So, am I screwed ?

[Dentifrice]

Hi ,

I have a late-2013 MBP retina (that I bought in June 2014). My RAM now have bad blocks. I have some crashed now and then and hardware diagnostic confirm this. I don't have any applecare left.

My only option would be to go to an Apple store and pay the full logic board replacement ?

There is no magical 3-years "memory warranty" that Apple covers ...?

thanks...

 

[AZhappyjack]

Hi ,

I have a late-2013 MBP retina (that I bought in June 2014). My RAM now have bad blocks. I have some crashed now and then and hardware diagnostic confirm this. I don't have any applecare left.

My only option would be to go to an Apple store and pay the full logic board replacement ?

There is no magical 3-years "memory warranty" that Apple covers ...?

thanks...

The AppleCare warranty will cover your Mac computers for 3 years (NO accidental damage coverage)... but you would have to have purchased it prior to the end of the standard 1-year manufacturer's warranty... not sure there's much you can do at this point except pay for the repair out of pocket.

 

[Dentifrice]

yeah, I though so...it's $800 CDN.

So, I'll repair or just buy a new one....but the new MBP are soooooooooo expensive. So expensive I'm thinking of switching back to windows after 10 years of Apple... $3000 is non-sense.

Or I switch back to 13-inches instead of 15...

 

[Mr. Dee]

If this eventually happens to my MBP, I am never buying another one. 3 Windows notebooks going over 5 years. Apple should really fix things like that with or without Apple Care.

 

[thekev]

yeah, I though so...it's $800 CDN.

So, I'll repair or just buy a new one....but the new MBP are soooooooooo expensive. So expensive I'm thinking of switching back to windows after 10 years of Apple... $3000 is non-sense.

Or I switch back to 13-inches instead of 15...

They should simply offer flat rate / depot repair. If the battery health is below something like 80 or 90%, they would replace that as well.

 

[Kcetech1]

your pretty much SNAFU. have to do a board replacement or get a new machine.

I have had a few do this to me between the 2 and 4 year mark.

 

[Dentifrice]

to add to that, the WORST thing, I had to replace the screen at my own cost 2 months ago following a drop....

$1000 it cost me. They did a full hardware checkup to be sure nothing else was damaged. Nothing showed up. And now...memory problem.

If I repair it, it will cost me a total $2000 in repair. I should replaced it in the beginning.

Now excuse me, I need to cry in my bed

 

[Kcetech1]

to add to that, the WORST thing, I had to replace the screen at my own cost 2 months ago following a drop....

$1000 it cost me. They did a full hardware checkup to be sure nothing else was damaged. Nothing showed up. And now...memory problem.

If I repair it, it will cost me a total $2000 in repair. I should replaced it in the beginning.

Now excuse me, I need to cry in my bed

I feel your pain many times over. its why I now stick with units with far better warranties and removable parts when I can.

 

[leman]

I am in full support of the soldered-on strategy, but Apple should also offer some reasonable flat-rate repair costs for RAM and SSD out-of-warranty repairs and replacements (like they do with batteries). Frankly, I am surprised that they don't have that already. Some time ago, when my iPhone died because of water exposure, they gave me a new one for a fairly silly replacement fee. Offering flatmate repair for MacBooks would cost Apple only a little, but it would go a great way reinforcing brand loyalty as well as their position as a customer relations leader.

 

[Dentifrice]

and I was planning changing my ipad air 2 to a ipad pro 12 inches....there goes the money


I'll go to my Apple store to see if something can be done. If not, I'll try Apple Canada on the phone (they once solve a problem I was having that a store wouldn't want to do).

And if it don't work again, I think I'll buy a new one. I don't want to put money in this computer anymore...

 

[DeltaMac]

The flat-rate repair has already been mentioned in your thread.
Ask specifically about that when you talk to Apple.
The flat-rate repair will be considerably less than the $800 for full replacement cost of a logic board.

