While I understand the frustration and even anger of owners of 2011 MBP's experiencing this issue (I've had two owners here at work have their MBP's clunk out for the exact same reason), I don't think this lawsuit against Apple is entirely fair...
If it were me, I'd be going after AMD which built the damn POS chip that's actually failing... It's likely that Apple hasn't responded to this because they couldn't negotiate amicable terms from AMD (the parts supplier) to shoulder the burden of a recall which, IMHO, Apple shouldn't be on the hook for...
No. We can't out of one side of our mouths say that the reason Apple products are so great is because of them controlling the hardware and software, then out the other side say that AMD is responsible to consumers when their MBP has an issue. AMD is responsible to Apple who is responsible to it's customers. That's the reason I buy Apple Care, not AMD care.
Thank goodness. Does this mean Apple may actually have to acknowledge that we exist? Just once I would like to hear them to say they have heard of us. They can tell us to go away if they want, but admit that there are 10s of thousands of us. Just say something, Apple! Stop declining to comment.
Why does Apple let itself get into these situations. They get bad publicity. They have to pay a lot of money to lawyers. And they're end up covering these costs anyway. Why not just create a big pile of money and set it on fire?
Is Apple going to do the same with iOS 8 and the iPad 3. I got mine, in part, because it supports Bluetooth 4.0, which should let it run Continuity. But iOS 8.1 doesn't even offer that option. Another lawsuit lurking?
So because your iPad does not support a software feature that came out with an OS released three years later, it's a "lawsuit waiting to happen". What horse-shit. Stop being so whiny and entitled. Also, how does Apple "let itself get into these situations"? Cause there was a graphics hardware fault on a small number of a device they sold 4 years ago? You do understand that this stuff happens, right?
should all note that this is not an AMD failure. The problem is twofold: First it was poor and sloppy application of thermal paste on the graphic chip, which causes an overheating. Secondly, it was the use of an untested, lead-free solder dries out and cracks after a couple of years of heating and cooling cycles. The chip then loses connectivity with the logic board and fails. The only real solution is GPU reballing. Again it was an apple manufacturing failure not an AMD failure.
should all note that this is not an AMD failure. The problem is twofold: First it was poor and sloppy application of thermal paste on the graphic chip, which causes an overheating. Secondly, it was the use of an untested, lead-free solder dries out and cracks after a couple of years of heating and cooling cycles. The chip then loses connectivity with the logic board and fails. The only real solution is GPU reballing. Again it was an apple manufacturing failure not an AMD failure.
Three years has nothing to do with it. Apple's hardware requirements are support for Bluetooth 4.0, which is supports. This is just Apple's overpaid executives trying the make themselves even richer by crippling their software to force a hardware upgrade. They're so petty and small. They haven't, to my knowledge, attempt an excuse for this behavior.
I grow tired of Apple's little fanboys, particularly those obsessed with bodily excretions. They're not as tiresome as Amazon's, but they really do need to 'get a life.'
should all note that this is not an AMD failure. The problem is twofold: First it was poor and sloppy application of thermal paste on the graphic chip, which causes an overheating. Secondly, it was the use of an untested, lead-free solder dries out and cracks after a couple of years of heating and cooling cycles. The chip then loses connectivity with the logic board and fails. The chip dent fail, the soldering fails. The only real solution is GPU reballing. This corrects the problem without actually replacing the AMD GPU. Again it was an Apple manufacturing failure, not an AMD failure.
If a product is out of warranty how is it that any manufacurer is liable for the product? We have a warranty period for a reason, as well as extended warranty periods that are optional purchases. While I am sure that it is a hard situation to be in. Hardware does fail. Video cards often. I had to replace my video are in a MacPro. It failed after 3 years. Is that apple or NVidia's fault? No it lasted longer then the agreed upon at purchase factory warranty and longer then the agreed upon extended warranty. When we purchase a product we agree to the listed on the box warranty period. I just don't get it, unless they can somehow prove that apple or amd built in a predetermined failure point.
