Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Same issue here.  I will take it to the Apple Store and post their response.  A MacBook should last more than 4 years especially at the price tag they sell for. 

I took my late 2011 MBP to the "Geniuses" they ran some tests to stress the graphics card... I got a frozen screen so the test failed.. on startup I received the bars on the screen and no start-up. The response was to get a new logic board for $600 or so... I am in Canada. I told them about this thread, the 3 class action lawsuits and the petition with over 30,000 signatures. They are not authorized to do anything except offer the logic board solution. I also mentioned that many have made this fix and the computer failed in short order. I told him unless you can guarantee this fix will work and not inconvenience me with multiple attempts I will not pay for this . I also  received a customer feedback form where  I told them their company is acting shamefully. People have spent thousands on Apple products, they have $180 billion in cash, yet they wish to spend that money on their lawyers not accepting responsibility.....

That is my experience....

XLT77 wrote:

 

...  I told them their company is acting shamefully. People have spent thousands on Apple products, they have $180 billion in cash, yet they wish to spend that money on their lawyers not accepting responsibility.....

 

That is my experience....

XLT77... Apple has made their priorities quite clear.  They have no problem selling you a stylish hunk-of-junk that will, in all likelihood, fail before what most of us would consider to be a reasonable use period, and they will not lift a finger to help most of the affected customers.

Having now had two MacBook Pro's in a row (2008 and late 2011) with discreet graphics chip/logic board defects, the options seem equally clear:

1. Vote with your money and simply stop buying Apple products.  Believe me I know how painful this is as I'm now considering a permanent switch to Linux for my own work.  Plain fact is that I don't buy Apple products for their crappy hardware.  I buy them for OSX, and there are some programs I use on OSX for which there simply are no good Linux substitutes.  (The one positive thing will be that my life as a developer will be *much* easier.)
2. If you must stick with Apple...be realistic. All evidence points to the fact that Apple is simply incapable of producing a quality laptop with discreet graphics, and for many of us discreet graphics is just 'nice-to-have'.  I, for example, am not really that kind of power-user and could probably get by just fine with Intel Iris Pro.  So, "...why did you feel the need to get the top-of-the-line?" you might ask?  Probably just my nagging sense that more money, more power meant better.  Don't fall into that trap as I did.  If, on the other hand, you really need that added graphics power, I feel for you but don't really have any advice.

Apple will never choose to deal with situations like this unless we make it clear that failure to act with the customer in mind has consequences.

wrherdon

You are quite right. The shareholders drive this company now and more precisely their inroads in China and Japan are moving the bar. People have to start thinking  about the Apple culture. My problem started after I upgraded to Yosemite, never had one issue with any other operating system. I pointed this out to the "Genius" but they had no response. I don't use intensive graphics. I do have an external monitor which I have disconnected and and I use the Intel chip in integrated mode. It works while I am using the computer. It is an adventure as to whether it will start properly or not. I am using the smcfancontrol / gfxstatuscard approach which allows me to use the computer.I mentioned all this but the Apple employees are given one option for this issue, new logic board. Having read numerous reports on how that does not necessarily work I am not going to spend $600 for something that may or may not work. I am waiting for the courts to force Apple to their senses but I know Apple has the ability to fight this for a long time. I am really hoping that the numbers of failed computers pile up so high that they are going to offer a real fix for this.

Quantifying the information available

(I am also a victim of blue black stripe screen)

We all spent ~$2000 for a world class machine when equivalent configurations were available for less than half of the price, just in order to have a peace of mind for a long run. But again spending ~$500-700 for just logic board replacement is like buying a new laptop all together. With more than ~35K+ customers facing this problem it equates to ~$70M+ of dissatisfied customer down the drain and an additional ~$24.5M of these customer is being ripped again for logic board change and that too for something that Apple goofed up. NOT FAIR. I request all to promote this mission to get value for customers money invested for peace of mind and a remember-able experience that Apple promised us. I hope Apple will acknowledge the fault and will stand by the standards that Apple has always promised its customers. Looking forward for cooperation from Apple.

I went to Apple store to get my Macbook pro 2011 fixed and had to pay $330 - $310 + taxes to get it fixed. My options were pay $500+ and get it fixed in store or pay $310 + taxes and they will send it somewhere for 3-5 days. After 3-5 days I got my laptop back but noticed they replaced my 8 GB ram with 4gb and I had to leave my mac again at store to get it fixed...this may take another 2-3 days. I have to travel 30-40 Miles one way to apple store and due to all these issues already wasted a lot on gas and a lot of time traveling. Painful truth.

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XLT77 wrote:

I am really hoping that the numbers of failed computers pile up so high that they are going to offer a real fix for this.

Look for aysnmbp2011, add your defective machine and your story there. It will be delivered to those attorneys who are standing up for us in Cali.

XLT77 wrote:

wrherdon

You are quite right. The shareholders drive this company now and more precisely their inroads in China and Japan are moving the bar. People have to start thinking  about the Apple culture.
...
I am really hoping that the numbers of failed computers pile up so high that they are going to offer a real fix for this.

Well.. I guess this explains it all....?

One may wonder which % of those Mac Units in 2011/beginning 2012 were 2011 MBP's.

One may also wonder what % of those MBP's have this problem.

Apple does really not seem to be looking forward to doing a recall on those numbers and rather have their 'beloved customers' cough up some more dough for some extra failure boards, so the numbers at least keep going further up.

