Had a 2008 Aluminium macbook pro that brake down 2 days after the 3 years apple car warranty was over (well known 8600 graphic card problem), call apple and get nothing. Buy an early 2011 macbook pro without the apple care... went broken 8 month ago, call apple -> nothing. Repair it for 500$, and starting to fail again after 8 month (os crash, green screen, can't shut down properly, when shut down , start 1/10 times, when starts get a "graphic card error message and can crash at any time"). I think I was unlucky on the 2008 series, but now I think I'm damn! The worse in all that is apple attitude. I love the OS X environement and it's quality, but at that rate of failure I can't simply afford it. I still have a running titanium G4 (over heating some time), miss that time when apple was simply the best you could get.
Sorry for the long post. Hoping someone will find it useful when my saga is resolved.
2011 17" MBP had graphics problems from day one: display would severely distort when launching Netflix.com, Google Talk, Skype. For over a year, I thought it was a Silverlight or GoogleTalk incompatibility, so I just didn't/couldn't use apps or services using those plugins… for over a year. Down to 2 years of AppleCare.
I finally resolved to research and fix the problem, because I needed Google Talk for work. I eventually learned about the 2011 MBP display problems. For me, display distortion occurred when the MBP switched to High Performance Graphics mode. It was easy to confirm the problem because of the Bypass Automatic Switching setting found in System Prefs > Energy Saver. So, in addition to visiting Netflix or such, I could easily turn the problem on any time. Apple phone support concluded it was probably a hardware issue.
Service 1: Apple Store replaced the logic board and MagSafe Board. $310 flat-rate charge. (covered by AppleCare). No more distortion!
NEW issue: After a week, it began freezing for no obvious reason, and freezing during reboot.
Service 2: Apple Phone Support was unable to troubleshoot, since we couldn't even boot. Scheduled a Genius Appointment.
Since I was desperate to retrieve valuable files from the computer, I continued trying to reboot. Force shut-down. Reboot. Freeze during reboot. Repeat. I learned about Safe Boot and some other boot tricks I can't remember. I eventually got it to boot and did the things Apple support suggested. No improvement.
It takes about 40 attempts to successfully boot. Safe-booting seems to increase the chance of boot, but it's hard to know it has any affect after 40 tries. It works for minutes or hours before freezing again. Research lead me to several of possible software problems. I can't remember them. Whatever it is, it didn't exist prior to the logic board and magsafe board replacement.
Service 3: Apple Store Genius couldn't detect any problems during my appointment. I told him it finally rebooted and I reinstalled the operating system and re-upadted all software. "Genius" said, "You probably fixed it." My thought was, how often will I need to fix it? Turns out, often. Issues continue.
Service 4: Apple Store replaced the flex hard drive cable. If problems persist, they'll try replacing the hard drive. They then said the problem is the OWC third-party RAM. I removed the OWC RAM and put in the factory RAM which is brand new. I expected that to fix it. No luck.
Since then, I've only been able to use the MBP 3 times because the freeze-reboot process is time-consuming.
NEW issue: Distortion is back. Less severe and didn't last long, but was reminiscent of the original distortion I experienced.
NEW issue: During a reboot attempt, the MBP went dead and began beeping. I believe that's code for bad RAM. Since Apple said my OWC RAM was problematic (it's not) and now this, I suspect another bad logic board.
This is 120 days after the original logic board replacement. Apple repairs are only covered for 90 days.
As others have expressed, I am concerned that the defective parts are being replaced with more defective parts and I'll eventually find my AppleCare expired, 90-days out, and have never had a fully functional MBP. This actually happened to me with my 2005 Mac G5. They never completely fixed it during 3 years of AppleCare. The Late 2005 G5 was another notoriously bad machine.
Service 5: TBD
I've been nursing ongoing MBP problems for 21 months. Down to 1 year of AppleCare.
