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My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

• tsjq 5y ago
  don't Lenovo and Dell have global support / repair plans at additional cost ?
  • pqvst 5y ago
    I'm not sure to be honest. I was not aware of that as an option when I bought my previous Dell XPS around 5 years ago. Maybe things have improved now though.
  • detaro 5y ago
    Yes, the higher support levels have international options, although the details depend on where you are. (although afaik the apple-like case of "bring to service partner, have them handle it" is covered very widely, but .e.g you won't get on-site support everywhere. But well, with Apple you can't even get that in your home area, so yeah...)
  • wongarsu 5y ago
    If you pay enough (I only checked commercial ProSupport Plus[2]) you get service and support anywhere where Dell is selling that product [1], as long as you travel less than 6 Months. 1: https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-us/article/contact-information/international-support-services/dell-international-support https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-us/article/contact-... 2: https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Legal_Docs/en/us/dell-prosupport-plus-for-pcs-and-tablets-sd-en-amer.pdf https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Legal_Docs/en/us/dell-p...
  • petschge 5y ago
    Yes. I have had next-day on-site support for Thinkpads in Europa, South Africa and the US. For devices not necessarily purchased in that country. The only question I got was with a German Thinkpad in the US when the power brick failed: "Do you want the replacement with the European plug or the US plug?". Everything else was fixed promptly without any questions or issues with warranty status. And no Thinkpads don't fail that often, I just have used them for more than 20 years.
• DerekBickerton 5y ago
  I looked at this person's homepage: https://pqvst.com/ https://pqvst.com/ Looks like they use their Mac a lot judging by all the projects they're working on. I have a strategy that is common to all hackers / nerds / technophiles and that is: having multiple devices for different things. It's common to see in hacker circles: This laptop is for gaming. This other laptop is for freelancing & business. My other laptop is for toying / tinkering etc You can extend that list to probably 10 devices if you're serious enough about compartmenting your digital life. I have long since used a single device for everything that I work on.
  • WA 5y ago
    Most devs with a computer use their device 8-10 hours per day, don't you think?
  • avgDev 5y ago
    I have a gaming desktop, personal laptop(which I almost never use), and a work laptop. Why would anyone have 10 devices? That is craziness. Do you have a machine for SQL? Machine for mobile? Machine for web?
    • Macha 5y ago
      I have: * Personal workstation/gaming machine * Employer provided work laptop (MBP) * Surface Go Tablet used for reading around the house, light travel, etc. * Personal Dell laptop used for longer travel * Old desktop converted to a server for running services I always need up. * A rpi 3b used for running services I want to physically separate from the internet accessible main server. I've considered repurposing some old hardware I have laying around into a htpc type thing for gaming/emulation on my TV, but that's on hold right now due to GPU pricing. So I'm not far off 7. Other tech-heavy users may have seperate devices for their spouse/kids, or dedicated devices for specific OSes (my main workstation is a dual boot, my laptop is linux only and the tablet is windows only). So I can see a path to 10 for others.
      • mrkstu 5y ago
• obblekk 5y ago
  Interesting. I've owned macbooks since 2010 non stop and each one has last 4-5yrs, upgraded only because I wanted something faster (ending in M1 which is incredibly solid). You may be triggering some hardware failure vector given the frequent pressurization/depressurization associated with travel (particularly if you don't check in the laptop?).
  • simonklitj 5y ago
    Haven’t had anything except display issue on 2009 MB and 2019 MBP. It’s interesting to see this repair history! Also, cargo holds on typical sized passenger airplanes are pressurized too.
• kylehotchkiss 5y ago
  I've never quite seen a repair history like this! Does your MacBook get crushed inside of bag/backpack often? Subject to unusually high temperatures, cold, or sunlight? Any weird power issues at your home? Very curious :D Thule's Gauntlet cases are great but in your case, maybe a Pelican laptop box could work too.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    Haha, nope. It's perfectly fine and undamaged. I work remote a lot, coffee shops, cafes, coworking spaces, airplanes. So it moves a lot. No unusually high temperatures. I always use a soft case when I put it in my backpack for extra protection. Heat might be an issue though, especially if the laptop is hot and goes into my backpack directly. Maybe I should consider a Pelican case now that my APP has expired... and maybe install some fans as well...
    • mgkimsal 5y ago
      > especially if the laptop is hot and goes into my backpack directly. I'd found MANY times that simply closing one of the more recent MacBooks (2019?) would not actually put it to sleep. I would close it, put it in my bag, then... hours later, find it was overly hot, still running, perhaps with 10% battery left. 2008 MB, 2012 MBP, 2015 MBP - never ever had this problem. I'm sure I overheated my 2019 MBP far more often than it was designed for.
      • olyjohn 5y ago
        Back in the day, when I was working at a PC repair shop, you'd see every kind of laptop come in. People would bring in Mac laptops, and then just open the lid up on the service desk and it would wake up immediately like it was still running! After all my experience with Windows PCs, I would be shocked that people would just shut the lid and put them away. We all knew that you'd never just suspend or sleep a PC laptop and put it in your bag. It would always wake up, or not go completely to sleep, and you'd end up with a toasted laptop. Meanwhile, every single Mac brought in had no trouble sleeping. They never overheated in a bag. The Mac owners never powered them off, always just shut the lid and put them in the bag. I'd never seen one overheat in a bag. Tons of Macs would come across the service desk, and never one overheated. Nobody ever shut them down to transport them either. They would reliably suspend / sleep every time you shut the lid. Lately though, and I don't even work in a repair shop, I see Macs overheating in in other people's bags. I hear the fans soaring on them constantly. Mine doesn't suspend / resume properly either. They really aren't built as well as they used to be, IMO. I don't trust it to just sleep properly when I shut the lid, so it always gets powered off before it gets put away in a bag.
• avgDev 5y ago
  This honestly seems like a terrible machine. I own an XPS and had in-home service. I called dell and we agreed my keyboard needs to be replaced. A few days later a guy shows up at my door and replaces the keyboard. I never had to go anywhere. Obviously, the mileage might vary if you travel outside of the us. But......again....that many repairs are downright scary. There is also one anecdotal fact I want to add about apple. I have been told that apple is so amazing because they build hardware/software. I was tired of samsung bloat and only 2 years of OS updates. So, I switched.......I am having many weird bugs with the apple watch not syncing properly. Safari freezing on some sites, and some of these issues are quite widespread. I just hate people who drink the koolaid, there is a similar problem when it comes to seeking opinion about cars. Some people just become part of the cult and will go above and beyond to justify buying a certain product. I miss the old days of online nerds before "marketing" teams realized they can really advertise through social media and now you can't even tell what is real.
  • chrisseaton 5y ago
    > A few days later A few days?! Is this not a major problem for you? The author is right - a great thing about Apple is I can pop into a store in many cities around the world and just get things sorted. In some random city in another country with a conference the next day? No problem.
