Macbook Pro 2011 is so...BAD BAD BAD!

[VI™]

i don't get it. If one has a problem with a certain device, what does complaining about it gain? Just go ahead and return the computer and buy whatever you deem fit for your needs. If you believe that a Windows laptop worth $400 is ideal for your needs, then certainly go ahead and buy it. I fail to understand what one accomplishes by complaining about how iOS is not good enough and lacks the basic needs or how a computer with so much hype absolutely sucks for one's specific needs. My advice: be mature and be professional - if something doesn't suit your needs, gladly go ahead and return it. Complaining will get you no where.

Because Apple would want to sue me for every penny I had if they knew I was trying to install OS X on an HP Envy?

Complaining obviously gets companies to listen. How many recalls and lawsuits have there been against companies that knowingly sold devices that were defective?

There's a lawsuit against HD because their newer large displacement engine are over heating. I kind of think of HD as the Apple of the motorcycle world.

 

[GuitarG20]

Well well, interestingly enough, I did an experiment and unplugged my external monitor from the MBP and boom - the temps dropped by like 20C within 10 mins, I guess largely also thanks to gfxcardstatus app, which I used to switch to the integrated graphics only for the time being.

Is there a way at all to run an external monitor with integrated GPU?? Because apparently when my monitor is plugged in, it keeps utilizing the dedicated GPU and hence such high temps... It kind of pisses me off because right now that I unplugged the monitor, my CPU+GPU temps stay below 50C, which is quite amazing, but with the monitor plugged in I get the above (quoted) temps, which wouldn't bother me much per se, but the fact that they will easily trigger the fans to run at higher rpm is what annoys me most.

the thunderbolt port can only be used through the dedicated GPU, since that is the only thing that is connected to the thunderbolt port. if you use a thunderbolt port to connect, using the dedicated GPU is your only option.

Because Apple would want to sue me for every penny I had if they knew I was trying to install OS X on an HP Envy?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is very incorrect. There are probably tons of people that run hackintoshes (I know a few) and Apple doesn't do anything about it. There's even guides on major websites [Lifehacker] on how to build a hackintosh and Apple isn't successful at getting rid of them, or they don't even try.

 

[Liquinn]

the thunderbolt port can only be used through the dedicated GPU, since that is the only thing that is connected to the thunderbolt port. if you use a thunderbolt port to connect, using the dedicated GPU is your only option.



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is very incorrect. There are probably tons of people that run hackintoshes (I know a few) and Apple doesn't do anything about it. There's even guides on major websites [Lifehacker] on how to build a hackintosh and Apple isn't successful at getting rid of them, or they don't even try.

Yeah but of course a hackintosh won't be the same as a real Mac.

I have a Leopard virtual machine and it's just not the same =/

 

[VI™]

the thunderbolt port can only be used through the dedicated GPU, since that is the only thing that is connected to the thunderbolt port. if you use a thunderbolt port to connect, using the dedicated GPU is your only option.



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is very incorrect. There are probably tons of people that run hackintoshes (I know a few) and Apple doesn't do anything about it. There's even guides on major websites [Lifehacker] on how to build a hackintosh and Apple isn't successful at getting rid of them, or they don't even try.

I know

I just like the MBP form factor too. My plastic Dell 17" is probably sitting in some carboard box in my house somewhere.

Yeah but of course a hackintosh won't be the same as a real Mac.

I have a Leopard virtual machine and it's just not the same =/

Stupid GTX 295 drivers...I mean, it should be supported, right?

 

[saberahul]

Because Apple would want to sue me for every penny I had if they knew I was trying to install OS X on an HP Envy?

Complaining obviously gets companies to listen. How many recalls and lawsuits have there been against companies that knowingly sold devices that were defective?

There's a lawsuit against HD because their newer large displacement engine are over heating. I kind of think of HD as the Apple of the motorcycle world.

There is a difference between complaining about a faulty product and ranting about a product not meeting your needs. Clearly, you mis-understood the entire point behind my post.