Sounds silly, but it's 200 miles of driving for each service. And they won't ship it back to me--they require in-store pickup. I don't have the time or gas money to drive to Apple every week. I've cancelled multiple Genius appointments simply from running out of time in a day. If I lived closer, I'd be in there every day until it was fixed.
You got a lemon, it happens. I say sell it and just buy a new one. If you can't afford a new one than go to eBay but why put yourself through this any longer. If there is a wide spread problem I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation that Apple will acknowledge it, normally it takes a class action suite for that to happen. Most likely there is already a law firm working on one right now, do some research, maybe you can join in.
Fix the fan to come on and rev up when temperatures rise inside the machine to quickly cool it from internal damage an the solution to product failure will be resolved and the manufacturer defect will be fixed. Yes faulty products that fail should be fixed by the manufacturer to guarantee consumer product purchase value are maintained and fair in the market place.
Consumer opinion and product opinion of failed equipment being voiced will cause a company to make things right or show the company is out to sell faulty merchandise to the public and ignore their complaints soon destroying public trust in that company or its products the public buys out of trust and advertised details of product quality and dependability the public has grown to trust in and purchase based on reputation.
Apple needs to respond to product failure complaints and admit the problem and correct it or lose the publics trust in the company and its products/Public opinion of product they pay top price for informs the rest of the public about a product failure and what the manufacturing company has done about it to correct this product failure. Ignoring the problem is not a good idea.
These Mac-Book Pros have been having this failure of the fans from powering up and cooling the internals when they rise to destructive heat level for over ten years and the same product failure persists without fixing the problem or taking the product off the market until the problem is fixed. This makes selling a defective product that Apple knows is defective a problem they are going to be held accountable for to either fix, return the purchase price on or replace with a product of the same value that is not defective according to the consumers choice of options offered.
Ignoring the complaints of those who purchased the defective product apple has continued to sell knowing they have this defect is not an option., I paid 2700 for mine and that was in 2007 and apple knew of the cooling problem then and sold them anyway, and also in the years ever since. Mine burned up and has never functioned right, and was repaired with the same defective part that burned up that they knew was defective. when it was sold to me new.
So the repair and fix was not a solution, but just a patch, and way to avoid admitting they sold me a defective product and having to give me a product of equal value that was not known to be defective or giving us a refund on turning in this defective product that has been falsely advertised and promoted and sold without a hint of it being a defective product with known elf destructive issues if used daily the way it was intended to be used by design and promoted as being capable of doing as advertised and without mention that it would result in self destruction in doing so, when fans would not rev up and cool it's main components from heat damage.
A product found to be defective during manufacturing and not misuse by the purchaser within 30 days or 90 days of buyer warrantee says the product shall be replaced or the purchase price returned upon return of the product. Apple knew of the defect of this product in it manufacturing even as we bought the product unaware, So by the terms of manufacturing defect we should be able to get a replacement or a refund as they were known defective the day we purchased the that is within the purchasers notice of return warrantee for manufactured defects or defective parts as they are defective and were known by Apple as defective and sold them anyway for years as non defective merchandise.
Hi all. I just got the same problem in my macbook pro from the early 2011. After one a couple of reformarts, and several sound and stuck problems, my mac decided not to run any more. Today I have been notified that the graphic integrated onto the motherboard is fucked.. Warranty is expired and I just pay 1800 EUROS for this lovely laptop... To repair it means 600-700€, and it does not a guarantee because it can fail again. So the question is.. What can WE do?
-Write a formal letter signed for everyone with this problem to somebody important at apple? (I believe this will be totally ignored)
-Sell our crashed laptop at a ridiculous price?
-Take all the laptop pieces out and sell them by separated?
And then what? I am not paying again ANYMORE that money.for an apple laptop. It is understood that a 2000$ mac will be productive during more than 2-3 freaking crappy years right?
This is happening in Europe too, in Spain to be accurated. And apple does not take any responsibility.. Totally wrong, rude and intolerant..
