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Apple Begins Fixing MacBook Pro Issues
Hack Jandy writes "For those of you who bought one of the first generation Macbook Pros, a new replacement may be in your future. Flickering LCDs, overheating and intermittent WiFi connections are all common place for many of these first generation machines, but apparently Apple is fixing the problem. The article claims 'According to Apple, it has begun replacing the mainboard inside its MacBook Pros with a new revision. It calls the updated product "revision D," which is identifiable by product serial number.' If you have a reservation at an Apple Store, they may even replace your MBP with a new one."
Mine came on friday (UK) and luckily I checked the serial just now and it is REV D main board....
I've been using it on my lap already and didn't notice any issues, it doesn't get that hot.
This is by far the nicest laptop I've ever had, it's got teh snappy something bad and just feels fast.
And no mystery announcement April 1st... I'm very happy I decided to get one now.
I had similar problems with a sony vaio.. it was poorly engineered-- the power connector to the motherboard was only held on with solder and less than a year's worth of plugging and unplugging stressed the joint until it came undone. Similarly, the RAM SODIMM slots were machined with extremely poor springs that only made intermittent contact after the first eight months or so, which really confused the poor OS when half the memory suddenly disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere. This wasn't their first P4 laptop, either... a model they had been making for years.
To be fair, sony did repair my laptop to its factory state (replacing the mobo, etc.), but refused to fixed the inherent problems in the model. The same parts regularly failed, the warranty ran out, and eventually I just gave the hell up and got an ibook.
1: More Flaming Laptops? (And This Time They're Not PowerBooks!)
The PowerBook 5300 has been unfairly saddled with a reputation as "the incendiary PowerBook" since one test unit caught fire in an Apple lab back in 1995. Actually, it was the Sony-supplied lithium ion battery and not the 5300 itself that started the conflagration, but that hasn't stopped even some Mac advocates who ought to know better from propagating the "flaming 5300s" myth.
So wearily, once again, are the facts:
- Only one 5300 caught fire
- Apple quickly recalled the few machines in distribution channels at the time and replaced the suspect li-Ion batteries with NiMH units.
- No consumer machines caught fire
- The 5300 has proved to be no more fire-prone than any other laptop -- less so in fact than the G3 Series 'Books, a handful of which actually have caught fire in consumer use.
2: a few units used at Apple actually burst into flames [2] due to problems with then-novel Lithium Ion batteries made by Sony (earning the 5300 the nicknames "FireBook", and "HindenBook", after the Hindenburg disaster). While no consumer models suffered this fate, Apple was forced to recall the entire product line and delay its availability while they downgraded to proven nickel metal hydride batteries
3: Before the system was released in a few rare instances the battery caught fire. This was fixed before the computer was released, but this problem helped create a lot of bad press for Apple.
4: Given the hysterical and mythologically persistent exaggeration of the problem with the PowerBook 5300 back in '95, it's understandable that Apple would be hypersensitive about this matter. The reality check is that, as far as I've been able to determine over the past 11 years of following this story, there was one Sony Lithium Ion PowerBook 5300 battery that spontaneously caught fire in an Apple test lab. The 1000 or so 5300s that were in distribution pipelines at the time were immediately recalled and refitted with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries (which were already in production for the lower-priced but identical form factor 68k-based PowerBook 190), which proved completely reliable. The PowerBook 5300 had other issues, but catching fire in consumer hands was not one of them, despite it's mythological "blazing PowerBook" reputation.
5: Apple announced it has stopped shipments of the new PowerBook 5300 product line due to potentially dangerous problems with the product's lithium-ion battery packs. The problems do not impact any other PowerBooks, including Apple's new PowerBook 190 and Duo 2300 models (see TidBITS-292). Apple has recalled the roughly 1,000 units shipped to dealers and resellers, and reports indicate only about 100 units actually reached customers.
The fact you don't remember the model number somewhat undercuts the authenticity of your story. I think I'd remember the model number of a computer that caught fire in class...
AFAIK there were only two incidents nationwide of the problem with the PB5300, and the same problem occurred with other makes of bleeding edge laptop at the time.
I guess you prefer a company that produces consistently sucky, unoriginal machines consistently over one that produces awesome machines with occasional exceptions. Heck a few bad products in twenty years is actually very good going. Indeed, it's a rare product that Apple produces that is critically acclaimed OR commercially successful (the new $99 leather iPod case being such a product).
