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2011 MacBook Pros Confirmed To Crash Under Load
sammcj writes "2011 MacBook crashing under heavy load?... you are not alone. While trying to figure out what was wrong with my fancy new MacBook I soon realized that the issue is very widespread."
Do you want a list of Dell models that my employer has concluded have design flaws or do you just want to fling mud at Apple? (here's a hint: Every manufacturer has issues with their machines, including Apple).
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
Uhm, not to be impolite, but I must ask.
Are you sure you can?, won't your MacBook crash while handling such a huge list?
You must be using it wrong.
Mac: Hi, I'm a Mac.
PC: Hi, I'm a PC.
[Mac slows down and starts to crash]
Mac: Hey, what's happening to me?
[PC reaches over and starts tickling Mac]
PC: Stop crashing yourself! Stop crashing yourself!
Mac: This isn't supposed to happen! What's going on?
PC: Been there, done that. Get used to it.
Mac: Save me Stevie Won Kejobsie, save me!
why do I even read /. anymore ... I must be addicted to the internet in an unhealthy manner :(
It only freezes when people are holding it wrong. If they would just use it properly there is no problem. But, just to be nice guys, Apple will give people a free "cooling case" if they call in with their problem.
Look, I severely dislike Apple, their products, their methods, and their policies.
However, this seems to be much ado about nothing. I have actually read the entire thread, and it appears to be a simple software issue that can be resolved by disabling some fan control package. The issue does not occur under stress testing in Windows 7. Put those two together, the issue becomes one or two bad packages, which will be resolved in an update sooner or later (for those that blew $3k on a computer, I hope sooner).
Of course, how Apple has handled the situation is abysmal, and I'm quite surprised seeing the people in the thread defending Apple support as they do.
In the end though: nothing to see here, move along, this is not a reason for major Apple bashing or Apple vs PC debates, and yes, even Apple can and does release bugged software now and then.
Having read the linked thread, it looks like it's an ATI graphics card driver problem. You can still ssh into a machine that has "crashed under load".
Cheap Dell's are a roll of the dice. I've got a 1545 that works flawlessly now that I wiped the malware off that it came with and installed Ubuntu. Not bad for 400 bucks.
You don't get a sandy bridge i7 in a Mac for 1000 pounds, either. Your point?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
iStat menu (most probably).
for those tl;dr:
most of the users report that after uninstalling istat menu pro (and it's "fan control" set to on by default) the problem goes away...
keep panicking...
According to the thread this is software related. Removing smcfancontrol seems to be fixing the problem. I have to wonder how that got out the door.
My macbook pro easily meets the 7 hour battery life they've claimed (mine is one version before the 2011), it's almost always nearly as cool as when it's off, it's dead silent, starts up and is at a functional desktop within 5 seconds and yes it looks better with it's metal case than some cheap plastic one and it's thinner than what I'd get from Dell. Despite being thinner things like the lid feel much sturdier than a Dell and it comes with everything. THere are even small touches like being able to check the battery life without even turning it on.
I can't vouch for their newest model. It may be utter shit. But having gone through the process of pricing up laptops to get everything I have in my macbook it would cost nearly as much or more in some cases. Part of the reason for this is it seems to be nearly impossible to get an SSD in a laptop which seems retarded but you're looking at quite a big bump up in the price to add the equivalent sized SSD into a Wintel laptop.
Again even if you do get all those things it will still be in a cheap plastic case, it will almost certainly still be thicker, run warmer and louder. I don't think it's any surprise a lot of developers can be seen with Macbooks even if they aren't running OS X. The hardware is quality and it's built in such a way that you end up with something that resembles what a laptop should be rather than some big ugly plastic thing that gives you back pains carrying it around.
People need to take a break from their anti-apple circle jerk and remember that the newest macbook features brand new technology in it like Intel's Thunderbolt. It is just as likely that can cause problems even if you're not actually plugging anything into the port. One thing Apple does do that many other companies don't is adapt new technologies sooner and as a result are more likely to get bit in the ass by something going wrong. One of two things will happen. It can be resolved in a short period through software or maybe the 2011 models will just be notorious for being rubbish and smart people will pass on them and wait for the next iteration where the issue may not exist.