Three years has nothing to do with it. Apple's hardware requirements are support for Bluetooth 4.0, which is supports. This is just Apple's overpaid executives trying the make themselves even richer by crippling their software to force a hardware upgrade. They're so petty and small. They haven't, to my knowledge, attempt an excuse for this behavior.
I grow tired of Apple's little fanboys, particularly those obsessed with bodily excretions. They're not as tiresome as Amazon's, but they really do need to 'get a life.'
Apple's execs are petty and small? You're the one coming off as insanely petty, especially with your whining, entitled attitude. Also, interesting how anyone who disagrees with you is automatically an "Apple fanboy", intellectual laziness at its finest, straight from the troll book. Well done. Also, you're the only one who brought up bodily excretions, but whatever floats your boat I guess. Some of us are level-headed enough to realize that an iPad that has already been obsoleted 3 times over, and hasn't been sold for YEARS, is entitled to every single feature in an OS they just released- you're pretty lucky it's even getting iOS8. The iPad 3 is an iPad 2 pushing 4X the pixels. Spend a bit of money and upgrade your ancient iPad if you're that concerned about new features that didnt even exist a month ago.
Your theory that this decision was made to drive upgrades is hilariously baseless. I'm pretty sure there's about 50 other things people would prioritize beyond handoff when deciding to upgrade an iPad 3- Like Display, weight, thinness, power, speed, WIFI, Touch ID, cameras, etc etc. But no, Apple's evil plan is to drive upgrades of the iPad 3 through continuity- you caught em red-handed. People like you, who are completely satisfied with obsolete hardware, yet want the latest cutting edge software features, are beyond pathetic. You just got a shitload of new features by upgrading (for free) to iOS8, same with OSX. Eventually, you need to spend a couple dollars if you want EVERYTHING that the new stuff has. You buy a product for what it has at launch, not for what it might have years down the road. This stuff costs billions to develop, yet you want it all for free, forever. Not only that, you think a lawsuit is plausible. How spoiled, and a perfect example of the nauseating, undeserved entitlement of this generation. Your iPad came with iOS5. You got iOS6 FOR FREE. You got iOS7 FOR FREE. You gor iOS8 FOR FREE. But no, that's not enough. The second there's one feature your obsolete iPad doesnt get, you want to sue someone, and Apple's execs are small and petty.
Also, well done derailing this thread with something extremely off topic.
A relative of mine had several failures with her MacBook from 2011. Three months ago she took it back into an Apple Store for again repairs - it literally crashed in the middle of taking the bar exam just days earlier. No lie.
At the Apple Store - manager intervened and gave her $1100 refund on the spot - she immediately wanted a new MacBook so the mgr gave her free Apple Care. All happy in that family kingdom
Didn't Apple just settle a similar lawsuit for MacBook Pro 2010's graphics/logic board issues recently ?
I had similar issues with MacBook Pro 15" Retina mid-2012 with frequent crashes -- ended up paying $310 to replace the nVidia graphics card early this year.
@magman1979: Of course Apple has to take this on its own. Although not Apples own make of hardware, in this case you cannot expect the customer to suffer for parts breaking down that Apple itself chooses. Where would that put us? Technical items today are assembled of parts from many manufacturers. The end manufacturer has to take all responsibility. I really think Apple should stand to up this - it has the riches to compensate unhappy struggling customers. If they can get compensation from ATI would probably be very unlikely as the latter probably will point to alleged insufficient cooling or some sort of reason of that type. A case which will be vary difficult to prove either way.
We'll just have to wait and see what plays out in the legal system. No matter what a lawyer is going to benefit. I'd be surprised if the plaintiffs get more than a depreciated credit.