Did the RAM bad blocks issue already appear before the display was replaced?
If only happening since the display repair, that's an issue that you would let Apple rule out as a cause.
That doesn't seem like it would be related, but it also might be another chance to give you a better (cheaper) result if Apple will accept that as a part of your display repair that has gone bad.

 

[Dentifrice]

The issue appeared after the repair. Can't tell if it happened RIGHT AFTER the repair (it's been more than a month). My computer froze yesterday and I rebootet but it didn't go well. I always had kernel panic right I after the chime. While trying to resolve this, I did a hardware diagnostic and that's where I saw the memory problem. I did a time machine restore and things seems ok for the moment. BTW, I found out that when you want to do a clean mac os install, it does a hardware diagnostic and won't install if it found something ! So right now, I can't clean install mac os (I don't even know if I'll be able to upgrade to the next version of mac os).

Before that (and after repair), I had one problem. Tabs in Safari were crashing often (I though it was some outdated plugins). Don't know if it's related to my memory problem.

Is it from the repair ? I don't know honestly.... But they did some advanced tests before repairing my screen and none of them shown memory errors.

 

[ctrlzone]

I am in full support of the soldered-on strategy, but Apple should also offer some reasonable flat-rate repair costs for RAM and SSD out-of-warranty repairs and replacements (like they do with batteries). Frankly, I am surprised that they don't have that already. Some time ago, when my iPhone died because of water exposure, they gave me a new one for a fairly silly replacement fee. Offering flatmate repair for MacBooks would cost Apple only a little, but it would go a great way reinforcing brand loyalty as well as their position as a customer relations leader.

could i ask why you support soldered RAM ?

whats the reason for soldering SSD,GPU,RAM and everything on the board ?

this throw away society should come to an end in my opinion.

 

[DeltaMac]

And, all the more reason to let Apple run those tests again.

Yes, you don't know if your present problem is some strange result of the display repair.
But, if it simply a hardware failure that WOULD be covered under warranty, you should be able to get a flat-rate repair.
Or, Apple will tell you why you don't qualify for their flat-rate program.

(soldered-in RAM means no slots, which facilitates thinner hardware. But, mostly RAM-to-logic board connection will be electrically more reliable in the long term.

 

[Dentifrice]

yeah, just got an appointment on Tuesday at my local Apple store. we'll see what happens

 

[Kcetech1]

(soldered-in RAM means no slots, which facilitates thinner hardware. But, mostly RAM-to-logic board connection will be electrically more reliable in the long term

in 32 years never had an issue with RAM in a socket unless it was me taking it out and killing it by accident . I would say purely to make it thinner and a lower part/production cost. As I've found out SSD's soldered on are no faster than an M2 card either.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

OP, if this laptop is screwed, I would advise against buying the MBP since it comes with everything soldered on. I say pull the band aid and buy the Thinkpad during sale. You will have OS issues (like I am having), but if you get a good machine, you do not have to worry about the SSD and RAM failing in the future cause you can replace it yourself.

 

[Dentifrice]

If ipad/IOS was more flexible, I would replace my laptop with a 12inches ipad pro.....but.....it's not

 

[ZapNZs]

'Yes, probably' - flat rate repair or not, the amount you will put into the machine is likely more than you will feel comfortable about given its age...especially having already put money into it. It's worth taking to an Apple Authorized Repair Center to be certain - so they can run full diagnostics, make a more certain determination, and give you options/pricing - but - if I were you, I would be prepared for bad news. (If you do decide NOT to repair, with a new screen, chances are a Mac seller that deals in used Macs would give you some reasonable cash for it...especially if the system is in outstanding cosmetic condition.)

While I understand why Apple went with the soldered on strategy (beyond all, because consumers support it by a tremendous margin), with the previous generation (and with a ton of Windows PCs) this issue could be fixed for $35 in 15 minutes.
[doublepost=1496020737][/doublepost]

If ipad/IOS was more flexible, I would replace my laptop with a 12inches ipad pro.....but.....it's not

It's definitely not. I wanted an iPad Pro with OS X...but because Apple done decided to iPhoned it, I bought a Surface Pro 3 (another exceptionally non-upgradable and unrepairable design...)