    • avgDev 5y ago
      No, I can just use an external keyboard. The service was normally the next day but they didn't have a keyboard for my machine available, so it needed to be shipped. No problem for me.
    • mgkimsal 5y ago
      I had a US keyboard fixed in London same day (3 hours), no charge. I didn't even have AppleCare. I was a bit surprised, although... London ... big international city - having US keyboards probably isn't out of the realm of possibility. This was... 2009(?) - things may have changed a bit over the years, but that was one of those things that stuck with me.
    • 5y ago
• S_A_P 5y ago
  I have a 2018 Macbook Pro that had 1" of the touchbar stop working. I was quoted 1500 to replace it(did not have apple care as the 4 previous macbook pros never needed it) So I instead bought a new macbook pro and gave this one to my son. 6 months later the touchbar magically fixed itself... I really really really hate the touchbar.
  • yummypaint 5y ago
    It sounds like Apple's poor build quality directly netted them an extra sale. Why build better hardware when they can cultivate brand loyalty?
  • sokoloff 5y ago
    If my touchbar stopped working, I don’t think I’d notice within three months. (I have a physical esc key.)
    • S_A_P 5y ago
      That is generally my experience except when coding, I need the F keys for that.
  • stldev 5y ago
    Same, with roughly the same ridiculous quote. 2019 MBP touchbar died just a week out of warranty. Had it have completely died I would have been happier than the persistent flickering it now does. In spite of thousands of such reported problems, my understanding is that Apple refuses to acknowledge it as a defect.
• agilob 5y ago
  My macbook from 2011 had recently a fan replaced, it cost me £10 on ebay. My ASUS and Dell (each for ~£350) from 2009 are still running, have only upgraded RAM and SSD. It's your fault for buying new Macbooks.
  • asdff 5y ago
    I'm back to my 2012 now. After the battery was on its last legs I upgraded last year to a 2020 air, figuring 8 years was a pretty good run. The air bricked itself just out of warrenty, and I'm back to the 2012 with a fresh battery (since you could still replace it yourself on these macs). Its honestly just as performant as that 2020 air since I gave it an SSD and 16gb RAM a few years ago. Not sure why I even upgraded, I'm planning on just shelling out for the repair bill then giving the 2020 laptop to my parents who are on 2006 era hand me downs still.
• azinman2 5y ago
  Headline is a bit misleading, in that it was Apple who payed for all those repairs minus the AppleCare fee.
• tekkk 5y ago
  Jesus, that sounds terrible! I feel lucky my own MBP 2015 has fared without much problems although I did drop it once it which caused the bottom cover's screws pop out one by one in half a year. Bottom cover replacement + replacing a swollen battery (which naturally requires replacing the keyboard) have been the only repairs I've had to do. And charger. I feel the charger wires could be a lot sturdier. But I hope I'll get at least 5 years more out of it. Although buying a new cool M2 MBP sounds tempting I feel for me there is no particular reason to do so. If I can run an editor, Chrome, some Docker containers and the laptop works well, I feel work-wise I'm pretty much set. Certainly the OS updates will stop at some point which conveniently will then phase out my MBP. Oh well.
  • etempleton 5y ago
    The 2015 MacBook Pro was an absolute tank for me. I recently replaced it with an M1 Air, which so far has been incredible. Dare I say the best laptop I have ever used. The keyboard is great, even better than the 2015 pro and Touch ID is great to have as well. I think Apple has learned some lessons, they fixed the keyboards, they added a physical Touch ID button, and it seems like the divisive Touch Bar is probably going to fade away, or at least be optional. I think OSX could use an update that focuses on power users and the finder, but other than that I am pretty happy with the current state of the Mac.
    • zucked 5y ago
      Agreed - I've used virtually all the variants starting back with Powerbooks. I think the 2015 MBP Retina was the most durable, reliable machine I've personally used. My only complaint is non-upgradable RAM - if it had upgradable RAM, I'd keep using mine well into the future.
• egypturnash 5y ago
  Damn, and I thought I've had to take my 13" 2016 Pro in for a lot of repairs. There's a design flaw that makes it chew through batteries every 8-16 months and I just had to have a week-long involuntary vacation while they shipped it off to a repair center in another case, where the entire top half of the case got replaced for the third time. This is the most expensive Mac I've owned in like 18y of using the things, even before I count the fact that only one of those battery replacements happened before the extended warranty ran out, and estimate the cost of several unplanned vacations. My next machine will probably be a 2022 Air; I had a succession of Intel Airs that gave me very little trouble before this battery-devouring Pro. I'm hoping their solidity has survived the transition to Apple silicon.
  • asdff 5y ago
    I think its absurd that apple stopped doing a lot of repairs in store, but still doesn't offer you a loaner computer imaged from yours. Clearly, people are using these computers for work.
  • scns 5y ago
    Charging the battery over 80% produces more heat and degradesvits lifetime, did you ran it plugged in all the time? My phones manufacturer stops at 90 but i installed an alarm to pull the plug earlier.
    • egypturnash 5y ago
      I ran it exactly the same way I ran the several Mac laptops that preceded it: unplugged in cafes, unplugged in parks, and closed while plugged into the external monitor on my desk. It’s rare for it to spend more than a couple days plugged in, even during the pandemic. The exact same usage pattern that produced a slow, multi-year decline in battery capacity in every other machine resulted in the 2016 Pro suddenly starting to shut down completely while it thought 20-60% of the battery capacity remained. SMC/PRAM resets did nothing, “recalibration” did nothing. 2016 Pros eat batteries, and while Apple acknowledged this enough to pay for one battery replacement, they’ve still hit me for an annoyingly large amount of repair cost, plus downtime, plus the annoyance of work lost due to unexpected shutdowns before I say “oh god it’s doing this again” and start getting insanely aggressive about saving.
• turtlebits 5y ago
  Sounds like a defective machine. I'm surprised Apple didn't just give them a new one after the 2nd or 3rd repair. That said, looking at the keyboard condition makes me think it was in some pretty harsh conditions. My 2012 17" keys still look almost new. I've only had a single experience where I had to repair my Mac in ~8 laptops, which was my Apple M1 aAr that died from plugging in a third party USB-C adapter (multiple reports of this happening).
  • pqvst 5y ago
    They did. I had 2 complete replacements. I'm on the third one now. It's all logged in the blog post.
  • kahrl 5y ago
    They did replace it. Twice. You should read the post.
