Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

It is unbelievable that more than a year has passed since the first message and Apple still hasne done ANYTHING about it.

Many of us depend on the computer to do our works, and with this problem we simply cant work anymore. In my case, it took me one year saving money to be able to buy this super-expensive MacBook, all of my work is on it, and I never expected it to be simply dead after such a short period of time. I never play games on my computer, but even if I did, such a Mac such handle this! It is sooooooo frustrating and I am regretting all of the times that I told people how great Apple products were. I am sure I convinced at least 15 people to buy Macs and iPhones... now I have both broken and if Apple is not taking action and giving us an answer, I will never buy any Apple product again. So frustrating to have such problems and not be heard!

Very interesting, but seems like only Scotland and UK have protection after 2 years.. :/

Are you sure?

Remember this is not a fault that has "appeared" since you bought your MBP. It was there from the day it was manufactured. I'm assuming that, In your country, goods must be "fit for purpose" and that a consumer can expect a reasonable life span from a high-end consumer product like a MBP. This would be a consumer right over and above any manufacturer's "warranty period".

If the engines in say, a particular model of G.M. car, were to start failing when they were 3 years old, in multiple instances, would the manufacturer be able to walk away from the problem?

Might be worth checking your local consumer rights.?

it's good you had it fixed directly through Apple, whereas I'm dealing with a reseller who it appears has sent my MBP to yet another third party; did they give you any kind of receipt indicating the nature of the problem or they've kept hush (I guess going into detail about the problem would be one step towards admitting there is an actual problem, a step too far that is), and I'm wondering if the problem persists, who will I be contacting once my warranty expires? you should vote no so then we can kick off some class action united and have this sorted

Haha, good line Alexander - perhaps Apple will respond to powerful imagery...

Hi , Another incident today from me . Until now I am counting only sporadic GPU failures ,  all resolved by reset boots . I am sure that this will be worse . It is a very long term evolving problem with first manifestations including  only unexplained GPU hangs that can be overcome simply by rebooting system . My macbook pro 2.3 GHz , 15 inch Hi-Res , 16GHz Ram (updated with Crucial memory DIMM's) , recently updated (after HDD failure) with Crucial 500 M2 SSD and always connected to an external Apple Cinema Display , was handle with exceptional care ( desk use only ) , very good ventilated (using cooling pad from day one) , using only Mac OS X . I am absolutely sure that this problem since it happened to my system , can be happen to any MacBook Pro model 8.2 if it is used regularly . It seems to be , again , a thermal related issue , manifested over extremely long period of time use and under of course normal computer use .

panosr wrote:

 

and always connected to an external Apple Cinema Display ,

From what I understand, using an external display will always require the discrete AMD GPU, so your machine would be using this chip more than one that doesn't run an external display. Naturally, this model should be more than capable of doing so - and was promoted as such - but as the physical implementation of the discrete GPU seems to be at the root of all our woes, you are more likely than most to suffer imminent failure.  Try running without the external display and using GFXCardStatus to enforce use of the integrated GPU only.

As I said I have been using since I ordered this machine in clamshell mode . Also I have been running mostly 3D heavy games in Mac OS X on my big screen . I am closing now almost 3 years and 4 months of every day non stop use ( never turn off my MacBook ) . Also it is connected to many peripherals such as thunderbolt disks , usb disks , firewire peripherals and many usd docks . From my understanding only feasible solution is to go and buy a new one .

Thanks for your advises but , I will continue to enjoy my Mac until last drop of it . No , I have already done all my backups on my Time Capsule and I am not worrying about anything . AMD Radeon 6750  has been doing all the job until now , and so I am still working ...

Just following up to my previous post.  I took my 17" early 2011 Macbook Pro with Radeon 6750M video chip to an Apple store (Genius bar), to have it analyzed.

Short version:  They confirmed it was a logic board issue and that it would cost me $380+tax to send it in for repairs.  I promptly gave the rep an earful about Apple not doing the right thing with these flawed 2011 Macbooks and that I would be picking up my "paperweight" because I couldn't justify paying Apple another $380 on top of the $2500 purchase cost.