Strange to bring up the Continuity issue with some Bluetooth 4.0 devices like the 2011 MacBook Air. I just tried it earlier today and was surprised to see that it didn't work. When I looked on Apple's web presence I could not find any messaging at all from Apple that guarantees or even implies that all you need is Bluetooth 4 to make this work. While I'm mildly disappointed that it does not work in no way do I see this as a breach of contract. There was no expectation when I purchased the computer 3+ years ago that it would support some future features that were still a glimmer in an engineer's imagination. It's sheer lunacy to think otherwise. But we've seen that when Apple is involved all semblance of reasonable expectations vanish.
I expect Apple will come up with a reasonable solution to the video board issue. If the depreciation schedule for computers is 5 years and the computers are failing after 3 years it would be fully reasonable to expect Apple to pay 2/5ths of the cost to replace the video board. That would be the "by the book" response. Not that I'm advocating that as their action. If you believe that this is not in line with your expectations and have for some reason in your own mind established a much longer time frame for the useful lifetime of Apple computers then you are free to choose a different brand the next time around. But at some point in every dispute you have to come up with an unemotional, logical, and objective criteria for assessing and quantifying a loss. For some reason a lot of people have a difficult time not being overly emotional about anything Apple related.
Just like the Continuity complaint you have to recognize the difference between the specific claims that are made by the manufacturer of any product and the expectations of customers. Customers are always free to punish manufacturers who don't meet their expectations but you should never try to retroactively claim that a manufacturer stated something that the did not state. I never expected that my 2006 Dodge would be reduced to a lump of rust in 8 years but the manufacturer never claimed that it would survive rust free for that long. Will I ever buy another Dodge again? Hell no, but I'm not going to sue them for producing a piece of crap product.
I'm not sure it is AMD's product that is failing. More likely to be poor motherboard design (heat) or assembly issues (poor solder) which cause the connections to fail.
Every time this comes up it's exactly the same thing. Lead-free solder. The stuff forms very brittle interface layers and then it undergoes thermal cycling and it breaks apart. The oven trick melts and reflows the solder. There's a reason why airplanes and cars and enterprise equipment is exempt from lead-free. It's the consumer that bears the brunt of Euro tree-hugging.
This is long overdue. For a company with billions of $$$ that charges a premium price for what is supposed to be premium products they should be in the lead as far as helping their customers when component failures become a common issue. Instead they're one of the most stingy in this area. I don't mind paying the premium prices but I expect premium service. In the last few years there have been a number of flaws in everything from iPhone to MacBooks that Apple has refused to acknowledge or address. Not cool.
My iPhone 5 had to be replaced 4 times in the first month. While Apple paid for that under warranty it says a lot about the lack of quality in a premium priced product
My iPhone 5 had to be replaced 4 times in the first month. While Apple paid for that under warranty it says a lot about the lack of quality in a premium priced product
No, it doesn't. I've never had a single iPhone replaced, they've all served their full lifespans. I'm guessing most others have the same experience. You're an extreme outlier if you got a single iPhone replaced 4 times, and you must know that- so you must also know that making encompassing generalizations about Apple's lack of quality based on your rare experience is pretty idiotic, and trollish. Amazing how this product that has "lack of quality" was not only the best reviewed phone of its time, but also the best selling, with the highest customer satisfaction. And that includes slightly more data points than your suspicious story.
Comments
While I understand the frustration and even anger of owners of 2011 MBP's experiencing this issue (I've had two owners here at work have their MBP's clunk out for the exact same reason), I don't think this lawsuit against Apple is entirely fair...
If it were me, I'd be going after AMD which built the damn POS chip that's actually failing... It's likely that Apple hasn't responded to this because they couldn't negotiate amicable terms from AMD (the parts supplier) to shoulder the burden of a recall which, IMHO, Apple shouldn't be on the hook for...
No. We can't out of one side of our mouths say that the reason Apple products are so great is because of them controlling the hardware and software, then out the other side say that AMD is responsible to consumers when their MBP has an issue. AMD is responsible to Apple who is responsible to it's customers. That's the reason I buy Apple Care, not AMD care.
