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

[rpp3po]

Problem solved

After having known issues (horizontal corruption when scrolling in Safari [often] and color frenzy after starting Quartz Extreme applications [seldom]) I had the logic board of my Penryn MBP replaced.

Nothing else has been changed, same OS installation.

The problem is gone!

Even hard tries to reproduce the problem (cold & heat cycling, excessive GPU usage) have not been successful. Everything is fine now. Don't mess with false advice and ugly hacks to get around those problems. It certainly IS a hardware fault and Apple will replace it if you insist.

 

[bartzilla]

Probably just wishful thinking on my part. Quality Control being such that it is, not all parts are manufactured equally. Certainly there exists the possibility that some of these GPUs were manufactured with a better set of materials.

One can hope, yes?

Hope is still free.

 

[MowingDevil]

Gotta admit, I was set to purchase a loaded MBP weeks ago but this issue has stalled me moving forward.

Its all the uncertainty of this and lack of any solid assurances from Apple or even nVidia.

I'm not the type of person who takes comments posted on a forum as gospel but there's enough of it to make me leery.

 

[santa]

prudent

This is clearly not Apple's fault. They warranty their computer for 1 year (rather poor warranty by most standards) and if it dies after that you're on your own. Applecare is available obviously. One would expect an extended warranty on an issue like this and previous experience points to that possibility but the lack of clear communication from nVidia with a definitive set of serial numbers and stronger assurances from Apple that they will stand by extended warranties for this problem should make everyone leery. just my opinion.

 

[bartzilla]

This is clearly not Apple's fault. They warranty their computer for 1 year (rather poor warranty by most standards) and if it dies after that you're on your own. Applecare is available obviously. One would expect an extended warranty on an issue like this and previous experience points to that possibility but the lack of clear communication from nVidia with a definitive set of serial numbers and stronger assurances from Apple that they will stand by extended warranties for this problem should make everyone leery. just my opinion.

Hear Hear.
I suspect Apple can't legally come out and say much that blames nvidia for this until nvidia are prepared to own up to the problem being on chips sent to Apple. And if it isn't Apple's fault they won't blame themselves - I'm talking about who assumes the cost of an extended warranty here, not just what words are used in the press release.

 

[fleshman03]

Just dropping a link to add to the discussion.

Apparently Dell/Hell has at least acknoldged the problem and is trying to do something about it. I'd like to see Apple do something about it. Considering I spent over $2.5k on this laptop...

 

[THX1139]

A mistake like this in inexcusable. I expect this laptop to last a good 15-20 years even though I may buy a new one in that time frame.

You're joking... right? 15-20 years for a laptop? Well, if you include the years as a door stop then maybe you'll get 10. Think about it. What kind of computers were we using 20 years ago? Hell, how about just 15? Apple was in the process of switching over to PPC in 1993 and practically all of those machines are totally obsolete. Especially if you want to run modern OS and software! Go back another 5 years and were getting into the era of this portable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable. Try to find a machine like this and you'll have to go to a museum. Serious.

The practical lifespan of a laptop is 5 years max. After that, your machine will start to suffer from software upgrade options and over-all slow down. However, if all you do is basic web and word processing then you might get another 3 to 4 years before you'll want to throw it into the recycle bin. Better yet, use it for 5-8 years and then donate it. But... 15-20 years? No way, unless you're a collector.

 

[7031]

You're joking... right? 15-20 years for a laptop? Well, if you include the years as a door stop then maybe you'll get 10. Think about it. What kind of computers were we using 20 years ago? Hell, how about just 15? Apple was in the process of switching over to PPC in 1993 and practically all of those machines are totally obsolete. Especially if you want to run modern OS and software! Go back another 5 years and were getting into the era of this portable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable. Try to find a machine like this and you'll have to go to a museum. Serious.

The practical lifespan of a laptop is 5 years max. After that, your machine will start to suffer from software upgrade options and over-all slow down. However, if all you do is basic web and word processing then you might get another 3 to 4 years before you'll want to throw it into the recycle bin. Better yet, use it for 5-8 years and then donate it. But... 15-20 years? No way, unless you're a collector.

So true. If you want a computer to last long, you need a desktop. The most I expect laptops to last is around 3-4 years. (I have both a 3 and 4 year old laptop, one has a faulty graphics card though (ATI Radeon, so not Nvidia).

 

[PDE]

So true. If you want a computer to last long, you need a desktop. The most I expect laptops to last is around 3-4 years. (I have both a 3 and 4 year old laptop, one has a faulty graphics card though (ATI Radeon, so not Nvidia).

It's for nobody else but the owner/buyer to decide how and how long they want to use their computer. I think 7 years is reasonable in terms of extending the warranty for a particular part that is defective, like the GPU. My old pismo, bought in 2000, is running perfectly as is my mother's old Pismo. Not fast, but fine as a second computer. It's reasonable to expect an expensive product to last far beyond the warranty period.

When Apple had horrible issues with the powerbook 190/5300 in the 90s, they extended the coverage to seven years:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30427-de

That's what they should do here too. NOW.

 

[koobcamuk]

I too had a graphics issue and have been fine since. I think it was heat related too. I am not in the UK, but will call in to see the Apple Store at some point when I get back. Apparently though, they aren't doing anything about this, are they?

This and mobileme are seriously annoying me...

 

[Firefly2002]

So true. If you want a computer to last long, you need a desktop. The most I expect laptops to last is around 3-4 years. (I have both a 3 and 4 year old laptop, one has a faulty graphics card though (ATI Radeon, so not Nvidia).

My three year old Toshiba kicked it a month or so ago... but I think that's because I kind of abused it a bit.

