Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

So are all MBP owners with the 8600m GT cards screwed?

My letter to Apple Support:

"I have heard about the issues with the NVIDIA G84 & G86 series cards. As a result, Dell and HP have both released bios updates to increase cooling fan usage. Nevertheless, this appears to be a temporary fix that both decreases battery life and increases noise production, something I'm sure we both agree is unacceptable. Who wants a computer that sounds like a helicopter?

Since purchasing my new MacBook Pro in February of this year, I have had Windows Vista installed. Shortly after I began noticing graphical corruption under Windows, particularly window shadows appearing as solid black instead of smooth gradients. Usually I would chalk this up to a driver error or system conflict, however after trying multiple (6+) drivers and checking for any hardware conflicts, the issue is still unresolved.

This rendering defect does not occur under OS X, but I have been increasingly conscious of the problem since NVIDIA announced the graphics card series in my laptop was defective. Perhaps the issue is only exposed while running Windows?

While I haven't had any other major problems, I fear my computer has become a disaster waiting to happen and Apple's silence on the issue hasn't helped to put my fears to rest. Any information you could share on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Just knowing a potential solution is on the horizon would be very welcome news."
 
I've sent an email as well.
Hopefully something will come out of all this.

Seriously, the uncertainty around this GPU is the main thing I'm holding out for...I either want to know how these bunk chips will be handled or I'm waiting for the new revision. Whichever comes first.
 
I'm thinking my MBP fell victim to this, I get no video output and can't even use an external monitor, but I can use quicksilver to open itunes and begin playing music. I game several hours a day so it was bound to happen. Going to the apple store tomorrow to see what can be done about it even though I'm out of warranty.
 
Man I hate Nvidia.. its the only reason keeping me away from a macbook pro that I greatly miss..
 
Abhorred said:
... So what will you do if the next MBP has both a nVidia GPU (presumably not 8x00) and chipset?
Click to expand...

I dont mind if the new mbp has the 9xxx series as long as it doesnt have the 8xxx series.

I have a bad impression of Nvidia but i've owned nvidia gpu's before in the past with no issues.

I'm just waiting for the update and I really dont care if its ati or nvidia but I do still and always preferred ati.
 
I don't game that much on my MBP, what should I do? Is there something I can run to test and or stress the GPU or should I take it easy on it and hope it doesn't fail? I bought mine in Feb 08 so its not that old. I don't really want to sell on ebay, because it looks like everyone is taking a loss doing that.
 
winty03 said:
I don't game that much on my MBP, what should I do? Is there something I can run to test and or stress the GPU or should I take it easy on it and hope it doesn't fail? I bought mine in Feb 08 so its not that old. I don't really want to sell on ebay, because it looks like everyone is taking a loss doing that.
Click to expand...

Enjoy your computer. I have been using mine for over a year. I game on it sometimes (when I want) Never turn it off. Wake it when I need it. And IF something fails apple will fix it. :):):)
 
I must be an idiot.

Been lurking on Macrumors for 3 years, but just recently caught wind of this issue. Wish I would have known about it before I placed my order.

Fedex just deliverd my MBP an hour ago and I'm considering not opening the box and sending it back.

Last year Apple had to fix my 23" display, this year Apple had to replace the nvidia graphics card in my brand new MAC Pro.

I still love Apple products, but I really don't want to keep a product that has a known problem.

So, at this point I don't know if I should keep the MBP or return it...maybe I'm just paranoid.
 
Just wondering, are there any MBP owners reading this thread who have not had any issues?

I understand its hard to gauge since the majority of people post their complaints not satisfaction in forums.

I know Apple will repair it as long as it is under warranty, but that doesn't help the downtime I will experience while its being repaired.

I'm usually not indecisive, and I could care less about having the latest and greatest model, I just don't want to spend anymore time at the Mac Genius Bar.
 
elogical4now said:
Just wondering, are there any MBP owners reading this thread who have not had any issues?
Click to expand...

There were a couple polls asked about the allotment of machines affected (Merom+Penryn MBPs), and it showed about 20% of respondents had issues.

So by and large most are humming along just fine. Mine included, it's been the best computer ownership experience ever since I bought it 4 mos ago.

OTOH, the pool of machines out there at maximum are only a bit more than a year old, and on average likely somewhere around half a year give or take (depending on purchase trends). Most users likely just haven't used their machines enough to make the issue appear yet and what we could be seeing at this moment in time is just the edge of the bell curve.
 
My video card died 2 nights ago, and my MBP was out of AppleCare warranty by 12 days. I went to the apple store to get a quote and it was $1352.92 to fix it. I then called AMEX (what I bought the MBP on) and told them my situation. They said if the repair was under $1100 they would pay the repair cost, and if it was over $1100 they would replace it. So fortunatly it looks like I'm getting a new laptop.
 
Beau10 said:
There were a couple polls asked about the allotment of machines affected (Merom+Penryn MBPs), and it showed about 20% of respondents had issues.

So by and large most are humming along just fine. Mine included, it's been the best computer ownership experience ever since I bought it 4 mos ago.

OTOH, the pool of machines out there at maximum are only a bit more than a year old, and on average likely somewhere around half a year give or take (depending on purchase trends). Most users likely just haven't used their machines enough to make the issue appear yet and what we could be seeing at this moment in time is just the edge of the bell curve.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your insight...extremely valid points.
 