• LeoGovender 5y ago
  Facebook logins Username = yagendreng@gmail.com Password = Alexiag123#
• sfotm 5y ago
  MacBooks are great machines, but once you need repairs for a fairly new one, you'd better hope you sprung for Apple Care. I recently had a MacBook that wouldn't start. I'm decent with computer repair and have a modest background in it, but let the safety screws dissuade me from opening it. I brought it to a repair store where they said it had water damage, which was what I anticipated. I'm guessing they saw that the humidity dots had been triggered, which were probably due to my laptop being in humid conditions at some point beforehand, as I think the water just barely got into a port via condensation from a nearby object. They called back saying that the water damage repair would come to $850 level, as they observed "significant corrosion" inside the chassis. That's maybe just under a third of what the machine costs retail, but there's not really another option at this point. Then I got it back, with all of my data in place, which struck me as odd - anything of value is soldered onto the mainboard. If there were "significant corrosion", everything would have been trashed, and the repair probably would have been much more expensive. They definitely weren't going to migrate data from the old mainboard to a new one for free, as that's a whole other racket that's enabled through these monolithically architectured machines. At the end of the day, I felt kind of ripped off and knew that if something like this were to happen again, I had no other recourse other than to give it a shot on my own. Given how clumsy I tend to be, that'll probably happen sooner rather than later, so I kind of see my machine as a liability at this point. I think I'm going to give the Framework laptop a shot, though I'll miss MacOS. PS: Had a really good time repairing a friend's 2012 MBP recently, though. With a replacement SSD, new battery, and another stick of ram, it feels like a capable machine without too much time or money sunk into it.
  • ehutch79 5y ago
    I know you used to be able to buy apple care after the fact at any point it would still be in effect
• jonplackett 5y ago
  Meanwhile my MacBook Pro from Touch wood - 2013 is still chugging along with the only issue a slightly reduced battery capacity. They don’t build ‘em like they used to.
  • asdff 5y ago
    I just replaced the battery myself in my 2012 macbook pro and I'm so happy with my battery life now, the replacement had a higher capacity than even the OEM (that apple no longer sells). A full charge with a top off during lunch lasts me a full day now. I've never seen this computer run for longer than three and a half hours, now it goes for double that.
    • TomVDB 5y ago
      2012 MacBook Pro with retina screen here too. I've replaced the battery twice, and I've had 2 SSDs going dead, but other than that it's still going strong. I love the screen, I love the keyboard, I just wish I didn't cheap out on 8MB of RAM when I bought it.
      • asdff 5y ago
        Ahh I had the nonretina screen, which is even more repairable and I was able to upgrade the 4gb of RAM it came with to 16gb down the road.
    • jonplackett 5y ago
      My 2011 was still in service too until a year or so ago, but I lent it to someone and they didn’t notice the battery swelling. It popped the track pad right out and must have damaged something else in the process because even with trackpad and battery replaced (by me with a quick YouTube tutorial, probably the last ever time I’ll ever fix an apple product myself) it still won’t turn on. RIP. You did your time.
• zzt123 5y ago
  I have a gripe with every Macbook Pro I've owned, and I've owned 4 of them over the last 10 years. They all lag when I type. I hit a key, and it takes a while before it shows up on screen. The effect is at its worst in Safari, but it shows up most everywhere else as well. Sometimes, I'll type a few letters or even words before they start showing up. Doesn't matter if I wipe the machine and reinstall, and Apple has never been able to resolve it for any of their machines I've owned. I do type faster than average, but I don't think it is humanly possible to type fast enough to make a proper computer lag. This has never been an issue on any of my concurrently owned Windows/Linux machines. Only on Mac, and on every single Mac.
  • wil421 5y ago
    The only thing that lags from time to time on my M1 is opening a Safari tab. Recently did a clean install to get rid of some 10 year Time Machine backup cruft I accrued and it's gone. I've owned 3 in the past 10 years and none of them lag when pressing a key not even my wife's white MacBook with a HD.
    • dep_b 5y ago
      Safari became unusable to me I might be a tab hoarder but I can’t be the only one. Sometimes it takes a minute to come to foreground again.
      • asdff 5y ago
        Switch to firefox, there are extensions to put tabs in the background so it feels lightweight whether you have 1 tab or 1001. All of apples reported efficiencies with safari just wash away when you compare it to the performance of firefox with tab suspension and ublock origin considering the modern web.
        • el_benhameen 5y ago
          I just wish there was some interoperability with the tab syncing and password management features in Safari. I know that isn’t on Mozilla, but having to migrate the massive iCloud database of all my passwords and give up tab syncing to my phone makes switching to Firefox a hard sell.
• mint2 5y ago
  That’s the most extreme repair run I’ve seen. Like some others have said, there could be something that’s damaging them. I know exactly what damaged my battery so that now it recommends battery service: Overheating using An external monitor and chrome tabs. The thermal management at higher cpu of this 3 year old MacBook Pro is bad but browsers are needlessly resource intensive. After about six months of ignoring how hot it was getting the battery notice started. A while later it would shut off at around 40% battery. But I still put off replacing the battery and magically after an OS update it no longer shuts off at 40%, and goes all the way down as it should. I assume the update included some throttling if the battery isn’t providing adequate current. tldr: My Mac has battery issues and I know the exact cause. There string of defects you’ve had seem statistically unlikely as pure random ones while not impossible. There may be something causing them.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• timw4mail 5y ago
  I've had several Apple laptops, and mostly just normal wear issues: - iBook - hard drive failure - White plastic Macbooks - only issue is case cracking - Late 2011? Macbook Pro - Dedicated GPU failure around the time macOS support ended, a widespread issue at the time - Retina Macbook Pro - No issues - M1 Macbook Air - No issues Keyboard issues are really common with that generation of Mac Laptops, and the screen issue is something I've heard of. All those issues together, though...that's a load of lemons.
• pier25 5y ago
  It's absolutely ridiculous that Macs don't come with a 3 year warranty by default. I've bought maybe a dozen macs in the last 15 years (for myself and the family) and while some have lasted many years without issues, some have died on me on the second or third year. Because the initial investment is so high you're practically forced to add extra Apple Care to protect it because there's a 20-30% chance you will have problems during those first years. And don't get me started on design issues and recalls which take years. When my 2011 MBP died because of Radeongate it took Apple 2 years to start a recall and replace the GPU. The honest thing to do would have been to take the machine and offer 60% of its value in credit towards a new Mac. Instead, Apple replaced the GPU on a machine that was already a couple of gens behind and I couldn't sell without practically giving it away because (rightfully) nobody wanted the 15'' 2011 models. That MBP was probably the worst investment of my life.
  • Macha 5y ago
    In the EU, there's a _seller_ obligation for 2 years for items in the same class as laptop to ensure they are free from defects and fit for purpose. It won't help you if _you_ break your laptop, and after 6 months the burden of proof in the event of a dispute switches from the seller to the buyer, but I feel like pretty much all the issues the OP encountered would be covered under this. A lot of add on warranties don't cover much more than this anyway, which makes them much harder to justify here.
  • asdff 5y ago
    My macbook air died one month out of the yearlong warranty. In their troubleshooting at the apple store they managed to wipe the device and still couldn't breath life into it or figure out what happened. >$400 flat rate repair and they didn't even offer me a loaner in the mean time while the computer was mailed off. I would think apple could compete on customer service with the shade tree mechanic and their loaner car but I guess not.
