Apple was pressured to release a brand new MBP a year ago so they rushed to get this one out. No time to test it. We are to blame for pushing Apple to ship a new MBP so quick since the last launch.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Users Find Some New MacBook Pros Suffer From Major Graphics Issues
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
See my photo icon? That's a special edition JLPGA PowerBook 170. There are PowerBook 170's out there that are working flawlessly 25 years later. Apple doesn't make 'em like they used to...but I have to say that other than a graphics card malfunction and replacement on my 2011 27" iMac, the machine has been flawless. I am worried about this MacBook Pro thing though...This isn't acceptable for a $2500 - $4000 machine in 2016, and frankly is brings back memories of the PowerBook 5300 fiasco of 1995-1996 that required logic board replacements. I am holding off on this new MacBook Pro until I can be guaranteed of a problem-free product.
I'm not even surprised... and that's really sad. I WISH I was surprised. Man, Apple REALLY needs to go back to NVIDIA.
The steady drip of bad news continues . . .
Perhaps Apple will learn and change behavior? Nah, never mind. Of course they won't.
Perhaps Apple will learn and change behavior? Nah, never mind. Of course they won't.
Why in the hell can Apple go no more than two or three years without major graphics card problems?! So far, my 2014 MBP has not had problems (knock on wood) but my 2008 and 2011 MBPs both had problems.
Apple has become a boutique computer company. If you value thinner, lighter and the way a system looks and are fine if that limits how powerful the system can be, if you don't value repairability and upgradability and are fine if all of that makes the system more expensive then the MacBook Pro line is for you.
The problem is that there was already a line of laptops like that at Apple. They were MacBook Air's. I don't mind Apple having a line like that. The problem is that they are completely alienating a large base of users who want a line that isn't as thin, isn't as light and doesn't look as good but as a result has user replaceable and upgradable parts, has a GPU that isn't a joke, has a larger battery and as a result allows for more memory if they want it.
Well Apple just told those people where they can stick it and I'm not sure why. They can have both kinds of laptops. A line like that would sell. I was somebody who switched from Windows and didn't mind the "Apple Tax" because I loved OS X and the idea of a machine that "just works". It seems that I'll be switching back to Windows.
The problem is that there was already a line of laptops like that at Apple. They were MacBook Air's. I don't mind Apple having a line like that. The problem is that they are completely alienating a large base of users who want a line that isn't as thin, isn't as light and doesn't look as good but as a result has user replaceable and upgradable parts, has a GPU that isn't a joke, has a larger battery and as a result allows for more memory if they want it.
Well Apple just told those people where they can stick it and I'm not sure why. They can have both kinds of laptops. A line like that would sell. I was somebody who switched from Windows and didn't mind the "Apple Tax" because I loved OS X and the idea of a machine that "just works". It seems that I'll be switching back to Windows.
The issue is: Apple pushes the boundaries of thinness unnecessarily (who was complaining about how 'fat' the 2015 mbp's were?) and that thinness leads to thermal issues.
The insides cook, and this is what the result is.
Last edited:
Radeon Pro actually competes pretty well against Pascal in terms of perf/watt. It's simply that Apple uses a 35W GPU. Of course, if this was a similar performing nvidia chip, everyone would be singing praise because nvidia.
Also people conveniently forget about the GPU repair program for the 2012/Early 2013 MacBooks with the GT 650M.
Last edited:
You start by saying you're not an apologist. Then proceed to claim Apple makes good stuff since a lot of people buy it. Mich light gets a lot of beer sales. Doesn't make it a good beer.
And by the way, at this rate it won't be long before the general population catches on to the crap Apple is putting out, and soon you won't even be able to make your claims about their 'strong' sales.
I think they've gotten too massive to coordinate both hands.
Mine was very glitchy, lots of lag while scrolling, poor performance doing anything, continual crashing and rebooting and the final straw was the 2 hour battery life!
I went back to my 2013 MacBook Air after 2 days to find it was actually faster and lasted 6-7 hours on a charge.
So mine went back to Apple. In the UK I'd paid £3329 for a 2016 laptop which in day to day usage (Xcode, Safari, Photoshop) was slower and had worse battery life than a 2013 laptop I paid £1500 for.
Apples quality control really has gone out of the window both with hardware and software, either that or this never ending desire to make thinner products is getting out of hand!
I went back to my 2013 MacBook Air after 2 days to find it was actually faster and lasted 6-7 hours on a charge.
