Filed under: Hardware, Macbook Pro
Litany of MacBook Pro woes
Daniel Jalkut has been writing about the noise issues with his MacBook Pro for awhile now, and he has had enough. The small problems he is having with his MacBook Pro (ordered very soon after they were announced) have become too much for him, and he hopes to convince Apple to send him a replacement unit.
He lists 10 things that are wrong with his MacBook Pro, anyone else seeing similar things with MacBook Pros purchased more recently?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Carl Trimble said 10:37AM on 4-13-2006
Mine has a "thunk" noise coming from my hard drive and at random intervals my cds eject. And my space bar only works if you hit it on the left side. But mine does share some of his issues too. I have a repair setup with apple, I just have not mailed it in yet.
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ronjon said 10:44AM on 4-13-2006
I'm tempted to pick up my first mac when a smaller macbook comes out. Given the past apple track record, should I expect the same slew of problems on that new hardware, or will the corrections and refinments carry over from what they've seen with the macbook pro?
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Patrick Haney said 11:00AM on 4-13-2006
My MacBook was purchased in February and I've had the noise problem, the flickering LCD problem and the heat problem.
A few days ago I ran into another issue, one that I haven't found anyone else mention thus far; my battery just up and died.
http://patrickhaney.com/thinktank/2006/04/11/completely-drained
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JT said 11:01AM on 4-13-2006
I do have the whining thing but it already existed on my previous PB G4.
Launching photobooth indeed kills the whining, so it's an acceptable solution when there is no sourrounding noise loud enough to cover the whining, which, in my case, is quite rare.
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DC said 11:06AM on 4-13-2006
I have a MacBook Pro, supposedly a "Rev E" model, received late March. So far it has exhibited ZERO problems, no noise, no hiss, no whines, no absurd heat (it gets warm, but no warmer than an Al G4 Powerbook). I love it.
Just wanted to balance out the people who have complaints. There are a LOT of people out there very satistfied with these units, so if you have a bad one, you should definitely talk to Apple who have already acknowledged these issues (albeit in a somewhat tacit way) and have implemented fixes in the later models.
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Will said 11:09AM on 4-13-2006
I think that you guys need to look at the big picture. How many MacBook Pro's has Apple sold? What percentage actually have problems? I realize it seems like they all do, but really they don't. I do not mean that anyone's issues are not real or important, but I don't think they are as widespread as everyone is making it out to be.
Having worked in a manufacturing enviorment, and dealt specifically with warranties, I can tell you that if even a small percentage of the product you make is defective, it is hard not to assume that it is all defective because that is all that you see. It is the squeaky wheel syndrome.
My point is there will be problems, but I really feel that Apple makes a good product, and sometimes you have these issues when you design something yourself instead of putting your label on a generic plastic box from China. (Dell & HP, I'm looking at you)
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Will said 11:10AM on 4-13-2006
How can you tell what rev you have? I just ordered one, and am curious to see what happens when I get it.
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GB said 11:14AM on 4-13-2006
Just got my MacBook on Monday, its already going to Apple service for the LCD inverter repair tomorrow when the box arrives. Whines like you can't believe when its in the midbrightness range.
Almost returned it to Apple since I believe such an expensive piece of equipment shouldn't have issues like this but I really like it, if it comes back and its still got issues it's getting returned.
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Egon said 11:21AM on 4-13-2006
I also immediately ordered my MacBookPro immediately after Jobs announced the product. I have not experienced any of these problems. The machine is quiet, it starts up fast, it may get a bit warm, but certainly not hot or any of the other issues mentioned. And I am the type of user that has tons of programs running simultaneously, such as Photoshop, Firefox, Safari, BBEdit and several more. So I am a heavy user and have a great time with it. The only issue is Rosetta and running Photoshop, which can be slow at times. But that's due to it being a heavy non-intel mac software program.
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FC said 11:24AM on 4-13-2006
How exactly do you know that it is "Rev E"? I've been meaning to buy one for a while now, but I don't want to run into these same problems.