    • morcheeba 5y ago
      I had the opposite experience. My macbook air battery was dying, so I paid the $129 to replace it. When I got the computer back, it wouldn't charge. So, they replaced the motherboard. I got it back and it still wouldn't charge - so they handed me a brand-new next-gen macbook air. Inconvenient, sure, but exceeded my expectations. I've found they've been generous with battery replacements.
• riffic 5y ago
  Apple is basically the BMW of computers at this point. it's a shame, it would be nice to go back to a point where there was more quality/durability inherent in the product.
  • asdff 5y ago
    2012 macbook pro is basically like an e30 series bmw. Completely workable with common tools. I've gone into this computer for repairs or hardware upgrades over the years a dozen times by now and thanks to its repairability and performance with updated components I am still using it today.
    • zsmi 5y ago
      Interesting. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2012+Teardown/9462 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+D... "MacBook Pro with Retina Display 15" Mid 2012 Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)"
      • asdff 5y ago
        Mine is the 2012 model before the retina display. Phillips head screws everywhere instead of the pentalobe. Open the case and you have access to everything. Battery can be replaced in 2 minutes. Hard drive in 1 minute. RAM in 30 seconds. Trackpad another 2 minutes after pulling battery. I even took out my optical drive and installed another hard drive in the bay since its SATAIII on that model. Then they came out with the retina mac and glued and soldered almost all of the above.
        • zsmi 5y ago
          Gotcha. That one did do significantly better. It's interesting to compare that machine to today's. 5.6lbs vs today's 16" at 4.3lbs. 2012 is 0.93" thick and today's is 0.64". I suppose, based on this datapoint, we can say there is something like a ~25% mechanical overhead for "repairability" then. "MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2012 Repairability Score: 7 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)." https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Teardown/9515 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+...
• jasongill 5y ago
  > After speaking to a friend, they told me I had probably received a “lemon” unit (i.e. faulty from the beginning). To be honest, I’m not quite sure where the term comes from. The term comes from the automobile industry, where a "lemon" is a new car that has some kind of issue so severe that it cannot be reasonably repaired under warranty and the buyer can try to seek a refund or replacement vehicle. Wikipedia says that the term originally comes from early 20th century slang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile)
  • mixmastamyk 5y ago
    https://www.etymonline.com/word/lemon https://www.etymonline.com/word/lemon lemon (n.2) "worthless thing, disappointment, booby prize," 1909, American English slang; from lemon (n.1), perhaps via a criminal slang sense of "a person who is a loser, a simpleton," perhaps an image of someone a sharper can "suck the juice out of." A pool hall hustle was called a lemon game (1908); while to hand someone a lemon was British slang (1906) for "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one." Or it simply may be a metaphor for something which leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Specific sense of "second-hand car in poor condition" is by 1931. "You won't get a lemon… from Toyota of Orange." :-D
• dougifresh94 5y ago
  regarding “lemon” unit (i.e. faulty from the beginning). To be honest, I’m not quite sure where the term comes from. - It's origins are pretty interesting: https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2016/12/02/origin-of-lemon-law/ https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2016/12/02/origin-of-lemo...
  • pqvst 5y ago
    Hah, thanks!
• theonlybutlet 5y ago
  Don't know what they're like these days but my 2011 Lenovo Thinkpad works great! Solid laptop, replaced the keyboard once aside from that still going strong.
  • deltarholamda 5y ago
    Maybe it has something to do with the year 2011. My 2011 Macbook Pro 13" is still alive and kicking. With max 16GB RAM and replacing the spinning rust with an SSD, it's remarkably nimble as well. It's done a lot of travelling, and I've replaced the battery 3 times due to battery life going down too far. I finally upgraded to an M1 Macbook Air, which is also really nice, but the number of miles on that old axe was impressive. I still have it, and the kids use it for various school things. My only complaint is it is now at EOL for OS updates.
    • theonlybutlet 5y ago
      That's great, think my next move will be the M1 MacBook. Perhaps cliché but may be worth trying Linux on there now, elementary OS or something, everyone mostly just use the browser anyway.
    • thanksforfish 5y ago
      Same MacBook, same SSD upgrade. I haven't replaced the battery, I tend to stay near an outlet anyway. Debian and Ubuntu work great on it, so I moved off OSX.
  • _Anima_ 5y ago
    My company provides either MacBook or Lenovo (I have a t480s and just received a t14s). I have yet to hear someone having an issue with their Lenovo (most run Fedora). Not sure about MacBooks reliability. The weak point of Lenovo seem to be the thunderbolt docking stations. Mine worked perfectly on the t480s but is unreliable with the t14s and IT support told me they are overwhelmed with docking station issues.
• sylens 5y ago
  This is why I've always been so reluctant to drop big money on a Macbook. I feel like I'm chained to that AppleCare, whereas on a PC I can probably try to service it myself
• natch 5y ago
  After AppleCare expires Apple caps the user cost of hardware repairs per visit to some number they look up in a per-model table that presumably varies over time. It appears the author doesn’t know this as they seem quite nervous about losing coverage. In my case I got a keyboard / top cover, logic board, and battery all replaced for $400 and change, on a 6.5 year old machine well out of AppleCare. They only do this while the model is not considered obsolete, and they have more discretion to do things in your favor if your initial purchase was made directly through Apple, and if you previously had AppleCare on the device, even if it is expired. In the US, after five years they declare your device obsolete. Or after seven years in some states in the US (edit: in cases where it is required to be that long by state law). Then after that, your only repair options are DIY or third party. Also if there is a repair done by Apple at any time, in or out of AppleCare, that repair itself is warrantied for 90 days. And if an issue was put on the record in Apple’s support system for your device before AppleCare expired, it can still be covered even if it is brought in for repair after AppleCare expired.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    Interesting. Indeed, I wasn't aware of that. But I wonder if the capped repair cost is only available in the US, or if it's a global thing. There seem to be some differences between US and ex-US when it comes to Apple support.
    • natch 5y ago
      Yes I would not be surprised if it is US only.
• feifan 5y ago
  Empirically, the 2016–2020 MacBook Pros seem to be relatively unreliable. My 2016 would frequently have wake-from-sleep problems, occasional kernel panics, and fried its logic board with a pop after about 3 years. My 2019 thermal-throttles every day, kernel panics a few times a month, and has a battery that just gives up under load. Meanwhile my 2019 Mac Pro (tower) is probably the most rock-solid reliable computer I've ever used. Months of uptime, never has sleep/wake problems, and only one kernel panic in the 1.5 years I've had it.
  • ganoushoreilly 5y ago
    I agree, though i've had some minor issues with big sur and third party (OWC) SSD PCIE devices on my mac pro. Once I removed the cards things were solid. Prior to big sur no issues were abound. Once I upgraded i found sleep didn't work appropriately and bootcamp was a non-starter as well.
