What is wrong with Apples Quality Control?

[Royksöpp]

there are some countries which don't have apple stores.

So, as far as I understand, there should be also dents or visual damages on the box (from top or bottom for the 1st and 3rd photos). Topic starter didn't mention it, thus I can make a conclusion that those dents were made during manufacture process or during final packaging.

PS: Its hard to blame carriers as general, because it is very personal and depends on every person who take your parcel. I had a lame behavior of an DHL's guy, he was lazy to call or to come to the 9th floor via elevator. He left almost empty notice on the intercom. (because intercom was in maintenance and the entrance door to the block was opened for a week). Poland. Non-apple parcel. Had that issue only once

The packaging itself is hard and secure. I don't see how it could be damaged during shipping. It is most certainly the factories fault.

 

[TechZeke]

My 15" rMBP came out of the box in pristine condition.
Either you have very bad luck, or a very angry courier.

I've un-boxed two different MBPs in my life, both came prestine.

Also, it's pretty much widely accepted that MacBooks have the best build quality in the industry. Even avid Windows users who say they would never buy a Mac agree. Like with anything, a lemon is bound to slip through the cracks here and there.

 

[Martin81]

In same european countries there are very few Apple stores. And as he is using the MBP for university, maybe there is a AOC discount in use. I'm not sure if you get it in a local Apple store.

I can understand, that you are angry. But I would return the MBP again and not keep it with sutch mistakes.

 

[mikelj]

If it makes the OP feel any better, I've returned two MacBooks already (purchased from John Lewis) due to build quality issues. Ok, the first issue - the back panel not fitting correctly - might not have bothered some but the second, an issue with one of the keys, probably wouldn't be acceptable to most.

I've never had issues with almost all my previous Apple purchases (apart from my 4S - Scuffgate didn't start with the iPhone 5), so I guess I'm sharing the OP's bad luck atm.

My third MacBook (this one from Apple) is due this Monday, so hopefully this one will be ok.

There's no point getting angry though, these things happen, at least Apple has the right attitude regarding returns, unlike others.

 

[abta1]

+1 to other commenters saying buy at the store. I decided to get mine at the store for just this reason, and the Apple team even helped me open it and inspect everything to make sure it was OK. I walked out of the store very happy knowing I purchased a solid machine.

I highly recommend it with a purchase this large, could save you lots of time or even $$ (I've heard stories where someone noticed the dent at home, Apple blamed it on them and wouldn't replace it)

This. I always buy my Apple products from Apple stores firstly for this reason, and secondly, they are much more likely to help you out should something happen to the product later on, than if you bought from a reseller.

 

[maflynn]

I think overall Apple's QC is excellent. That doesn't mean every single product that rolls out of the factory is impeccably perfect. Stuff happens, humans are imperfect and so the stuff they make are imperfect. I'm not saying that you should put up with the defect but rather don't say that apple's QC is awful based on one experience.

 

[saledug]

I'm located at Germany and the next Apple Store is a 2-hour train-ride away so im not too thrilled to go there - especially since its a stressful time atm at the end of the semester.

Well the 4th one is pretty good so far. The Display is mounted about .5mm to far towards the back I don't know what they are doing there or if im just way to picky because i study these things... I'm aware that no machine is perfect but there are mistakes (like the ones with the first three devices) that i will not tolerate with a 2249€ Machine.
Thanks for your support guys - im pretty happy with my new MacBook Pro now .

PS: the customer service is really, really good. The last two replacements took 2 Days each. I got the device with the dent on wednesday, called Apple Care and returned the device to UPS. Today at 11:30 a.m. i got the replacement.

 

[Queen6]

This. I always buy my Apple products from Apple stores firstly for this reason, and secondly, they are much more likely to help you out should something happen to the product later on, than if you bought from a reseller.

True, there are also some very good resellers as well, and Apple could learn a thing or two from them...

Q-6

 

[Ulenspiegel]

People aren't necessarily blaming the "last-mile" courier that ships the finished product to the customer...

My 15" rMBP came out of the box in pristine condition.
Either you have very bad luck, or a very angry courier.

Read the posts whom members are "blaming", including your own.

The mods on this site, at least in my experience, are very ineffective.

Would you mind sharing this experience of yours to back your words.

 

[Quu]

I dunno what is with their quality control recently but I had a few with defects, screen related mostly but I did get one with a broken return key on the keyboard. It just felt mushy and made a grinding sound when pressed down with normal use.

Apple took it back no problems of course, very easy returns process with them so I can't really complain too much. It would be a whole other story if they tried to say we did the damage to these defective computers and refused them back.

 

[Skoal]

Funny how people are blaming it on the carriers. If you've ever ordered a Mac online, you know that it's sealed in the packaging and then placed in four trays in the box, one on each corner. The computer doesn't move much in transit and it's damn near impossible to smash it.

