Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

John,

Well, some people have voided their warranties and re-did the application of thermal grease.  The result has been an improvement in temperatures.

(search for keywords like "Replacing thermal paste on the CPU and GPU - RESULTS", etc)

Temps have gone down by as much as 10~15C depending on person and situation.

I'd rather get AppleCare and save most of my 3D rendering, fractal creation, and other number-crunching activities for my Mac Pro.

Most of the MBP's issue is with the tiny case, combined with slopping on enoough thermal grease for 3 PCs.

My newly purchased 17" MBP (2011) in a 22C ambient temp is 40C idle and on medium usage (browsing, Parallels session running Windows and Office) ~62C.  Unreal Torunament 2004 is around 74C - which is acceptable; I had a Windows-based PC running it at 76C.  It's warm, but acceptable - laptops have more goodies cramped into smaller spaces, so the whole of the issue isn't Apple's fault. 

I've yet to do anything big like digital painting on a 8.5x11 300DPI 25-layer Photoshop file or rendering fractals.  Those would easily shoot up and beyond 80C and hopefully nothing beyond 90, which is the danger point for reduced longevity to be sure. 

The only thing Apple could improve on is better application of the thermal compound on the main chips (CPU, GPU, northbridge (logic controller/chipset/etc)).

OS X is still, by far, the better OS, and all in all all of the advantages of MacBook Pros outweigh the temperature issue, but low-90s C is still risky.  Especially if you want to buy a desktop-replacement, where one will be making use of the faster components far more often.

...I'm sorry...people voided 2011 warranties to put extra "thermal paste on the CPU"??? Is that for real?

Stupid.

Well...I will be getting my 17" loaded MBP (2.3 Ghz / 8 GB RAM / 512 SSD drive) in a few days and I will be doing everything humanly possible to crash her (Cinema 4D rendering / After Effects CS5 rendering / Photoshop CS5 4500 x 4500 px multi-layered files / Final Cut Pro HD Editing / etc / etc / etc. I bought Applecare and I intend to use it fully. If I get a lemon, the Better Business Bureau loves going after large companies and this issue would launch a class action suit for sure. Don't forget...The "Lemon Law" is if your product goes in 3 or more times for the same issue and cannot be fixed, you are entitled to full reimbursement by law.

Better get on this Apple guys & girls...you would think they would have already...especially guys like us who have been buying Macs and Mac Software for 15 years.

That said, I cannot wait to get my new MBP !!!  I keep mine elevated on a Griffin Laptopplatform - allows for much more heat dispersing / cooling    -  I am sure there will be mor to come...

Can you read? People didn't void their warranty to put extra thermal paste on their CPU/GPU. People voided their warranty to REMOVE the extra thermal paste. MBPs come from the factory with way too much applied and the only solution is for users to do the dirty work of fixing it.

Just getting my complaint in...

Pointless backstory - I just convinced my father to "switch" for his business and he listened.  We first purchased two 13" late 2010 models (I bought one for me and he bought one for him).  These ran GREAT!  A month later Apple released the early 2011 models, so we were a bit bummed since we could have waited for better hardware for roughly the same price.  I spoke to the Apple store manager and he was cool enough to swap them out.  I told him that in fact we would like to go with the base 15" models for the extra screen real estate.  He was happy to do so.

Complaint - Suddenly, our precious, and well loved, 15s are locking up.  I mean HARD lock up like the OP stated.  When it happens, cannot move mouse, nothing.  There is an echo in sound that just repeats over and over ever half second (not sure how to explain this).  It locks up intermittently. The ONLY thing I have found common is that quicktime is running.  I've had it running small on the bottom corner while on safari, firefox, or chrome.

I've tried letting it sit for a few minutes to see if it will pass; some people say it is only a temp lock up.  Still required a complete restart holding the power button.  I have tried to run 3D games and other intensive applications simultaneously to try to reproduce the issue, even trying many suggestions here and it runs fine.  I've done a complete clean install on mine and it still locks up.  The ONLY similarity in the lockups I notice is when running quicktime, and it happens intermittently.  Quicktime may run fine for hours, or it will freeze up my entire machine in minutes.

So I have been using MplayerX and VLC instead of Quicktime for the meantime and I half to say that this machine has yet to have a hard freeze like when running Quicktime.  I would like to have Quicktime back, but if this is how it has to be then so be it.

As far as dad, I think he only experienced it twice since owning his and he doesn't remember what he was doing.  He said coming from windows, he thought this was "normal" for a computer so didn't think anything of it. lol!

Anyways, just filing my complaint.  My deepest thanks to all who are trying to figure this out.

Dear Ricky Tang...lighten up. Life is too short to be a jerk to strangers. No need to be insulting because I misread the post. We are all in the same boat on this thread (unless you came in here just to find someone to insult).

Have a nice day

I’ve read all the posts similar to this one (there are many!), and finally decided to install gfxCardStatus, to disable dynamic switching and actually to work ONLY with integrated card. Not one freeze since then (4 days ago - whilst it was freezing 1 to 4 times per day). Not as fast as in the past, but I can live with it until a EFI update. HTH

From what I understand, the official word at Apple is that they "are not tracking this issue" - they don't consider it to be an issue and they are therefore not working on any solution. I'm assuming that not enough people are complaining about it or not enough people can reproduce the freezing when showing tech support. I find this odd, but Apple does somehow make billions of dollars a year. It would be nice to know what percent of their macbooks are having this issue. Any clue?