  • okprod 5y ago
    My MBP Retina 2013 has been going strong in various environments, not babied at all.
    • cronix 5y ago
      Same here. It's what I'm typing this on. The only thing I've done is replace the battery about a year ago. 7 years was a good run. Works 100% as well as the day I bought it and the last Apple product I've purchased. Took 10 minutes from walk-in to walk-out at a non-Apple branded Mac repair store for 70% of the price using the identical official replacement battery. No appointment.
      • amatecha 5y ago
        Yeah, I have a 2013 MBP as well, and it has been problem-free. The battery still lasts hours! I think it's because I almost always used it plugged-in, so the battery has a very very low cycle count. I am SUPER impressed with how well the machine has lasted, considering my heavy usage of it!
• ardit33 5y ago
  The 2016 - 2020 Macbook Pros have been lemons, especially the 2016 - 2019 years My 2018 had: 1) Catastrophic hardrive failure, just one month after the 1 year warranty. I lost everything (I had some back ups somewhere). This was a common issue with their controller, that failed, yet I still had to pay for it (later it was recalled). 2. Keyboard starting failing, with one shift key coming out completely, and some keys with registering repetitive/duplicate keystrokes and key fading. I had to buy an external keyboard to use with it, and carry i with me. 3. The battery completely failed. To the point that can't hold on more than 1min without shutting down without power, turning basically into a desktop. I bought an external battery (Anker), which is the only way I can use it outside. I don't want to send my laptop to fix these issues, as they will take a week or two, and I need my computer for work. I am waiting for the new redesigned macbook pro coming out, and I will buy that, and send this for repairs. (the keyboard had a recall, and a free repair). I thinking with the m1 laptops Apple is turning the corner, but it is risking to become like Alfa Romeo, or Land Rover brand. Building beautiful machines, and with poor reliability and that break down randomly and expensive to maintain.
• sys_64738 5y ago
  Trigger's Broom?
• jccc 5y ago
  "2 complete laptop replacements" "Factoring in the cost of the complete replacements, it would be closer to 10,000 USD!" I'm not sure how this $10,000 sum works unless you're saying you still have all three MacBook Pros rather than returning the first two. I would assume the first two were returned to Apple and refurbished, not just immediately destroyed?
  • TrickyRick 5y ago
    It's the equivalent cost of purchasing that same laptop I guess? The old one is probably broken and written off.
    • jccc 5y ago
      Right, but the idea is that Apple has lost ~$10,000 to support his MacBook Pro. That doesn't seem to add up to me.
• coldtea 5y ago
  Well, mine had 0$ in repairs for 4 years I've had it. So it looks like YMMV. Poster had "2 complete replacements" (so 3 laptops in total) and they still had problems?
• tossaway9000 5y ago
  Since 2016 I've gone through: 1 Macbook Air (stopped booting one day...) 1 iMac (Became unusably slow) 2 Macbook Pros (One stopped booting, one had keyboard issues and a swollen battery preventing the lid from closing) and am on my 3rd Macbook Pro now which is plagued with the keyboard issues... Meanwhile I have an E500 Thinkpad from 2011 that still runs like a champ and has been abused more than any of the Macbooks. I'm not buy any more Macbooks to say the least...
  • JoBrad 5y ago
    I've had a Lenovo X1 Carbon for the past 3 years, and it's been the best computer I've ever used. It's ridiculously light, rock solid physically, and still performs fast enough to handle most of the work I throw at it. I am getting a MBP, and while I'm looking forward to the change, I plan to hold onto my Lenovo.
• dclowd9901 5y ago
  I have a 2015 mbp and it’s required one major repair, the SDD going belly up. I’ve been very happy with it and dread when I will eventually have to replace it for something faster. My work machine is a 2019 and I’ve had nothing but trouble with those units (this is my 3rd one in three years). I don’t know what’s happened with these things. They used to be bullet proof. I can’t say the same anymore.
• yawaworht1978 5y ago
  In defense of apple, i have an 8 year old Mac tower and a 2 year old laptop, neither had a single issue besides the occasional memory limit spinner. I used both extensively for work. Can't say the same for my windows machines and I am a bit of a windows fan.
• dingosity 5y ago
  Your MBP had 10K USD in repairs. Your point?
• robertlf 5y ago
  As long as we're having a big bitch-fest here, I'll throw in my $.02. Other than expanding batteries, my laptops have generally been trouble-free. But the problem I do have is that the older my MBP, the slower it becomes when I upgrade the OS. When I upgraded my 2015 to Big Sur last year, it essentially became unusable because it ran so slowly. It now sits in my closet. Apple should stop nagging you to upgrade the OS if your hardware wasn't built to support the newer versions. Just give us security updates and leave the rest alone. I think that would make a lot of users happy.
  • amelius 5y ago
    Put Linux on it.
    • amatecha 5y ago
      Yeah, I got a 2009 MacBook Pro for free (or like $10 or something, I forget), and it's now running the latest FreeBSD. BSD, GNU/Linux and other open source OSes typically run great on MacBooks, and give them new life. Try it out!
      • jwdunne 5y ago
        Exact same situation. Couldn’t upgrade macOS whatsoever and it was slow as anything. Whacked Ubuntu on there and it’s running as good as new, outside of slow disk reads.
        • amatecha 5y ago
          Yeah! I actually dropped an old secondhand SSD in mine and it makes a huge difference. You'd never guess the machine is over a decade old other than the slightly bulkier form-factor and mediocre resolution, haha (and in fact I actually really like the keyboard compared to newer models!)
          • handrous 5y ago
            The newer butterfly keyboards got all the bad press (for good reason) but a while back I had to use one of the early aluminum models from when they were still thick enough to hold disc drives, for the first time in many years, and damn, I'd forgotten just how much worse the original slim driveless models' keyboards were, than those. Those were basically perfect, for a laptop.
• ruleryak 5y ago
  This reads like a cult member dismissing abuse while attempting to recruit to their cult.
• AzN1337c0d3r 5y ago
  I had a 2016 that got the keyboard replaced 7 times before they upgraded me to a 2017 on which I replaced the keyboard 5 more times before I gave up and sold it. Each time they replaced the top-case which includes the entire battery assembly, touchbar, speakers. Valued at $800 just for the parts each time. That's $9600 for everyone keeping score. I called Apple's bluff on saying their keyboards are reliable.
• samgranieri 5y ago
  My personal MBP is a 2015 that I bought that summer. I had to have the screen replaced that fall and last summer I had the battery replaced for $200. I have a keyboard cover and a plastic case around the laptop to keep it safe. No problems. It basically just sits around my house. I got a 2016 MBP for work back in 2018 and that one also had a keyboard cover and a plastic shell around it. This one I schlepped all over the Chicago area to and from work. I used to use the keyboard on it all day, then switched to an external keyboard. That one was basically plugged into thunderbolt dock all day long. That one worked fine, up until last winter when the battery would not take a charge. I was given a 2018 MBP and that one works just fine. Sits on my desk with attached to a thunderbolt dock.
