Just Bought Used Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro - Keep or Return?

[Flyin Ryan]

After doing a little digging online I've seen issues regarding the AMD graphics chip. I bought a 2011 iMac brand new and it still works perfect now so I assumed the Pros released around the same time should be A-OK.

Anyone have any issues with this model? It was bought from a pawn shop so they have a 7 day return.

I've been using it for a couple days now. Running updates and migrating data.. did some Photoshop testing, 1080 full screen playback, connected my 23" Cinema Display and have experienced no issues.

 

[Lachhh]

Guess that depends on how freaked out you are over your machine possibly developing Radeongate sometime along the line. I personally would avoid the 2011 models with the AMD card, then again I might just have read one too many horror stories online.
There's definitely some risk involved, your call.

 

[magbarn]

Return it, pay the extra for a 2012 MBP, the 2012 cMBP 15 has been extremely reliable compared to it's forebears. Also avoid the 2010 cMBP 15 as strangely enough, the iGPU had issues...

Since you're the 2nd or higher owner, the chances of Apple doing a 'goodwill' repair is basically nil and you'll be paying $600 for a replacement logic board that also has a high chance of failure. I don't know how much you paid for your mbp, but with $600 tab added on you might as well buy a new macbook air or something.

 

[Gav Mack]

Whats your CPU idle temps with no apps running after leaving it for a 5-10 min spell?

 

[Flyin Ryan]

Whats your CPU idle temps with no apps running after leaving it for a 5-10 min spell?

CPU is currently at 68 degrees celsius with just Safari running and the cinema display connected. Been running all day since I've been installing Yosemite and migrating files.

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Return it, pay the extra for a 2012 MBP, the 2012 cMBP 15 has been extremely reliable compared to it's forebears. Also avoid the 2010 cMBP 15 as strangely enough, the iGPU had issues...

Since you're the 2nd or higher owner, the chances of Apple doing a 'goodwill' repair is basically nil and you'll be paying $600 for a replacement logic board that also has a high chance of failure. I don't know how much you paid for your mbp, but with $600 tab added on you might as well buy a new macbook air or something.

I paid $662 including tax lol. So that would put me in the $1200 range if a repair was needed.. not cool lol. I've had a 2010 13" for a year now with the only issue being freezes while connected to my cinema display but works fine in clamshell mode.

 

[Gav Mack]

CPU is currently at 68 with just Safari running. Been running all day since I've been installing Yosemite and migrating files.

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I paid $662 including tax lol. So that would put me in the $1200 range if a repair was needed.. not cool lol. I've had a 2010 13" for a year now with the only issue being freezes while connected to my cinema display but works fine in clamshell mode.

With all apps closed left for 5-10 mins it should idle at 42-45c. 65 was what my 17 inch was at and now it's 39-40c. Needs a repaste and the die plates on the heatsink shining up asap to dramatically drop the temperatures inside that's too hot.

The two copper bits here are the dies - bit of chrome polish after to make them look like mirrors and you get a 4c drop alone.

 

[Flyin Ryan]

With all apps closed left for 5-10 mins it should idle at 42-45c. 65 was what my 17 inch was at and now it's 39-40c. Needs a repaste and the die plates on the heatsink shining up asap to dramatically drop the temperatures inside that's too hot.

The two copper bits here are the dies - bit of chrome polish after to make them look like mirrors and you get a 4c drop alone.

Image

Nice work. I closed all apps and disconnected the cinema display and the temp dropped considerably after a few minutes. Does this still look too high?

 

[Gav Mack]

Nice work. I closed all apps and disconnected the cinema display and the temp dropped considerably after a few minutes. Does this still look too high?

It's ok but the temps were high with the acd connected. Problem is which is easy to explain with the picture is the size of the CPU die its huge and it leaks heat up to the GPU with the bad over paste and poor surface. When the AMD activates some of the heat cant be drawn through the heatsink and with the big over paste on the GPU too it gets transferred to the pcb part of the GPU putting heat where it shouldnt go breaking the solder balls on the package. With 80% less paste there is only air between the pcb part of the GPU and the heatsink so the heat stays off the pcb surface of the AMD.

Repasting and polishing I have done as a preventative measure on mine and a dozen other 2011's and none has broken their GPU. Apple don't do it this way get an independent engineer to do it until they change their engineering guidelines which quite frankly for these units are nuts.

Uberdoward channel on YouTube has an excellent tutorial on the 17 inch including polishing the plates if you know someone capable. The 15 inch is very similar inside and though he has a 15 inch video it doesn't include the plate treatment