Although the right diagram also displays a clear reason why they really wouldn't want to bother themselves with this issue EVER.

Macs just don't mean much anymore share wise as it seems...

Quality vs quantity... Hmm...

Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/2062821/apple-by-the-numbers-mac-not-dead-yet.ht ml

True, however let's look at this another way. I have paid close to $3000 for this MBP, I also have an Apple TV and I bought an IPHONE,  close to $4000 total, now when I consider purchasing electronics I have to view it with this experience at the forefront. I will not easily buy an APPLE  product.  If you consider the 10's of thousands of affected MBP users and a similar mindset plus the negative perception that will translate to friends and family and of course the negative press the lawsuits will generate beginning in April, then this is another black mark for the Apple mystic. How many people here suffered through Yosemite issues, like me? I never had a problem with an Apple download until now. Personally this experience has jaded me significantly. Apple can still repair this but arguing in front of a judge that there are no problems while we suffer with screens with bars on them and are told to pay hundreds for a fix that obviously does not work will not help them going forward.

I completely agree with you. Any common logic would make you think that they could reason that it's better to help out.

But they don't.. It's like they're squeezing this money factory to the max as long and hard as they can.. Who knows what's the real reason behind this?

Some people will really never have to work for their pension ever again.. Maybe that's enough for those individuals..? Maybe a plug wil come out of the wall in some future..? I really don't know. But this just does not make any normal sense, unless they want to hold on to their money as tight as they can. Silence before the storm..?

Here are some recalls that don't involve iPhones, what makes them different than the issue we are discussing here, can someone please explain?

http://mashable.com/2013/10/19/apple-macbook-air-recall/

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2546296/windows-pcs/apple-issues-recall-for -15-inch-macbook-pro-batteries.html

http://www.storagereview.com/apple_issues_hard_drive_recall

http://www.geek.com/apple/a-major-hardware-recall-looms-as-apple-halts-productio n-of-all-27-inch-imacs-1075711/

These don't involve the gravy train which is IPHONES so what is the problem exactly?

Makes no sense indeed... Unless in all those cases it concerned a certain series that only required the exchange of 1 particular component (=somewhat controllable/limited costs), while this might concern the entire 2011 line and maybe even after that also, as it might be the result of a potentially fixed production/soldering profile, according to which which ALL those boards were produced...? We'll never be able to do more then guessing here. Which may be useless, while all we have..

FYI after slumping in 2013 Apple sold more than 16 million MACS in 2014, an all time record...

Accordingly to IDC’s preliminary report covering worldwide PC shipments for the fourth quarter, Apple Mac sales jumped from 18.9% year-over-year to hit 5.8 million units shipped which is equivalent to 7.1% share of the market. The strong results come just three months after IDC reported the Mac among the top five PC vendors worldwide for the first time ever. Before the third quarter of 2014, Apple had been a major player in the US market but had failed to break into the top-five worldwide.

When looked at from the growth perspective, Apple was the best performing OEM for the fourth quarter followed by HP which shipped 15.9 million units over the same period of time – a 15.1% change compared to 2013. Overall, IDC saw the worldwide PC market droop 2.4% on shipments of 80.8 million units. Lenovo ended up coming in first with just over 16 million PCs shipped, accounting for 19.9% of the market up by 4.9% year-over year. HP came in second with 19.7% of the overall market. Third and fourth went to Dell and Asus which saw 10.9 million and 6.2 million shipments for 13.5% and 7.7% of the market respectively. Apple ended up finishing fifth to round up the top-five.

Those who got hit the hardest were among the “other” category which consisted of smaller manufacturers like Asus, Samsung, Toshiba and more. These manufacturers collectively saw a 20.7% dip in shipments year-over-year. As usual, Gartner had numbers which differed slightly and didn’t even include Apple in the list of top-five PC manufacturers, instead replacing it with Asus. The competing research firm estimates Lenovo, HP and Dell to lead the worldwide market on shipments of 16.3 million, 15.8 million and 10.7 million units respectively. Acer and Asus pulled up the rear with a respective 6.8 million and 6.3 million units shipped according to Gartner. Gartner’s outlook was in the black but PC shipments held steady at a growth rate of 1% for the fourth quarter of 2014.

The market numbers for the US market were similar among both IDC and Gartner. Both agreed that HP, Dell, Apple and Lenovo (in that order) were the top four manufacturers. IDC reported Asus as fifth whereas Toshiba took that spot on Gartner’s list instead. Overall, the domestic market proved to be positive with IDC finding a 4.7% growth rate year-over-year on 17.7 million units shipped and Gartner found a much more optimistic 13.1% on 18.1 million shipments.

We’ll find out more information when it comes to Apple’s Mac sales this January 27 when the Cupertino California company holds its investor conference call.

Source: Gartner, IDC via AppleInsider

Same problem with my late 2011 MBP with 15 inch monitor. I cannot believe that Apple is ignoring this problem.

ChMichels wrote:

 

Same problem with my late 2011 MBP with 15 inch monitor. I cannot believe that Apple is ignoring this problem.

Have you contacted Apple about it? You should report your case immediately because we need more numbers.

What would be the best way to report this?  I have written in a feedback form, but no reply yet. I went to an Apple store today and they refused to acknowledge that this is a real problem. My AppleCare is still valid though, so they offered to fix it yet again. It's the best they could do apparently. And if it fails after my AppleCare runs out in 4 months then too bad, because they consider 3 years to be a "reasonable lifespan" for a laptop.