 

[macjunk(ie)]

...I bought a Surface Pro 3 (another exceptionally non-upgradable and unrepairable design...)

I got the Thinkpad Yoga 370. A good tradeoff between portability and reparability.

 

[Queen6]

could i ask why you support soldered RAM ?

whats the reason for soldering SSD,GPU,RAM and everything on the board ?

this throw away society should come to an end in my opinion.

Helps to make it look nicer in Starbucks On a more serious note, production costs. Yes there's a factor of reliability, equally unless your swapping out you RAM & M.2 drives at frequency it's pretty negligible IMO. Ultimately it's about reducing production cost, and increasing margin. Apple's in the business of making $$$$ and for the most part delivering decent product to the consumer, which it clearly achieves...

If you want a system with greater repairability and modularity then Apple is the wrong provider for you. As it's abundantly clear Apple wants to reduce everything to a single board, of which you will pay handsomely for a refurbished unit in the event of failure, with little more than a 90 day warranty.

Q-6

 

[leman]

could i ask why you support soldered RAM ?

Better reliability, stability, security, power efficiency and potentially performance due to less points of failure and the opportunity to optimise the system for a given RAM chip as opposed to maintaining tolerances imposed by the spec. In addition, modern laptops come with with RAM pretty much maxed out, so the strongest case for swapped RAM (upgradeability) is a non-issue. And finally, all this is a bit pointless since Apple is using premium mobile RAM which does not come in slotted format to beging with, as its a different standard

whats the reason for soldering SSD,GPU,RAM and everything on the board ? [...] this throw away society should come to an end in my opinion.

Where would you draw a line? Solder CPU but not anything else? What about the power circuitry? The rhetorics could be spun both ways. You suggest that soldering-on components leads to the throw-away society and has negative environmental impact. I would argue that the opposite is the case, once certain conditions are met. Soldering components helps to save material, both by forgoing the need for additional connectors/boards and enabling manufacturers to produce devices with lower footprint. As to throw-away society... if you don't have the means to repair something, it doesn't mean that the manufacturer can't. Apple already declared that their goal is maximal recycling and reusability of components. And while the situation might not be perfectly satisfactory right now, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to replace RAM or any other component. A customer would get a replacement logic board and the defective one would go to a repair facility, get tested and fixed.

Or, if you prefer another spin on this: going full modular just for the sake of repairability is most likely sheer craziness. Components fail very rarely, and the additional material required to achieve modularity is almost surely more wasteful. What are the RAM failure rates nowadays? 0.5% over 5 years? 1%? 0.1%? Putting all RAM on a separate mini board, effectively doubling (or more) the material need for ALL RAM sounds much more like throw-away society to me

 

[bopajuice]

Everybody brags about the superior build quality of Apple products. No big surprise repairs cost a lot.

Kind of like someone who buys a Ferrari and is then shocked it costs $1200 to replace the spark plugs. You play you pay.

 

[44267547]

Everybody brags about the superior build quality of Apple products. No big surprise repairs cost a lot.

Kind of like someone who buys a Ferrari and is then shocked it costs $1200 to replace the spark plugs. You play you pay.

I don't disagree. Sometimes it's just easier to purchase a new unit versus getting something repaired. Especially with MacBooks depending how old the model is and what the overall cost to repair is, it wouldn't necessarily be worth repairing if it was a few hundred dollars more for a newer model versus fixing what the issue have currently. But every situation is different, it just depends on the extent of the repair.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Don't throw good money after the bad.

If they'll fix it for the "flat rate" fee ($300 or so), that might be worth it to you.

Anything more, politely decline and put the cash towards a replacement.

And next time, try not to drop it (sigh).