Macbook pro **** itself! Should I buy a new one or wait and see ..?

[gonzal]

Recently my 13 inch mid 2012 macbook pro decided to not function properly. It all started when one day when I opened it up and the screen was black. It was left on. Nothing displayed but the power was on and the fan would turn all the up.

So I did a pram and smc reset. That didn't work. Then I opened the bottom up, took the battery out and put it back. This got the computer to start up properly. The graphics displayed and it seemed fine. But then it wouldn't stay on and it would constantly turn off all of a sudden. This happened multiple times. Then it would go back to not starting up, just the black screen. And back and forth with starting up, shutting off all of a sudden, black screen, fan up high….

I had some people look at it. Went to the apple store and they looked at it. They didn't say much at all expect they could do a flat rate repair for $430. That would fix everything that was wrong with it with stuff I mention below. But the main point was to replace the logic board.

Another thing I should mention is that I did drop it one time. Six months into having it, it fell from my bed. This caused cracks that span the screen, trackpad doesn't click down, and it makes clicking and popping sounds coming from inside. This doesn't cause the computer to not function right though. Yet one day, 1.5 years after I dropped it, it decides to do what I previously mentioned.

Then I decided to reinstall mavericks but that didn't fix anything. Then I erased everything on it and installed mountain lion. It turned off all of a sudden only once so far and now its working as it did, perfectly fine, before the black screen ordeal.

In the time that it was being screwy, i was looking into buying a new one. I was actually excited because I had an excuse to get a new one. Most likely a 15 inch one. So will this computer decide to **** itself again out of nowhere? Should I go buy a new one? I'm in a weird situation because there will be a sales tax holiday the weekend after this one and if I'm going to spend a good amount of money I'd rather spend it on a tax free day. I could go to new hampshire but that would be really out of the way. What is your suggestion?

Thanks for the help!

 

[skinned66]

What did you feed it?

If you have the money handy I'd take advantage of the tax free holiday. It doesn't sound healthy.

Worst case scenario it lasts and you get a beater to carry around. You can also sell it for parts. If the chassis is in good shape that's worth some bucks. So is the RAM. The disk can be repurposed. The rest you might want to test thoroughly somehow before selling or low ball and sell "as is."

 

[sjinsjca]

Really sounds like what my rMBP of the same vintage was doing. I had AppleCare, so they replaced the mobo (twice).

Seems like a hardware failure. Given yours is cracked, non-clicky, and generally in poor health after what sounds like a hard life, I'd say yeah: get a new one and enjoy. The new ones are faster, too-- especially if you go with the 1TB SSD, which uses a double-width interface if I recall correctly. Powah!

 

[gonzal]

Thanks, that was the convincing I wanted!

I'm not too familiar with what exactly I would need for the one I want. I definitely want the bigger screen but as to what I need inside I'm not too sure. Any suggestions on that? Base model 15 inch rmbp?

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or the one with the discrete graphics card?

 

[skinned66]

If you buy new from Apple directly the 15" base it will be great...but if you really want discrete graphics you have to go to the next model which is an extra $500.

In your position I'd look into used 2012 and 2013 models. But I'm cheap 🙄