Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Well with your post about the Java developers at Nokia, do you believe that now that they have experienced issues that they may be able to cross hurdles that we as the average consumer couldn't or cant and may be able to convince Apple to rectify this issue?

I doubt it. Since they are company laptops they will get them replaced without any further action.

Wow!

My MacBook Pro Early-2011 (2.2 i7 / 6750M) did act out a few times many months before when I was playing games, but I attributed it to the game's being poorly coded. But after installing Mavericks, this issue started happening frequently when I tried a 3D benchmark to see how improved 10.9 was in respect to 10.8. I have a couple of video clips here:

http://vimeo.com/77697733

http://vimeo.com/77698110

I sent a bug report thinking Mavericks was to blame, but few days after that, EVERYTHING went south. Not only the benchmark app but under regular OS X use and under Windows on Boot Camp. Out of warranty and with limited means to pay the repair fee, I thought mine was a case of really bad luck. Now I think otherwise: this is way too widespread to be chance.

I believe your chances of Apple ever giving you a brand new laptop for your 2 year old machine are precisely zero. The damnable thing is that these machines are going to be hard to sell -- in fact, I'm not comfortable selling this machine (even with a brand-new logic board, which I intend on getting my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ad infinitum from Apple) without warning the buyer that there is an issue with them.

M

I had the same problem with my MBP 17" Early 2011. It started escalating in August this year.  I asked our local Apple service to replace the board and they wanted $700 for it. No thanks Apple. I bought a new Lenovo last month. Much cheaper and better quality computer, and it has 3 years warranty!

I was a big fan of Apple products for 15 years and owned several Macs and Iphones but this one was my last Apple product. It seems that all decency has gone from the company when Steve left. Good Bye...

I too am a victim of this problem. As I need an apple computer for work, the new one is on its way.

What do you guys think about sending the 2011 macbook pro to the Apple Recycling Program? They gave me a quote of 762.75 for the device (though I had to check yes to "is everything working correctly?").

In my case the video glitches don't show up unless I attach a 2nd display, or do something super graphics intensive for more than a couple minutes. What do you think the chances are of them finding this problem once I mail it out and deciding not to pay me the quoted amount?

Add me to the list. My MacBook Pro 2011 started behaving badly last week (display glitches, vertical banding effects, crashes). The situation rapidly degraded and after 3 days the computer can no longer boot except if i'm lucky enough to boot on integrated graphics. If the machine starts on the discrete AMD 6490M GPU, it is basically unusable  (horizontal stripes on the screen at boot, then grey screen, and nothing...).

I own 4 other Macs (a Mac Pro, a Mac Mini, an old MacBook Pro and a brand new macbook Air that I had to buy to replace the failing MacBook Pro). Basically their answer is that the problem is not officially acknowledged by Cupertino. Applecare took my e-mail adress and phone number and told me that if the problem becomes acknowledeged by Apple and a recall is issued they would call me.

I'm now basically stuck with an expensive paperweight (although a nice one...). It's the first time in 20 years that I have such a problem on one of my Macs. having to pay 1500€ for a machine that dies 2 years later does not leave an happy feeling. And the cost to repair the machine, with no certainty that the problem won't reappear is ugly.

BTW in Europe there is a 2 year warranty on hidden defects. But as of now, Apple does not recognize the death of the discrete AMD cards as a defect. catch 22...

P.S. : I'm now writing from my defective MacBook Pro after i got lucky to boot on integrated graphics (Intel HD3000). I have installed gfxcard status to prevent the discrete graphics to activate.

It would be nice if Apple could at least provide us with and EFI command to permanently disable the discrete graphics that would at least allow us to use our machines (although with reduced performance). Any idea, cupertino geeks ???

You are dead right. My Early 2011 MBP 17" started graphic card issues AGAIN 8 days after oven trick. I'm back to square 0.Is Apple going to wake up and do something... This is turning ridiculously unacceptable.

MacBook Pro 17-inch, Early 2011. Same problem (black screen, divided screen, vertical lines).  Installed gfxCardStatus and i am know working on the internal card.

MacBook Pro 2011 15"

All the same symptoms!!!!

My MBP will now not wake from sleep (the keyboard is lit and fans spinning at full rate, but no display, no respone to key commands), and even running InsomniaX doesn't prevent it from sleeping eventually when the lid is closed (due to the 'CPU safety' feature though, I assume).

Trying to use a computer in this state is frustrating to say the least.

Same here, grey/blue screen, noboot, reballing don't fix anything.

Hope there will be repair extension program.

I'm getting the same thing with mine...

15 inch, Late 2011

Processor  2.4 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory  8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Graphics  Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB

Software  Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

It also says everything is updated...which is weird...

Also under Video Card under my graphics displays, its a AMD Radeon HD 6770M.  This has been going on for a week now and like many of you I don't have Apple Care anymore.

This thread is getting crazy! People with this problem are posting here at a rate of 1 post per hour. Even though this problem used to exist for a while, I think the OS X Mavericks update acted as a catalyst for the symptoms to show for people who never experienced the issue. Because a lot more people are posting about this, I'm slightly more hopeful that Apple will do something about this. They MUST do something about this.

Same here, started happening after I upgraded to Mavericks. However kept happening even though I downgraded back to Mountain Lion. Also freezes up many times during boot, even when booting the OSX install disk, sometimes have to try 5 times to boot it for it to work. Now back on Mavericks and running gfxCardStatus on Integrated Only and trying to keep reboots to a minimum. All fun and games!