Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Late 2011 MBP, exactly the same graphic problem. Had the logic board replaced in Beijing today and it cost about $790 here. This is the most ridiculous service charge I have ever had. After reading all the posts, I argued with the Apple store manager for long, they insisted it is out of the warranty and there is no re-call for the product, so they can not waive or give any discount on this charge. I have been a loyal Apple customer for a decade, but after this, I wouldn't buy any Apple product again. Apple need address this issue for the thousands or even more people suffering from this design flaw!

I;ve been devoted to Apple since my first Mac, a Centris 610 in 1993.

Now they're telling me to take a flyin' leap and eat dirt.  I will do exactly that as I start the long and expensive process to get Apple out of my life forever.  Not only is Apple's behavior pathetic and downright stupid, it is actionable in in perhaps any court of law.

However, here's another take.  Some-to-many in-the-know are predicting that another national or global economic catastrophe is right around the corner, even at the very door,  It has been my belief that Apple elite, Microsoft elite, and perhaps most other major coroporations have been on the inside of the demise of America as we know it, sharing our personnally identifiable information with the NSA and other federal agencies, creating backdoors for their entry into our systems, etc.

I wonder if perhaps Apple elite knows some major event is right around the corner and that's why they are hoarding more than $100 billion in cash reserves and that's why they are intentionally ignoring us peasants.  Because 6 - 12 months from now, none of this is going to matter.

Just wondering....  Especially since it was only about a year ago a similar issue with the iMac's surfaced and Apple apparently addressed that problem as a mature company should.  Something is obviouly different this time around.

I wonder if thousands of individual small claims court cases is the way to go here.  That may be our best bet for a remedy.

I agree I just started having this problem with my 2011 MacBook Pro. It is sad because it makes me think if I should stay with Apple even though we have a MacBook, iMac, 3 iPads, 6 iPhones in our house. I hope the take care of the problem correctly.

There is a twitter account regarding that issue: @mbp2001_

It's not huge but it's a start and #mbp2011 is live as well

I think I will reball soon.

will let u know

One thing is sure I won't go back to Windows especially the last version. I m sick just thinking about that

Long time Apple user since the early 90s (Classic ii, then an lc 2 or something and quadras at work, lots of peripherals).  Solid items and lasted a very long time.

My two 15" MacBook Pros have had heat issues.  The one from 2010 ended up ruining several batteries and the 2011 has the issue discussed in this thread and elsewhere online.  Since it seems to be their MO now, I signed the petition and hope the company begins to address the repeat heat/poor manufacturing issues.

Just thought I'd add the fact that I had same issue with my Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro. A couple of years ago I got a weird pixelated image and thought it was just a video driver issue. A few updates later I didn't see it again. About 2 weeks ago I got what you see below. A few days later (when I took it to the Apple store) it just completely stopped booting (didn't go past the white screen with the spinner).

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sb8lu5vqvizy04q/2014-07-28%2021.23.00.mov

Since it is my work computer, I took it to the Apple store. They told me that the wifi card was bad (I already knew about the wifi card. It had been out for awhile). They checked it in "to run additional tests on it" within 48 hours they called me and told me the logic board was bad, that it would be $310 + tax flat rate to have that replaced. I told them to go for it. I figured it it costs me less than $500 it would be worth it, since again, it is a business computer.

Got a call 3 days later (total of 6 days) saying it was ready for pickup. Honestly I was surprised at how quickly they fixed it.

They ended up replacing:

• The Logic Board
• Wifi Card & Ribbon cable
• Clamshell lid (had a dent in it)
• Replaced the rubber feet on the bottom that had worn down.

So for $335 (with TX sales tax) I'm pretty satisfied. Of course with a 90-day warranty, we will see how it goes within/after 90 days...

The same problem occurred to my early 2011 MBPro about a year ago.  Fortunately it was still under Applecare.  I had to bring it in twice; the first time they told me it was a software problem, even though I knew it was not, they still did a reinstall of MOS 10.8.  It booted once at the store, and as soon as I got it home it failed again - straight to the funky screen problem - "video fails with various issues ranging from a split screen, pinstripe lines" and a frozen blue screen.  This time I took screen shots to show the store tech.  They took it back and replaced my Motherboard and RAM.  They never acknowledged that it was the AMD graphics chip that was causing the problem, but instead blamed on my perfectly good RAM.

So now I'm on my 2nd Motherboard, crossing my fingers, and hoping that it continues working as my MBPro is now no longer covered under Applecare.

I'm a long time Apple user; I actually bought and still have an original 128K Mac (and many others since then), but this defect on a $2500 notebook computer, and Apple's failure to take responsibility for this problem and to offer a reasonable fix for it, has left me questioning whether my next computer will come from Apple.

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MBP late 2011 GPU issues.

I am having the same problem. Splitscreen, horizontal and even vertical ones. MBP would not start.

Did all the checks, could not boot into safe mode, or recovery. And now It only shows a gray screen, or a black screen, or even a blue screen.

Nothing helps to get it to boot.

Thus apple replaced the unibody, the keyboard and the motherboard. (knowing bloody well that it has a design flaw).

All fine. and then after 3 weeks, same issue.

Total cost of repairs, and I kid you not: 900 Euro ~ 1170 US. Nice one Apple for "fixing" the problem. So now im going back to Apple to hand over my MBP again, this time on their costs.

Apple needs to recall all MBP having this issue.

I totally agree!! My estimate is that they will be representing between 10.000 - 50.000 unhappy MBP owners. MBP late 2011 GPU issues.

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Pode me indicar o contacto da empresa?

Why, are you not dissatisfied enough yourself?

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Just wanted to add my name to the list. My Macbook Pro just died, about 10 seconds after starting a YouTube video. It's a late-2011 low-end, and I typically have it hooked up to an external display which only adds to the GPU loading. Tried external display which also receives a bad signal. I will probably end up getting a mobo replacement and then hoping for a class-action suit or retroactive compensation.

So just returned my late 2011 MBP to apple, again, the staff was actually aware of the issue but not officially of course. My motherboard, and keyboard and unibody where replaced by them 3 weeks ago (costing me 900 Eur). Thus it practically new.

Now they will replace it all again I guess, not solving the issue, because it a design issue in the motherboard itself.

Dearest Apple I will keep returning my MBP untill you actually fix this issue.

The weird thing is, I know they can't really fix this issue without a redesign of the motherboard, but they stopped making 17 inch models. (wonder why), thus no new motherboard, they all have the issue.

I was ready to spend 3000 Euro on the lastest MBP 15 inch. But then I stated that I wanted the repair costs compensated.

No deal

They said, you need to let us fix it al least 4 times (each time my MBP is out for 3 weeks, thus this could take a while). Then what? Get a net MBP, they dont make 17 inch models anymore? Compensate costs then? Can I claim my expenses?

They really are messing things up, ill bet they will never do a recall, because there are so many MBP 2011 out there, so thay are ignoring the problem hoping it will go away!

Thanks Apple for all the help, will send the bill later.

The discreet GPU in my early 2011 MacBook Pro started failing this week, and, as luck would have it, my Apple Care expired less than a month ago.

So this thread keeps on growing and growing and no action from Apple... I thank the dude that modified that Linux Mint distribution, at least I can use my macbook... I am a web programmer so I dont need any specific mac software...  just wish someone could do that with OSX.

On another note, Apple really succeded in making very difficult to anyone get to the last page of the thread