Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Wouldn't it make sense to pay Apple for the replacement part and when.it fails enough times (and it will) have Apple give u a new computer?

If seen two reports of Apple stores being embarassed after the 3rd or 4th logic board replacement and offered a new current rMBP instead. This is a store initiative to shut a whining customer...but ask any "genius" or apple and they tell you that it's not a problem and your case is an isolated one. You know. Less than a hundred angry users blowing things out of proportion on web forums.. *condescending look*.

odarellmc wrote:

 

Wouldn't it make sense to pay Apple for the replacement part and when.it fails enough times (and it will) have Apple give u a new computer?

Then you pay "Apple" price for it.

Only thing they care about is ripping your wallet.

Repair shops do it much cheaper as they ever will.

If you read the thread, you'll notice apple replaces the mobo while in warranty only.

Once over warranty period they don't care anymore.

What's even worse,  if they just exchange the mobo, oops, it's Apple, have to call it "Logic board" I guess...

Anyway, if they replace, they just replace the same type of mobo with the same failing mobos...

You pay a to high price for a mobo, which they maybe fix by reflowing, reballing, replacing chip?

That mobo goes to the next customer.

If they collect them and send them to China or whatver cheap  workplace, they get it done very cheap.

However, as some seem to have them replaced 2-3 times and still failing again... doubt they really fix them.

maybe they have a pile of those bad versions they need to get rid of?

I really  don't understand why people pay so much it and get threated like this.

Everything of them is overpiced.

In the end,  it is nothing more then other pc motherboards, using same components as other laptops.

Why are you here trolling, D3us?  You are clearly not a customer:

"I really  don't understand why people pay so much it and get threated like this."

I get it that you don't get it, or that you don't understand true cost of ownership and the resale value of Macs and iPhones, etc.

The fact that problems like this happen is reality.  I have Applecare; I had the problem develop in November in Colombia.  I bought the computer in the US.  Good luck getting quality service like I did from another manufacturer.

Now, I just got my notebook back; they did not insert a refurb motherboard, but a brand new one.  If I knew how to identify its date of manufacture I would share that here.

Is it possible this motherboard with faill again?  Yes.

Is it possible they sent a new one because they realize the refurbs are failing?  Yes.

Is it possible that they have identified that it was a run of early 2011's that was the real problem?  Yes.

Is it possible all of my questions are silly conjecture?  Yes.

I have owned all major brands of computers, with the exception of Samsung.  My 2011 macbook pro has no keys missing, no decals peeling off, no bloatware, no warping plastic case; I consider the OS more secure than Windows X and I am not alone in that.  I sold my (Nvidia crisis) 2007 Mabook Pro in 2012 for $575.  I paid $1350 refurb for it in 2007.  Do that math and tell me about the true cost of that computer over the 5 years I owned it.  Let's see, maybe $170 per year including the larger HD I put in.  Oh golly.

If you don't understand the 'value' proposition of Apple hardware, then I suggest you think about it and research it. 

Are Apple computers perfect?  No more than their designers or assemblers.  I liken Apple computers to Toyota.  Everyone who buys a Toyota knows they are paying more, for build quality, precision tolerances.  What does  a 6 year old Toyota got for vs. most other brands.  Very similar math, if you look.

Someone brought up the idea that you can sell a 'dead' Macbook Pro 2011 for $500 on Ebay.  Is that because those buyers are stupid, too? 

I've just had the same happen to me yesterday, Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro, with Radeon HD 6750M graphics. I had no previous symptoms prior to this happening, so it was a sudden occurance. Horizontal lines started appearing on the apple logo boot screen, and then it would get stuck on a gray screen. Nothing was being displayed on an external display either.

I took the laptop to an Apple Authorized Service in Bucharest, Romania, and was quoted about 600eur for a logic board replacement. Because I had 2 previous experiences with a fried nVidia GPU in a 2007 Core2Duo MBP, I knew I wasn't going to let this fly as I think it's completely unacceptable to have two computers in a row die after exactly 2 years.