Hi all. I just got the same problem in my macbook pro from the early 2011. After one a couple of reformarts, and several sound and stuck problems, my mac decided not to run any more. Today I have been notified that the graphic integrated onto the motherboard is fucked.. Warranty is expired and I just pay 1800 EUROS for this lovely laptop...
To repair it means 600-700€, and it does not a guarantee because it can fail again.
So the question is.. What can WE do?
-Write a formal letter signed for everyone with this problem to somebody important at apple? (I believe this will be totally ignored)
-Sell our crashed laptop at a ridiculous price?
-Take all the laptop pieces out and sell them by separated?
And then what? I am not paying again ANYMORE that money.for an apple laptop. It is understood that a 2000$ mac will be productive during more than 2-3 freaking crappy years right?
This is happening in Europe too, in Spain to be accurated. And apple does not take any responsibility.. Totally wrong, rude and intolerant..
That repair has sold 126 times. I don't know what the final price there would be but they tend to be around 200 euros, the price on the auction would just be to send it for inspection. If they repaired it, you can sell it on eBay for a cheaper price and at least have some money to put towards a different model. They are worth around 1000 euros in working condition. If you sell it as broken, someone else will just use a service like that and sell it on. Someone has said they used that repair service 5 times so I'm guessing they've been buying broken models cheap, repairing them and selling them on at a profit. You'd only get about 300-400 euros selling it for spares, which is not a huge loss from 1000 euros but it's ~2000 euros to buy a newer replacement for it.
It's not a good situation to be in no matter what route you go as it will require significant outlay to get back up and running but eventually that would have happened. If you had planned to buy a 2014 rMBP, you'd have sold the 2011 model for ~1000 euros so the outlay would be ~1000 euros. Instead, it would be ~1600 euros. The loss you are taking would be ~600 euros if you sell it for spares. If you get a cheap repair and sell it on, the loss would be the repair cost.
I'm from the Netherlands, and I own a 2011 MBP, with a faulty AMD GPU. I called the Apple Care phonenumber, while I do not have Apple Care. (You can get a support case number by using the apple support website). After 2 calls (first employee told me to do a SMC reset, this 'fixed' the problem, because the machine now booted using the integrated gpu), the woman put me through to a Senior Support Employee who basically told me to bring it in for service at the nearest Authorised Reseller.
After a week the machine was back and had a completely new motherboard, and costing me only 26 euros, an administrative fee for doing a "Consumer Claim". This is a concept introduced when the European Committee told Apple to respect European warranty laws where "Consumers may expect their products to last as long as is normal for such products". So thumbs up for Dutch/European laws: free Logic Board replacement after 3 years and 4 months of ownership!
To reproduce: get a support-case-number by calling Apple Support, until you are referred to hand in the machine. Tell the physical store's employee you want to file a "ConsumerClaim" and sit an wait. They may or may not replace your motherboard for free.
Good to know: my machine only had some minor scratches, but was otherwise in brand-new looking condition.
I was in this same boat, what I ended up doing was buying a new motherboard from a mid 2012 model and updated my early 2011 macbook pro to a mid 2012 macbook pro. I found one on ebay for like $450 and now I have usb 3.0 and don't have to worry about my gpu frying again.
^ Kind of explains it a little more or I guess you could say "proof"
needless to say, the hard drive has been replaced twice. then apple replaced with the same model but a new machine. the hard drive went on this one, as well as replacing the logic board. I stopped using it for graphics (for which it was purchased) and only went to do my tax return on excel.
The first time in a year i have used it for anything other than internet. it has blue lines, crashed and gone blank. London regent street shop very rude and send me to make genius bar appointment online. This has been impossible for a week to do. they finally agreed to make appointment for next week. The appointment was first made for iPhone by mistake. then sent to incorrect email address was the second mistake. My appointment is next week.