The dents are just what happens when you use soft materials like aluminum. Think of the milllions of aluminum panels that are shipped to them. Inevitably some will get dented. Aluminum is easy as pie to dent. If you have a car, you'll know how true this is.

How many cars are made of aluminum panels?

 

[Skoal]

I'm located at Germany and the next Apple Store is a 2-hour train-ride away so im not too thrilled to go there - especially since its a stressful time atm at the end of the semester.

Well the 4th one is pretty good so far. The Display is mounted about .5mm to far towards the back I don't know what they are doing there or if im just way to picky because i study these things... I'm aware that no machine is perfect but there are mistakes (like the ones with the first three devices) that i will not tolerate with a 2249€ Machine.
Thanks for your support guys - im pretty happy with my new MacBook Pro now .

PS: the customer service is really, really good. The last two replacements took 2 Days each. I got the device with the dent on wednesday, called Apple Care and returned the device to UPS. Today at 11:30 a.m. i got the replacement.

.5 mm? Are you measuring every part of your Mac with calipers? .5mm is nothing and is probably well within the margin for a machine to get the green light to ship.

 

[throAU]

Hmm.

I'm yet to have or see a defective apple product here in Australia (and I deal with others not just my own for work - mostly iPhones). For comparison though, we use HP laptops at work and a lot of the panel fitment issues and the minor cosmetic flaws that people tend to whine about with apple products (and worse) are pretty standard on those.

 

[AaronM5670]

How many cars are made of aluminum panels?

Quite a few have bodywork made from aluminium

 

[ABC5S]

Millions of Apple products are sold and here we are thinking Apples quality control is out of control from a few that have issues. WOW, just wow.

 

[maflynn]

Millions of Apple products are sold and here we are thinking Apples quality control is out of control from a few that have issues. WOW, just wow.

Are you sure its just a few?

Apple had to address the failing dGPU on 2008, 2010, 2011 MBPs. I'm not saying apple's quality is failing but I'm also not diminishing the issues to say only a few are suffering. Clearly its enough to warrant the company to create an extended repair program.

 

[augustya]

I think overall Apple's QC is excellent. That doesn't mean every single product that rolls out of the factory is impeccably perfect. Stuff happens, humans are imperfect and so the stuff they make are imperfect. I'm not saying that you should put up with the defect but rather don't say that apple's QC is awful based on one experience.

Yeah ! And not to forget the manufacturing Units Manufactures about tens of thousands of Macbook units everyday so it is a Human Intervention that is doing all this.

 

[throAU]

Are you sure its just a few?

Apple had to address the failing dGPU on 2008, 2010, 2011 MBPs. I'm not saying apple's quality is failing but I'm also not diminishing the issues to say only a few are suffering. Clearly its enough to warrant the company to create an extended repair program.

I don't think it's fair to blame faulty GPUs that fail after several years on Apple. That's not something they can realistically do QA on, unless you want to be supplied with GPUs that are several years old by the time apple release them.

That's an AMD/Nvidia QC issue, not Apple.

However - how Apple handle it (as the system vendor) is important. And Apple have done the right thing by supporting repairs well beyond the warranty on several of those machines. I don't think there is anything to complain about in that respect. It's certainly well above and beyond any support i have seen from any other PC vendor.

For comparison i spent several months dealing with DELL at work re: Throttlegate.

Their standard response was that I was using the machine in ways it was not intended for (despite being sold as a 3d capable multimedia machine)

 

[maflynn]

I don't think it's fair to blame faulty GPUs that fail after several years on Apple. That's not something they can realistically do QA on, unless you want to be supplied with GPUs that are several years old by the time apple release them.

Its absolutely their fault and its not several years. The 2008 GPUs were known to fail a year or two into ownership. The 2011 models were failing last year, so that's only 3 years into ownership, I'm spending 2,000+ for a laptop, I expect it to last more then 3 years.

I'd be willing to blame the nVidia or AMD, if we saw widespread failures on PCs but we don't. Also after the first occurrence you could blame the GPU maker but the second, third, fourth year??? That's on Apple at that point.

 

[throAU]

Its absolutely their fault and its not several years. The 2008 GPUs were known to fail a year or two into ownership.

So how were apple meant to figure that out in QA prior to release?

if they were running them within the thermal spec provided by Nvidia and AMD (and I doubt they were not - because that would be incredibly stupid of them - they'd be wearing the repair cost and have no recourse to make any claim against AMD/NVidia) then whilst it is unfortunate that Apple's machines were affected, I do not believe you can pin the blame on Apple, despite PCs not being affected.

Sounds more like a case of the hardware not working to spec as supplied from AMD/Nvidia to me - and Apple did the right thing by extending repair support on those machines. There's not a lot more they could have done - the fault would not have shown up in testing, and once it's out, what more can you do?