Well, I'll just add my 2 cents worth, it's happening to me as well... MBP 15" 2011 fully spec'd. I have also installed gfxCardStatus and have only had one lockup since. Boy I wish they'd get to the bottom of it

If my guess is right, these issues are related to a software bug. With a new OSX comming,  apple's engineers doesn't have to be concerned in fixing this issues and release an update because the new OSX should fix all these problems. A lot of people will still buying their new macbooks and will never had a freeze, because the situation where this crash could occurs is difficult to be reproduced with the most people, who use their machines with only one or two apps opened in the same time.

So apple won't lose money,  people who wouldn't need buying the new OSX and are experiencing this issues, will buy the new OSX attempting to solve their machine problems.

You're like a child that wanders into an adult conversation midway through the conversation.

...here's my status for those who are not forum trolls like ricky_tang (apologies to everyone else) to thank those that took the time to post your testing / results / findings:

I got my 17" fully loaded MBP (2.3 Ghz / 512 SSD) about 4 days ago and have been visually beating on the GPUs pretty good with what I currently have installed. I am running the 27" Cinema Screen from it as well. I have been playing 1080 ProRes quicktimes, playing 5 quicktimes at once while playing a 720p HD movie on YouTube and playing music on iTunes. I know this isn't much yet but I am trying to crank up the temps to see if that is causing the freeze. I have installed iStat Menus to monitor fan speeds and internal temps throughout the case. I also installed gfxCardStatus v2.0.1 (based on what I have read about Dynamic switching of the GPUs) and have kept it switched to the AMD Radeon HD 6750M card. I have not had any issues...the machine is absolutely screamimg fast. It is just as fast as my 2010 8 core at work. Next week I am installing my Edit / VFX 3D suite (Final Cut Studio 3 / Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium / Cinema 4D R12 and a ton of plug-ins). I will be pounding hard on the CPU and GPUs very soon and will report back.

I want to say that I’m also very happy with performance when my Mac doesn’t freeze (and since I’m using integrated mode it is running great). I can run concurrently WXP and W7 with Fusion (each one with 2GB and 2 cores), and all Mac services running... When I had the discrete card running, without any dynamic switching, it was crashing, but... only when using iTunes. Maybe this also applies to other applications, just I noticed that without iTunes it was running without any problem. Of course all available updates are installed.

I’d like to run another test: switch back to discrete graphic (that is much faster than integrated) and deactivate SMS - that I don’t need because of the SSD.

FOLLOWING UP (2011 17" MBP 2.3 Ghz / 8 GB RAM / 512 SSD / OS 10.6.7):

I just installed an 8 GB RAM kit and Cinema 4D R12 and I am running some render tests. 1920 x 1080 scene with full volumetric lighting & Ambient Occlusion turned on (a real number cruncher). I am rendering a huge scene with mass amounts of polys & textures...as I type this! The fans are screaming at 5500 RPM - no freezing. I look at the iStat Menu and ALL 8 CORES ARE FIRING @ 100%. I cannot get over how fast this machine is...

Goint to do some Cinebench tests...more to come...

Hi There! I live in Auckland New Zealand. My old MacBook Pro needed replacing and I bought the new 17 inch MacBook Pro. I am retired but I enjoy video editing especailly Motion and Colour and this was a long awaited upgrade.  Well it hasn't worked for me. I bought the MacBook Pro in good faith unaware of the issues on the 30 March. I should have checked but I trust Mac. It frooze the first time I used it and continued to freeze daily for a week. Applecare told me that I might need a replacement but after hours of checking, even the hardware check frooze, the machine it was sent back to the disrtibutor.

Then I checked the 'issues' to find this has been an 'issue' since the 1st March for many purchasers. I cannot work with a machine that 'freezes' constantly. Not possible. For me at the moment this computer is 'unfit for purpose' and In New Zealand the consumer law is on the consumer's side. The machine has to do the job it was bought for and for me that means high level FCP editing.

The distributor has to 'repair, replace or refund'. Regretfully I have had to go for the refund as it does not appear that Apple are going to acknowledge this problem and is unable to repair or replace with a computer that can be guaranteed to work at the moment.

It is a real problem as everyone here can affirm. I was disappointed that knowing this problem I was still sold this machine without informing me of the issues. If I had known I should not have purchased.

Just ignoring a problem like this does not make it go away. In fact it makes it a sort of 'a conspiracy' of silence. I was told early April  by Apple that Apple was unaware of any issues and it was 'my' software problem but this is blatently not the case. Apple do know now because I told them. It is on record. I even mentioned this discussion page when asked to prove that the machine 'frooze' as Applecare Singapore had never heard of it.

So my sadly my computer has gone back and it looks as if I am stuck with this rather old one until Apple have sorted this out. It may take a year as I expect Lion will have issues too. Apple lovers realize that there may be teething problems but at least these should be acknowledged in an adult way.

I shall just have to put my creative work on hold. I don't think I could face Windows at my age!

I shall keep checking this page to keep in the loop. I am just so happy to live in NZ where the law is on my side and I can return it so easily. Maybe the rest of the world should do the same and get their money back. It is the only way to tell Apple to get this fixed.

Why should Apple users have to recreate the issue to prove it is an 'Issue'? We are not the specialits! They are!

It is an issue! Its on their website. They must be aware it is an 'issue' Just pretending it 'not an issue' is not going to make this go away.