Yeah, I'm definitely considering that, but I might wait for the Broadwell rMBPs. One thing's for sure though, I'll never go with a dedicated GPU again. In every Apple laptop I've owned, from my Powerbook G4 and my Santa Rosa MBP to this 2011 MBP, the dGPU always ultimately turned out to be the breaking point.
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Dead 2011 MBP - what are my options?
- Thread starter Tyrion
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Yeah, I'm definitely considering that, but I might wait for the Broadwell rMBPs. One thing's for sure though, I'll never go with a dedicated GPU again. In every Apple laptop I've owned, from my Powerbook G4 and my Santa Rosa MBP to this 2011 MBP, the dGPU always ultimately turned out to be the breaking point.
Its great that they agreed to fix it, but I agree with the other poster - you do need to sell it. The repair is only kicking the can down the road, it will fail again and the next time apple may be less open to replacing the logic board.
Ok, I take back all the bad stuff I've ever said about Apple, turns out they're repairing the MBP for freeI can only encourage everyone suffering from this issue to hit the Genius Bar.
I also got a free repair. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of my problems - the refurbished logic boards kept failing within a few weeks.
You've got a couple of options.
1) Sell it quick.
2) Put up with a potentially unreliable machine for a few months, and keep flinging it back at Apple. If the logic board fails three times Apple should replace it with a new rMBP.
I can't fault the customer service from the local Apple Store. It's just a shame the refurbished logic boards appear to be of poor quality. I'd have been very happy with a permanently fixed 2011 MBP.
A permanently fixed 2011 MBP does not exist, because every single Sandy Bridge board with the Radeon GPU has that same manufacturing flaw which causes Radeongate to occur.
Yes, I know that. Hence the advice to the OP. The 2011 is a good machine, just with a fatal design/manufacturing issue.
All 15- and 17-inch models are potentially affected. 703 charge cycles is awfully high, even for a 3-year-old machine.
All the 15" and 17" are potentially affected. Battery in mine was 700+ cycles before the logic board went and 93% of the original capacity. Best bit of the machine!
Here's one from February :
If it's affected I'd move it on again, and go looking for a 2012 with the GeForce 650.
Here's one from February :
If it's affected I'd move it on again, and go looking for a 2012 with the GeForce 650.
The 13" isn't affected as it does not have a discrete GPU.
Only the 15" and 17" models are affected - they both have a discrete Radeon GPU.
Thank you. I did buy it to 'try' the whole Mackbook thing. I love it but wanted a bit more time to use it while saving before going for a new one. All good.
Thanks for your reply.
Yeah, I'm seriously considering never buying a laptop with a dedicated GPU again. It's been the point of failure for all three pro-level Apple laptops I've owned.
look here..
You may have a look here and give them a call. Not Switzerland, but its closer then the US anyways. Obviously they have experience with the 2008 nvidia problem, I am sure they treat the Radeongate of the 2011 just fine.
Just a thought..
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Apple-Macboo...25?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_16&hash=item1c42ba9f51
Ok, I take back all the bad stuff I've ever said about Apple, turns out they're repairing the MBP for free
You may have a look here and give them a call. Not Switzerland, but its closer then the US anyways. Obviously they have experience with the 2008 nvidia problem, I am sure they treat the Radeongate of the 2011 just fine.
Just a thought..
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Apple-Macboo...25?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_16&hash=item1c42ba9f51
Sadly here in the U.S they wont give you a rMBP if the board fails three times as its not a law here as it is in the UK.
I would simply give up Apple if it happened to me. I can live with Linux and/or Windows. I'm OS-agnostic.
It's not part of UK law that I'm aware of. I thought it was more of an unofficial AppleCare policy for the same fault?
I'm thinking of eBay-ing my 2011 MBP before I see the mines fail as well and lose a load of money. The amount of threads I've seen of people suffering from Radeongate is scaring me, i've even (honestly) had nightmares.
The problem is, I don't have the money to upgrade to the rMBP, even if I were to sell my 2011 MBP.
My advice to you is to have it re-balled and sell it pronto before the problem re-appears if Apple don't repair yours. Good Luck!
EDIT: Also, have you got any home contents insurance or insurance of any kind? That may cover the cost of repairing it or they may send u a replacement/equivalent/cash sum.
I have such insurance on mine, and I never would have thought about filing a claim that way. If I hold on to my system past its AppleCare expiration date (not for another year, thankfully), and it fails, I might go down this route. I bet the insurance company would gladly reimburse me the cost of a re-ball versus shelling out the full covered amount to be put toward a brand-new machine.
I thought I read on a post somewhere on macrumors that it was a law in some country but I'm probably wrong.
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By the way, did you have AppleCare when they replaced your logic board and then the whole computer?
No. I never bought AppleCare for the machine. Apple Store offered to cover the cost of the repair as a consumer law claim.
Perhaps consider the 2.0 Ghz 15" rMBP then. It ain't gonna be "old" until mid-2015 based on Intel manufacturing delays. I for one don't buy the argument that all dGPU's will fail. I'm aware of only two chips the Nvidia GT8600 in 2008 and the AMD's in early 2011 . These chips had statistically higher failure rates than typical background manufacturing failure rates. That doesn't mean all of these chips will fail. Just higher than normal — what exact percent higher is an interesting question though...
Say every chip has a 20% failure rate (1 out of every 5) and you were hit and got a repair. You now have a conditional probability* of successional events given the first failure. I think this would be: 1/5*1/4 (20% of 25% = 5%) chance of a second failure rate in a row. If it happens to you again you are an unlucky fellow. Third time? (1/5*1/4*1/3 = 1.7% chance). Very unlucky.
*If unconditional then the second failure rate is 4%, third is 0.8%.
Apple repaired my 2011 after the Radeon failure. It was replaced with a slightly corroded used logic board from Canada. I sold it locally on a Swedish equivalent of Craigslist as soon as I could for a very reasonable price. It too had a 512GB SSD, hi-res screen, upgraded ram and a couple months of applecare on it. It was a good machine but I hardly miss it using a retina
.