My 2011 MacBook Pro's hard drive dialed two months ago. Replaced it. Then two weeks ago I had to replace the logic board. Coincidentally, I also purchased an iMac on the same day and it also crashed within two weeks of each other. The MacBook Pro has cost me $700+ to date. The Apple Store- authorized dealer- told me he found no malicious software loaded. I understand there are thousands of loyal Apple customers being hung out to dry on this issue, while Apple has become the largest computer corporation in history. I am stunned and dismayed by their attitude. I have a huge investment, which basically lasted 2 1/2 years. ????????Currently, I am using my iPad 2 for my computer needs, another investment in Apple along with my different iPhones over the years ????
My 2011 MacBook Pro's hard drive dialed two months ago. Replaced it. Then two weeks ago I had to replace the logic board. Coincidentally, I also purchased an iMac on the same day and it also crashed within two weeks of each other. The MacBook Pro has cost me $700+ to date. The Apple Store- authorized dealer- told me he found no malicious software loaded. I understand there are thousands of loyal Apple customers being hung out to dry on this issue, while Apple has become the largest computer corporation in history. I am stunned and dismayed by their attitude. I have a huge investment, which basically lasted 2 1/2 years. ????????Currently, I am using my iPad 2 for my computer needs, another investment in Apple along with my different iPhones over the years ????
You shouldn't have to check something like that. In the unlikely event that you had malware of some kind, that can be solved by restoring your files from a backup. On a side note, never pay for out of warranty repairs from a third party authorized reseller if you have any kind of access to an Apple Store. Depot repair is much cheaper.
I've just gotten off of a very useless call regarding my 2011 15" Pro. I read most of this thread prior to calling so I expected the response I got. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do for you" and "I'd feel the same way " and complete ignorance as to the known issue. Bottom line- if there isn't a program addressing an issue then an issue doesn't exist.
I've been there. My MBP 17" had two repairs (motherboard). After second repair, I warned Apple, when the machine was just under Applecare (december 2014), it was still behaving strangely. Then a complete crash occurred as described here, last april. Customer service at Apple Care told me, after 3 repairs, as per their policy, I was eligible for a replacement with a new model providing matching specs. So I had a MBP 15,4" in may and had to return the faulty MBP 17" instead. To me, Apple service has been immaculate here.
I've been there.
My MBP 17" had two repairs (motherboard).
After second repair, I warned Apple, when
the machine was just under Applecare (december
2014), it was still behaving strangely.
Then a complete crash occurred as described here,
last april.
Customer service at Apple Care told me, after 3 repairs, as
per their policy, I was eligible for a replacement with a new
model providing matching specs.
So I had a MBP 15,4" in may and had to return the faulty
MBP 17" instead.
To me, Apple service has been immaculate here.
Yes their pretty good but personally I still think Lenovo's on site service is the best. When I had a problem with my X230 a repair guy came out the very next day, the guy said that he needed to replace the motherboard but didn't have the part with him, he gave me a choice of a new unit he had with him or he could come back tomorrow, I took the new unit. The thing was, it was my fault the motherboard died as I pored orange juice on it. Their products have been absolutely bullet proof but every time I've had a problem it was rectified within a day with personal contact. Costs me the same amount for Apple Care as well. However yes, Apple has fantastic customer support, it just takes longer. I wish they had on site support here in Switzerland, though they probably wouldn't help me as I've modified my Mac Pro by inserting a 14 core Xeon in it. I had to do it as I saved like 1,800 bucks by buying my own memory and processor, that's a lot, they really need to lower their upgrade costs. I mean I paid 480 bucks for 64 GB of ECC RAM from Kingston, Apple wanted 1300. The Xeon 12 core, 3,500, I paid 2,600 for the 14 core version.
Comments
I think I was unlucky on the 2008 series, but now I think I'm damn!
The worse in all that is apple attitude. I love the OS X environement and it's quality, but at that rate of failure I can't simply afford it.
I still have a running titanium G4 (over heating some time), miss that time when apple was simply the best you could get.
Sorry for the long post. Hoping someone will find it useful when my saga is resolved.
2011 17" MBP had graphics problems from day one: display would severely distort when launching Netflix.com, Google Talk, Skype. For over a year, I thought it was a Silverlight or GoogleTalk incompatibility, so I just didn't/couldn't use apps or services using those plugins… for over a year. Down to 2 years of AppleCare.
