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Lawyers Researching Possible Class Action Lawsuit Over 2011 MacBook Pro Graphics Issues
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Could be. But other parts in other models also use BGAs and don't have this problem - did Apple magically figure out how to handle the thermals on the other models?
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Yep. Me too. 2007 and 2011 for my personal use. 2009 for my wife - that one still running fine to this day (use it as an iTunes server for apple tvs).
You have the late 2011 MBP with 6770 and 1GB video RAM? Yes, I have that and it is dead.
I spent over $2000 on my early 2011 MacBook Pro 15' in early 2011. When it failed a year and a half later made a fuss with the Genius Bar person, when he did nothing I made a fuss with the manager, when that didn't happen I called Apple corporate 3 times. The third time they apologized for trying to charge me for the repair and repaired it for free.
A year and a half to the day after the first repair, the same failure happened again. This time no matter what I did Apple stood firm, told me there was no known problem, and I ended up paying for the repair.
Talking to the person from apple corporate I let him know how disappointed I was that Apple wasn't taking care of this.
He told me that apple knew nothing about any problems with the 2011 MacBook Pro, then gave me his private number and told me he would take care of me if my computer failed a third time a year and a half later.
I hope he still works for Apple, but more importantly I hope that when it happens I don't lose too much productivity. I constantly live in fear when I'm working with a client that my computer will just die in the middle of a project.
Edit: I use this machine for photoshop and illustrator work, as well as some video editing. I'm usually working with big files in PS and Telly pretty heavily on the gpu. So the discreet gpu is utilized for 6+ hours a day. I usually work on either a glass or wood desk.
A year and a half to the day after the first repair, the same failure happened again. This time no matter what I did Apple stood firm, told me there was no known problem, and I ended up paying for the repair.
Talking to the person from apple corporate I let him know how disappointed I was that Apple wasn't taking care of this.
He told me that apple knew nothing about any problems with the 2011 MacBook Pro, then gave me his private number and told me he would take care of me if my computer failed a third time a year and a half later.
I hope he still works for Apple, but more importantly I hope that when it happens I don't lose too much productivity. I constantly live in fear when I'm working with a client that my computer will just die in the middle of a project.
Edit: I use this machine for photoshop and illustrator work, as well as some video editing. I'm usually working with big files in PS and Telly pretty heavily on the gpu. So the discreet gpu is utilized for 6+ hours a day. I usually work on either a glass or wood desk.
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You mean dedicated graphics card. There are plenty of integrated-ma8uzhfrdsaygfdswsdxc5rtcdf zt SOMETHING WENT WRONG FAILURE YOU MUST RESTART YOUR MAC
Where should these reports be displayed?
The 500+ page thread on Apple isn't enough?
The hundreds of other threads about this issue aren't enough?
My computer failing twice in 3 years (1st time 1.5 years after purchase, second time 1.5 years after first repair) isn't enough"
The dozens of stories from major tech blogs, and the 100s of stories from smaller tech blogs.
All the tweets, and Facebook posts.
Out of all my friends who have bought a 2011 MacBook Pro I'm the only person who hasn't retired my 2011 MacBook Pro, not because it hasn't had the issue, but because I got it fixed rather than just buying a new Retina one (yeah I don't make nearly as much money as they do)
Where exactly do you want to see these reports? Because they have been around
Here is a site that tries to keep track of the report of this issue in the goal of getting Apple to take that action they should have taken a long time ago.
http://action.mbp2011.com/
Edit:forgot the site
The iFixit teardown showed that the thermal paste on the GPU in the 2011 models were applied worse compared to the previous generation ones.
This is typical of Apple, it was the same with the MacBook 2010 black screen issues. It took them forever to finally admit the issues that affected thousands and thousands of users. Our computers went from high end devices to increadibly expensive bricks.
Happened to mine.
Didn't look like Apple were going to help and I didn't have time to really press them on the sale of goods act. Got a £150 reball and GPU replacement.
The iPad Air is more fragile than previous models. I had an iMac that had lots of overheating issues.
I love Mac OS X compared to the alternatives but I no longer see Apple hardware as 'premium'. It's junky in many ways.
Didn't look like Apple were going to help and I didn't have time to really press them on the sale of goods act. Got a £150 reball and GPU replacement.
The iPad Air is more fragile than previous models. I had an iMac that had lots of overheating issues.
I love Mac OS X compared to the alternatives but I no longer see Apple hardware as 'premium'. It's junky in many ways.