My (6/07 bought) MBP had a defective display (the very first one with LED backlight) that was changed by ASC within hours under warranty. Otherwise it's working like a charm although the demands (video editing with additional screens) are high.

Warranty is over now and I have to admit that I didn't buy the exorbitant expensive insurance police called APP. Here in Europe we have a second year called "Gewaehrleistung" - some kind of an extended "guarantee light" by law. The consumer protection says that in the second year you have to prove that the defective part has been defective since the day of purchase. This seems to be no problem in case of a GPU failure because nVidia announced that fact (defective GPU).

So I'll stay calm and enjoy every day that my MBP runs flawless. But I am subscribing this thread. And I am not sure if I can recommend this piece of hardware further until there is a reliable official statement.

If someone wants to fiddle around with the fan settings:

http://www.derman.com/Download/Special/MBpFanControl.html (for iMac, notebooks + Leopard)
http://www.conscius.de/~eidac/index.html
 
scott85213 said:
My video card died 2 nights ago, and my MBP was out of AppleCare warranty by 12 days. I went to the apple store to get a quote and it was $1352.92 to fix it. I then called AMEX (what I bought the MBP on) and told them my situation. They said if the repair was under $1100 they would pay the repair cost, and if it was over $1100 they would replace it. So fortunatly it looks like I'm getting a new laptop.
Click to expand...

Wow !!!

AMEX offers that kind of protection....three years later? That is awesome
and reason enough to get an AMEX card.
 
Last night my MBP penryn was acting funny, AGAIN.

Safari was all choppy, and overlapped, and large images and any type of video would load in blovks/chunks. Very not smooth.

After restart it was fine, but this is the second time this happened.

Another hickup was after the first battery recalibration,
the screen did this....

MBPscreenerror.jpg


Now what? do I just wait for it to crash and have them replace it?
God forbid them telling me tough luck.
 
Well, I wrote this email to Apple a couple of days ago to someone working for the Corporate Executive Relations that helped me before with a problem with one of my iMacs:

Dear xxx xxx,

After all the problems I went through with my iMac, specially with the
GPU, I decided that instead of repairing it, I will spend that money
in buying a new Mac. I am about to buy a new MacBook Pro but after
informing myself and reading several mac forums, it seems that a lot
of MacBook Pros with the 8600m GT GPU are failing, and I'm not sure
now about buying it. Is this a known problem in the MacBook Pro that
Apple is going to take any action to solve it? Other companies like HP
and Dell are aware of this problem with this Nvidia GPUs. I know it is
recommended to buy AppleCare, but in this case it seems that it is a
known problem that a lot of MacBook Pro users are facing and having to
pay extra for AppleCare just to solve this problem when it shows up
seems a little unfair for the user.
Thank you xxx and I'll be waiting for your advice!

Sincerely,

xxx xxx

Well, I received a call from Apple today saying that this person I knew doesn't work in that department anymore and that he can answer my concerns... well he didn't say much, he said that they don't get much complains about the 8600 card, that the mbp is a fine computer and they don't get reports from problems often, and I told him that other manufacturers are already aware of the problems with the Nvidia 8600 card and he said that if Apple sees that there is problem with that card, the will probably extend the warranty... I asked him about the upcoming updates, and he said he can't talk about upcoming updates...
 
jjahshik32 said:
That's what scares me even more that your mbp has lasted a lil over a year now.. this means that your nvidia gpu will last 1-2 more years until it fails and especially when apple care runs out by then, then your even more screwed.

I would rather the gpu fail 6 months at a time and 3 times so I could get a swap for the montevina, I guess.

But why go through that stress when I can sell it on ebay now and wait until the montevina and just buy that.

Also once the montevina mbp are out the 17" and 15" mbp will drop in price by alot of $$ on top of it not being as much desired as well because of the nvidia gpu.
Click to expand...


ok then here's the deal... wait until montevina comes out -- ok? if the defect is REAL and not just a joke or rumor, they will come out really fast cuz apple would not want to loose face becuz of messed up Penryn MBP's. for that reason, as soon as it comes out, your apple care plan should still be in place. so all u gotta do is run really intensive apps... and do H U G E amounts of multitasking - once ur GPU goes crash and burn, get it replaced with a montevina =D and i know that the 8600m GT puts out a HUGE amount of heat... so maybe they will replace them with 8800m GTX =D

dont worry about it.. just see what happens... and if its a problem then get ur MBP replaced.
 
buyusfear said:
Last night my MBP penryn was acting funny, AGAIN.

Safari was all choppy, and overlapped, and large images and any type of video would load in blovks/chunks. Very not smooth.

After restart it was fine, but this is the second time this happened.

Another hickup was after the first battery recalibration,
the screen did this....

MBPscreenerror.jpg


Now what? do I just wait for it to crash and have them replace it?
God forbid them telling me tough luck.
Click to expand...

OWCH -- yeah god forbid...

good luck gettin that fixed.
 
elogical4now said:
Wow !!!

AMEX offers that kind of protection....three years later? That is awesome
and reason enough to get an AMEX card.
Click to expand...

I don't think it was over three years old - probably just over one year. It's still great, but most credit cards offer double the manufacturer's warranty for free and will replace if the repair cost is above a certain point. With VISA you can also extend your warranty beyond the free second year, for a total of four years and it's cheaper and less hassle than Applecare. Just FYI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back