Defective Sandy Bridge SATA 3 ports in 2011 Macbook Pros

[iPadThai]

Can anyone confirm whether or not this will be an issue? I know Intel spoke about how SATA3 ports are affected only and will degrade rapidly with use of this port. Will the new 2011 macbook pro's be affected???

I'm not about to fork out $2499+tax on the new 17" 2011 model if this is the case. I have a 2008 non-unibody 15" with the 8600MGT video card (but I was lucky not to have any problems with it) - I don't want that fiasco to happen yet again.

And I also hear that ifixit did a tear down of the 15" model and the thermal paste was over-applied. Along with a stripped screw while they dissassembled the laptop. I also don't want apple care for my existing 17" never had apple care and is still running 24/7 strong.

Thank you!

 

[Hellhammer]

Intel would not let Apple sell MBPs if they used the defective parts.

 

[iPadThai]

Intel QuickSync

I was also told in another thread the 2011 macbook pro's don't utilize Intels SB quickSync technology??? I know quicksync doesn't work with discrete GPU but how will this be implemented in OS X? Does it even work?? I am beginning to feel I need to research more before getting the new 2011 macbook pro 17!!

 

[idea_hamster]

The ports affected were the SATA2 ports, not the SATA3 ports.

Also, the problem was not that they degraded rapidly under normal use -- rather some degraded earlier than expected under heavy use or difficult conditions (such as high heat). If Apple is using them, they did so subject to an agreement not to use the SATA2 connections. Since MBPs only need 2 connections (HD & ODD), I'm confident they're hooked to ports 0 and 1, SATA 3.

True, the thermal paste thing is not done with grace and style, but it's standard Apple assembly practice -- if you open your current Mac, you'll find the same thing. The stripped screw is what it is -- I didn't like that either, but I still bought one!

WRT QuickSync, IIRC, Intel said that all the hardware supports it but SnOSX doesn't yet. I'm not sure, but this could come later or in Lion.

You're right -- it is, in fact, a lot of money. Some deep breathing can help.

 

[rmitchell248]

I See nö Problem here!

 

[Evil Spoonman]

My current hypothesis is that the SATA ports for DVD and HDD are both SATA III (6Gbps) ports. Probably using the equivalent of an H67 chipset and ignoring all of the SATA II ports. There should be no SATA degradation with time on the MacBook Pros.

 

[iPadThai]

Thank you ya'll for the informative posts! I will head over to the apple store and report back tonight with possibly a new 17" to replace my retired 17" c2d!

 

[iPadThai]

The ports affected were the SATA2 ports, not the SATA3 ports.

Also, the problem was not that they degraded rapidly under normal use -- rather some degraded earlier than expected under heavy use or difficult conditions (such as high heat). If Apple is using them, they did so subject to an agreement not to use the SATA2 connections. Since MBPs only need 2 connections (HD & ODD), I'm confident they're hooked to ports 0 and 1, SATA 3.

True, the thermal paste thing is not done with grace and style, but it's standard Apple assembly practice -- if you open your current Mac, you'll find the same thing. The stripped screw is what it is -- I didn't like that either, but I still bought one!

WRT QuickSync, IIRC, Intel said that all the hardware supports it but SnOSX doesn't yet. I'm not sure, but this could come later or in Lion.

You're right -- it is, in fact, a lot of money. Some deep breathing can help.

thanks! I just recall DisplayPort was able to output audio but only 2010 hardware can do it. This is exactly why I am concerned about the QuickSync feature because I don't want to have a mid refresh cycle to support this and not the one I buy today! It's not like I can fork over another $2500+ tax!

 

[Mackilroy]

Currently there are only two programs that use QuickSync, and they're Windows-only. I could be wrong, but I think that for programs that could use QS they'd have to be rewritten (not the OS itself). So you'd still be able to use QuickSync, you'd just have to boot into Windows to do it (for now).

 

[abernal]

Ssd sata iii

Hi there,
Just ordered the MBP2011 15 inch model! My former MBP2010 13 was stolen last november, so I have counting the days back until Apple released the current model.
Thinking about updating the HDD to a SDD... Does the Macbook Pro 2011 would work OK with a Sata III SSD???

Regards,

Alexander