After talking for over one hour to Apple Support (by chat) it seems they agreed to fix it free of charge as a "one off" out of warranty repair. I guess time will tell if the issue will reappear, but my advice to you in case you're affected by this issue is to push them very hard. Maybe I was "lucky" as this was the third time around, or maybe they're just starting to acknowledge that there is an issue.

I repaired the macbook pro 15" (early 2011), because I had problem with graphic card, the 25-11-13, I paid 475 euro and they changed the whole motherboard.  After 20 days i have the same problem. How is possible? Apple should be sign of reliability, maybe now not anymore...

So as some said. After talking with Apple representatives (lastly with a customer relations rep) I took my computer to an Apple Certified Technician and after diagnosing the computer they concluded that the fix was a new motherboard, cost was $1237 and $65 for service. After some talk and insisting that I was a loyal customer and I had many Apple products the customer relations rep told the technician that they would cover the repair. At least I can stand by what I've said about Apple. Warranty expired more than 600 days ago. Seems like Apple is acknowledging the issue and it is standing by their products. I know that most companies wouldn't do this. Thanks Apple and good luck to all who are having this issue. Will notify if something happens next.

Confused as to why everyone here thinks it's a hardware issue. Reballing? Reflow? New logic boards? ***. Why are you wasting time?

The problem is Mavericks and the AMD 67x0 cards. Going back to Lion, and the problem goes away.

It doesnt.

matt.79 you are wrong. I had the same issue with os x Lion 10.7.

It's not a problem correlated with Maverick

Makes no difference which OS.  I'm on Mountain Lion, just had my board replaced and I've had the same issue again.

Am hopping mad now. 

Replacing boards is a dumb idea. It doesn't fix it. It's not a hardware issue. So maybe it happend for you on ML but this started happening for me on Mavericks, downgrading and the problem goes away. Others have reported that downgrading works.

Maybe you have and I have different issues. But mine is this one.

The mac stuck almost all the time on:

- blue screen with vertical black lines - something similar to thishttp://imageshack.us/a/img26/9898/screenshot20130201at758.png

- moved screen http://imageshack.us/a/img26/9898/screenshot20130201at758.png

- horizontal distortion - like thishttp://imageshack.us/a/img145/9898/screenshot20130201at758.png

Still wrong.

I ran a Benchmark which made the issue so bad that the horizontal lines appear right after power on even before the actual OS is loaded...

@LociKW didn't really mean to troll apple products in itself.
Would've said just the same for any other brand.

I know most apple users are loyal to their brand, like their products and really take care of them
It is a nice piece of kit, cool design, user friendly, intuitivie, stable, good software.

If people aske met to buy or not, only remark I make is about the price and it can just as well fail.

Other than that, I have no cons.
Often even much easier to work with or on (opening when repairing) compared to some pc laptops.
About safety... looking purely at os... that's debatable... but for now, you're right, lower userbase...

If I was trolling, it was more on how Apple threats most customers on this.
Failing again shortly after replacement.
Some even 2-3 times.
Getting an oxidised mobo etc...
There is hardware (GPU) problem which they should handle better imo.
If you got a new one, good for you and really hope for you it lasts.

Once out of warranty, it's an overpriced repair, there are cheaper options to get it fixed.
Done repairs on the old nvidia ones that are running fine for a few years again now.
For a fraction of the price apple would've charged for it.

Things might even get worse in the future.
http://ifixit.org/2763/
Surely not thinking upgradable, repair-friendly and/or green anymore...

@mathewadams Guess we gonna have to agree to disagree then. Maybe Mavericks included a UEFI update or maybe there is a preload etc.

Tell you what. Does the same things happen booted under Windows?

Look here... same issue with these cards from 2011. http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/03/latest-macbook-pros-suffering-from-gpu-rela ted-freezes/

Thermal paste was blamed but an updated 10.6.7 fixed the issue.

You can re-apply thermal paste, reflow your gpu and swap out logic boards all day long -- I very much doubt it's going to fix the issue.