 

[VI™]

There is a difference between complaining about a faulty product and ranting about a product not meeting your needs. Clearly, you mis-understood the entire point behind my post.

A "pro" laptop that over heats isn't faulty?

I know at one point that could be attributed to crappy application of thermal paste but otherwise using tiny fans and lack of air flow seem like faulty design at it's basic.

"I have an idea! Let's cram a bunch of high performance pieces in a place with no airflow and see hom many people we can get to complain about it!"

A MBP not meeting my needs would be a MBP that takes an hour to batch process 100 photos out of Light Room, not a MBP that over heats to the point where it shuts off when you're running anything that might tax the graphics card when it's connect to an external display. If it wasn't supposed to be connected to an external display Apple shouln't sell $100 Dual Link DVI adapters.

 

[ammarr]

Not sure why people take criticism for their products so personally.

I like my MBP, but due to some issues (heating, no dock, no user serviceable battery), I got a thinkpad. I can say this.. I have _never_ had the thinkpad become hot. NEVER. Cool comfortable plastic, all the time. Gaming, videos, flash, whatever. The MBP would become warm and even hot at times. Even at around 65-70 C it would be warm enough to irritate my wrists. I have had 3 MB/MBPs so I know this isn't a flaw in a specific model. MBPs do get warm, these complaints are very common.

I understand now that the MBP is not a great option for CPU intensive tasks (maybe I'm too sensitive to the heat or the ambient temperature is high and the MBP doesn't stay cool for long?). Regardless, I've switched to another product, which is inferior in some ways, but superior in others. Windows 7, for e.g. is no match for OS X IMO.

 

[thundersteele]

A MBP not meeting my needs would be a MBP that takes an hour to batch process 100 photos out of Light Room, not a MBP that over heats to the point where it shuts off when you're running anything that might tax the graphics card when it's connect to an external display. If it wasn't supposed to be connected to an external display Apple shouln't sell $100 Dual Link DVI adapters.

See, that's where you are going wrong. A MBP that shuts down from overheating has a technical defect, and will be repaired by Apple under warranty. This happens very rarely. Out of 100 people that complain about high temperatures, maybe one really has an overheating problem.

However some amount of heat in a computer is normal. Apple put a very powerful CPU in the 2011 MBPs. To some extent, this has the negative effect that the machines get louder under light load (fan noise) than the 2010 model.


@ammar

It's a forum with mostly Apple users and fans. It's normal to sometimes react emotionally to criticism of products you like.
For a while I considered buying a Thinkpad (T520) instead of the new MBP. Purely from the hardware side, this is probably the best laptop on the market. I went for the MBP in the end, since I want OSX and I like the design better, and because the T520 GPUs are not useful for gaming.
I was wondering, which Thinkpad and which CPU did you get? Lenovo offers the i5-24XX as base config, which have a TDP of 35W which should help quite a bit with the temperatures. I wonder if the same notebook with an i7 CPU would remain as cool as well. Note that the i5-2410 still reaches 85 C in tests, but the laptop does a better job at keeping the palmrests cool.


Btw, the 2011 MBP is much better at keeping the top case cool than the 2008 model. In summer, gaming was painful, but now that it's cold, I miss the heat from the 2008 keyboard

 

[Spadoinkles]

So even though i recognize certain flaws, as does everyone else, id have to say I agree more with Spadoinkles....

Who doesn't agree with me?

 

[grahamnp]

So I upgraded from Macbook Pro 15" late 2008 (original unibody), I thought the new 2011 model would be so great...BUT it is a total crap!

There are so many problems, everybody just complains all over the internet...
So I just thought I'll write a list of all the issues with the new Macbook Pro for potential buyers or owners who would like to share their own issues or solutions. So here we go:

1. OVERHEATING AND FAN NOISE
This is well known issue, yet Apple stays reluctant to it. My idle temps are never below 50C, but when I for example watch youtube, it goes way up and fans start to spin up to around 3000rpm. It is really noisy and annoying!
It may be a problem with thermal paste, bad heatsinks, fan control, whatever...
My old 2008 machine was dead silent.