Alternatively they could have had a bad batch of components. It happens to everyone. Just look at how many companies that were affected by Sony's shitty laptop batteries. But of course some people just like to hate on things they can't afford.
I bought top of the line 2010 17'' Macbook Pro fully loaded with matte screen too. Loved the machine (it was almost as fast as my 8 core Mac Pro), but it would freeze unexpectedly, and not necessarily under load either. So, after some research I found similar killometer long thread on apple discussions forum. So, I reluctantly and sadly returned it to Apple for full refund. I'm extremely happy with the customer service (they didn't ask me any questions or pressured me to keep it or anything, just said "So, what do you want to do?", i.e. attempt a replacement or refund). But, I'm not happy with the fact that you can spend $4000 on a computer and have it not working. Now I'm scared to even attempt to buy another one. It's somewhat of a disappointing experience.
I should also mention that I have 7 other Macs (of which only one portable - 2008 Aluminum Macbook) that all worked out of the box without a single issue. So, I don't know if only their top of the line Macbook Pros have these issues due to heat dissipation or something else?
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
From what I've heard, being a "premium" Apple engineer is not so fun... You hear a lot of things like, "The outer metal band HAS to be the antenna, I don't care what the problem is, just make it work!"
I like Dell because their support actually listens to me. "the cooling fan died" is met with a question of whether I need a technician or just the part. When I call Apple and tell them that an iMac overheats to the point of locking up, they call me a liar and hang up "if it doesn't turn off, its not overheating" Oh, really, then why is it locked up and so hot?
Note: since the GP quoted in pounds i'm using UK prices from both dell and apple.
A £999 inc VAT and shipping (closest price in this list to £1000) macbook pro comes with a 13 inch screen and a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5. Unfortunately the model number wikipedia lists for the CPU doesn't seem to match up with anything on intels website but assuming the turbo is similar to the models that straddle it it would have a max turbo with all cores active arround 2.8 GHz. If you want a 15 inch machine with a quad core (there is no option for a 15 inch with a dual core or a 13 inch with a quad core that will set you back £1,549.00 inc VAT and shipping)
Comparing to dell it depends what you compare with. If you compare to the 13 inch vostro 3300 with an i5-480M then a machine with similar specs (older processor family but higher clockspeed so probablly overall similar) is £559.00 plus VAT and shipping which will put the total arround £700. OTOH if you compare to the 15 inch vostro line (in PC laptops 15 inch models tend to be cheaper than equivilent 13 inch models) then things get cheaper still.
So the GP was exaggerating a bit but still there is a fairly steep premium for apple hardware and this is compounded by apple's very limited selection which means you often end up buying far more than you actually require.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
I'm puzzled. "Argument?" "Bogus?" To whom? If you want a computer that runs MacOS, you buy a Mac. If you don't, you can buy whatever you want, Mac or non-Mac. And you buy the Mac that does what you need, if you buy a Mac. I have a 13" MBP because I do not want the extra weight. I'd have to have a *really good reason* to spend the extra money for a 15" or 17"--not just to show off. My wife just got a 15", because she needs the extra screen real estate. Her backpack weighs a *ton*.
These aren't arguments--they're explanations for why the person making the explanation made the choice they made. You aren't that person, and you might not make the same choice given the same constraints for a variety of reasons, but that doesn't mean that the person's choice was "bogus," or that their explanation is wrong.
I will admit that I get a little ticked off when my non-geek friends buy Windows machines and then expect me to help them when they melt down, but if you're willing to be responsible for the downsides of your choice, buy what *you* want. Who cares what some guy on Slashdot thinks? If I were a Windows geek I'd probably feel the same way about my friends buying Macs and expecting me to help when they melt down.
With that in mind, and the fact that the dell now costs £999 and is still slower, and still has less battery, no, you've not come close.
No, not fanbois. Wankers. Dickheads. Poster included. I have an iMac pro. It overheated, it froze. I thought, wow, a CPU in need of heatgooze. Took it in as I didn't want to open it. One day later, yup, gooze. What makes me really puke about apple fanbois is they think henny penny's world is crashing down with every minor issue. Apple will save me. Apple will pull my stupid worthless ass out of a sling. I won this as a prize, and love the hardware (runs ubuntu) but the starry eyed doe featured flat faced awe of apple schmucks makes me want to call them naughty words. No brains all of them.
