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Thinking about Buying a Used Mac with 8600gt Graphics card. Yes or No?

Probably, but it may not be worth the hassle. Every machine I've seen with that card fails eventually. Sure, Apple has fixed them, but who wants a ticking time bomb. Better to buy a newer unibody, which is a better machine all around.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Probably, but it may not be worth the hassle. Every machine I've seen with that card fails eventually. Sure, Apple has fixed them, but who wants a ticking time bomb. Better to buy a newer unibody, which is a better machine all around.
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It's for my mom, and she doesn't want to pay that much for a Mac and keeps comparing them to pc prices. I have to find her a 15" machine for under $950, so you see my dilemma.
 
D. Need more info.

Yes, you'll be able to take advantage of the warranty from the original coded purchase date of the machine (obviously).

The question is, does it include Applecare? The GPU isn't the only thing that can break, and even if it's showing signs of GPU failure, Apple can easily say it's something else. Save your mom the frustration, if possible.
 
appleguy123 said:
It's for my mom, and she doesn't want to pay that much for a Mac and keeps comparing them to pc prices. I have to find her a 15" machine for under $950, so you see my dilemma.
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Why don't you pick up the 2.16 or 2.33ghz versions with the X1600? Great machine. I had one and it was great to work on.

Personally I would consider what your mom really needs though. The 15" can be pretty heavy, and there are some nice asus offerings out there that are cheaper and lighter.
 
peapody said:
Why don't you pick up the 2.16 or 2.33ghz versions with the X1600? Great machine. I had one and it was great to work on.

Personally I would consider what your mom really needs though. The 15" can be pretty heavy, and there are some nice asus offerings out there that are cheaper and lighter.
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She probably will buy a PC, as she is used to and has credit with Dell. It's just that she's always asking me for help on how to do and fix things on her PC, and I'm forgetting how PC's work and how to fix them because I don't use them anymore (it's been a year since I've even touched one apart from attempting to show her how to do something).
 
The 8600GT card warranty was extended to 3 years, and the affected machines was made in 2007 and 2008, so you're already or soon out of luck.

I've had several 8600GTs die on me, so don't buy.
 
cluthz said:
The 8600GT card warranty was extended to 3 years, and the affected machines was made in 2007 and 2008, so you're already or soon out of luck.

I've had several 8600GTs die on me, so don't buy.
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The warranty for all affected 8600m GTs was extended to four years. No Macbook Pro is out of GPU related warranty.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
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appleguy123 said:
If I buy a used mac with the 8600GT graphics card, will Apple's extended warranty on this card still be affective?
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I would ask if it's already been fixed. I have had a couple fixed and so have friends and Apple has not given them any run around. Process usually takes a couple days if you're close enough to an Apple store to drop it off. It's my understanding that the entire mobo has to be replaced so when you get it done you're basically getting a new computer again (minus the HD and RAM) that should last many years.

My only concern would be that if it hasn't been fixed yet that I would want it to break and get it fixed prior to Apple stopping the warranty support.
 
appleguy123 said:
She probably will buy a PC, as she is used to and has credit with Dell. It's just that she's always asking me for help on how to do and fix things on her PC, and I'm forgetting how PC's work and how to fix them because I don't use them anymore (it's been a year since I've even touched one apart from attempting to show her how to do something).
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Blech... I would stay away from dell.

Our school as a deal with dell for our laptops and everyone has problems with them. If it was between dell and mac, mac all the way. keep the x1600 as an option. I sold my x1600 months ago for around $1k..and they have gone down for sure.
 
mdatwood said:
My only concern would be that if it hasn't been fixed yet that I would want it to break and get it fixed prior to Apple stopping the warranty support.
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I just got done having mine replaced, and the Apple guy told me they would replace them regardless of time left on warranty.
 
I have an 8600GT and have been using my computer for 2 plus years and the only thing that happened to it is that I blew out the GPU fan playing World of Warcraft. The fan was easily replaced.
 
peapody said:
Why don't you pick up the 2.16 or 2.33ghz versions with the X1600? Great machine. I had one and it was great to work on.
Click to expand...

I'd stay away from the X1600 too. Those things had a pretty high failure rate. They were hot as heck.

If considering a Mac Pro, stay away from the X1900. Again, extremely prone to failure.
 
You are looking for trouble if you buy a used MBP with a 8600gt. The money saved is not worth the time you are going to waste.
 
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