I had a Powerbook 5300 and it sucked in many ways (mainly the hinge that held the screen up was wonky, as was the case with numerous other laptops I've owned or used), but it never caught fire.
If anyone's interested, I just picked up a new 2GHz Macbook Pro yesterday, serial number starting with W8612.
I have the CPU whine, which is fixed by running MagicNoiseKiller. Not a problem at all, since I just set it as a startup item.
My screen is perfect, no flickering or dead pixels, really bright and vivid. Once MagicNoiseKiller has done its thing, this laptop is really pretty incredibly quiet - a lot better than the Toshiba P4 mode it's replacing.
I think the recent cries to the effect that Apple's build quality is slipping are pretty overrated - this laptop feels incredibly solid and well built. I'm a very happy Apple customer - to the point of chuckling madly.
I warned about getting 0 Revs but this is what I got...
This isn't just a "first rev" like so many Mac users seem to think. Honestly, Apple did a really smart thing by keeping the previous form factor: it effectively means that the new-architecture notebooks inherit a huge amount of engineering from their predecessors.
Actually, if you knew the majority of hardware problems with the initial G4 PowerBook were all related to the case (which had problems with it's hinges - which got stiff and cracked, the plastic border round the side which split apart due to stress from the hindges and weak points such as the audio port, the cable for the LCD panel which got streched leading to the displays breaking down, the rubber feet were always coming off and this lead to overheating and stability problems - and this is just a partial list), you'd understand why it's significant, and why the OP has an valid point.
Intel has been shipping fundementally the same motherboard for a few years, so this isn't exactly a brandnew system under the hood.
If it was a PowerPC-based Mac with internals done by PowerPC-partner then I'd wait. Seeming this is designed by Intel with way way more in debt experience making personal computers I wouldnt worry as much. The external casing is still basically a tried & tested Apple Albook so I wouldnt worry too much.
If you're a pro user with a need for native Adobe & Macromedia apps then I'd wait for the universal binaries that are expected late this year or 2008. By that time OS X 10.5 Leopard is expected to be out.
No everyone say to yourself Apple is just a companies not a God.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Some people have to have the latest and greatest. I generally have bought a new powerbook every three years, and I get the cutting edge top model at the time. I get a kick out of owning a laptop that can still smoke a desktop a year later. And I'm never left wanting for something. A lot of the time this gives me access to gadgets that no one else even considers possible, let alone practical.
In 1999 I had a laptop that could burn CDs. I couldn't say that I knew anyone else that could do that.
Maybe it's an ego thing, or maybe it's wanting the latest gadget, or maybe not wanting to worry over upgrading a year later. Maybe a combination of the three.
That, and an important lesson I learned from my mother - "If it's important, don't go cheap." I've found this rule is very wise. If you're going to make a big purchase, it better make you happy and keep you happy for awhile, so why risk it buying mediocre or cheap? If it costs a little more and makes you a lot happier, or does not risk making you very unhappy, it's worth it.
But yes, I agree that when you buy on the bleeding edge you can get cut. I guess so far I've been lucky, and I think what we see in the press is mainly the bad news. (it's easier to find that 10% person that got a bad unit complaining to the world, than it is to spot the other 90% singing the praise)
I personally would have liked to have seen the powerbook line go just a liiiitle further, maybe to a 2ghz 15" PBG4, because that's about the point where I would have made my next upgrade. I'm a little skiddish about the macbooks so I will probably have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Intel world. I hope this powerbook lasts at least another year.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
However, what's very interesting is how well they do given their technical incompetence relative to other companies. For example, despite the fact that iPods are rather badly engineered (they seem to hard reboot every other time you turn them on, they have display and interface glitches, even in later generations, early problems with battery life, etc.) they are the most popular out there. I think design is vastly underestimated. People (including me) would rather work with glitchy but well designed than solid but shittily so.
Having said that, I don't think Apple can slide much more into glitchy than they already are before it starts to hurt them. Microsoft, which has always been glitchy AND badly designed, may eventually get over the glitchy part, and people may get tired of overpaying for buggy products.
Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just, say, test it a bit more extensively before releasing it to the public?
So far as I know, there are no design defects with the product. The problems seem to be assembly. Flickering displays and intermittent network connections could be something as simple as lousy soldering, for example. (Disclaimer: I have no special knowledge and am speculating.)