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
I'm waiting for someone to figure out what the real problem is before I pass judgment. It might be a design problem for Apple or it may have nothing to do with Apple. There's a list of serious of problems that have plagued PC makers for the last several years. The nVidia chip problem: Apple replaced boards even if out of warranty. I think Dell and other manufacturters had to do the same. The exploding battery problem: There was some serious ragging on Apple until practically all laptop manufacturers started to recall their batteries because the problem originated with their common supplier: Sony Battery. Just last month, PC makers might have to delay some product launches because of problems with Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Wrong. Other manufacturers fix the problems before they become problems or communicate with the people that it is a problem and fix it after, even if that means recalls or refurbishment. Apple has such a huge ego they think that you are one of their little peons and you should be grateful to even own one of their products.
Really? You mean how Sony somewhat shifted the blame of their exploding batteries onto Dell saying that it was somehow Dell's designs that exacerbated the problem. Dell and Apple recalled the batteries before Sony did. In the end, Sony had to recall batteries from many different laptop manufacturers.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I don't provide sexual favors to the mentally retarded.
Don't take it personally, but I'm not going to read your pithy response to my post.
for us trolls uids are very useful.
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
So if Apple adopted Dell's "run it up the flagpole, and see who salutes" hardware strategy, they'd have Dell's vast profit and valuation?
Wow. I'm sure they'll get right on destroying their business and profit margins in a rush to the bottom, now that you've suggested it.
MacBook Pro 17-inch
Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i7 2.2GHz
4GB DDR3 SDRAM
AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1 GB GDDR5
17" 1920x1200 16:10 aspect LED backlit display
750GB SATA hard drive @ 5400 RPM
DVD burner
Illuminated keyboard
----
$2500
vs
ASUS G Series G73SW
Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i7 2.0GHz
8GB DDR3 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5
17.3" 1920x1080 16:9 aspect LED backlit, 120Hz 3D display w/3D glasses
1TB (500GB SATA hard drive with Hybrid SSD x2) @ 7200 RPM
Blu-Ray burner
Illuminated keyboard
----
$2000
Superior hardware in bold.
"Every manufacturer has issues with their machines, including Apple"
I used to work as an Apple repair tech, at Flextronics.
I don't know how it is now, but not even 6 years ago 2/3 of the machines off the line were failures and needed refurbishing.
Apple managed to keep it quiet with a ton of bullshit.
I'm not aware of ANY manufacturer besides Apple with that shitty of a manufacturing record.
But that's what happens when you had your stuff manufactured in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
This happened to select 2010 models as well - the problem is that the video card overheats and tries to switch back to integrated and the machine barfs all over that. (If you use a laptop cooling pad, this tends not to happen, although there are still some non-heat-related "hangs" in switching between integrated and discrete graphics). If you have ssh enabled, you can indeed see that the machine hasn't crashed, it just isn't drawing to the display (because the display is now connected to the other video card, but something - OpenCL, CoreGraphics, whatnot - didn't get the memo to write to a different display).
If you can make your machine do this reliably, you can take it to an Apple store, show it to them (being able to ssh helps), and they will replace the machine for you. You may of course get another machine with the same problem, but you also might not...so you have the option of rolling the dice on a new machine until someone comes up with a software fix. (You can also go into the Energy Saver control panel and force the discrete graphics to be used all the time, at the expense of your battery life, which tends to resolve the problem).
Hilarious. You know, because OSX shits all over the command line, unlike Windows.
Oh wait, never mind. Damn near all of the OS is configurable from it. And it's a real shell (bash) and utilities, not cmd.exe. Hell, they even have an X11 server on the install disk.
Call me a fanboi if you'd like, but I don't think it's unreasonable to have a powerful Unix machine that most of my favorite Linux software runs without modification on - and then not have to fuck with it to keep it working.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Seriously, i don't get all the fuss. I got about 8 applications open, iLife stuff, Garage Band with a work in progress containing 42 audio tracks, word processing, and a few terminals compiling GNU stuff. No cra
Unless it crashes.
2/3 of the machines? Really?
Sounds like the plant should have been shut down and the manager fired if that was the case.
How many millions would have been thrown away if 2/3 of the machines coming off the line were non-functional?
Are you certain of your numbers?