I had my early 2011 17" MBP repaired by a third-party service that is not alleged with Apple at all. Instead of getting a new Logic board with a jokingly short warranty of 90 days I had the GPU chip replaced and some around part checked and replaced. New thermal paste and fans cleaned, too. Got 1 year warranty on the work and 2 years on the part, cost only a fraction of what Apple wanted to charge.
Before agreeing to the repair I got a photo showing how shockingly bad the thermal paste is applied - or rather plastered - by Apple. Thermal paste is meant to fill in (sometime microscopically) small surface irregularities of chip and cooler, not to cement one to the other.
When the thermal paste gets cooked hard after some time the heat cannot spread to the cooler, but instead spreads downwards towards the board. Thus cracking the soldering points of the chip and affecting other components on the board by spreading around the heated chip.
I expect to get no compensation for my repair bill, because I did not make use of Apple's pricy and practically warranty-less service. I would have thought about it if they had offered to sell me a late 2011 Logic Board with faster CPU instead, so that I got some improvement for paying over 400 EUR. But they only offer to exchange same parts even for paid for out of warranty repairs and don't sell these parts without repairs.
Before agreeing to the repair I got a photo showing how shockingly bad the thermal paste is applied - or rather plastered - by Apple. Thermal paste is meant to fill in (sometime microscopically) small surface irregularities of chip and cooler, not to cement one to the other.
When the thermal paste gets cooked hard after some time the heat cannot spread to the cooler, but instead spreads downwards towards the board. Thus cracking the soldering points of the chip and affecting other components on the board by spreading around the heated chip.
I expect to get no compensation for my repair bill, because I did not make use of Apple's pricy and practically warranty-less service. I would have thought about it if they had offered to sell me a late 2011 Logic Board with faster CPU instead, so that I got some improvement for paying over 400 EUR. But they only offer to exchange same parts even for paid for out of warranty repairs and don't sell these parts without repairs.
Hi, i also got this problem on my early 2011 2.2ghz i7 macbook pro 15.
Had it for a few times on the last days but now it wont boot.
Vertical green lines appear when booting then they disapear but hangs at the grey screen.
It crashed after opening powerpoint
Feeling quite desperate since it's my main working machine...
Had it for a few times on the last days but now it wont boot.
Vertical green lines appear when booting then they disapear but hangs at the grey screen.
It crashed after opening powerpoint
Feeling quite desperate since it's my main working machine...
I have similar problems with my mid-2010 MBP, even after getting the logic board replaced thanks to the Apple program.
Check out the thread I just created about this :
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19511826
Check out the thread I just created about this :
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19511826
So you're betting Apple that the device will need some sort of hardware-replacement, for which you are paying upfront?
I fell into this issue a week before my AppleCare expired, I took my MBP to apple who said that it was probably just a software fault as I mainly complained about unresponsive when waking up, unresponsive keyboard at times and trackpad and occasional screen flicker.
So after a reinstall and stress test apple said it was all okay.
Then my warranty expired 3years and about 2 weeks after my visit I has exact same issues
I didn't restore from a backup either, I visited apple again who replaced my HDD saying that it showed faulty sectors which can cause lagg and could also contain the drivers causing my keyboard and track pad to become unresponsive. No comment on continued screen flicker.
After a 2 HDD replacements and about 3 weeks later exact same issues except graphics problems got worse. Lines on the screen and flickering failing to boot and blue screen of death apple agreed to replace the logic board.
And below and behold problem fixed... For about a month when my laptop decided it had had enough. For some reason I don't know why, the battery exploded causing the trackpad to raise significantly and the laptop itself physically would not switch on nada, nothing . Dead as door nails.
So. After a frustrating phone call to apple I refused to visit a store and dish out £7 in parking plus petrol, I refused to accept a laptop back until it worked. I work in the events industry and I have had to hire a laptop for each of my events during this period of time. very costly.
Apple offered to replace my MBP for a brand new (not refurb) retina MacBook Pro and so now I do have a lovely shiny laptop with a higher spec and new 3 year warranty I still had the whole ordeal that this 2011 machine brought upon me.
I hope this story is interesting read and uses find it helpful. More than happy to play a part in this class action suit as I felt very poorly treated by apple at times and it was not until the last straw that I finally found a god-send AppleCare rep who worked his ass off for my problem. Emailing phoning daily and keeping me in the loop.