• armchairhacker 5y ago
  Honestly I have a 2015 MacBook Pro and it’s still working very well. Previously I had a 2012 or 2013 (I forget) and it worked well up until a couple years ago. I also have a 2012 iMac which i think still works ok, but i replaced the hard drive with an SSD. When it still had an HDD it was incredibly slow, like it took over 10min to start up and 1min to do simple things, I thought it was broken.
• jcpst 5y ago
  I must have gotten lucky, or this thread is a concentration of the unlucky. Used my 2004 12” PPC until 2013. My 2010 mini is still the brain of my recording studio. The 2018 MBP is use for work is fine. I’ve yet to take a machine into an apple store. Part of why I’ve used apples for audio work is I get so many years out of them. The first studio I worked in had a 9 year old G3 in the B room. I use Linux for recreational software development, so I wonder if dev work on a mac correlates with more issues.
• sangd 5y ago
  I have a 2015 Macbook Pro 15. I had a swelling battery issue twice. My Macbook wasn't part of the battery recall but it had the exact same issue detailed in the recall. The first time I had to call the customer service and in the end they let me be part of the program and replaced it for the 1st time. The replacement also included a screen replacement that cost $400+. The total cost was ~$600. However, after exactly 12 months, the battery was swelling again and it wasn't covered any longer because it has passed a few days when I called in. Then I recently I have both of the Macbook speakers broke and made lots of static sound. It would cost ~$300 to replace them. I'm debating whether I should just buy a new M1 or wait for another M1X coming. Having & maintaining a Macbook is costly over years. It does break just as often or even more often than my Dell Latitude. And the cost to fix is often in the 5x-10x range.
• ubermonkey 5y ago
  VERY misleading headline. The article makes clear all the costs were covered by AppleCare, so the story here is (a) he got a lemon, which happens in literally every product category and (b) the vendor stood behind the product and took care of him. So I'm honestly not sure what the point of this post is. The only laptops I've had that have handled the high-travel workload I traditionally subjected mine to remotely as well as Apple were pre-Lenovo ThinkPads. The keyboard thing was distressing, but it happened entirely between purchases for me so I didn't directly experience it; however, a good chunk of the outrage over it was precisely because of how rock-solid the products had traditionally been.
  • Johnny555 5y ago
    I wasn't mislead, his story is pretty much what I thought it would be -- I didn't think that someone would pay out of his own pocket repair costs that are 3X what the laptop cost to buy new. I'm kind of surprised at the number of problems he's had, my 2018 MPB has has zero issues, despite a lot of travel in addition to bouncing around my bike's pannier on the way to work. The battery life is getting pretty short, but since I've been WFH for the past 18 months, staying close to a charger isn't an issue, no need to go to crowded meeting rooms where I can't plug in.
  • JoBrad 5y ago
    My take is that the article is about this person's reliability issues with their MBP. Regardless of which party actually paid for the repairs, the fact that so many repairs/replacements were required doesn't speak well for Apple.
    • ubermonkey 5y ago
      Well, maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. Literally every manufacturer of anything complex is going to have customers whose whole experience goes sideways for whatever reason. You can't take away from this story that "gee, Apple has a quality problem" if the broad market doesn't experience the same kinds of failures. Honestly, with this sequence of events one wonders if there's just something about this GUY. My experience is that Apple makes the best laptops I've ever used short of glory-days-of-IBM Thinkpads. Observed reliability in our org is that they perform DRASTICALLY better than equivalently high-end Dells or whatever.
• gambiting 5y ago
  >>Swedish customer support they informed me there was no way to get a repair outside of Sweden, since that’s where I had bought the laptop. That's odd, I've had my UK-bought XPS repaired in Poland without any issue, just rang dell customer service and a local engineer came over the next day and replaced the motherboard on the living room table. It wasn't ever questioned that the laptop wasn't bought in Poland.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    It was quite a few years ago now, so I don't remember the details exactly. It might have been something specific about it being a battery issue. In any case, I remembering spoking to both customer support in Sweden and Japan and was informed that I couldn't get it repaired in Japan.
    • gambiting 5y ago
      It's entirely possible that the issue wasn't being out of Sweden, it was being out of Europe. I think Dell warranties are region specific.
  • cja 5y ago
    I was going to write exactly this! Bought XPS in UK in 2017 and repaired in Poland in 2018.
• selimnairb 5y ago
  Honestly, I suspect that lot of the slowdowns that people see in ~4+ year old Macs, iPads, or iPhones is in large part due to degradation in flash storage, especially in ca. 2013 MacBook Pros where the flash modules were still kind of shitty. This is all the more reason why Pro-level Macs should not have soldered on SSDs. The original poster switched to a MacBook Pro at a bad time. The 2016/2017 machines were lousy. The 2019 models are better, but still not as good as the 2015. I think with the addition of the T1/T2 chip and BridgeOS, the machines got too complicated. Add in the poor thermals of the overly thin case, and the relatively high TDP of the discrete GPUs, and it is a recipe for un-reliability. I hope that the new AppleSilicon-based MacBook Pros will solve all of these problems. (and it will be a bonus of they back away from the USB-C only cliff.)
• Mikeb85 5y ago
  I'm curious why anyone would buy an Apple laptop with all the stories about unreliability in this thread... I've had 2 laptops in the last ~11 or so years. A ThinkPad (trucked along worry-free for years) and a relatively cheap Acer Swift 3 (AMD Ryzen APU) which I still use to this day, worry-free. I don't think I've ever actually taken any device in for repair, ever, yet somehow in this thread there's a ton of anecdotes.
  • rip_netrunner 5y ago
    shhh... this is a thread for b*tching about problems, not actually doing anything about them ;)
• snow_mac 5y ago
  I started on Mac in 2007, in 3 years I had 4 logic boards and hard drive failures. It was a White Macbook plastic edition. I was so impressed with the warranty in spite of the crappy heating issues, I later bought a Macbook Pro all metal edition. I got the 3 year warranty then and used it once when my logic board overheated. After that I held it for nearly 10 years until I replaced it last year.
• chrisballinger 5y ago
  You can now renew your AppleCare+ on eligible iPhones, iPads and Macs at a monthly/yearly rate after the 2-3 year coverage period expires as long as you do it within 30 days of expiration: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210580 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210580 Would highly recommend extending for a laptop needing this many repairs.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    Only in the US afaik...
• hinkley 5y ago
  I want an electrician to inspect the circuits you’re plugging into. Sometimes it’s not the electronics.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    The USB port fried while I was staying at a hotel. Might have been something fishy there...
  • snazz 5y ago
    If the author has kept the same power supply/charger this whole time, it's certainly possible that that could be a lemon too.