Long version: They confirmed the issue with my Macbook not booting up correctly while I was standing there with the representative.  Interestingly it would boot off their network onto a diagnostic program which indicated that everything was fine with the exception that my Macbook had unofficial memory and that the 16 Gb that was installed was greater than the maximum 8Gb in the specifications for this model (MC725LL/A).  They then booted a couple known good versions of OSX over the network and each time confirmed that it wouldn't boot.  They then said they would like to keep it at the service shop for the next 3 days to analyze it with official Apple memory (4 Gb) to confirm it wasn't an issue with too much memory or unofficial memory.  They called back 3 days later and left a message to confirm that the memory wasn't the issue and that the logic board was bad.  On top of that it would cost me $380 plus tax to send it in to "the depot" to put in a new logic board.  I then spent half an hour this afternoon trying to call back the representative with automated systems forwarding me to the wrong extension until I eventually talked to someone at Applecare who agreed to pass along the message that I would be picking it up.  I pointed out to the Applecare rep that this is clearly a design flaw with the 2011 Macbooks, and that there was an online petition with over 13,000 signatures from frustrated 2011 Macbook owners (google "2011 Macbook petition" if interested).  In addition an Apple forum post (this one) about defective 2011 Macbooks has an incredible 533 pages, 7900 replies, and 1.2 million views.  The Applecare rep was clearly flustered and could only reply back with the standard line that "there was no program available to repair my Macbook", and that they would make a note in my file.  I told the rep that I knew he was just relaying the company policy on this, but I told him Apple was handling this badly and that I would have hoped Apple would "do the right thing".  Apple has lost a loyal fan with the handling of this.  My family and I will be phasing out our Apple products as a result and I will no longer be advocating their products.  I would encourage other Apple owners to avoid paying Apple more money for a design flaw that Apple should have taken care of.  We shouldn't be encouraging bad behavior by paying Apple money to resolve these problems.

Fair enough.  Maybe consider the reball option rather than buying a new one.  And if you do come to buy a new one, do you need a laptop?  If you still use it as a portable occasionally then I guess the answer is yes.  But if it truly has been permanently clam-shelled, maybe a Mac Mini?  I don't know if they have the grunt you need but it's a thought.

This is all happening to me now and worse thing of it all, is that it started 2 weeks AFTER my Apple Care expired. 2 weeks. I shelled out all this money for the computer AND for apple care...didn't use the apple care once, and then after it expires boom. I don't even know what to do now. Been reading all these comments and I'm feeling more and more let down. This is my second macbook pro. The first I had for many years, served me through all of undergrad, and then when I went back for a second major. It was such an awesome computer and the care i received from apple at the time was excellent. So to now be experiencing this after having the computer for hardly even 1/3 of the time that I had its predecessor is just making me go crazy.

I'm using GFXCardStatus right now thanks to these comments. However, its not as if I can keep the computer on 24/7 forever, so I know that one day I'll try to restart and that will be the end all of it. Thanks Apple for my $2,800 paper weight.

I also understand that Apple hasn't reacted to this issue yet, which is quite surprising to me. Considering the fact that prices of Apple are premium I also expect the company acting in a responsible manner to such issues. Our house is full with Apple products and we love using them. Never had an issue like that and this is indeed the first time I have an experience with Apple with a bitter aftertaste. I would expect that the company is taking appropriate actions soon to rectify the situation.

unfortunately they will just sit this one out by the look of it, because their new cash cow is tablets and phones (I'm glad you love using them, I just need a working computer myself), or maybe some next useless gadget; all signs - discontinued 17" MBPs, discontinued anti-glare displays - point to a shift towards mass-marketed shiny high-tech toys, in light of which an almost 3 year old manufacturing defect in what's becoming a niche range is unlikely to make them 'react' in any constructive way.

For the sake of sharing everyone's pain: another MacBookPro8,2 AMD Radeon HD6750M graphic card just bite the dust in France. Running on the integrated GPU now, which ***** donkeys in terms of performance but at least I can work. I'll know next week how much getting it replaced will cost, I assume from past experience at least 900€... Which I will probably have to fork out as I don't like the shining screens and no integrated Ethernet which has become the standard with the current MacBook Pro, prefer to stick to that one. One the bright side it has served me well for more than 4 years. On the other hand the Fujitsu laptop I'm writing this on has the same age and still works fine. Crap happens I guess.

Sometime ago I posted here saying that I still had warranty for my late 15'' macbook 2011, bought on August 2012. Well, Apple ****** me hard on this one. I went throught the warranty process in hope for them to fix this ********, I checked the computer on the 8th of August. The machine arrived 2 days before the warranty expired (28th of August) with nothing done claiming that the machine had humidity problems and didn't send even one photo of said problem.

This is such such ********. When I had problems with the charger they took 1 week to send me a new one. With this they took 3 weeks and gave a idiotic excuse.

I can't buy a new machine right now. I'm straight outta college and this is keeping me away from professional progress

If there's anybody here that knows any store that can do the reball thing in Portugal, please let me know. I live in Viana do Castelo but i'm willing to ship it anywhere in the country if it will solve this problem.

I don't know what to do and I need this company to wake up and help the costumers, not everyone of them can buy a new mac every year or so.

Sorry for my bad english.