So mine went back to Apple. In the UK I'd paid £3329 for a 2016 laptop which in day to day usage (Xcode, Safari, Photoshop) was slower and had worse battery life than a 2013 laptop I paid £1500 for.
Apples quality control really has gone out of the window both with hardware and software, either that or this never ending desire to make thinner products is getting out of hand!
As someone who owns a 13" Late 2013 rMBP, I always regretted my configuration/pick because it DID have an integrated GPU.
Here I am at just under theee years of ownership and it's laggy as all hell when performing system animations, it can't properly support 4K at 60hz and has no support for 10-bit color. I bought the 2nd most powerful model and then maxed it out.
This whole 'first gen' thing makes no sense. Is last years corvette 'first gen' since they changed the body style a bit?!?
Apple has been making MacBook pros and 'pro' laptops,for decades now. There's no 'first gen' about it - by now they should be able to redesign a product without it sucking.
Hope you're making regular backups of that non removable SSD.
Apple is too busy working on iToys to care about computers. This has to be the worst quality product Apple has produced in a very long time.
10 bit color makes absolutely no difference unless you have support in both other software and whatever display you use. Apple ignored it forever, so it was hardly a reasonable consideration for you unless you were willing to go the Windows box route (including an appropriate display). Did the 750m fare any better? Keep in mind the macbook pros with discrete graphics rely on switching, so they may not be enabled when system animations run.
I've owned dozens of MacBook Pro's and AMD GPU's have always caused me headaches. I truly hope they use Nvidia in the future.
The seeds were planted a decade or more ago, with their few-massive-eggs-in-one-basket product model.
Wait? Apple not sufficiently cooling a system? *GASP* Never!
Seriously, this really, really, really, really isn't rocket science. If they can't get their damn GPUs cooled properly after all this time they then need to fire every single person in their clearly sub-standard engineering teams.
For those that don't know, this has been a problem, in computing-years, "forever", with Apple products. They have had to issue extended repair programs for system after system after system, but they just can't learn. They even managed to release full-size towers with overheating GPUs. Really. In a full-blown tower. That's mind-bogglingly idiotic. My 2006 MacPro shipped with one of those, which they replaced with another one that did the same thing a year later. I've had all "hacked" PC cards in it from then on with zero problems. It's like every GPU Apple touches overheats because the morons just refuse to design-in sufficient cooling. I have a little Mac Mini file-server also, and guess what it does if you try to use the GPU? Yep, it locks-up after about 10 minutes. It can sit there all day and serve files. I can peg the CPU all day long in HandBrake too. But 10 minutes(or less) of YouTube, or Netflix, or anything that hits the GPU? Graphics artifacts followed by a full lock-up.
It's simply absurd. And inexcusable.
(And no, it's not just AMD GPUs. Mac Mini is a nVidia GPU. My home-built PC mini-tower for stereoscopic gaming runs an AMD GPU also. I can, and do, peg that GPU at 100% for hours on end and it never, ever, overheats. This is a problem specific to GPUs that Apple touches...)
Seriously, this really, really, really, really isn't rocket science. If they can't get their damn GPUs cooled properly after all this time they then need to fire every single person in their clearly sub-standard engineering teams.
For those that don't know, this has been a problem, in computing-years, "forever", with Apple products. They have had to issue extended repair programs for system after system after system, but they just can't learn. They even managed to release full-size towers with overheating GPUs. Really. In a full-blown tower. That's mind-bogglingly idiotic. My 2006 MacPro shipped with one of those, which they replaced with another one that did the same thing a year later. I've had all "hacked" PC cards in it from then on with zero problems. It's like every GPU Apple touches overheats because the morons just refuse to design-in sufficient cooling. I have a little Mac Mini file-server also, and guess what it does if you try to use the GPU? Yep, it locks-up after about 10 minutes. It can sit there all day and serve files. I can peg the CPU all day long in HandBrake too. But 10 minutes(or less) of YouTube, or Netflix, or anything that hits the GPU? Graphics artifacts followed by a full lock-up.
It's simply absurd. And inexcusable.
(And no, it's not just AMD GPUs. Mac Mini is a nVidia GPU. My home-built PC mini-tower for stereoscopic gaming runs an AMD GPU also. I can, and do, peg that GPU at 100% for hours on end and it never, ever, overheats. This is a problem specific to GPUs that Apple touches...)
Last edited: