That is a clever idea; they really should implement this. All it would take is to add iTunes to their Mobile Documents in iCloud (~/Library/Mobile Documents/)
That's a much better example than I gave since Mac OS X and iOS already work through this mechanism for many apps. That would nothing for them to add this feature.
That's a much better example than I gave since Mac OS X and iOS already work through this mechanism for many apps. That would nothing for them to add this feature.
1) Huh? Am I up-posting your post? Maybe I got out of bed the right way today. Guess I just learned from the best.
2) I but it in as a feature request through their iTunes feedback page.
It isn't Apple failure, but rather the GPU manufactures that design and run chips right at the limits of the process technology. GPUs just are not reliable. Think about it a bit, why did Apple under clock the GPUs in the new Mac Pro? I'm willing to state that reliability was a big factor.
Usually I would agree if it actually was the GPU that is broke, however in this case the GPU wasn't properly soldered so it loses proper electrical connection under minimal thermal stress (created by simply turning it on) creating havoc in the system.
Many folks would actually be happy if they could just permanently disable the discrete GPU and rely on the Intel HD GPU instead (which of course means losing the ability to connect an external display) however with Apple not providing half-assed workarounds for problems they don't consider a problem people have to use nasty hacks to somehow disable the driver which has the very bad side effect of disabling any GPU acceleration so the whole UI runs slow and sluggish as hell. The other way to continue working with the machine is to install Linux instead where it is possible to turn off the discrete GPU on boot with some register writes ...
Yes, read about this issue back in october and hoped it doesn't affect me. GPU failed in february, 1 month after my Apple Care expired. Repair cost >650$ in Germany. Please apple, finally recognize this issue!
There is a huge problem here. Apple not admitting they are at fault. The evidence is overwhelming and it is time for a remedy. I hope they are slapped with a class action of huge proportions and as part of the settlement, they must ADMIT THEY WERE AT FAULT AND WILL AGGRESSIVELY FIX FUTURE PROBLEMS.
When is greed considered okay in business? Apple has made huge amounts of money from customers. To not admit they have a problem until they are forced to brings Apple down to the lowest level of business. I have lost respect for them.
Those are so ancient MacBooks. It's not Apple's fault. Come on folks. Upgrade! Upgrade!
P.S. Joking! Joking! Joking!
It's so ancient that it's still under AppleCare. Mine had the motherboard replaced twice right after the two year mark (thankfully under AppleCare). That IS Apple's fault. It's a hardware design problem. In the end I sold mine for nearly no money (and had to spend thousands on a new Retina one only two years into this one), as I couldn't trust it and informing the buyer clearly of the issue, leaving him with a bit of AppleCare as a just in case. That is unacceptable, especially for a Pro machine worth a few grand.
Macs have historically lasted twice as long as WinTel machines, and their Pro machines in particular have been workhorses you could push for years and years knowing they would work reliably and with few issues. No one is perfect, sure and there can always be a lemon, but not thousands of lemons. It's not the screw up that's the problem, but the lack of response since it started to become obvious that it's a hardware design issue affecting a hell of a lot of people.
Two years is not ancient under any standard. Three years isn't either, especially not in the Pro computer world.
Today after my fifth email to Tim Cook, I got a phone call from an Apple representative in Ireland. He told me Apple is aware of the situation and technicians are working on it. He does not know if there will be a replacement program coming. Both scenarios are possible at the moment: Apple doing something about it or not doing something about it (depends on the number of faulty machines). So keep emailing Apple and let them know. The more people are complaining, the better the chances of a replacement program. At the moment, if I want my MacBook Pro to work properly again I have to pay for the logic board replacement by myself (500€).
True, but Apple's selling a whole system. Unless you think the affected users should be petitioning AMD for help?
Apple was the one who decided to use that particular graphics card. They have also quite likely customized it to work with their in-house hybrid graphics setup.
I have exclusively used Apple computers since 1999.
Ironically, at almost the exact same time that this article was posted yesterday, I was editing a photo in Photoshop on my 2011 17" MacBook Pro when suddenly the screen went black. When I tried to restart the computer, my external Thunderbolt display looked very much like the 2nd photo above and the MPB display was light gray.
I have taken it to an authorized Apple repair shop (we don't have a local Apple store), but after reading this article, I think I already know what the problem is. In order to keep up with my job, I'll probably have to go buy a $2k MBP for something that should be fixed by Apple. I'm also losing valuable work time while this is being sorted out. It's incredibly frustrating that Apple is not stepping up and resolving these issues. My confidence in this company is really changing.
As Apple has had previous replacement and repair programs, I can only assume that the issue never hit critical mass. That is, there probably aren't enough people affected to warrant such a program. They are likely to content to deal with it on a case-by-case basis. Having dealt with Apple customer service on the phone many times, I can say that it really depends who you talk to. I've had one guy refuse to replace an 8 month old battery, and another replace, it no questions asked. It's not as inconsistent at the stores, but there is some variance in what they are willing to do. The other issue that we're talking about computers that are three years old. In another year or two, people are likely going to be replacing them anyway.
I have a mid-2009 MBP, and while I've got no video issues, I do have major speed issues. I know people have tried to debunk this, but I am convinced that RAM and other solid-state components wear out with use. It has a 500GB conventional HDD, and I think that is part of the issue as well.
I reckon there are around 3 million of the 2011 models in circulation. I'm not sure what levels qualify for a repair program but a 1% failure rate would be low yet leave 30,000 people with a broken machine. If a significant portion of that 30k went online to complain, it would seem like a huge problem.
I don't think Apple should charge so much for the repair. If the number of repairs is low then the hit they'd take is small. To spend $500 to fix a machine worth about $800-1000 is hard to justify. IMO, they should offer a couple of options: $200 for the repair (similar to a battery replacement cost) or the owner can get $500 credit towards the cost of a new or refurb laptop and have to give Apple their old laptop. They should make whatever rules they have consistent across their service staff too.
There should also be a software/firmware update that allows users to manually disable the GPU entirely at boot time if they choose.
If the failure rate is 30,000 units, the loss here for Apple should be no more than $15m. It wasn't necessarily Apple's fault, it could have been AMD like it was NVidia's fault before that.
How exactly do you mean: 'stream from iDevices'? If you want to control playback from an iDevice simply open the Music app/More/Shared and pick the PC/Mac that has the media you want to play back. It does time out on my MacPro, might be due to the excessive amount of media (66,000) with a 135MB .xml file.
It does work instantly when using the Remote.ipa
Since you're IT affluent I take it you mean something different then this....
Usually I would agree if it actually was the GPU that is broke, however in this case the GPU wasn't properly soldered so it loses proper electrical connection under minimal thermal stress (created by simply turning it on) creating havoc in the system.
Many folks would actually be happy if they could just permanently disable the discrete GPU and rely on the Intel HD GPU instead (which of course means losing the ability to connect an external display) however with Apple not providing half-assed workarounds for problems they don't consider a problem people have to use nasty hacks to somehow disable the driver which has the very bad side effect of disabling any GPU acceleration so the whole UI runs slow and sluggish as hell. The other way to continue working with the machine is to install Linux instead where it is possible to turn off the discrete GPU on boot with some register writes ...
I had the previous MacBook issue where the nvidia GPU failed and it was fixed. I have my early 2011 17" laptop (which the warranty expires late next month) and have had no issues. I've watched plenty of HD movies, played some high powered games with no issue. This isn't to say it won't fail the next day after the warranty expires....
Still a shame there is no longer a 17" option for MacBook Pros.
Comments
That's a much better example than I gave since Mac OS X and iOS already work through this mechanism for many apps. That would nothing for them to add this feature.
1) Huh? Am I up-posting your post? Maybe I got out of bed the right way today. Guess I just learned from the best.
2) I but it in as a feature request through their iTunes feedback page.
3) Off to my morning run now - cheers.
It isn't Apple failure, but rather the GPU manufactures that design and run chips right at the limits of the process technology. GPUs just are not reliable. Think about it a bit, why did Apple under clock the GPUs in the new Mac Pro? I'm willing to state that reliability was a big factor.
Usually I would agree if it actually was the GPU that is broke, however in this case the GPU wasn't properly soldered so it loses proper electrical connection under minimal thermal stress (created by simply turning it on) creating havoc in the system.
Many folks would actually be happy if they could just permanently disable the discrete GPU and rely on the Intel HD GPU instead (which of course means losing the ability to connect an external display) however with Apple not providing half-assed workarounds for problems they don't consider a problem people have to use nasty hacks to somehow disable the driver which has the very bad side effect of disabling any GPU acceleration so the whole UI runs slow and sluggish as hell. The other way to continue working with the machine is to install Linux instead where it is possible to turn off the discrete GPU on boot with some register writes ...
There is a huge problem here. Apple not admitting they are at fault. The evidence is overwhelming and it is time for a remedy. I hope they are slapped with a class action of huge proportions and as part of the settlement, they must ADMIT THEY WERE AT FAULT AND WILL AGGRESSIVELY FIX FUTURE PROBLEMS.
When is greed considered okay in business? Apple has made huge amounts of money from customers. To not admit they have a problem until they are forced to brings Apple down to the lowest level of business. I have lost respect for them.
