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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Apple Over 2011 MacBook Pro Graphics Issues

I'm unhappy to be one of the many effected by this issue :(

About a year ago, my early 11 MacBook Pro just wouldn't turn on anymore one day. When I plugged it into the MagSafe, its light would just faintly flicker orange. So I brought it to the Apple Store and they said they'd have to replace the logic board for a flat rate of $300. We did it and I got it back about 4 days later. I was happy it worked again, however, they put a big deep scratch in the lid of the laptop, which I hadn't noticed when I first received it, so Apple believed it was my fault. :( I wish they could at least give me back my $300 I paid for them to fix the laptop and then send it back scratched up.

Also, they forgot to even plug in the backlit keyboard cable when they repaired it. So I had to take it apart myself and do that with the help of iFixIt.
 
There's another flaw in the 2010 MacBook Pro (macbook6,1) that results in graphics corruption when Automatic Graphics Switching is enabled.

It seems there is more than one cause. For some a new logic board fixes the problem, but others have had several new logic boards and the problem persists. In most cases (myself included) the issue appeared with the Mountain Lion and persists through Mavericks (not sure about Yosemite): booting into Lion resolves in the issue.

Apple seem to have confused this OS X bug with the hardware problem, so it persists in OS X. For those who need long battery runtimes, this is an incredibly frustrating bug.

Is this related to the 2011 MacBook Pro defect? Probably not, except that it warrants a class action lawsuit.
 
cjmillsnun said:
Agreed. We are very lucky in the UK to have some of the best consumer protection legislation in the world.
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The punchline is that Apple still try to sell you AppleCare, at quite a hefty price, if you're in the UK. There's some small print referencing consumer law (which, presumably, they are required by regulation to include) yet they're still charging £200 for what, as far as I can tell, is glorified phone tech support.
 
I've had graphical corruption intermittently since at least Mountain Lion, maybe even in Lion. My 2011 MBP has never crashed and the problem usually goes away if I switch from the integrated to discrete GPU.

Something is definitely afoot. I want to change the thermal paste (my MBP is outside of warranty), but I don't want Apple to deny me service just in case a recall is issued.
 
Gav Mack said:
Yep, but having 80% too much paste spread all over the pcb and heatsink with a pitted die contact plate to bind to the GPU doesn't help much either. Mine still has its original lead free soldering it just runs a lot cooler pasted and lapped my way.
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Absolutely. Getting to it early enough and sorting it out is going to go a long way in increasing the life of the MBP before problems arise, if they ever do.
But from the factory it's almost guaranteed to fail at some point in time due to the design and parts/consumables (solder, paste etc) used.
 
My mum has a late 2011 MBP 15", don't think it has any graphics issues, is it covered?

Actually considering putting in a SSD and more RAM to rejuvenate it.
 
The result will be:

• Lawyers get millions of dollars.
• Customers get next to nothing.

There was a similar situation with the MacBook Pro 3,1. Mine started glirching a little after the window for complaint submission closed, and failed after replacement motherboards no longer existed. So I was screwed out of compensation by bad luck timing.

This keeps happening over and over. Why do you think I don't want a Mac mini or an iMac for heavy duty graphics and audio work? I want a Mac Pro. A GPU fails? Replace just that board.

Tiny laptop components in tiny laptop enclosures have heat problems and die much earlier than devices with better heat dissipation.

It's not just Apple with this problem, but it's more critical with Apple machines due to their expense... unless you've spent an equal amount of money on a Windows laptop: I had a very expensive Sony Vaio fail on me for similar reasons, and the "no lemon" return policy at Best Buy at the time gave me a brand new MacBook Pro 5,5 (my current and only surviving modern Mac) AND a $400+ gift card as the exchange for the lemon Sony. Even the computer sales guy at the store was astounded at how expensive the Vaio was.

Of course, without a proper display made FOR the Mac Pro, and with the obsolescence of the Mac Pro for photography the second a retina 5K display is shipped by Apple (because the current Mac Pro won't have the bandwidth for 5K), leaves me sitting on a nest egg for a replacement workhorse computer for graphics and music, waiting for the right combo of equipment. And no, I can't afford a $3500 4K display on top of a Mac Pro.

Sometimes I think about just buying another Windows computer, just so i can move on and get back to work, but then I go use the one I'm migrating away from and I remember how much I hate using Windows (and no, Linux isn't remotely an option). I also then remember that no PC manufacturers are working at giving digital photographers a 240 PPI desktop display to work with... So I keep waiting for Apple and Intel to get it done. If not for suicidal laptop style components, I'd buy a retina iMac.
 
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robjulo said:
You are parroting a myth. Do you know the cost to bring a class action?
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Yeah, it costs a lot to print out those $4.50 Starbucks coupons that go to the plaintiffs while the attorneys feast on their huge share of the settlement.
 
My PVC-free Apple iPhone charging cable self-destructed randomly one day. The plastic coating just disintegrated. Turned brown and then split open and went green. As in gooey green gunk.

Apple Store guy tells me this is a consequence of using less environmentally harmful plastics.

So, Apple laptops die faster with lead-free solder?

