Q: Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15' - Logic Board Failure

I had to pay Apple Store $327.14 to get it fixed.

So, now you need to contact a Costumer Relation from Apple an try to get your money back!

Only them can do this. Call the Apple Care Number and ask to talk to a CR only. Then explain your case till he accept to reconsider this all and take the cost on Apple. It took me a lot of persuasion and energy to get it.

My MBP Early 2011 logic board died suddenly in July and I paid the Apple Store $571 CDN to replace it. The employee said that if Apple came out with a Quality Program for the logic board at some point in the future, they would refund my repair. Save your receipt and hope the pressure causes Apple to do the right thing. For me, it fried shortly after upgrading to 10.9.4 but I don't know if it's related.

I think it's totally preposterous that such an expensive machine (~$2400) would break with no affordable repair service / replacement within 3 years of (even careful) use. To pay $300-$600 to replace the logic board short after 3 years of use is REALLY disappointing. I had my Mac Book Pro 15" just recently diagnosed with a defective logic board ONE month short of 3 years after purchase with no Apple Care purchased. Sure, if i had the AppleCare ($350) this incident would have been covered, but if this issue had occurred soon after 3 years extended warranty I would have had to pay the expensive repair fee anyway (on top of the apple care cost). So, do the math.. imagine you buy a $2400 Mac Book Pro, buy the $350 Apple Care for your peace of mind for 3 years.. thus totaling $2750 for a machine that if it breaks ANY time after 3 years coverage you'll have to pay the $310 extra for a flat fee hardware repair incident (the replaced parts are again under warranty for only 90 more days). You end up paying close to $3000 for a machine that should JUST WORK for at least 5 years (especially given the HIGH price). I've been a dedicated mac user for quite some time but now I'm beginning to think whether this MAC experience is REALLY worth the cost.

That may be true in one isolated case, but averaged over several Macs it was cheaper (for me) to never buy the Applecare. I have bought 5 Macs in 13 years and never bought Applecare, which means I saved $1,500. Only one ever needed repair, so I came out $1,200 ahead by NOT buying Applecare,. Even though I paid $2,500 for ONE computer, the odds of it being a lemon are still pretty small. Eventually the odds cought up with me and I had to take a hit.

And I am not writing this to defend of Apple’s policy of not covering this defect. You need to figure in the added cost of a potential lemon to any technology. The final price may eventually be higher than the inital cost.

In my case I sold the repaired Macbook Pro for $440, which was way lower than the $700 the Apple “Genius" told me I could sell it for. That means I only saw a little more than $100 for my broken Macbook, hardly even worth repairing. I did debate whether to just recycle it when it broke, but it was in such nice condition I figured someone would appreciate it. Sad situation, Apple.

I see apple are removing my posts directing people to support websites for people with same issues.

Please google 'macbook pro 2011 change' to support us all on this issue.

Same year same time bought and motherboard gone!

Add my mac to the list.

Add my name to the list. I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro 15'. Few dats ago it failed on me, the screen went fuzzy and turned off. After turning on again a blue screen with black vertical lines showed up. I brought it to Genius Bar, they told me it is either wire connection between hard drive and processor or hard drive failed, and max is going to cost 200$. They called me today and said it was not hard drive failure and it is logic board failure that will cost 600$ to fix. It totally does not worth to spend 600$ on a 2500$ laptop. I just think apple is overly priced, and I quit purchasing any product. But If there is any petition for this failure please add me in.

What I find very interesting is that when you take the computer in to Apple they never seem to know that it's the logic board and will say it's all sorts of other issues.  They told me at first it was my hard drive and I said no....look at these screen shots I managed to get and emailed myself...it's the logic board.  No, no...most likely not.  Sure!  Well my first logic board replacement died in 7 days, second one seems to be holding up.  My daughters 2011 17" went out and my other MacPro that was a bit older went out as well.  I believe that was a 2009 and I had given it to another daughter.  That was a $600 fix.  Nail through the hard drive and bye bye.

Then I suggest you read the post dated Sep 15, 2014 and follow the instructions to add your vote to the petition.

Where did you get it fixed? My Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15' also just stopped booting up, or at least I can't see it boot up. I think it's a graphic card failure according to my brother. Any suggestions?

You can get your machine fixed any number of ways.

The Apple Store can repair your machine, though the price of the repair will depend on your location and the diagnosis of the Apple tech - usually a little over $200 or $300. Although there's a limited warranty covering the repair, there's no guarantee the machine will stay fixed; using it at high temperatures increases the chance of the same problem happening again. So, keep your temps under 160•F at all times.

Easily the most reliable repair is a reball; a technician will disassemble your machine's logic/graphics board, get rid of the old solder, and resolder the board. This repair lasts a long time and, with can last a long time. Apple doesn't perform this repair, but you'll find the information you need in this thread.

Apple Mods: please tell me if something needs to be corrected with this post. Or correct it here.

I purchased my macbook pro in December 2011, and had to have the logic board replaced in September 2013. Luckily there is a facility a few states away that repairs for flat rate, so it cost $310.

Fast forward to today, September 2014, and I dropped off the same Macbook Pro, yet again, for a logic board replacement. That's right - my second board only lasted a year. Another $310. I'll make an advance reservation for September 2015.

Disappointing. I have spent hours with Apple on the fone over the last few months trying to get them to pay for this failure but they aren’t doing it. I am seriously thinking right now this is my last Apple product. It seem ridiculous to pay such astronomical prices for gorgeous technology that dies before the 3 year mark.