darkchicken101
09-08-2008, 04:55 PM
I have a 17" MBP which I bought online in the middle of March 2008. Since then I've experienced freezing, crashing and graphical issues with my laptop.
I have had the system become incredibly slow that the only solution is a restart, I have had the machine freeze completely, meaning I have had to force the computer to shut down and lose all my unsaved work and also graphical corruption of both my displays (main and external). Just to show you all what I mean:
http://img.skitch.com/20080809-1j73wrfmn357wypw8kka9wn1iq.png
I went to the Apple store (Regent Street), who replaced the logic board (which is the motherboard +cpu +graphics). That made my problem worse. I took it back, and they did the same thing again, but it still caused them problems. So they replaced my computer with an entirely new one. This machine is also faulty, and is where the screenshot above came from.
However, there are strong rumours that all nVidia 8400 and 8600 graphics chips, the kind used in the MBP since the middle of 2007, are faulty - every single one.
This GPU problem is caused by the expansion and contraction caused by the GPU heating up and then cooling down again.
I know some of you think I'm just spreading FUD, but Dell and HP have already released BIOS patches that speed up the fans to stop the GPU getting too hot, so that they last until the machine is out of warranty.
So you might want to hold off getting that Macbook Pro until they update the machine and put a new graphics card in.
For all current Macbook Pro owners (I think there are about 3 of us :P), buy Applecare and keep it nice and cool for the time being. When it does fail, Apple will give you a new machine.
I have had the system become incredibly slow that the only solution is a restart, I have had the machine freeze completely, meaning I have had to force the computer to shut down and lose all my unsaved work and also graphical corruption of both my displays (main and external). Just to show you all what I mean:
http://img.skitch.com/20080809-1j73wrfmn357wypw8kka9wn1iq.png
I went to the Apple store (Regent Street), who replaced the logic board (which is the motherboard +cpu +graphics). That made my problem worse. I took it back, and they did the same thing again, but it still caused them problems. So they replaced my computer with an entirely new one. This machine is also faulty, and is where the screenshot above came from.
However, there are strong rumours that all nVidia 8400 and 8600 graphics chips, the kind used in the MBP since the middle of 2007, are faulty - every single one.
This GPU problem is caused by the expansion and contraction caused by the GPU heating up and then cooling down again.
I know some of you think I'm just spreading FUD, but Dell and HP have already released BIOS patches that speed up the fans to stop the GPU getting too hot, so that they last until the machine is out of warranty.
So you might want to hold off getting that Macbook Pro until they update the machine and put a new graphics card in.
For all current Macbook Pro owners (I think there are about 3 of us :P), buy Applecare and keep it nice and cool for the time being. When it does fail, Apple will give you a new machine.