Things like that only happen once you start mass production.
Is it just me, or are a lot more companies having recalls recently?
Anecdotally, I'd say yes. I'd lay the blame at outsourced manufacturing, cost-cutting, and tighter production schedules.
The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
And is it really worth going to the wall for this PowerBook? As I recall, they had so many defects that Apple offered to buy them all back from the users at one point.
Also, since the apocryphal story about the 5300, there's been many production models of laptops with battery fire problems -- Dells, Sonys, HPs. It's not as big of a story as it was at one time.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Bought and set-up a 2.1GHz MacBookPro for a client. Managed to arrange things so I had the machine at home for three days as my little perk. Machine was great - best laptop I've ever used - but then on day3..... Dead Pixel!!
Couldn't believe it - it was right in the centre of the screen aswell. Had to give it back to the client and knew he was going to blame me for it as I knew he had no understanding of the dp concept. Got to his place and said there's some bad news, there's a dead pixel and proceeded, after his obvious shock and dissapointment had settled down a little, to fire it up to show him. A miracle occoured and the pixel was 100% working again. I just couldn't believe it.
I mean what happened there? Was I touched by the hand of Jobs?
2 weeks later the pixel is still fine . . .
Anyone ever had this on a screen before I really would like to know.....
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
Hello Everybody!
Anybody else have the problem of the keys popping off after very minimal use? My return key came off and I can put it back but its loose and doesn't work propely.
-Andy
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I think he meant "caveat emptor", "let the buyer beware". "Cave canem" is "Beware of the dog". "Caveat canem" isn't actually valid Latin; it's a sentence without a subject.
Why do people even buy first generation products anymore?
I bought a shiny new G4 iBook when they first were announced. Thankfully I bought the extended care, because the trackpad has gone out a few times on me. It finally crapped out for good, and while the warranty still has a few months left, I had to pop the shell to swap hard drives (long story) and I figure that f***s the warranty. So, I drag a usb mouse along with me, which is actually no problem, as I really don't like any trackpads. I'd kill for an iBook with the IBM nipple. Anyways, the 2nd gen G4 iBooks seem to be fine. Part of the problem getting it fixed is of course, I use it daily in my class, and since our schools is all windows, I can't be without it for more than a weekend. Oh well, I feel for the MBP suckers owners.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Lesson:
Buying a first generation Apple product is, in effect paying for the privilige of owning one of their "ready for the public" prototypes.
Seriously, look back in time through all major Apple releases - especially those since the NeXT takeover.
Agreed.... I've had about a 50% failure rate within the first year with Dells. One in 5 toshiba's had a severe hard drive issue, which in the end turned out to be a winXP issue with the sata controller.
:)
Dells:
- one spent 7 months in and out of the shop for overheating issues. I finally threw it away. Dell never fixed it.
- one spent about 2 months doing fine, then decided it didn't like wireless anymore. Enabling wireless is about the same as hitting it with a hammer. Click it on and: boom! Windows goes unstable, the machine becomes intermittently wacko (crashes all the time, doesn't turn on after sleep/shibernates/reboots.) Leaving wireless off has been enough to stableise the beast.
- Another decided after 1 year of light use to stop holding the LCD up. It has to be propped up with a book. And the network card misteriously failed at about 1.5 years.
- Another went through two mother boards in the first 3 months.
- Another decided it would fry its LCD the first time it was plugged into a video switch for use in a presentation. Dell refuesd to fix it, even though it was less than 6 months old.
The HP's we've bought, or that I've reccomended have actually been fine for several years. (only about 3-4, all AMD.)
But the apples have shined. Of the 18 (one iBook and the rest G4 Powerbooks from 1.0 GHz to the latest), I've had:
- one mobo issue for the aged 700 MHz g3 iBook, replaced out of warranty for free in 3 days after calling apple. Didn't even have to pay for shipping or even packing tape!
- one mini-PCI wifi card "falling out slightly". Fixed by a little piece of rubber.
- one dead hard drive after a toss down a flight of stairs: all data was recoverable, but the drive clicked and wasn't stable anymore. 2 years later with a new drive, the machine is still fine except for some scuffs.
- a slight overheating issue that was solved when I got the user to admit that they were watching DVD's while trying to compile code, while downloading stuff, while having about 50 huge PDF's open... For days... I think that user is burning up a quad g5 now.
-=fshalor