What's your experience with your 2016 / 2017 / 2018 MBP? Hoping I made the right choice to stick them...
Backstory
I first switched over to the MacBook Pro in 2010 when I finally had enough with the gross lack of reliability of Microsoft-based machines. After several crashes, total loss of all data/documents I finally had an epiphany and told myself it was time. I purchased my very first MacBook Pro. I fell in love with it right away. The durability, quality and most importantly, reliability were noticed immediately. Through every OS update after snow leopard, that machine lasted 8 years for me and is still running great (my father uses it now). As I start graduate school this fall I decided it was time to get another new machine. However, I wish the decision to stick with Mac was as easy as purchasing my first MBP 8 years ago. After hearing countless rumors of horrible keyboards and decrease in satisfaction, I grew skeptical. For weeks, I researched all I could about the MacBook Pro, Lenovos and Dells. Despite reading about how bad and delicate the new keyboard is and after testing these machines in person, I decided to stay committed to Apple and your MacBook Pro with the hope that the 2018 model would be improved. Right away I was happy with my decision and pleased with the performance of the core i5 and 8 GB of RAM (right there was a big upgrade from my 2010).
When the issues began
Everything was great until just under 3 weeks after purchase. While checking emails after the computer was asleep for a couple days, the screen suddenly went black. At first, I didn’t think anything of it as I was not paying attention to the battery level and simply thought it died on me. After plugging in the battery and discovering that the machine refused to turn on, I found that the computer was still on in the first place (made the chime when plugging in and unplugging battery charger from USB C port). After a force restart, the computer turned back on normally and lasted about 45 seconds until it went black again. Getting frustrated, I did another force restart with the same result. After a 3rd attempt at a restart, the screen remained black, driving me to use other keyboard combinations to force the computer to shut off and turn it back on. At this point the computer would not stay on for more than 60 seconds. I felt the bottom getting very hot, so I properly shut it down before it died again and put it away. A day later, and after a software update from 10.13.4 to 10.13.6, the computer ran fine for the duration of my session. A few days after that (after the computer had been off) I powered it on with the black screen issue re-occurring almost immediately upon booting. Once again, I began troubleshooting and force restarting. After about an hour of failed attempts to keep the computer up and running, I took to the internet to see if this issue had been occurring only to find, of course it had! After troubleshooting further with suggestions from several posts, there was still no end in sight with this issue. Apple support was the final hope. After several failed troubleshooting techniques, the final option was to re-install the operating system. After about an hour of installation, the computer was back up and running. I’ve put about 2 hours of use since the re-install with no issues yet. Hopefully it stays that way. Looking back, this issue was probably low on the spectrum of things that could go wrong, but it is more of a principle issue I have. A brand-new computer costing $1,700 should not run into such issues at all let alone so soon after purchasing. Very disappointing and irritating. Consumers buy these products because of the smooth and logical functionalities of the operating system, durability of products and most importantly, RELIABILITY! It’s easy (not really though) to put the price of these very expensive machines aside if the products are worth it. My last MBP lasted 8+ years and this one nearly sh*t the bed at 3 weeks. So far, I am disappointed but remaining positive this issue was isolated and won’t occur again.
Backstory
I first switched over to the MacBook Pro in 2010 when I finally had enough with the gross lack of reliability of Microsoft-based machines. After several crashes, total loss of all data/documents I finally had an epiphany and told myself it was time. I purchased my very first MacBook Pro. I fell in love with it right away. The durability, quality and most importantly, reliability were noticed immediately. Through every OS update after snow leopard, that machine lasted 8 years for me and is still running great (my father uses it now). As I start graduate school this fall I decided it was time to get another new machine. However, I wish the decision to stick with Mac was as easy as purchasing my first MBP 8 years ago. After hearing countless rumors of horrible keyboards and decrease in satisfaction, I grew skeptical. For weeks, I researched all I could about the MacBook Pro, Lenovos and Dells. Despite reading about how bad and delicate the new keyboard is and after testing these machines in person, I decided to stay committed to Apple and your MacBook Pro with the hope that the 2018 model would be improved. Right away I was happy with my decision and pleased with the performance of the core i5 and 8 GB of RAM (right there was a big upgrade from my 2010).
When the issues began
Everything was great until just under 3 weeks after purchase. While checking emails after the computer was asleep for a couple days, the screen suddenly went black. At first, I didn’t think anything of it as I was not paying attention to the battery level and simply thought it died on me. After plugging in the battery and discovering that the machine refused to turn on, I found that the computer was still on in the first place (made the chime when plugging in and unplugging battery charger from USB C port). After a force restart, the computer turned back on normally and lasted about 45 seconds until it went black again. Getting frustrated, I did another force restart with the same result. After a 3rd attempt at a restart, the screen remained black, driving me to use other keyboard combinations to force the computer to shut off and turn it back on. At this point the computer would not stay on for more than 60 seconds. I felt the bottom getting very hot, so I properly shut it down before it died again and put it away. A day later, and after a software update from 10.13.4 to 10.13.6, the computer ran fine for the duration of my session. A few days after that (after the computer had been off) I powered it on with the black screen issue re-occurring almost immediately upon booting. Once again, I began troubleshooting and force restarting. After about an hour of failed attempts to keep the computer up and running, I took to the internet to see if this issue had been occurring only to find, of course it had! After troubleshooting further with suggestions from several posts, there was still no end in sight with this issue. Apple support was the final hope. After several failed troubleshooting techniques, the final option was to re-install the operating system. After about an hour of installation, the computer was back up and running. I’ve put about 2 hours of use since the re-install with no issues yet. Hopefully it stays that way. Looking back, this issue was probably low on the spectrum of things that could go wrong, but it is more of a principle issue I have. A brand-new computer costing $1,700 should not run into such issues at all let alone so soon after purchasing. Very disappointing and irritating. Consumers buy these products because of the smooth and logical functionalities of the operating system, durability of products and most importantly, RELIABILITY! It’s easy (not really though) to put the price of these very expensive machines aside if the products are worth it. My last MBP lasted 8+ years and this one nearly sh*t the bed at 3 weeks. So far, I am disappointed but remaining positive this issue was isolated and won’t occur again.