Other than watching for comments like these, I don't think there is any way to tell when the problems have been ironed out on the production side, right? Is there something I missed? Should I just get it over with and buy one now?
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Chris said 11:24AM on 4-13-2006
"I realize it seems like they all do, but really they don't."
The genius I talked to told me the whine is normal and that all of the macbooks in the store do it. How can it not be construed as widespread?
How can a squeaky wheel get greased if the "greaser" says it's normal for the wheel to squeak?
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Jeff said 11:29AM on 4-13-2006
BRIGHT SPOTS. Does anyone else have 2 bright spots on the bottom left and right corners of their LCD?
Did you call AppleCare? What did they say?
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fcodc :: Exploding Barrels said 11:30AM on 4-13-2006
I just got one of the refurbished MacBook Pros Apple was offering (think cheaper and already repaired), and have zero problems. And it looks just like a new one! Best computer I've gotten so far.
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Chris Brunner said 11:36AM on 4-13-2006
I ordered my 2.16GHz, 2GB, 100GB 7200rpm version at the end of March here in the UK. Arrived the other day and I havent had any problems with it, apart from one slightly annoying thing: If I insert a scratched audio CD, the MacBook will read it in iTunes and come up with the tracklisting and info if connected to the internet, but when it start to copy and comes to the scratched part of the CD, it gets stuck inside the drive, wont eject, and requires mne to restart the machine before I can get it out. Seems a bit ridiculous really. Anyone else have the same problem? I mean, with one CD, there was ONE tiny scratch right on the edge of the disc and this happened...
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Gray said 11:39AM on 4-13-2006
I work in a company where two people just got MacBook Pro's. Both of them work fine with no problems.
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jh said 11:46AM on 4-13-2006
Received a 2.16 this week (serial W8614xxxxxx) and have absolutely no issues. Like all PB/MBPs, it does get warm by virtue of the entire system being a heat sink of sorts. It's not a huge secret that >some< of the earlier system batches have experienced issues, however it is just as true that there are numerous individuals with units ranging from the first pre-order shipments to present day who haven't had anything but great experiences. I would also direct people the aforementioned point about the amount of systems having problems versus the amount that have been sold.
I understand frustrations that people have with these sorts of things, however I have not heard of Apple not making right on these issues. If you have an issue, take it back until you have a unit that performs in a matter consistent with your expectations. Do keep in mind though, that these things have fans in them for a reason and that there are appropriate times for it to engage itself.
As to the REV D comments, refer to http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1584 for an explanation.
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Alan Arkin said 11:48AM on 4-13-2006
I actually had four MBPs before getting one that worked. The first had dead pixels in the center of the screen. It also had the CPU whine. I took it back and they agreed to replace it. The next one had bad VRAM and the screen was all distorted coming out of sleep. The one after that had a bad right speaker and a periodic click coming from the hard drive. The one after that was searingly hot, and then the logic board failed within 12 hours. All of these also had the CPU whine in varying degrees of intensity. Fortunately, the fifth is OK, but for what appears to be some minor warping of the case. It has no whine to speak of either.
That all being said, it is a kick ass computer. I did send a letter to Apple chronicling my plight.
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adam said 12:03PM on 4-13-2006
I have a more recent unit (received it last week)(REV F maybe?) - and have had no issues as of yet other than it getting pretty hot. No humming or weirdness going on at all. No dead pixels.. no bad speakers - no weird screen brightness, no airport issues.
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tom (dB) said 12:05PM on 4-13-2006
here http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html you can type in your Apple product's serial number and it will tell you all about it including it's manufacturing date. I'm not sure if it will tell you the MBP revision letter, because I don't have one (yet) but you should be able to work that out from the manufacturing date.
I just ordered one and am a little worried about it, but if there's something wrong I will just take it to an Apple shop and get them to replace it.
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Sam said 12:15PM on 4-13-2006
My wife bought a MacBook from the local Apple Store 6 days ago, and it's almost completely silent, the screen looks great, and it hasn't crashed yet.
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