Mid-2011 logic board died (again). What 2 do?

[coghlan]

Just had my MBP diagnosed as having another failed logic board. The first time, Apple replaced it under a recall.

I need to replace it, but now that our kids all have their own computers I'm not sure I want to spend $2,500 mostly to read e-mail and surf. I'm also not impressed that our last MBP only lasted 6 years, especially with a logic board that was only a couple of years old.

Maybe it's time to follow the advice I give to friends, which is to make a list of what the computer will be used for, and base it on that.

In the mean time, are there any other logic board-type problems lurking out there that we should be aware of?

 

[jerryk]

Read e-mail and surf? Get an iPad. $300 or less for a refurbished 9.7 inch with a much better screen. Portable as heck. I use mine everyday.

BTW, if you 2011 was a 15" with external GPU, the design was defective from start. They just replaced the motherboard with a refurbished one that still had the defective design and was going to fail.

 

[Glmnet1]

The AMD dGPU in those models were defective and they used the same defective part when replacing it which is why it's already failing.

There is a way to disable the dGPU and get it working again. I did it on mine and it's working fine although it's obviously a little slower and there are a few downsides (Can't use an external display, can't adjust brightness, doesn't wake up from sleep, some weird glitches such as Google Maps crashing). You can read about it here:https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/ Good enough for me until WWDC, at which point I plan to replace it.

As jerryk mentionned, an iPad is probably all you need. If you prefer a full computer then a MacBook Air should be enough. If you want a retina screen then maybe look at the MacBook or nTB MacBook Pro. None of those have dGPU so there's no risk for the same problem to happen.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

do what most of us do here.
1. Ignore how Apple failed on reliability and visit apple.com
2. convince yourself how the touch bar and the flat keyboard and the USB-C only ports qualify for great revolutionary design
3. add 15" 512GB model to cart
4. gawk at the price
5. refer to 2
6. you almost forgot to add AppleCare. Add to cart
7. gawk at price again
8. refer to 2
9. click buy
10. you forgot completely. Visit the dongle manufacturer website to stock up on all the dongles you will need.
11. convenient that you are already on the dongle manufacturer website: apple.com
12. add a few dongles to cart
13. you will not gawk at price because by now you have seen 2 enough number of times
14. buy dongle cart
15. visit amazon.com to buy compressed air to clean your keyboard
16. visit macrumors forum to either sing the machine's praises or to crib about how the 'b' key needs repeated pressing
17. sell the machine in 2 years cause the keyboard sux
18. rinse and repeat.Start from 1 again

Peace

In all seriousness, if you can get by with the iPad, why not!
If you have had enough of Apple's reliability and can get away from OSX, those Thinkpads T480 look rather nice.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

6 years is way beyond average fo the life of a notebook, why would you be disappointed? The machine is now obsolete it lasted 3 years beyond the warranty ending. My advice for computer longevity (cost means very little here) is 5 years for a laptop and 7 years for desktop any longer is a bonus and should be treated as such.

Take a look at average laptop lifespans online, this is standard tech advice.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=laptop+lifespan&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

 

[maflynn]

I want to spend $2,500 mostly to read e-mail and surf

Buy a used computer on ebay/craigslist, or as mentioned above, get an iPad. The iPad is marketed and designed for usages such as what you mention.

 

[coghlan]

If you have had enough of Apple's reliability and can get away from OSX, those Thinkpads T480 look rather nice.

Can't say the MBP 2011 has had great reliability, given that the following have failed: hard drive, logic board (2x), touchpad. No problems with our kids' MBPs from other vintages.

To switch, I'd have to export all the photos to another photo manager. They are all on the hard drive and on iCloud.

I don't need all the fancy features of the top-end 15" MBP, but I might consider staying with the entry-level model. I found out that I can finance it interest-free if I sign up for a Barclay's Visa card.

 

[coghlan]

<sigh>. I decided to look past our bad experience with the 2011 MBP and opt for a 15" 2015 MBP from the Apple Store.

I briefly considered going with a Windows 10 laptop from Dell or HP, but at the end of the day I decided that MacOS provides a much better user experience. Thanks to Time Machine, we had the new machine up and running in about an hour.

While I don't like the much higher price tag of the MBP, there are so many things that I absolutely hate about Windows (start menu, Windows updates monopolizing the CPU, dogs breakfast of apps for managing photos/backups/cloud/music etc.) that I couldn't see myself wishing over the next 5 years that we had stayed with an Apple PC.

I also didn't want to be a hypocrite, since every time a friend asks me which type of PC they should buy I always tell them to purchase a Mac for home use.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Might be too late but you can breathe new life into the 2011 by disabling the dGPU