• js2 5y ago
  WTF. I've owned dozens of Apple computers over the years, starting with an Apple II and then a IIgs, on through many generations of Macs: LC, iMacs, powermacs, powerbook, Macbook Airs and Pros. I've recommended Mac laptops to at least a dozen family members. In all this time, I can think of three failures: - An iMac that had a bad GPU. Known issue. - Ditto with an MBP. - Recently, an MBA that had the system board go bad such that it would throttle the CPU to 100%. That's it. Apple took care of two of those via warranty. The third, the iMac was way out of warranty but my dad fixed it himself by reflowing the graphics board in an oven. I've also replaced a few batteries, but those are consumables and they didn't fail prematurely.
• 0xFACEFEED 5y ago
  I'm still holding on to my 15-inch 2014 MBP. I've been using it for work daily going on 7 years now. Never taken it into service. It just keeps going... Fingers crossed for the new MBPs this year. I'm planning on finally retiring this beautiful machine if the new MBP looks good.
• tkiolp4 5y ago
  Anecdote: I bought my MBP 2015 model 15 inch in 2016. It’s my only laptop and still works like the first time (battery cycle: around 600/1000). Zero problems. Still on Catalina, though. I removed like half of the stock software that came with it (e.g., Garage band). Having said this, I’m looking forward to the new MBP model coming this year.
• j1vms 5y ago
  What might be interesting to consider is quality control in the various eras of Apple (e.g. 70/80s Steve Jobs, 80/90s Sculley, 2010s Cook). Of course, keeping in mind that Cook-era Apple is operating on a more massive scale (product shipped, wider distribution, more product lines).
• throwawaymanbot 5y ago
  all by design!!! Nickle and diming your for peripherals was the red herring to keep you from noticing that increased build quality issues made them way more money.
• kureikain 5y ago
  I had a macbook pro 2013 which has never had any issue and still going strong as my primary jenkins worker node. the controller node is in cloud. After that I had 3 macbook pro 2017-2018 all with keyboard, screen and power issue. I went on a M1 and it has been great so far. I see no reason to use a Mac unless I have to do iOS/Mac OS works. I hope for day where we can do Mac dev on Linux at that point I don't have to deal with this whole Mac fiesta anymore
• newbie2020 5y ago
  I can believe it. Our company has to replace multiple MacBook pros per week due to butterfly keyboard or battery bulge issues. How the mighty have fallen.
  • FabHK 5y ago
    The 2016 MBPs (Touch Bar, butterfly keyboard, Intel) are bad, but I hope they were an aberration. The M1 MBA is fantastic.
• trangus_1985 5y ago
  I bought a new high end thinkpad (i forget, it was a few years ago). The display was clearly defective, serious dark spots. Lenovo held a firm line that I would have to send it in and wait 3 weeks for a replacement. New out of the box. They tried to change their tune when I asked for a refund but I was finished dealing with their support "quality" - imagine the level of support that would happen if something broke outside of the return period! Anyways, I bought a Razer blade, and got some of the worst support in my life. I actually got accused of lying on the phone by the support agent! My next laptop will probably be a dell or surface - their in house repair service is supposedly extremely good. > At first, Apple informed me that they couldn’t replace the unit and would instead offer to repair it. However, considering I had almost just received it, and experienced issues from day one, I was able to convince them to give me a brand new unit instead.
  • titledlee 5y ago
    Interesting, i've always had the experience with Apple that if it was within the 2 week or 30 day(im too lazy to go check) period of having received the device, if there was any issue at all, they'd basically just give you a new one on the spot / take a refund and just buy the exact same model. Edit: YMMV, i might just have been lucky and been dealt with by a very kind apple employee
• Symbiote 5y ago
  > During a longer trip to Japan my battery started to swell, significantly. ... once I returned to Sweden He took a swollen battery on an aircraft?!
• nicholasjarr 5y ago
  My 2017 MBP with Touchbar had keyboard issues (some keys popped out; replaced the whole keyboard), battery problems (it expanded and I replaced it, but it is expanding again), and screen issues (pretty sure is a thermal issue; after some hours of use the bottom of the screen started to went black to the point of being impossible to use and I had to stop using it and wait some hours to the black bars disappear). Pretty sure this is my last MBP. Edit: typo
• ksec 5y ago
  >2017-06-07 - Purchased my First MacBook Pro >2017-07-31 - Lemon Unit >Unfortunately, since day one, my laptop was randomly freezing and getting random kernel panics. Memory issues? Welcome to onboard memory. >2017-08-19 - First Complete Replacement >I was able to convince them to give me a brand new unit instead. Phew! Only because the author bought Apple Care. Without it the standard procedure were to fix it. >2017-10-12 - Enter Key Stopped Working Key stopped working? Oh people have been complaining since 2016. And Macrumors and 9to5Mac Apple apologist still to this day call it a minor issue that blown out of proportion. And the whole issue only got noticed once a writer wrote a hit piece and YouTuber reporting similar issues which their video and clips going in total 20M+ views. i.e Apple only acted when the PR was bad enough. Sounds familiar? >2017-11-23 - Sleep Issues and Crashes >2018-01-13 - Overheating and Pink Screen Quite common if you watch Louis Rossmann Channel. And the Screen was the cable being too short an inflexible. >2018-02-14 - Logic Board Replacement >2018-04-27 - Broken Speaker Again, a well known problem on MacBook since even before the 2016 MacBook. A blown speaker. What is strange is that Logic Board replacement usually replace the speaker as well. >2018-06-11 - Fan and Top-Case Replacement And the Fan and Top Case replacement dont actually replace the speaker. ( In the usual sense ) >2018-08-02 - Second Complete Replacement Again thanks to Apple Care. >2018-09-20 - Migrating my AppleCare Protection Plan >However, Apple said that I could instead buy a new plan on the new laptop, and get a refund for my unused period on my old laptop. That is because you now get to buy an additional two year Apple Care. Welcome to Services Revenue era. >2019-03-23 - Exploded USB Ports Exploded USB-C / Thunderbolt Ports? Hello? This was so common I would even consider it a flaw in design. Compared to Magsafe which has 0.00000001% of this happening, HN still prefer to use USB-C. But every time I mentioned this on HN I got downvoted into oblivion. As if it didn't happen. >2019-08-19 - Sticky Keys That was actually under the Apple Keyboard replacement programme. Not Apple Care. >2021-08-19 - AppleCare Protection Plan Expired! Imagine if you didn't have Apple Care? >As much as I don’t want to buy another Mac in the future, I have a feeling that I probably will. I’m eager to try out the 2nd generation M1 macs when they eventually get released. There simply isn't another company competing with Apple. So despite all of its flaws, Apple is still one of the best if not the best. That is the sad state we are in inside the PC industry.