Those are so ancient MacBooks. It's not Apple's fault. Come on folks. Upgrade! Upgrade!
P.S. Joking! Joking! Joking!
It's so ancient that it's still under AppleCare. Mine had the motherboard replaced twice right after the two year mark (thankfully under AppleCare). That IS Apple's fault. It's a hardware design problem. In the end I sold mine for nearly no money (and had to spend thousands on a new Retina one only two years into this one), as I couldn't trust it and informing the buyer clearly of the issue, leaving him with a bit of AppleCare as a just in case. That is unacceptable, especially for a Pro machine worth a few grand.
Macs have historically lasted twice as long as WinTel machines, and their Pro machines in particular have been workhorses you could push for years and years knowing they would work reliably and with few issues. No one is perfect, sure and there can always be a lemon, but not thousands of lemons. It's not the screw up that's the problem, but the lack of response since it started to become obvious that it's a hardware design issue affecting a hell of a lot of people.
Two years is not ancient under any standard. Three years isn't either, especially not in the Pro computer world.
Just pondering...
Sadly things are much better in the PC world.
Really?
So which PC manufacturer extends warranty beyond 3 years.
None of them do.Only Apple.
Today after my fifth email to Tim Cook, I got a phone call from an Apple representative in Ireland. He told me Apple is aware of the situation and technicians are working on it. He does not know if there will be a replacement program coming. Both scenarios are possible at the moment: Apple doing something about it or not doing something about it (depends on the number of faulty machines). So keep emailing Apple and let them know. The more people are complaining, the better the chances of a replacement program. At the moment, if I want my MacBook Pro to work properly again I have to pay for the logic board replacement by myself (500€).
True, but Apple's selling a whole system. Unless you think the affected users should be petitioning AMD for help?
Apple was the one who decided to use that particular graphics card. They have also quite likely customized it to work with their in-house hybrid graphics setup.
http://www.zdnet.com/pc-laptops-and-accidental-damage-best-and-worst-warranties-2014-7000011910/
Ironically, at almost the exact same time that this article was posted yesterday, I was editing a photo in Photoshop on my 2011 17" MacBook Pro when suddenly the screen went black. When I tried to restart the computer, my external Thunderbolt display looked very much like the 2nd photo above and the MPB display was light gray.
I have taken it to an authorized Apple repair shop (we don't have a local Apple store), but after reading this article, I think I already know what the problem is. In order to keep up with my job, I'll probably have to go buy a $2k MBP for something that should be fixed by Apple. I'm also losing valuable work time while this is being sorted out. It's incredibly frustrating that Apple is not stepping up and resolving these issues. My confidence in this company is really changing.
As Apple has had previous replacement and repair programs, I can only assume that the issue never hit critical mass. That is, there probably aren't enough people affected to warrant such a program. They are likely to content to deal with it on a case-by-case basis. Having dealt with Apple customer service on the phone many times, I can say that it really depends who you talk to. I've had one guy refuse to replace an 8 month old battery, and another replace, it no questions asked. It's not as inconsistent at the stores, but there is some variance in what they are willing to do. The other issue that we're talking about computers that are three years old. In another year or two, people are likely going to be replacing them anyway.
I have a mid-2009 MBP, and while I've got no video issues, I do have major speed issues. I know people have tried to debunk this, but I am convinced that RAM and other solid-state components wear out with use. It has a 500GB conventional HDD, and I think that is part of the issue as well.
I don't think Apple should charge so much for the repair. If the number of repairs is low then the hit they'd take is small. To spend $500 to fix a machine worth about $800-1000 is hard to justify. IMO, they should offer a couple of options: $200 for the repair (similar to a battery replacement cost) or the owner can get $500 credit towards the cost of a new or refurb laptop and have to give Apple their old laptop. They should make whatever rules they have consistent across their service staff too.
There should also be a software/firmware update that allows users to manually disable the GPU entirely at boot time if they choose.
If the failure rate is 30,000 units, the loss here for Apple should be no more than $15m. It wasn't necessarily Apple's fault, it could have been AMD like it was NVidia's fault before that.
Wow, I never knew that! Thanks.
Did you try gfxCardStatus.app?
If true, I have to say, that in my book, defines a design fault.
I had the previous MacBook issue where the nvidia GPU failed and it was fixed. I have my early 2011 17" laptop (which the warranty expires late next month) and have had no issues. I've watched plenty of HD movies, played some high powered games with no issue. This isn't to say it won't fail the next day after the warranty expires....
Still a shame there is no longer a 17" option for MacBook Pros.