Apple's 14-day no questions asked return policy. If you really feel there is something amiss with your macbook air, either get your money back, or request for a replacement macbook air. If you still face the same problems, then maybe the air isn't for you.

That said, I can only imagine the frustration and disappointment you must have felt. Nothing beats the excitement of cracking open that new Mac wrapping and testing your device for the first time, and it's a shame your initial experience couldn't have been a better one.

 

[luisito]

Even though this is probably going to be fixed when the replacement arives. This is not acceptable for a product of this price IMO. I payed £1100 for it with the student discount. Seems like they apparently dont stress test the CPU before sending the laptop out.

Anyway, just though i would make this post. I'm really stressed about this, as im a young student who saved for this for quite a while, only to be delivered with a disappointment.

[EDIT] Also, this is my first mac. Great right

I understand your frustration, (my last windows PC was returned more than 20 times do to manufacturing defects) I'm sadden to hear that you got a bad experience with your very first mac, however, hang on in there, you got a lemon MBA, Apple produces millions of this things and the manufacturing process is meant to fail at some point and this is why they give you an entire year against manufacturing defects, this is clearly that. Also remember that on top of that, you got 14 days for a full return.

I am glad that you scheduled a replacement, you won't be disappointed. This is my first mac as well, had to save for a long time since I am a college student as well, been using it for around 2 weeks and I am definitely not going back to windows EVER, you will love it.

 

[warriorz]

It's within the 14 days. Refund it. Get another one. Don't bother trying to 'fix' this one, unless you really want to keep it as you've configured it your way and really don't want to start again. But you be honest with all this hassle you're going through seems more time efficient to just get a new machine. The one you have is not satisfactory and it's within Apples 14 day return policy.

 

[wermy]

That sucks.

I hope you don't totally base your opinion on macs from this. I've had several macbooks, an imac, a mac mini, and now an 11" 2013 MBA. Never had a single problem, and I've always been impressed with the build quality. The service is second to none, as well. Good luck!

 

[CausticPuppy]

Your laptop is defective. Return it back to Apple and exchange it.

/thread

 

[SuicidalTissue]

I did actually go to the store after i called up applecare. Basically all they said is to re-ring up Apple and ask to return it as it was a CTO model. It's scheduled for delivery on the 2nd, so im happy.

 

[DisplacedMic]

Well, i would have hoped they had have a much better testing system, the "hardware test" said the system was fine, when it wasn't.

they did. you said yourself it was working fine. what more do you want? your logic board has failed. bring the computer back or send it back and they will replace it, whats the big deal? it sucks, but it's also a fact of life. what do you think would happen to that price tag if they spent even more time performing more extensive tests on these devices?

they do basic hardware tests (resistance, capacitors etc) on all the circuitry, and every computer is booted up. they do more extensive tests on a percentage of them and determine what the fail rates are. they calculate the ratio of expected failure rate to cost of replacement and determine if that's acceptable and if it is - they ship. that's all there is to it.

i wouldn't take it so personally, you got unlucky.

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For the extra couple hundred quid, i dont really mind. I also run alot of test servers at the same time, each consume around 1-3gb of ram each and about a fair bit of ram. Considering im using around 70% of a 5GHz overclocked 3770k on my main rig. I'm pretty sure i can max out this little laptop in no time.

then maybe you're purchasing the wrong device for your needs.

 

[merkinmuffley]

You probably got the only bad one they made, it happens. Apple will take care of it.