I finally resolved to research and fix the problem, because I needed Google Talk for work. I eventually learned about the 2011 MBP display problems. For me, display distortion occurred when the MBP switched to High Performance Graphics mode. It was easy to confirm the problem because of the Bypass Automatic Switching setting found in System Prefs > Energy Saver. So, in addition to visiting Netflix or such, I could easily turn the problem on any time. Apple phone support concluded it was probably a hardware issue.
Service 1: Apple Store replaced the logic board and MagSafe Board. $310 flat-rate charge. (covered by AppleCare). No more distortion!
NEW issue: After a week, it began freezing for no obvious reason, and freezing during reboot.
Service 2: Apple Phone Support was unable to troubleshoot, since we couldn't even boot. Scheduled a Genius Appointment.
Since I was desperate to retrieve valuable files from the computer, I continued trying to reboot. Force shut-down. Reboot. Freeze during reboot. Repeat. I learned about Safe Boot and some other boot tricks I can't remember. I eventually got it to boot and did the things Apple support suggested. No improvement.
It takes about 40 attempts to successfully boot. Safe-booting seems to increase the chance of boot, but it's hard to know it has any affect after 40 tries. It works for minutes or hours before freezing again. Research lead me to several of possible software problems. I can't remember them. Whatever it is, it didn't exist prior to the logic board and magsafe board replacement.
Service 3: Apple Store Genius couldn't detect any problems during my appointment. I told him it finally rebooted and I reinstalled the operating system and re-upadted all software. "Genius" said, "You probably fixed it." My thought was, how often will I need to fix it? Turns out, often. Issues continue.
Service 4: Apple Store replaced the flex hard drive cable. If problems persist, they'll try replacing the hard drive. They then said the problem is the OWC third-party RAM. I removed the OWC RAM and put in the factory RAM which is brand new. I expected that to fix it. No luck.
Since then, I've only been able to use the MBP 3 times because the freeze-reboot process is time-consuming.
NEW issue: Distortion is back. Less severe and didn't last long, but was reminiscent of the original distortion I experienced.
NEW issue: During a reboot attempt, the MBP went dead and began beeping. I believe that's code for bad RAM. Since Apple said my OWC RAM was problematic (it's not) and now this, I suspect another bad logic board.
This is 120 days after the original logic board replacement. Apple repairs are only covered for 90 days.
As others have expressed, I am concerned that the defective parts are being replaced with more defective parts and I'll eventually find my AppleCare expired, 90-days out, and have never had a fully functional MBP. This actually happened to me with my 2005 Mac G5. They never completely fixed it during 3 years of AppleCare. The Late 2005 G5 was another notoriously bad machine.
Service 5: TBD
I've been nursing ongoing MBP problems for 21 months. Down to 1 year of AppleCare.
Sounds silly, but it's 200 miles of driving for each service. And they won't ship it back to me--they require in-store pickup. I don't have the time or gas money to drive to Apple every week. I've cancelled multiple Genius appointments simply from running out of time in a day. If I lived closer, I'd be in there every day until it was fixed.
I'll try to remember to post updates.
You got a lemon, it happens. I say sell it and just buy a new one. If you can't afford a new one than go to eBay but why put yourself through this any longer. If there is a wide spread problem I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation that Apple will acknowledge it, normally it takes a class action suite for that to happen. Most likely there is already a law firm working on one right now, do some research, maybe you can join in.
Consumer opinion and product opinion of failed equipment being voiced will cause a company to make things right or show the company is out to sell faulty merchandise to the public and ignore their complaints soon destroying public trust in that company or its products the public buys out of trust and advertised details of product quality and dependability the public has grown to trust in and purchase based on reputation.
Apple needs to respond to product failure complaints and admit the problem and correct it or lose the publics trust in the company and its products/Public opinion of product they pay top price for informs the rest of the public about a product failure and what the manufacturing company has done about it to correct this product failure. Ignoring the problem is not a good idea.