May have dropped it once or twice....

Pushed it hard off the desk while one...

More than once...

Taken it out in the rain *cough*

It worked, but it would randomly restart itself, to the point where I couldn't get it to stay on. No other issues, though

 

[bmcgrath]

My Dell Inspiron is now coming up on 8 yrs old. It only ever need 1 hard drive replacement and that took all of 2 mins to do
Other than that it's solid as a rock.

 

[valvehead]

My Dell Inspiron is now coming up on 8 yrs old. It only ever need 1 hard drive replacement and that took all of 2 mins to do
Other than that it's solid as a rock.

My Leading Edge DC-2011 is over 20 years old, and it still works fine. That doesn't mean it's actually useful anymore

Power on to DOS prompt in 13 seconds. Ha! Beat that!

 

[Firefly2002]

My Leading Edge DC-2011 is over 20 years old, and it still works fine. That doesn't mean it's actually useful anymore

Power on to DOS prompt in 13 seconds. Ha! Beat that!

His point was it still functions and there's no reason we should expect 3 years or less life from our laptops...

And an 8 year old machine is still reasonably useful, just perhaps not as a main machine. They're fine for internet and word processing and email.

I'm typing on a 10 year old Mac right now =p

 

[bmcgrath]

Well I'd like my laptop to last 4-5 years for normal use. Then I'd replace it and just keep it as my backup machine. But I wonder how long these nvidia macs will last for....

 

[Jeff5i]

Has anyone considered purchasing a Macbook Pro with the older ATI x1600 chipset? I've found a couple retailers with closeout models of the 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo/x1600 models for around $1500.

Would this be a safe route to go considering all the problems with the Nvidia 8600's? Would the performance be that much worse?

Jeff

 

[Firefly2002]

Has anyone considered purchasing a Macbook Pro with the older ATI x1600 chipset? I've found a couple retailers with closeout models of the 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo/x1600 models for around $1500.

Would this be a safe route to go considering all the problems with the Nvidia 8600's? Would the performance be that much worse?

Jeff

In games it would be worse, in pro apps I think it might actually be better. You can check out BareFeats.com for performance comparisons between the x1600 and the 8600 GT.

 

[isauce]

Has anyone considered purchasing a Macbook Pro with the older ATI x1600 chipset? I've found a couple retailers with closeout models of the 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo/x1600 models for around $1500.

Would this be a safe route to go considering all the problems with the Nvidia 8600's? Would the performance be that much worse?

Jeff

You can always wait for the revision in Sept, and just MAYBE we'll get ATI for the MBP.

 

[Firefly2002]

You can always wait for the revision in Sept, and just MAYBE we'll get ATI for the MBP.

God I hope so. And yeah, I second that, should have remembered to point that out.

 

[Jeff5i]

You can always wait for the revision in Sept, and just MAYBE we'll get ATI for the MBP.

How likely is it that the mpb will be updated in sept ? Ive heard about the MacBooks as a possibility but haven't heard much about the pros. $1500 is hard to pass up for the x1600s new in box. I just want to make sure it isn't too outdated.


Jeff

 

[m1stake]

Just wait for capella! Boom!

 

[ruinfx]

there was just an article on WSJonline about defective nvidia chips, but no mention of apple (just dell and hp).

 

[jjahshik32]

there was just an article on WSJonline about defective nvidia chips, but no mention of apple (just dell and hp).

I guess only dell and hp was mentioned because only those 2 companies has officially announced the problems with the nvidia gpu's and apple has kept quiet, so officially you cant write in the article or include apple.

 

[brentonbrenton]

My MBP has been displaying some of the issues others have had in this thread. The system is the stock standard MBP 15.4" Santa Rosa 2.4ghz 160gb 2gb ram. Ordered and arrived around the start of July 2007 in Australia.

Initially then it was running 10.4, I never had any issues with it. Leopard seems to have introduced problems, I think. Never so many hiccups since that Leopard graphics update!! Once or twice I will get a crazy graphics issue like the image attached which has just happened to me today. I got this just for typing into spotlight. When this usually happens the computer will get hot and everything will slow to a crawl all within a minute. I've basically gotten into the habit now that when this happens; save everything, quit and reboot NOW! But I can't quite evoke the glitch by just using spotlight again after a reboot. It seen it also occur in quicklook for example. Worse is that recently there has been once or twice where I've had the graphics issue, and then its instantly frozen stiff. Only a hard reboot will fix it. Which is problematic when I use this computer primarily for work. You never know when that next click is going to sink your machine.

I can also never put my machine to sleep by closing the lid now. If I do, it will wake to a screen that looks like tv static black and white, as others have posted shots of. Under 10.4, it worked flawlessly. Open, it switched on, closed, it went to sleep.

This is troublesome as the machine is only a year old, just gone out of its 1yr warranty. Am I tanked with a machine that is going to cost me a tonne just to repair?

Just wanted to share my experiences firsthand and hopefully this will be a help in Apple shedding light on the obviously problematic situation for many users.

 

[rpp3po]

While holding back more information than everybody here would like, Nvidia did say one thing for sure: all "currently" manufactured products "have a different and more robust material set". (Nvidia's 8K filing).

So if you MBP is more than 6 months old, try to get it replaced in any case. With those "more robust" GPUs your MBP should last for years as one should expect.

If yours doesn't show the malfunction yet, try some excessive cold/heat cycles using 3D games. If your part is defective you should soon see known display corruptions. They are even screenshotable right from OS X. If you happen to have one of the new parts nothing should happen. The machines are built to handle the work and just spin the fans up if they get too hot.