Not everyone's overheats. Mine runs hotter than most and yours sounds pretty bad but the fact that not everyone has it means it is not a design fault. It is just that Apple's quality control is shoddy in this area. Not that this is excusable, but it might make you feel better to know that a replacement might help. My 2011 runs cooler and quieter than my 2008 model except when under max load.

2. HDD NOISE
The 500gb hdd in my machine is soooooo noisy all the time, it is even louder than the fans. I have Toshiba, but I read that also the Hitachi models are so loud. Moreover, when you push the enclosure above the disk placement, the noise is less pronounced. Like a cheap China crap...
Again, 2008 machine was silent...

Cheap China crap? Blanket statements like that border on racist. FYI, your 2008 machine was also made in china. The HDDs are on average no louder than before. Get yours checked

3. DISPLAY PROBLEM
Many people complain about the display quality - some have yellow tint (Samsung manufacturer), some blue tint (LG). I have Samsung. My biggest problem though is not the color tint, but CONTRAST. The blacks are too strong, everything is soo dark, all my photographs, everything. This may be solved by calibration, but is this really ok with 1800EUR or 2000USD machine?
And I believe the maximum brightness is also not as strong as my 2008 model.

Apple does not factory calibrate their displays and they don't claim to. The contrast is the natural ability of the display it isn't artificially boosted. Most people would pay extra for this, perhaps you should trade your MBP in for a netbook from 2 years ago. Also, all benchmarks show that the current model is brighter than the 2008 one was. Mine is brighter than my 2008 model.

4. SPEAKERS
OK, so speakers now have subwoofer, which is positioned on the left side of the laptop...that means the sound is much louder on this side! WTF? Anyone heard about stereo imaging at the Apple?
Anyway, 2008 Macbook Pro played much much louder and the sound was BETTER! More bass and clearer! So speakers with subwoofer are worse that old speakers without it????

If audio bothers you so much maybe you should buy some proper speakers. My 2008 model had garbage audio and so does the 2011 even though it is better. OSX has controls for stereo balance, set it once and forget you ever had a problem.

Maybe you should go back to your 2008 machine. It sounds awesome.

 

[thundersteele]

This thread is so last year...

seriously, the OP made it in august, and has probably left the forums a long time ago.

We're just keeping it alive for fun

 

[Takashi]

This thread is so last year...

seriously, the OP made it in august, and has probably left the forums a long time ago.

We're just keeping it alive for fun

That means that the OP is still on everyone's hit list. I guess he probably did not get any presents from Santa this year.

 

[ammarr]

@ammar

It's a forum with mostly Apple users and fans. It's normal to sometimes react emotionally to criticism of products you like.
For a while I considered buying a Thinkpad (T520) instead of the new MBP. Purely from the hardware side, this is probably the best laptop on the market. I went for the MBP in the end, since I want OSX and I like the design better, and because the T520 GPUs are not useful for gaming.
I was wondering, which Thinkpad and which CPU did you get? Lenovo offers the i5-24XX as base config, which have a TDP of 35W which should help quite a bit with the temperatures. I wonder if the same notebook with an i7 CPU would remain as cool as well. Note that the i5-2410 still reaches 85 C in tests, but the laptop does a better job at keeping the palmrests cool.


Btw, the 2011 MBP is much better at keeping the top case cool than the 2008 model. In summer, gaming was painful, but now that it's cold, I miss the heat from the 2008 keyboard

People do react emotionally, which makes it fun but also distracts from discussing stuff rationally.

I have the 2011 13" MBP which has the i5-2410 I believe. Its certainly a very good laptop, OS X is a pretty darn good OS.

On my T420 I have a i5-2540 which is slightly higher clocked. No GPU, the built in one is good enough for my occasional gaming needs You're right about the summer though, the MBP is pretty great now, but I remember how it would irritate my wrists in the summer specially if the air conditioning wasn't very cold.