Thank goodness. Does this mean Apple may actually have to acknowledge that we exist? Just once I would like to hear them to say they have heard of us. They can tell us to go away if they want, but admit that there are 10s of thousands of us. Just say something, Apple! Stop declining to comment.
Why does Apple let itself get into these situations. They get bad publicity. They have to pay a lot of money to lawyers. And they're end up covering these costs anyway. Why not just create a big pile of money and set it on fire?
Is Apple going to do the same with iOS 8 and the iPad 3. I got mine, in part, because it supports Bluetooth 4.0, which should let it run Continuity. But iOS 8.1 doesn't even offer that option. Another lawsuit lurking?
So because your iPad does not support a software feature that came out with an OS released three years later, it's a "lawsuit waiting to happen". What horse-shit. Stop being so whiny and entitled. Also, how does Apple "let itself get into these situations"? Cause there was a graphics hardware fault on a small number of a device they sold 4 years ago? You do understand that this stuff happens, right?
Three years has nothing to do with it. Apple's hardware requirements are support for Bluetooth 4.0, which is supports. This is just Apple's overpaid executives trying the make themselves even richer by crippling their software to force a hardware upgrade. They're so petty and small. They haven't, to my knowledge, attempt an excuse for this behavior.
I grow tired of Apple's little fanboys, particularly those obsessed with bodily excretions. They're not as tiresome as Amazon's, but they really do need to 'get a life.'
Does this mean Apple will actually have to admit they have heard we exist. I'm just tired of their silence.
My wife's MBP has this issue. Glad something's finally coming of it.
Right, the lawyers will get millions and your wife will get a $50 iTunes coupon for her trouble.
Three years has nothing to do with it. Apple's hardware requirements are support for Bluetooth 4.0, which is supports. This is just Apple's overpaid executives trying the make themselves even richer by crippling their software to force a hardware upgrade. They're so petty and small. They haven't, to my knowledge, attempt an excuse for this behavior.
I grow tired of Apple's little fanboys, particularly those obsessed with bodily excretions. They're not as tiresome as Amazon's, but they really do need to 'get a life.'
Apple's execs are petty and small? You're the one coming off as insanely petty, especially with your whining, entitled attitude. Also, interesting how anyone who disagrees with you is automatically an "Apple fanboy", intellectual laziness at its finest, straight from the troll book. Well done. Also, you're the only one who brought up bodily excretions, but whatever floats your boat I guess. Some of us are level-headed enough to realize that an iPad that has already been obsoleted 3 times over, and hasn't been sold for YEARS, is entitled to every single feature in an OS they just released- you're pretty lucky it's even getting iOS8. The iPad 3 is an iPad 2 pushing 4X the pixels. Spend a bit of money and upgrade your ancient iPad if you're that concerned about new features that didnt even exist a month ago.
Your theory that this decision was made to drive upgrades is hilariously baseless. I'm pretty sure there's about 50 other things people would prioritize beyond handoff when deciding to upgrade an iPad 3- Like Display, weight, thinness, power, speed, WIFI, Touch ID, cameras, etc etc. But no, Apple's evil plan is to drive upgrades of the iPad 3 through continuity- you caught em red-handed. People like you, who are completely satisfied with obsolete hardware, yet want the latest cutting edge software features, are beyond pathetic. You just got a shitload of new features by upgrading (for free) to iOS8, same with OSX. Eventually, you need to spend a couple dollars if you want EVERYTHING that the new stuff has. You buy a product for what it has at launch, not for what it might have years down the road. This stuff costs billions to develop, yet you want it all for free, forever. Not only that, you think a lawsuit is plausible. How spoiled, and a perfect example of the nauseating, undeserved entitlement of this generation. Your iPad came with iOS5. You got iOS6 FOR FREE. You got iOS7 FOR FREE. You gor iOS8 FOR FREE. But no, that's not enough. The second there's one feature your obsolete iPad doesnt get, you want to sue someone, and Apple's execs are small and petty.
