Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

You aren't stuck with Apple. You can do what Adobe calls a "crossgrade" from a MAC to PC version of CS6. You have to deactivate the MAC version and they will give you a license for a PC. Don't let CS6 stop you from switching. 

There have allways been (windows) laptops with more powerfull graphic cards than Apple has ever sold.

However, for graphic intensive tasks, I don't understand why people go for laptops.

Be it Apple, windows or linux based.

Smaller is allways slower, getting hotter, more epxensive to repair.

If you have desktop with an i5 or i7 that lasts for years.

And if you want better graphics performance, just plug in a new videocard.

+1

Also, color accuracy on the TFT display

gdjgarcia wrote:

 

You aren't stuck with Apple. You can do what Adobe calls a "crossgrade" from a MAC to PC version of CS6. You have to deactivate the MAC version and they will give you a license for a PC. Don't let CS6 stop you from switching. 

Didn't know about that before. Thanks for letting me know; I'll definitely look into that

D3us wrote:

 

There have allways been (windows) laptops with more powerfull graphic cards than Apple has ever sold.

 

However, for graphic intensive tasks, I don't understand why people go for laptops.

Be it Apple, windows or linux based.

 

Smaller is allways slower, getting hotter, more epxensive to repair.

If you have desktop with an i5 or i7 that lasts for years.

And if you want better graphics performance, just plug in a new videocard.

It is true that desktops are better for graphics-intensive tasks. However, for me personally, I am still in college, so it's best to have something portable, yet at the same time I also need the graphical performance (Animation/Graphic Design student). Getting a Mac was recommended by several classmates who currently have pre- or post- 2011 MBP's that work wonderfully, but mine just ended up being a headache...

As I read these, I am saddend by the Apply Mythos that has been applied and accepted by so many.

I see students and others of little means who have bought into Apple's legend, not really knowing why, but simply because it's cool.

People who really can't afford to have a Mac of any flavor, spend literally their last dollar to buy a machine that is touted as the best, most advanced, and most socially conscious machine available to mankind (I think that encapsulates the mythos).

While, truthfully, a $700US PC of almost any manufacturer would provide 98% of all thier needs and desires. It just would not be as cool...

And, now, it's become apparent that Apple is moving away from anything that appears to be customer service and is, like all large corporations with shareholders, focused on margins.

If even 10% of the 2011 line were bad, that would be 1.8M computers (rough estimate). At $2,500 US per machine, total recall and replacement would be in the range of $450M (Half a billion) that it would cost them to do the recall. That represents about 3 days' of income for Apple, or about 1% of their total revenue stream for the year.

My numbers are subject to arguement and that's not why I put them up. Please don't spend the rest of the day restating/resolving where the numbers came from. The point is:

1. Apple has create a Mythos that having their stuff makes you a better _______ (insert something here)

2. Many people who can't afford Apple products spend their last coinage to buy the product.

3. A product that "works as expected" is worth every penny you paid for it. (basic capitalism)

4. A recall of some portion of the product line would be a noticible hit on Apple's bottom line.

5. The loss of goodwill evidenced by this and other blogs may overshadow, and cause a greater hit than #4

At the bottom of it all, Apple is one of the largest corporations in the world. They Mythos of apple is not built on customer satisfaction. It is built on perception and envy. (You aren't good enough or rich enough to have a mac. only special people can get one of these.)

They, and only they, can determine if it is in their best interest to have satisfied customers. It never has been a corporate goal before.

I don't see it becoming one now.

Face it. They made lemons and you fell for it.

Well, for the price of a macbook pro, you can get a desktop pc outperforming it big time.

And you have enough money left to get a laptop for portabilty.

Hello guys.

I had the same problem with all of you.

Since the problem for me started after 10.9.2. And after a clean install the problem still existed I thought what if there is a driver problem.

I installed the original snow leopard in a partition.

For some reason it WORKS PERFECTLY with both graphics cards. I checked it with gfx. Give it a shot and let me know.

To be able to log in with out problems I deleted the ati drivers on the mavericks.

Looks like I might have the same issue with my late 2011  *sigh*

Graphics issues when I try and do anything - that's if the MBP boots at all. I now get a nice blue apple logo when the machine starts. 

Forcing integrated graphics in safe mode using GFXCardStatus seems to keep the machine alive for the time being.

Looks like my time with my first and last Apple device is coming to an end!

I had the same issue with my Late 2011 MBP 15"  When booting, the apple logo is has gray lines and the login screen would not show.

I went ahead and got it fixed by doing a reball repair I found thru ebay with a guy who's local here in Southern California.

Cost was $129.  I dropped it off yesterday and just picked it up this afternoon.  My MBP is now alive and working again.  He repairs other laptops as well that has the same problem, not just Apple.  He says this issue is not isolated only to apple products.

I wish apple would just contract the repairs out instead of doing a useless logic board replacement that will break again.

Another disgruntled consumer over here! My early 2011 MacBook Pro is slowly becoming a very expensive paper weight. Barely got her to boot tonight.

This trick worked for me so I thought I'd share it. I kept getting the gray screen of death after the Apple logo and the turning wheel screen. So I open up the bottom case and unplugged the fans. I booted her up again and let her simmer a bit. She turned off by herself after a while. I reconnected the fans booted her up and to my surprise it worked!

Hopefully this will get some of you past this gray screen of death.

I really do hope Apple does a recall on these machines. It's unacceptable that such an expensive device is malfunctioning in such a sort amount of time!

I'm surprised to hear that many of you can still boot their laptops, mine in the past had never shown any problem at all (no graphic glitches), one day suddenly the image on screen froze, it turned black, and since then I haven't been able to boot anymore. Only command line works ("Cmd + S" safe mode).

I also tried the following procedure suggested by a user a few pages behind, it didn't help at all, after the reboot I end up in the same blue screen.

+ Boot with "Cmd + S" (safe mode) which will boot you into a command line shell

+ In the shell, first remount your disk in writable mode:   mount -o update /

+ Create a temporary directory: mkdir /GPUSAVE

+ Move the GPU drivers there: mv /System/Library/Extensions/ATI* /GPUSAVE

+ Reboot: shutdown -r now

After three logic board repairs, my local Apple store just gave me a new retina model as replacement. I guess this is the only solution they have. I also suppose it pays off to frequent the same store and to not act like a jerk about it. I was really sad to see my MBP go... There's a reason I didn't "upgrade" to the retina model, other than cost, when it came out. I like the anti-glare display better, still was on SL for certain software/hardware, I used the disk drive, and at least had an option to do a dual-drive, RAID 0 configuration if I ever wanted it. Hopefully this new model lasts longer...

@ balikpinoy

What's the name of the place that did this service for you?

I'm in Southern California also and am considering having my MBP reballed.

@ balikpinoy,

I'm also interested in finding out the place you had your GPU reballed, etc., in California. I'm not in California (but I was born in San Diego!) but the ony real place I've found that will do a GPU BGA reball with a new GPU is in the UK. I would like something closer to home.

Thanks,

Clinton

Didnt take me too long to find this thread after yesterday's sudden screen issues/hangs/reboots & 'GPU hang's reported in system log on my early 2011 mbp 15" .  gfxCardStatus forcing integrated graphics only has introduced stability, but will be watching this thread with interest - waiting for the recall (please).