Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

mpnchar wrote:

 

When I spoke to the customer service guys at Apple.. they said the my early 2011 MacBook Pro was 'quite old by now'.  I probed that asked them, do they mean that the life of the product is over..?  they did not respond.. just said.. sorry we cannot comment on that.. but your MacBook is quite old.. They definitely want us to buy a new product every 3 years..

Now Apple gives OSX away for free in the same way as iOS, they can also help in assisting your machine to become obsolete too. For example, once I had 'upgraded' my iPhone 4 to iOS7 it's become barely useable. You can't downgrade it again (without jailbreaking it), so you're left with a slow unresponsive phone. Eventually you get fed up with it and buy a new iPhone. I didn't have to upgrade to iOS7, but because they give it away for free and add lots of features - there is a massive incentive for people to upgrade. They have now shifted this strategy to the Mac. By giving away the OS for free, they incentivize you to upgrade, and are able to control (to some extent) when your machine becomes obsolete. This is all part of Apple's strategy - letting the added value of 'free' software features drive hardware sales.

Calvinogood wrote:

 

Try to email with your issues, leave your number there & they (Apple Care) will call you after few days.

Be aware this is not Tim Cook's personal email address, it is just another email address staffed by Apple employees. Do not expect to be called, and definitely do no expect help...

<Email Edited by Host>

Mine was replaced with no charge after emailed, no harm to try.

This is why i have sold my macbook pro 15 and bought a mac mini, I'll buy a 13" MBP at a later date . But i now refuse to buy an apple machine with a discreet GPU as theyve always turned out to be terrible. Its a shame tho, because il miss the quad core i7s and larger screens, but id take reliability over that extra power anyday, especially for the money we're being asked to pay.

So is there anyone updated to Yosemite and find the problem solved?

My problem seems to be the CPU rather than GPU. When running when running 3D games like League of Legends, the CPU usage ran up to 102% and stayed so. Once the temperature rises faster than the fans can dissipate the heat, crashing is expected.

Didn't fix but after some reboots it's **** responsive, GPU temp is a bit higher though.

Have you tried opening the back and removing the two fans and cleaning the ventilations right where the fans are? Cause if you think your case is that the fans are not able to cool down as fast as the CPU heats up this could be a solution for you. I found dust when I opened mine but because my issue was the GPU this didn't solve my problem. Let me know how this goes.

Hi mate,

Got my logic board replaced for free again (2nd time now) as it is still within the 3 mths warranty period.
This is what I think is happening to the late 2011 15-inch MBP.

The silicon/gel that is used on the GPU has a shelf-life of approx 24 months.
This is the reason why we could use it for the first 2 years without a glich and things start to fall apart after that.
The brand new logic board that is used for replacing faulty ones are produced from the same batch as our late 2011 MBP. So, the "brand new" logic board has been sitting idle in the warehouse and at the same time the silicone/gel lifespan has been reduced.

Hence, that explains why even after a brand new logic board replacement, it is destined to fail again within a 90 days. Some had their logic board changed 4 times but to no avail.

I personally believe Apple is working round the clock to find a solution before announcing a recall program. From my observation, Apple always ensure they have a solution before making a recall program public. What's the point of a recall program when there isn't a solution right?

Let's hope and pray that Apple has a solution in the very near future.

Add me to this list...such a shame because mine is in PERFECT condition and just sits there useless. Was quoted $600ish for repair, I declined.

I want to add my name to the list of frustrated Apple customer.  My macbook pro has a broken graphics card too.  A computer that lasts 3 years is not worth $2K +.  I bought a Mac because of their good reputation but this is not making me want to recommend Macs to anyone.

1633230 Views and 9,100 Replies yet no official update from apple.

Its sad..

Update: I did contact apple support I was informed to reformat the sys.

I did backup the system and did info the support genius that I did try two different OS's. Yes, you can install different OS's like Windows on Mac.. but thats another story...

I tried Win 7 and Win XP.. 32 and 64 bit..

Tried to use the system without the drivers for the GPU.. The system runs for a may be 10 or 15 min, but as soon as the temp goes up (cause youtube was open)..

The gray screen..

Issue is with the logic board.

Problem: The way the thermal compound is applied on these laptops based on the multiple youtube videos.

Apple does need to pay attention cause they do make great products, but they are loosing the customer base.

the only way to turn on my macbook after gray screen is to overheat video card.  please someone tell me what to do?  change video card?

same issue here . Brought my MBP to apple reseller for repair... Let's See what they will do...

Has anybody attempted to upgrade their faulty MBP to Yosemite?

Does gxfCardStatus work under Yosemite?

I would very much like to upgrade my dodgy early 2011 MBP.

I have done the upgrade and it has caused the issue to become even worse given the graphic intensity of Yosemite. Really a bummer, clearly its an overheating issue but Apple not owning up to it is frustrating.