Also, well done derailing this thread with something extremely off topic.
At the Apple Store - manager intervened and gave her $1100 refund on the spot - she immediately wanted a new MacBook so the mgr gave her free Apple Care. All happy in that family kingdom
Didn't Apple just settle a similar lawsuit for MacBook Pro 2010's graphics/logic board issues recently ?
I had similar issues with MacBook Pro 15" Retina mid-2012 with frequent crashes -- ended up paying $310 to replace the nVidia graphics card early this year.
I really think Apple should stand to up this - it has the riches to compensate unhappy struggling customers. If they can get compensation from ATI would probably be very unlikely as the latter probably will point to alleged insufficient cooling or some sort of reason of that type. A case which will be vary difficult to prove either way.
Strange to bring up the Continuity issue with some Bluetooth 4.0 devices like the 2011 MacBook Air. I just tried it earlier today and was surprised to see that it didn't work. When I looked on Apple's web presence I could not find any messaging at all from Apple that guarantees or even implies that all you need is Bluetooth 4 to make this work. While I'm mildly disappointed that it does not work in no way do I see this as a breach of contract. There was no expectation when I purchased the computer 3+ years ago that it would support some future features that were still a glimmer in an engineer's imagination. It's sheer lunacy to think otherwise. But we've seen that when Apple is involved all semblance of reasonable expectations vanish.
I expect Apple will come up with a reasonable solution to the video board issue. If the depreciation schedule for computers is 5 years and the computers are failing after 3 years it would be fully reasonable to expect Apple to pay 2/5ths of the cost to replace the video board. That would be the "by the book" response. Not that I'm advocating that as their action. If you believe that this is not in line with your expectations and have for some reason in your own mind established a much longer time frame for the useful lifetime of Apple computers then you are free to choose a different brand the next time around. But at some point in every dispute you have to come up with an unemotional, logical, and objective criteria for assessing and quantifying a loss. For some reason a lot of people have a difficult time not being overly emotional about anything Apple related.
Just like the Continuity complaint you have to recognize the difference between the specific claims that are made by the manufacturer of any product and the expectations of customers. Customers are always free to punish manufacturers who don't meet their expectations but you should never try to retroactively claim that a manufacturer stated something that the did not state. I never expected that my 2006 Dodge would be reduced to a lump of rust in 8 years but the manufacturer never claimed that it would survive rust free for that long. Will I ever buy another Dodge again? Hell no, but I'm not going to sue them for producing a piece of crap product.
I'm not sure it is AMD's product that is failing. More likely to be poor motherboard design (heat) or assembly issues (poor solder) which cause the connections to fail.
Every time this comes up it's exactly the same thing. Lead-free solder. The stuff forms very brittle interface layers and then it undergoes thermal cycling and it breaks apart. The oven trick melts and reflows the solder. There's a reason why airplanes and cars and enterprise equipment is exempt from lead-free. It's the consumer that bears the brunt of Euro tree-hugging.
My iPhone 5 had to be replaced 4 times in the first month. While Apple paid for that under warranty it says a lot about the lack of quality in a premium priced product
My iPhone 5 had to be replaced 4 times in the first month. While Apple paid for that under warranty it says a lot about the lack of quality in a premium priced product
No, it doesn't. I've never had a single iPhone replaced, they've all served their full lifespans. I'm guessing most others have the same experience. You're an extreme outlier if you got a single iPhone replaced 4 times, and you must know that- so you must also know that making encompassing generalizations about Apple's lack of quality based on your rare experience is pretty idiotic, and trollish. Amazing how this product that has "lack of quality" was not only the best reviewed phone of its time, but also the best selling, with the highest customer satisfaction. And that includes slightly more data points than your suspicious story.