I'd like to see Apple tell us a story about how they're learning to engineer equipment that is environmentally better AND doesn't fail earlier than environmentally evil materials. I'm all for environmental protection. I recycle like crazy and participated in a fight against a so-called "waste to energy" incinerator in a local town ("polluting waste OF energy", is more like it). But if we are throwing stuff away more rapidly, we're going to end up with bigger landfills, sooner.

Technology is one of the biggest wastes of material. Recovering the materials will get more important to manufacturers... just as they find no one is willing to pay for new equipment any more because the rare minerals are scarce and cost an insane amount...

Ever seen Max Headroom? That's the economy we are headed toward...
 
Gav Mack said:
179 quid on eBay sent to bga-repairs in Hereford has worked for 9 clients of mine my fellow Brit. Bearing in mind Apple charge £410 for one of their depot boards which never last long its a rather good deal, and save your receipt for a possible refund.
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I was quoted £510 at an Apple Store just this very morning, Yosemite upgrade didn't agree with my late 2011 MBP 17, gutted to say the least!
 
I was 4 months out of Apple Care and I had the same problem happen to me a couple weeks ago. So my 2011 MBP 17" that cost $3K barely over 3 years old was going to cost me $375 to fix and that same part is built the same way.

I couldn't afford to wait 5 days for them to send it out since I had a deadline. So I just had to shell out another $3K for a new machine. Not much I could do.

So I signed up on the petition and I hope others do the same. I probably just get my machine fixed, sell it and use the $$ for a backup machine.
 
On my second logic board that was replaced six months ago but starting to have the same graphic issues again and can't afford to pay for another board.

It appears that the replacement boards are refurbished and not lasting long.
 
RKO said:
On my second logic board that was replaced six months ago but starting to have the same graphic issues again and can't afford to pay for another board.

It appears that the replacement boards are refurbished and not lasting long.
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Have you signed the petition? If not you need to. The number of signees is skyrocketing and they've almost got enough signatures. People are mad..

My 2002 Powerbook has some lame problems with it as well and I thought hmm, maybe its just a fluke. Now I'm just P!@#ssed because yet another overpriced machine dying before its time and then I just buy another one. Apple needs to address this.
 
If Apple wants to preserve its stellar brand reputation, it needs to compensate consumers for flawed products. A laptop shouldn't break on its own in less than 3-4 years, especially a high-dollar laptop. Unfortunately, this class action lawsuit is going to create zero winners. Apple's reputation will be damaged in the media, and consumers will likely get a negligible amount of money.

I know I'm not the only one here that's received checks for less than $3 in the mail for class action lawsuits before, when the lawyers raked in tens of millions. Our class action system, like most of our legal system, has been deeply flawed for some time. However, at least this will get Apple's attention.
 
leo.andres.21 said:
I guess I am one of the lucky ones (or just in general not unlucky few) that have zero issues with the 2011 MacBook Pro? Mine is running strong and it still performs well, at about 10k geek bench score, and with an SSD in Fusion drive mode, it is now faster than ever. I can't complain aside from the fact that it is quite heavy and can be loud at times.
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We should start a thread on 2011s that are NOT experiencing this issue and compare post counts lol. Just curious to see what the percentage of units with the defect is.
 
casperes1996 said:
Sigh.
If only this would have any influence whatsoever on the ones of us who're from other countries. I fear mine will break and I'll be lost.
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Well In New Zealand we have the "Consumer Guarantees Act" which means we have certain rights years after the warranty runs out. Things like "Fit for purpose" "Reasonable expectation of life", etc etc etc.

We are not reliant on lawyers making money.
 
I had one of these machines and had this issue. Glad I got rid of it after Applecare ran out. I had a feeling it would eventually fail.
 
sir1963nz said:
Well In New Zealand we have the "Consumer Guarantees Act" which means we have certain rights years after the warranty runs out. Things like "Fit for purpose" "Reasonable expectation of life", etc etc etc.
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I'm not generally in favor of government regulation, but that sounds sensible in the case of high-cost products. Certainly I wouldn't expect my shaving razor to last 3 years. My $2000 laptop? Absolutely.

Unfortunately, I could see such regulations getting out of hand. I wonder how much of the extra cost of iPhones overseas is due to policies such as these. Do you know if anyone has done an accounting of where the additional price of Apple products in Australia comes from? I imagine part of it comes from how you do your VAT tax.
 
Try $3000.00 Laptop.


Aloft085 said:
I'm not generally in favor of government regulation, but that sounds sensible in the case of high-cost products. Certainly I wouldn't expect my shaving razor to last 3 years. My $2000 laptop? Absolutely.

Unfortunately, I could see such regulations getting out of hand. I wonder how much of the extra cost of iPhones overseas is due to policies such as these. Do you know if anyone has done an accounting of where the additional price of Apple products in Australia comes from? I imagine part of it comes from how you do your VAT tax.
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wizard said:
It is pretty stupid but the regulation comes from the EU. It is stupid in the sense that they demanded the removal of lead from electronics when there was no suitable replacement and frankly there still isnt a suitable replacement. The blame for this stupidity rest in the hands of Europe and there out of control regulatory bodies.

They are doing it because regulations require it.

Im not sure what that has to do with this discussion.

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It has been a long time since I've seen so many wrong posts from one guy.
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you think there done in ovens?

hot air application is old bud....infrared is where its at , look at the dozens on manf. videos on youtube.

wow....

people these days....
 
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