These Mac-Book Pros have been having this failure of the fans from powering up and cooling the internals when they rise to destructive heat level for over ten years and the same product failure persists without fixing the problem or taking the product off the market until the problem is fixed. This makes selling a defective product that Apple knows is defective a problem they are going to be held accountable for to either fix, return the purchase price on or replace with a product of the same value that is not defective according to the consumers choice of options offered.
Ignoring the complaints of those who purchased the defective product apple has continued to sell knowing they have this defect is not an option., I paid 2700 for mine and that was in 2007 and apple knew of the cooling problem then and sold them anyway, and also in the years ever since. Mine burned up and has never functioned right, and was repaired with the same defective part that burned up that they knew was defective. when it was sold to me new.
So the repair and fix was not a solution, but just a patch, and way to avoid admitting they sold me a defective product and having to give me a product of equal value that was not known to be defective or giving us a refund on turning in this defective product that has been falsely advertised and promoted and sold without a hint of it being a defective product with known elf destructive issues if used daily the way it was intended to be used by design and promoted as being capable of doing as advertised and without mention that it would result in self destruction in doing so, when fans would not rev up and cool it's main components from heat damage.
A product found to be defective during manufacturing and not misuse by the purchaser within 30 days or 90 days of buyer warrantee says the product shall be replaced or the purchase price returned upon return of the product. Apple knew of the defect of this product in it manufacturing even as we bought the product unaware, So by the terms of manufacturing defect we should be able to get a replacement or a refund as they were known defective the day we purchased the that is within the purchasers notice of return warrantee for manufactured defects or defective parts as they are defective and were known by Apple as defective and sold them anyway for years as non defective merchandise.
To repair it means 600-700€, and it does not a guarantee because it can fail again.
So the question is.. What can WE do?
-Write a formal letter signed for everyone with this problem to somebody important at apple? (I believe this will be totally ignored)
-Sell our crashed laptop at a ridiculous price?
-Take all the laptop pieces out and sell them by separated?
And then what? I am not paying again ANYMORE that money.for an apple laptop. It is understood that a 2000$ mac will be productive during more than 2-3 freaking crappy years right?
This is happening in Europe too, in Spain to be accurated. And apple does not take any responsibility.. Totally wrong, rude and intolerant..
Hope to hearing from you guys soon.
There are 3rd party repairs:
http://www.ebay.es/itm/Apple-Macbook-Pro-A1286-820-2915-B-15-2011-Logic-Board-Repair-New-GPU-Reball-/301058876314
That repair has sold 126 times. I don't know what the final price there would be but they tend to be around 200 euros, the price on the auction would just be to send it for inspection. If they repaired it, you can sell it on eBay for a cheaper price and at least have some money to put towards a different model. They are worth around 1000 euros in working condition. If you sell it as broken, someone else will just use a service like that and sell it on. Someone has said they used that repair service 5 times so I'm guessing they've been buying broken models cheap, repairing them and selling them on at a profit. You'd only get about 300-400 euros selling it for spares, which is not a huge loss from 1000 euros but it's ~2000 euros to buy a newer replacement for it.
It's not a good situation to be in no matter what route you go as it will require significant outlay to get back up and running but eventually that would have happened. If you had planned to buy a 2014 rMBP, you'd have sold the 2011 model for ~1000 euros so the outlay would be ~1000 euros. Instead, it would be ~1600 euros. The loss you are taking would be ~600 euros if you sell it for spares. If you get a cheap repair and sell it on, the loss would be the repair cost.
-Take all the laptop pieces out and sell them by separated?
The most valuable component would be the logic board, which isn't operational at this point. I don't think you would get that much for it.
After a week the machine was back and had a completely new motherboard, and costing me only 26 euros, an administrative fee for doing a "Consumer Claim". This is a concept introduced when the European Committee told Apple to respect European warranty laws where "Consumers may expect their products to last as long as is normal for such products". So thumbs up for Dutch/European laws: free Logic Board replacement after 3 years and 4 months of ownership!