• dariosalvi78 5y ago
  More than the support, what's impressive is that what is considered a high-end product needs so much assistance in 4 years. I have changed 3 MacBook pros in the past 5 years, all broken beyond the possibility of use, and because of defects. In contrast, the cheapest laptop I have bought, an EeePC lasted more than 10 years.
• bserge 5y ago
  You have a lemon and should've thrown it under a bus a long time ago.
• sam0x17 5y ago
  > There are some other interesting options out there, like the Framework Laptop or System76. I do also like the look of a Dell XPS or Thinkpad, but I don’t trust those companies to provide global support. I will say, Lenovo for one is really good at global support if you get their better plans. That said of those choices I'd definitely lean towards the System76. They are solid as hell. Been using mine for the last year.
• millzlane 5y ago
  I would not buy a Macbook under no circumstance until apple changes the requirement of needing to connect it to their proprietary configuration system to verify the repair and parts have been setup in their internal service repair portal. Dell on the other hand can be fixed, all on your own, with no support from dell. Other then the disassembly instructions that they will gladly give you in the owners manual. Try to get disassembly instructions from apple as a consumer. Go ahead, I'll wait.
• abotsis 5y ago
  My experience: Apple has been amazing. I bought a previous gen mbp from bhphoto that was heavily discounted. It arrived and was DoA. I brought it into an Apple store and they gave me the latest gen and discounted the money I paid bhphoto and split the difference with me. To top it off, I got an extra charger. A year and a month later, the logic board needed replaced, they did that too. Another year later the battery was swollen, and they replaced that for free also.
• CrendKing 5y ago
  > As much as I don’t want to buy another Mac in the future, I have a feeling that I probably will. If my laptop has 13 repairs over the first 2 years of use (and under "very well treatment"), I would consider the laptop a scam and never buy from that manufacturer. But since the machine got an Apple logo on it, somehow all the problems become material for praising their repair services. If this is not symptom of Stockholm (wink to author) syndrome, I don't know what is. I still have my 2010 ThinkPad from Lenovo, which, besides of a broken audio jack and completely drained battery, is completely fine. Everything else works as 10 years ago. Of course this is anecdotal, but wouldn't any of you prefer a laptop without issue to worry about than one with tons of issues but getting free and fast repairs? Good repair service shouldn't be excuse to shitty quality of the hardware and software.
  • pqvst 5y ago
    The only thing keeping me on a Mac is some of my work which is iOS/macOS development. Unfortunately I haven't found a good workaround for this.
    • danuker 5y ago
      Simple: work in Android/PC development instead.
  • AnonHP 5y ago
    I think hardware quality is overall good with Apple, but sometimes there are rough patches over years where widespread problems are neither acknowledged nor solved. One such patch, which I fortunately managed to avoid, was from 2016 or so till now. It remains to be seen how good the Apple Silicon Macs work over the next several years.
  • danuker 5y ago
    I have a 7-year old Asus laptop, the lowest price/performance I could find in 2014. Same experience. It has one faulty USB port, and the battery is getting weak. Over its lifetime I did watch the temperature, and clean it about once every two years. Other than that, it is only due to software slowing down that I bought a beefier desktop for work. No returns or repairs needed. I also think Apple hardware is a joke. Check out Louis Rossmann on YouTube. I am linking one of his videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8
• lukelunchbox 5y ago
  Sounds like you just got a lemon. I've never once had to revisit Apple for any of my Macbook pros.
• tyingq 5y ago
  >After speaking to a friend, they told me I had probably received a “lemon” unit I like the fact that Citroën means lemon in Dutch.
• andrewmunsell 5y ago
  One option I my take advantage of when my current Apple Care plan expires is to switch it to a monthly plan. You can then get indefinite support, for a cost of course. But at least accidental damage would be covered as well, so it's a sort of insurance policy. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210580 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210580
  • pqvst 5y ago
    Unfortunately this is only available in a very small subset of countries.
• brailsafe 5y ago
  I'm surprised anyone has a good repair experience. I've had a hilarious amount repairs and complete replacements over the last 6 years (before then, not much), and now most Apple stores need to ship the mac away for at least 7 days to get it inspected. Fuck. That. It was the case even in LA when I was stopping through on a road trip.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  I always get AppleCare. I treat my computers well, but ride them hard. They are running hot, maybe 14-16 hours a day. They earn their keep. I’ll be getting an M1X/M2, when those come out.
• 8bitsrule 5y ago
  I bought an iMac from their store for $1400 (15 years ago). Invested big in their software. The HD was unreliable from day 1. Three months after their warranty expired, the screen started crapping out. Hundreds of people complained of it on their forums; the response was erasing the complaints. Two years later they admitted the problem.
• npunt 5y ago
  These models were problematic but I have a hunch with this many issues there may be a separate variable like problems w the power supply or the power itself (spikes, dips, etc). Bad power can wreck electronics.
• crawsome 5y ago
  2017-06-07 - Purchased my First MacBook Pro a1706? Terrible model.
• FpUser 5y ago
  3 years old HP OMEN 15 gaming laptop, 9 years old ASUS G75VW gaming laptop - zero problems and zero repairs. On G75 I've upgraded hard drives to SSDs and installed 32GB RAM instead of original 16. But nothing ever broke. My even older ASUS G73 is still being used by my friend (I gave it to him few years ago). I guess the author of the article attracts bad luck somehow.
• luke2m 5y ago
  Buy a ThinkPad. Problem solved.
• kangaroozach 5y ago
  I had the same machine but with 1tb ssd. I also had to replace top case, logic board, battery, motherboard etc… all paid by apple care. Since then it was fine for a year until I finally sold it on eBay last month.
• neurostimulant 5y ago
  Posts like these make me afraid of upgrading my macbook. Every time apple released a new macbook, I would wait to see how reliable it is, and eventually got discouraged when I see a lot of people complains about various issues. I ended up still using my 2012 macbook due to this, though with upgraded ram, ssd and battery replacement. The M1 has significantly less people complaining about hardware issue, so maybe it's finally the time to upgrade as my 2012 no longer receive major macos updates anymore.
  • trenchgun 5y ago
    At least Macbook Air M1 does not have a fan, so you would not need a fan replacement in any case.
• reph2097 5y ago
  I repair thede devices for a living. They all have the same funny issues. But fanboys gonna fanboy. Won't complain, more work for me.
• hda111 5y ago
  What happened to Mac build quality? Still using my 2015 MacBook Pro with only one repair (swelling battery). The cost was ~300€ if I remember correctly.
• akmarinov 5y ago
  Guess we’re sharing how our Macbooks do I got a rMBP 2012, used it daily for work for 7 years - never had any issues. Got a MBP 15” 2019, used it for 2 years so far - no issues. Got a MBA M1 day 1 - no issues so far.
• ne0codex 5y ago
  Interesting take at the end, I wouldn't necessarily call it a Win about AppleCare coverage, it only highlights all sorts of issues which are becoming increasingly common on Macs. Logic board and full unit replacements should not be commonplace.