I'm eyeing up an early 2008 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MBP with the 512mb 8600m GT that is working perfectly AT THE MOMENT. I know that the 8xxx series is a very unreliable line of cards & I've heard that 07/08 MBP's are too. Does anyone out there still use one? What can I do to prevent the GPU from failing? How likely is it to fail on me? Thanks.
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How (Un)reliable are the 8600m GT MBP's?
- Thread starter Goftrey
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Yes, I had a MacBook Pro 4,1
Ran fine for a while. Then it started freezing with certain YouTube videos and I could make it crash by doing any of the Google Chrome WebGL demos. Then it would take me 5-10 tries to even get past the login screen. I'd either get green lines all over or it'd just freeze up and restart.
The recall on them is over, so you'd have to pay to get it fixed.
Maybe go older and get a 2,1 with the ATI Graphics?
Mine failed after 3 1/2 years. Got the logic board replaced, works without problems since. The machine is at least 5 years old now.
This is all I can say. It's hard to make any guesses about reliability based on one sample. However you should know that these machines are now outside of the 4-year free repair program, so any failure will be a full loss.
This is all I can say. It's hard to make any guesses about reliability based on one sample. However you should know that these machines are now outside of the 4-year free repair program, so any failure will be a full loss.
It's a 100% failure rate. My roommate and I both had the late 2007 model and both went out- I was harder on mine and it died at the 2 year mark (just before the class-action suit that kicked off the warranty extension- it was out of commission for a few months); his made it to 3. I know a few other people that had them and all of them required repairs.
On the other hand, if you want an older MacBook, my 1,1 with Core Duo and ATI X1600 has never had a problem aside from the SuperDrive crapping out (and by that point I didn't care anyway). I'd probably look for a 2,1 with Core2Duo if you wanted to run anything past Snow Leopard (1,1's CD was 32-bit and 10.7 onward require 64-bit processing), but for what it is it's still a great machine.
On the other hand, if you want an older MacBook, my 1,1 with Core Duo and ATI X1600 has never had a problem aside from the SuperDrive crapping out (and by that point I didn't care anyway). I'd probably look for a 2,1 with Core2Duo if you wanted to run anything past Snow Leopard (1,1's CD was 32-bit and 10.7 onward require 64-bit processing), but for what it is it's still a great machine.
Just don't buy a 2007-8 MacBook Pro.
Even the replacement boards for them are defective. One computer I supported went almost to the end of the warranty period before it failed, and then the second board went bad after 4 months, just outside of the service warranty and the repair extension.
There's no way to know when one will fail.
Even the replacement boards for them are defective. One computer I supported went almost to the end of the warranty period before it failed, and then the second board went bad after 4 months, just outside of the service warranty and the repair extension.
There's no way to know when one will fail.
I own an Early 2008 15" MBP and to be fair i have had no issue with it from new with over 35K hours running. The system pretty much retired for my uses`s now, and my daughter use it for homework and games etc. Only precaution i have made is to raise the fan RPM`s with UltraFan to help keep the GPU a little cooler
Personally although I've had no issue with the Early 2008 MBB, it`s a risk to buy a used one as they do have a known history of premature GPU failure (mine was one of the last few produced) if the GPU fails your looking at a new Logic Board, and they are well out of the extended warrantee period. To me it`s not worth the cost of repair on such an old machine, if my own Early 2008 MBP GPU fails i will just junk it, as the repair cost is almost the value of the machine.
My advice would be to put some more by, and look for a newer version less prone to such issues, if you get a good one like mine it will be down to luck, if you get a bad one it could be dead inside a month...
One last point, i had a corporate Dell from the same period, that had the same Nvidia affliction and IT eventually replaced the machine after four failed Mother Boards, as it was costing more in my downtime than the computer. They told me that the replacement boards were very much more likely to fail as they were just refurbished, not new i cant comment if this applies to Apple, equally it does give an indication on how big an issue and how wide spread. Personally i think Nvidia should have been forced to cover the cost of repair for the full lifecycle of the product, be it ten years or more not just a statutory minimum...
Personally although I've had no issue with the Early 2008 MBB, it`s a risk to buy a used one as they do have a known history of premature GPU failure (mine was one of the last few produced) if the GPU fails your looking at a new Logic Board, and they are well out of the extended warrantee period. To me it`s not worth the cost of repair on such an old machine, if my own Early 2008 MBP GPU fails i will just junk it, as the repair cost is almost the value of the machine.
My advice would be to put some more by, and look for a newer version less prone to such issues, if you get a good one like mine it will be down to luck, if you get a bad one it could be dead inside a month...
One last point, i had a corporate Dell from the same period, that had the same Nvidia affliction and IT eventually replaced the machine after four failed Mother Boards, as it was costing more in my downtime than the computer. They told me that the replacement boards were very much more likely to fail as they were just refurbished, not new i cant comment if this applies to Apple, equally it does give an indication on how big an issue and how wide spread. Personally i think Nvidia should have been forced to cover the cost of repair for the full lifecycle of the product, be it ten years or more not just a statutory minimum...
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Okay, I stayed away from the 8600's & went with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo MBP with the higher end, 256mb X1600 - I had the 128mb version in my iMac & it was pretty decent, ran super cool & having double the VRAM is always a big bonus 
Thanks for the help guys
Thanks for the help guys
Okay, I stayed away from the 8600's & went with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo MBP with the higher end, 256mb X1600 - I had the 128mb version in my iMac & it was pretty decent, ran super cool & having double the VRAM is always a big bonus
Thanks for the help guys
Good choice!
Mind if I ask what you paid?
£250 shipped, it also comes with a 750GB Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Solid-State Hard Drive which is pretty awesome to have. They're going for about £100 over here alone anyway.
I'd rather have a weaker graphics card that I know will run cool & be reliable than have a stronger graphics card that is going to crap out on me whenever it wants to.
Who's going to be gaming on a 6 1/2 year old laptop? And I'm quite certain it still would outperform the Quadro NVS in my i5 work issue Dell Latitude, on which I occasionally play Civ IV on lunch.
I used to play WoW on my MBP1,1, but that was before the game got up to 40gb for an install.
Also,
That.