If only one could marry the thinkpad hardware with OS X ;-) hackintosh is just too much bother..

 

[Blondie :)]

Well some macbooks maybe ok, or just some owners don't mind the issues or haven't noticed it.
I searched really a lot of forums...many many people are experiencing those issues.

You have to keep in mind that the internet is a large place. Sure, there are a lot of people who have problems with their machines. That's why forums like this are created, so that others can assist them in fixing minor issues.

Not everyone who owns a macbook pro is going to post their thoughts online. Just because you read the negative aspects of some people's machines doesn't mean everyone has these issues.

 

[GuitarG20]

Not everyone who owns a macbook pro is going to post their thoughts online. Just because you read the negative aspects of some people's machines doesn't mean everyone has these issues.

THIS. Only a fraction of people with macs actually post online, on forums and suchnot. And, of those posting, a significantly larger fraction start because they are displeased with their product or have problems, and either want to: a)seek help, or b)start a flamewar.

 

[Spink10]

This thread is so last year...

seriously, the OP made it in august, and has probably left the forums a long time ago.

We're just keeping it alive for fun

yup

 

[Beachguy]

Yeah but of course a hackintosh won't be the same as a real Mac.

I have a Leopard virtual machine and it's just not the same =/

While I am not a Mac loyalist (I like both Macs and Windows machines) I have to agree. I have loaded OS X on non-Apple hardware, and have run a VM with OS X, and the Mac experience is simply not the same without the hardware. Mac is more than OS X.

 

[TSE]

The two things I wish the current MacBook Pro had:

FHD (Full 1080p) Screen option, and an option of switching out your optical drive and replace it with a battery instead. I would have paid an extra $300 for both of these upgrades.

 

[GuitarG20]

The two things I wish the current MacBook Pro had:

FHD (Full 1080p) Screen option, and an option of switching out your optical drive and replace it with a battery instead. I would have paid an extra $300 for both of these upgrades.

the 17" has a 1920x1200 screen... or did you want it for the 15" i guess?

I would pay for a bigger battery as well.

 

[TSE]

17" is too large for me. I don't want to carry that around campus.

 

[Invincibilizer]

Return it then and buy something else. Not rocket science is it.

No one claimed that it was rocket science.

 

[Shredder-]

maybe im just being paranoid, but any of you guys with the MBP 13" Late 2011. Whats your battery time / rpm when having two tabs in firefox & streaming a youtube clip?

it'd be great if someone would compare their macbook to mine. im at exactly 50% brightness. When the Youtube clip is running, my battery drops to 3 hours and 50 minutes (100% charge). When closing youtube and just browsing firefox with two tabs (scrolling through this thread), my battery is around 6h 20 min
Also, fan makes slight noises while browsing, not dead silent.

CPU currently @ 51° Celsius. (No youtube open)

 

[punkromance]

Funny, I have almost the same problems. Went from an '07 15" 2.4 C2D to an '11 15" 2.4 i7.

1. OVERHEATING AND FAN NOISE
....

Mine idles about 60ºC. If I try to watch a video/open a .jpg it jumps to ~98ºC.
If I run Lightroom/FCP the fans don't drop below 6000rpm and the temp doesn't drop between 95ºC. My old MBP was silent most the time.

2. HDD NOISE
....

Same problem. It's irritatingly noisy if the room is quiet (like if you leave it on for downloading when you're going to bed). The noise drops considerably if you push down on the enclosure where the HDD is. My old one was silent. I'm wondering if this is just because I opted for the 7200rpm.

3. DISPLAY PROBLEM
....

I have the HR-AG and while the display itself is a lot nicer than my previous, it suffers from dark patches and light patches. I'll get this fixed with Apple Care.

4. SPEAKERS
....

Again, my speakers are a lot louder and clearer on this model, although they distort wildly if I taken them higher than about 75% (even lower for certain sounds).

And what do you think about SD card adapter?
....