/ matt
P.s it's worth noting that whilst I have summed this up and made it brief it took 3 months in all to get a solution. Countless trips to apple stores and countless hours spent on the phone. The graphic issues where severe and pain staking my difficult to work with.
So after a reinstall and stress test apple said it was all okay.
Then my warranty expired 3years and about 2 weeks after my visit I has exact same issues
I didn't restore from a backup either, I visited apple again who replaced my HDD saying that it showed faulty sectors which can cause lagg and could also contain the drivers causing my keyboard and track pad to become unresponsive. No comment on continued screen flicker.
After a 2 HDD replacements and about 3 weeks later exact same issues except graphics problems got worse. Lines on the screen and flickering failing to boot and blue screen of death apple agreed to replace the logic board.
And below and behold problem fixed... For about a month when my laptop decided it had had enough. For some reason I don't know why, the battery exploded causing the trackpad to raise significantly and the laptop itself physically would not switch on nada, nothing . Dead as door nails.
So. After a frustrating phone call to apple I refused to visit a store and dish out £7 in parking plus petrol, I refused to accept a laptop back until it worked. I work in the events industry and I have had to hire a laptop for each of my events during this period of time. very costly.
Apple offered to replace my MBP for a brand new (not refurb) retina MacBook Pro and so now I do have a lovely shiny laptop with a higher spec and new 3 year warranty I still had the whole ordeal that this 2011 machine brought upon me.
I hope this story is interesting read and uses find it helpful. More than happy to play a part in this class action suit as I felt very poorly treated by apple at times and it was not until the last straw that I finally found a god-send AppleCare rep who worked his ass off for my problem. Emailing phoning daily and keeping me in the loop.
/ matt
P.s it's worth noting that whilst I have summed this up and made it brief it took 3 months in all to get a solution. Countless trips to apple stores and countless hours spent on the phone. The graphic issues where severe and pain staking my difficult to work with.
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It's a bit sad that people have to use class actions to make Apple take some interest in the quality and reliability of its products and services. Apple used to be different I think. Now are users supposed to start a class action to fix all Apple issues? Including Apple Mail?
i paid close to 3000 .- euro for my 17inch MBP when i bought it early 2011.
in the first year it was the best computing experience i ever had in my life, everything worked great, although the laptop was running crazy ! hot from day 1, and i have the permanent burn marks on my left thigh to prove it !
fast forward to 2013, all of a sudden random graphics glitches and errors, freezes, screen turning black/off... etc. i have everything documented with pictures and video.
and now in 2014 this machine is dead. it wont even boot osx. it shows the apple logo when im lucky and thats it.
so yeah, it obvious there was a major design flaw with this machine that probably caused the gpu to cook to death after some time.
i dont think apple can afford to ignore this problem much longer...
in the first year it was the best computing experience i ever had in my life, everything worked great, although the laptop was running crazy ! hot from day 1, and i have the permanent burn marks on my left thigh to prove it !
fast forward to 2013, all of a sudden random graphics glitches and errors, freezes, screen turning black/off... etc. i have everything documented with pictures and video.
and now in 2014 this machine is dead. it wont even boot osx. it shows the apple logo when im lucky and thats it.
so yeah, it obvious there was a major design flaw with this machine that probably caused the gpu to cook to death after some time.
i dont think apple can afford to ignore this problem much longer...
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I disagree. I've come across this issue in two cases (one being my own laptop). And simply reflowing the solder has provided quite a decent fix (which I know isnt permanent, but they are both still going strong). This says to me the gpu's are fine, and its simply the solder joints. I do plan to get my macbook pro's gpu reballed with leaded solder (to prevent a re-occurence), but Im not getting a new gpu, as I dont see the point.
Its my understanding, and I could be wrong, that this was quite early in apples move to unleaded solder to comply with newer EU regulations.... And those AMD gpu's ran hot like mofo's. The two didnt mix well.
I just recently sold my early Macbook Pro 2011 model that still has Applecare on it to someone that I know, and would hate for them to have it crap out on them.
If something were to come of this and Apple decides to do something about it would they be able to get it fixed? The Applecare obviously transfers over but when that runs out at the end of September what then?
If something were to come of this and Apple decides to do something about it would they be able to get it fixed? The Applecare obviously transfers over but when that runs out at the end of September what then?
Apple would do fine in Germany where there are virtually no consumer protection rules. Everything they have in favor of consumers has been imposed by that EU, otherwise it's total anarchy for large companies, and courts always rule in favor of the larger subjects. In fact if I buy anything in Germany I usually don't expect any guarantee at all. I will be responsible for repairs from day one, even if the law sort of pretends to keep you protected for a year.