To reproduce: get a support-case-number by calling Apple Support, until you are referred to hand in the machine. Tell the physical store's employee you want to file a "ConsumerClaim" and sit an wait. They may or may not replace your motherboard for free.
Good to know: my machine only had some minor scratches, but was otherwise in brand-new looking condition.
Hi Herman,
Hoe lang is dat geleden dat je dat op die manier gedaan hebt?
En was dat bij de apple store leidseplein?
I was in this same boat, what I ended up doing was buying a new motherboard from a mid 2012 model and updated my early 2011 macbook pro to a mid 2012 macbook pro. I found one on ebay for like $450 and now I have usb 3.0 and don't have to worry about my gpu frying again.
^ Kind of explains it a little more or I guess you could say "proof"
My Macbook pro 17" has had no end of problems;
i purchased it for the graphics capabilies.
needless to say, the hard drive has been replaced twice. then apple replaced with the same model but a new machine. the hard drive went on this one, as well as replacing the logic board. I stopped using it for graphics (for which it was purchased) and only went to do my tax return on excel.
The first time in a year i have used it for anything other than internet. it has blue lines, crashed and gone blank. London regent street shop very rude and send me to make genius bar appointment online. This has been impossible for a week to do. they finally agreed to make appointment for next week. The appointment was first made for iPhone by mistake. then sent to incorrect email address was the second mistake. My appointment is next week.
such a faulty defective machine and service.
My 2011 MacBook Pro's hard drive dialed two months ago. Replaced it. Then two weeks ago I had to replace the logic board. Coincidentally, I also purchased an iMac on the same day and it also crashed within two weeks of each other. The MacBook Pro has cost me $700+ to date. The Apple Store- authorized dealer- told me he found no malicious software loaded. I understand there are thousands of loyal Apple customers being hung out to dry on this issue, while Apple has become the largest computer corporation in history. I am stunned and dismayed by their attitude. I have a huge investment, which basically lasted 2 1/2 years.
You shouldn't have to check something like that. In the unlikely event that you had malware of some kind, that can be solved by restoring your files from a backup. On a side note, never pay for out of warranty repairs from a third party authorized reseller if you have any kind of access to an Apple Store. Depot repair is much cheaper.
When will Apple learn on things like this. Ignoring a problem will not make it go away and ignoring it will harm their credibility.
Latest update - check your serial number against the Apple web site.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
6th paragraph, 1st line: "though to stem from" > "thought to stem from"
My MBP 17" had two repairs (motherboard).
After second repair, I warned Apple, when
the machine was just under Applecare (december
2014), it was still behaving strangely.
Then a complete crash occurred as described here,
last april.
Customer service at Apple Care told me, after 3 repairs, as
per their policy, I was eligible for a replacement with a new
model providing matching specs.
So I had a MBP 15,4" in may and had to return the faulty
MBP 17" instead.
To me, Apple service has been immaculate here.
Yes their pretty good but personally I still think Lenovo's on site service is the best. When I had a problem with my X230 a repair guy came out the very next day, the guy said that he needed to replace the motherboard but didn't have the part with him, he gave me a choice of a new unit he had with him or he could come back tomorrow, I took the new unit. The thing was, it was my fault the motherboard died as I pored orange juice on it. Their products have been absolutely bullet proof but every time I've had a problem it was rectified within a day with personal contact. Costs me the same amount for Apple Care as well. However yes, Apple has fantastic customer support, it just takes longer. I wish they had on site support here in Switzerland, though they probably wouldn't help me as I've modified my Mac Pro by inserting a 14 core Xeon in it. I had to do it as I saved like 1,800 bucks by buying my own memory and processor, that's a lot, they really need to lower their upgrade costs. I mean I paid 480 bucks for 64 GB of ECC RAM from Kingston, Apple wanted 1300. The Xeon 12 core, 3,500, I paid 2,600 for the 14 core version.