While I use CF cards for my D700, an SD card slot makes far more sense than a CF simply because pretty much every other camera on the market uses it, even Canikon's flagship line are including SD cards as the second slots.

I also have the lovely creak, where the base of the computer creaks every time pressure is applied.

I've always been an advocate of Apple, and have weaned my entire family onto Apple products, arguing the corner based primarily on the build quality. This laptop's been a complete disappointment though.

 

[thermodynamic]

So I upgraded from Macbook Pro 15" late 2008 (original unibody), I thought the new 2011 model would be so great...BUT it is a total crap!

There are so many problems, everybody just complains all over the internet...
So I just thought I'll write a list of all the issues with the new Macbook Pro for potential buyers or owners who would like to share their own issues or solutions. So here we go:

1. OVERHEATING AND FAN NOISE
This is well known issue, yet Apple stays reluctant to it. My idle temps are never below 50C, but when I for example watch youtube, it goes way up and fans start to spin up to around 3000rpm. It is really noisy and annoying!
It may be a problem with thermal paste, bad heatsinks, fan control, whatever...
My old 2008 machine was dead silent.

2. HDD NOISE
The 500gb hdd in my machine is soooooo noisy all the time, it is even louder than the fans. I have Toshiba, but I read that also the Hitachi models are so loud. Moreover, when you push the enclosure above the disk placement, the noise is less pronounced. Like a cheap China crap...
Again, 2008 machine was silent...

3. DISPLAY PROBLEM
Many people complain about the display quality - some have yellow tint (Samsung manufacturer), some blue tint (LG). I have Samsung. My biggest problem though is not the color tint, but CONTRAST. The blacks are too strong, everything is soo dark, all my photographs, everything. This may be solved by calibration, but is this really ok with 1800EUR or 2000USD machine?
And I believe the maximum brightness is also not as strong as my 2008 model.

4. SPEAKERS
OK, so speakers now have subwoofer, which is positioned on the left side of the laptop...that means the sound is much louder on this side! WTF? Anyone heard about stereo imaging at the Apple?
Anyway, 2008 Macbook Pro played much much louder and the sound was BETTER! More bass and clearer! So speakers with subwoofer are worse that old speakers without it????

And what do you think about SD card adapter? It is Macbook PRO, and all the pros I know uses CF card, including me. So why SD??? Express card was so much better.

I think Apple is kidding us, or is this really the best laptop out there?
I want to send my machine to service, but I really doubt they will replace the disk, thermal paste, speakers and display. Simply, because there is no alternative...they are not faulty, it is just flaw in design.

I am really disappointed.

To each point:

1. My idle temps are upper-30s C. The one you got probably had too much thermal grease sloppily applied, or too little.

2. China made everything for MBPs, then and now. Maybe the workers are using passive aggressive tactics, knowing how much these things cost to us and to us they are not cheap (never mind how little they earn in making them). Even then, under the best of conditions, stuff can prematurely fail.

3. No tinting here, but set below a certain brightness I can see two lines go vertically through the screen. Not a deal-breaker, but it is upsetting (the 2009 I had did not have such a problem). If problems develop, get it fixed. AppleCare has had nothing but praises.

4. Again, if there's a problem get an exchange or send it in for repair.

I have a SD adapter for my expressport/34. Works great. Anyone can get a USB-powered adapter that works with SD, CF, and a dozen other card formats. Apple makes these laptops for size and mobility. Even the 17" version. They can't be do-all and be-all. I like OS X (will love it again when Lion finally gets the battery issues dealt with) and I love the form factor of the MBP, even if temps get warmer (buy third party sites replacing the poorly-applied excessive thermal grease have shown massive improvements in doing so, proving there's an issue at the factory that needn't be.)

Apple is good but they cannot entirely control their suppliers and factories. To do so would yield the same response people would give a politician telling factories and suppliers what to do. It's up to the factories and suppliers to do things right in the first place.

 

[AppleWarMachine]

Sorry about your bad luck, as I have not had any issues with my MBP.