That's why I prefer integrated graphics on a laptop.
I rarely play game, and only play Minecraft (which Intel HD Graphics is enough), so I don't really need additional graphics.
If you play games, I think you should buy a gaming Notebook such as Alienware, or Asus ROG rather than buying MBP.
I cannot say the same if you use the graphics adapter for rendering or 3D modelling though.
Either way, Apple should provide free replacement for affected unit, since it is quite common. preferably revised model to avoid similar problem in the future.
I rarely play game, and only play Minecraft (which Intel HD Graphics is enough), so I don't really need additional graphics.
If you play games, I think you should buy a gaming Notebook such as Alienware, or Asus ROG rather than buying MBP.
I cannot say the same if you use the graphics adapter for rendering or 3D modelling though.
Either way, Apple should provide free replacement for affected unit, since it is quite common. preferably revised model to avoid similar problem in the future.
It helps to finally have Apple stores around in Germany. My top of the line Macbook Pro 15" late 2009 was replaced three times, once via phone support and then twice via store. I finally arrive at the 2011 17" I am still using and had the GPU repaired by a third party service. People might think its fun to get repeated logic board and whole new computer replacements, but when you have to reactivate dozens of software licenses, partly by phone-calls, then it's not exactly a perfect experience.
Now the good thing about the Apple store is that when phone support (Ireland) wasn't able to help anymore (because some US guys said: stop support) I could visit the Apple store and put that frozen MBP right on the desk. Then I could demonstrate how it froze again by simply touching the USB port with an externally powered device and then they had little choice but to get on with the case. Overall it took literally months to get thing going and months to get replacements, the latter of which have to ship from China and one shipment even got lost.
I tell everyone who wants (as insists) to do serious work on Apple hardware to keep at least one replacement computer in the back. One client did just that and had to make use of it several times already, because hardware faults with Apple computers take at least several days time to get solved, sometimes longer. Small businesses are either badly advised to use Apple computers or should keep that hint in mind (no. of computers needed + 1).
I've had my MacBook Pro almost 3 years now and late in the second year, I started having problems with the display. If I didn't have AppleCare+, I would have had to pay a lot out of pocket to get it fixed. I expect at least another 3 years from this device with no immediate plans to upgrade. For me, the insurance was worth it and the next Mac I buy will have it too.
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Meaningless. My mother's 2008 iMac has a graphics problem. She can not upgrade past 10.6.3 or else the system will lock up. It's been traced to the graphic kext's, but apple refuses to do anything about it. You upgrade and the system freezes, you revert, and it's a-ok.
There is a thread about in the iMac forum. Apple claims the iMac is supported by the software, but they also refuse to fix the issue - even though it is a software issue. Dual booting into windows has no issue at all.
There is a thread about in the iMac forum. Apple claims the iMac is supported by the software, but they also refuse to fix the issue - even though it is a software issue. Dual booting into windows has no issue at all.
It would just be nice to see Apple acknowledge this issue rather than burying it with time.
I had a 2011 MacBook Pro that exhibited this issue within the first year but it took numerous trips to the Genius Bar before they finally acknowledged it was a problem - an absolute nightmare when I needed my Mac for a lot of graphics heavy workflows.
Mine was under AppleCare and they ultimately did a full machine replacement with a Retina MacBook Pro, I was fortunate and I am quite pleased with the ultimate outcome - but this was after months of badgering and trips to the Apple Store. Generally it left a bad taste in my mouth for what Apple's level of service has become.
Apple's "in-store secret policy" used to be solve the customers problem by "get[ting] to yes by avoiding negatives," but as of late Apple's new policy seems to be treat your customers as hostile as possible at the Genius Bar.
I had a 2011 MacBook Pro that exhibited this issue within the first year but it took numerous trips to the Genius Bar before they finally acknowledged it was a problem - an absolute nightmare when I needed my Mac for a lot of graphics heavy workflows.
Mine was under AppleCare and they ultimately did a full machine replacement with a Retina MacBook Pro, I was fortunate and I am quite pleased with the ultimate outcome - but this was after months of badgering and trips to the Apple Store. Generally it left a bad taste in my mouth for what Apple's level of service has become.
Apple's "in-store secret policy" used to be solve the customers problem by "get[ting] to yes by avoiding negatives," but as of late Apple's new policy seems to be treat your customers as hostile as possible at the Genius Bar.