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I just, last week, bought my first MacBook Pro -- my first Apple laptop ever. It was much more than I usually spend on a single computer.

And now I hear about this.

Probably one of the most widespread issues -- that Apple is not willing to cover -- in the history of an Apple laptop.

It's not even been 14 days yet, so it's still eligible for return.

Would be lying to say I wasn't considering it.

5 comments

I am on my 3rd Macbook in 6 years. All 3 are running great and have not had this issue.

I am one of the lone Mac users in my company and I can't imagine switching to the Dell laptops my coworkers have to use. They don't wear well, they require far more updates than my Mac. (I am on a rapid upgrade cycle because I am spoiled, not because my old ones no longer meet my needs).

What would you buy instead?

This is my 3rd Macbook (best in terms of hardware, bar the display issue and worst in terms of software - too many glitches) and I'm really looking for an alternative when I next replace it.

That's the problem. One of the main reasons I got this was to do iOS development, and it's not like there are any non-Apple alternatives, unless I go w/ a Mac (iMac/Mac Pro/Mini).

But those are not exactly, you know... portable.

Looks like the MacBook Air may not suffer from this problem, so that's a possibility. Though I wanted something larger and more powerful.

I have a feeling a lot of people are going to say thinkpad. I have one and haven't turned it on for a couple years but I still think that's a common suggestion. The dell XPS 13 that someone mentioned in this thread seems like a decent macbook air replacement.

Thinkpads are pretty awesome, to be honest. Best keyboard of any laptop (even the new chiclet style), they don't overheat on your lap, they're pretty much bulletproof, and replaceable parts means the laptop is serviceable for a longer life-span (after all, parts like batteries have a limited life, shame to throw away a nice laptop because the battery pack is running at less than 50% capacity after a few years of use).

I have a newer, faster thinkpad given to me by my company but I still use my 6 year old macbook. I'm really more of an OSX fan vs Windows now. I could probably get by on Ubuntu or something if I really wanted to. I'm just not a fan of the aesthetics of the thinkpad, which might seems weird but it plays a part of why I don't use it. It's heavy, and ugly, and has hooks sticking of the screen.

I never found the keyboard to be much better than others but I have heard many others say it is great so maybe I'm the exception. I use a daskey mechincal on my gaming PC and it's pretty great. The track pad sucks compared to Apple's even though they are made by the same people.

I'll give you service ability (though my old macbook was upgradable). I'm really surprised I haven't had battery issues after 6 years. Being an IBMer we always had to order Lenovos. I think that is changes with our Apple deal. You could get a macbook through some exception but soon they will be available and supported for all employees. I've also heard there is a Toshiba option available though I'm not sure who would pick that over a ThinkPad.

To be fair, I wouldn't use a ThinkPad except with Linux (using SUSE right now). Thankfully, many Linux developers are big Thinkpad fans, so any 'classic' Thinkpad (basically the T, W and X series), even the new generations will generally work flawlessly (or close to it) with Linux.

Really I think the only thing that might sway me is Dell's new-found love for Linux.

Dell XPS 13, Lenovo Yoga, etc.

For now you are a bit wrong about Apple's not willingness to cover some hardware issues.

2011 MBPs were plagued by burning video cards, and only few weeks ago they accepted that it was an issue. Now if you have 2011 MBP, Apple will change your motherboard or repay your expenses on repairing your laptop (though, I do not know exactly how you must prove it).

In support.apple.com this issue is 12k posts long, and was ignored for 3-4 years.

Hope it will not repeat with rMBPs as I am owner of one and like to keep screen clean (cleaning by the recommendations of Apple).

and it only took them 4 years to acknowledge the issue?

Probably they acknowledged it sooner, but only after 4 years, they are offering free repairs and compensations.

How does that help people who ended up selling their Macbook Pros as salvage parts at a huge loss?

My 2011 MBP, which was out of AppleCare, basically died a few months before they announced the repair program. I was very lucky I didn't sell mine for parts at a loss -- I seriously considered it.

I still lost a little bit of money because I basically gave away the RAM upgrade I bought for it, as I had no idea when or if they'd even offer a repair program.

Wait and see, if it's really a manufacturing defect as it so obviously seems to be, that goes back to ~2012 era (and hasn't been fixed in the newest model like you and I have), they'll likely end up fixing it free when and if it happens to ours, and/or fully compensate for any repairs we have to pay for.

They should of course be investigating and reacting faster when possible serious defects show up, but this won't be the first (or even the 5th) time they've run a free repair/replacement program for machines out of warranty, assuming that's what ends up happening (and I think it will).

I'd return it while you can. See my other posts in this thread about my experiences with them.