 

[maflynn]

So how were apple meant to figure that out in QA prior to release?

Like every other company test them. If the 2010 model had GPU issues then identify the problem and not let that seep into the the 2011 model. Its not rocket science why defend apple blindly. Other computer makers seemingly can use a dGPU without causing problems.

I do not believe you can pin the blame on Apple, despite PCs not being affected.

Apple is using the same components as other computer makers and if they can't figure out how to include a dGPU how can you not blame them.

Sounds more like a case of the hardware not working to spec as supplied from AMD/Nvidia to me

For 2008, 2010, 2011 and so forth? I can see once being aberration, multiple years is a pattern so we have to blame AMD/Nvidia because they apple is unaware of the specifications or use of the dGPU being supplied. You seem to be doing a lot of logical backbends to avoid blaming apple. That's your opinion and I respect it, but my opinion is apple is to blame. I spend over 2k for a laptop that needs to last more then 3 years. If apple cannot find a design or a parts supplier to produce high quality parts its on them. Besides other makers as I stated repeatedly seemed not to have an issue and they charge a lot less.

 

[throAU]

For 2008, 2010, 2011 and so forth? I can see once being aberration, multiple years is a pattern so we have to blame AMD/Nvidia because they apple is unaware of the specifications or use of the dGPU being supplied. You seem to be doing a lot of logical backbends to avoid blaming apple. That's your opinion and I respect it, but my opinion is apple is to blame. I spend over 2k for a laptop that needs to last more then 3 years. If apple cannot find a design or a parts supplier to produce high quality parts its on them. Besides other makers as I stated repeatedly seemed not to have an issue and they charge a lot less.

I get that you're upset that the machine failed. But realistically, if AMD/Nvidia told Apple that their GPUs are certified to be used in an enclosure with thermal design limits of X, and they fail down the track when used in that manner, then it's not Apple's fault.

i'm not blindly defending apple here, they do plenty of crappy things. HFS+ is a joke for example. As is discoveryd.

Sure, other OEMs may not have had the issue - their designs may have had more thermal headroom (due to less radical designs) and not run into the problem. But again, if Apple were told that the design was OK for the GPU by AMD/NVidia, they did all they could to prevent the problem.

You can't expect them to do burn in testing for 12-24 months or more (which is the only way they would know about failures occurring after that time) before shipping a GPU. No one is going to do that, because you'll ship GPUs that are years old by the time you ship.

 

[maflynn]

I get that you're upset that the machine failed. But realistically, if AMD/Nvidia told Apple that their GPUs are certified to be used in an enclosure with thermal design limits of X, and they fail down the track when used in that manner, then it's not Apple's fault.

I'm not upset because I've not owned those machines. Its clear to me that its apple, do people blame Ford because a component that Ford uses failed or do that rail against the component maker. They complain about Ford and question why are they still using if its been failing year in and year out.

Sure, other OEMs may not have had the issue - their designs may have had more thermal headroom (due to less radical designs) and not run into the problem. But again, if Apple were told that the design was OK for the GPU by AMD/NVidia, they did all they could to prevent the problem.

So there you have it, because of an apple design the component is failing, that certainly sounds like apple should be responsible and not the chip maker.

You can't expect them to do burn in testing for 12-24 months or more (which is the only way they would know about failures occurring after that time) before shipping a GPU. No one is going to do that, because you'll ship GPUs that are years old by the time you ship.

No, you're right but they can see if the temps are high, to design a better cooling mechanism and/or not gob the entire chip with thermal grease like they do.

 

[Queen6]

Apple runs the MacBook Pro with dGPU far too close to the thermal limit for some of the components, hence why there have been so many issues with portable Mac`s with dGPU`s over the years. If you need the dGPU for work and or study purpose so be it, equally there is an increased chance of premature failure. Apple are not extending warranty for multiple models of the 15" MacBook Pro with dGPU out of benevolence, they have no other option...

• 2007 - 2008 MBP`s extended repair programme effected, GPU related
• 2010 MBP`s extended repair programme effected, GPU related
• 2011 - 2013 extended repair programme effected, GPU related
• 2014 & 2015 only time will tell

Apple replaces failed Logic Board`s with "refurbished" units which are likely to fail in a short period of time if pushed. Fundamentally the Logic Boards still have the same design/manufacturing flaw related to the dGPU. Apple`s only solution is to replace the Logic Board 3-4 times and only then offer a new rMBP as a last recourse to the user. All assuming your system meets Apple`s criteria, if it doesn't your on your own plain and simple...

Have doubts, just search.

Q-6

 

[Nueve]

This is really weird, I've bought several Apple products from Amazon/Apple never had this issue.