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My 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen repair cost was $809. Supervisor refused the waive the fee. The screen cracked for no apparent reason and then completely stopped w

My 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen repair cost was $809. Supervisor refused the waive the fee. The screen cracked for no apparent reason and then completely stopped working. Some firm already filed a class action complaint, and I submitted my details: https://classlawdc.com/2021/08/04/m1-macbook-screen-crack-investigation/ https://classlawdc.com/2021/08/04/m1-macbook-screen-crack-in...

umvi 4y ago
> My 14" M1 MacBook Pro repair cost was $809 My custom Ryzen 7/RX 570 Linux PC built from parts cost less than this, so a repair of this magnitude just boggles my mind. At that point just buy yourself a new computer.
- wtallis 4y ago
  Is a desktop whose price doesn't include any display really the best comparison you could come up with for a discussion of laptop display repairs?
  - brewdad 4y ago
    The beauty of the desktop is that you can buy a display that fits your budget and needs. A desktop monitor that's equal to a typical 1080 laptop display can be had for $150. If you need something better, you can spend more but very few people will need to spend more than $500. If it breaks, you plug in a new one at 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the laptop repair with the only downtime being how long it takes to drive to the store.
    - acdha 4y ago
      This is like saying that you don’t think formalwear is a good deal because your Costco jeans are more durable. Desktops are great, I heartily recommend using them instead of laptops for most people, but it’s not especially revelatory to point out that laptops make design trade offs to hit their size & battery trade offs.
- testing7787 4y ago
  - biohacker85 4y ago
- numlock86 4y ago
  What boggles my mind is why you didn't get a computer with a Centrino Core 2 Duo with an integrated graphics card. > Ryzen 7/RX 570 At this point just buy yourself a couple of used computers.
- aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
  May I ask how long the battery lasts on your your Ryzen 7/RX 570 Linux PC?
  - Krasnol 4y ago
    A CMOS battery lasts probably something around 5 years.
    - qbasic_forever 4y ago
      Does it scale down your graphics and sound to look like Tiger handheld LCD games when you're gaming on the CMOS battery?
      - Krasnol 4y ago
        I plug it in just the same way I'd do with a gaming laptop.
  - jxy 4y ago
    You can last a "full day" on AAA batteries. A manageable configuration is likely double-suitcase with copper link, each contains 10000 Alkaline AAA batteries.
- TheDong 4y ago
  People just don't understand how good desktops are, right? On my flight yesterday, when I pulled out my full tower Ryzen with 2x 3090 GPUs, I got told that the power outlet on the plane seat shouldn't be used for my 1200W power supply. And yet, the same flight attendant said nothing to the macbook user a few rows over who was clearly plugged in. Frankly, it's appalling how few people understand that a cheaper desktop is comparable to a laptop.
  - depr 4y ago
    Next time bring a portable battery.
  - kurupt213 4y ago
    You should have shown her the daisy chain of 5v lithium batteries you used to power it. That really puts the stewardess in bitch-mode
  - sseagull 4y ago
    I mean, unless you are an extreme outlier, you spend more time on the ground than on an airplane. Why would you optimize for working on an airplane over your typical workday? For me personally, 99.9% of my work is done at my desk (1), so why not have a more powerful, upgradeable, repairable computer to work with? (1) I'm not hip enough to work from coffee shops
    - z9znz 4y ago
      > extreme outlier Contrary to popular myth, not all of us live and work in a basement. Myself and many people I know, my non-technical girlfriend included, use our laptops all around the country and in multiple other countries. I do agree about upgradeable and repairable, which is why the Framework laptop is getting pretty attractive. But there's still nothing that compares in performance and portability to my M1 Air.
      - runjake 4y ago
        Right, that's why they said "outlier". Most people aren't going all around the country and multiple other countries. Most people sit at home on a computer, and sit at work on another computer. Like you, I am also an outlier, using my MacbBok all over Hades.
- thomas-st 4y ago
  Honestly, if I had broken the screen, this seems like a fair cost for a new display like this. Apart from the the cost, I'd also like to mention the repair process (via mail at their Houston repair facility) was very speedy. I got a quote within hours of them receiving the product, and it was shipped the next day after I approved. The supervisor mentioned that if they ever set up a repair program for this issue, they will refund the fee. Now, if only they could also fix the audio crackling issue that me and many other users are experiencing... (https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/s4r1m5/macbook_pro_16_2021_audio_crackling_issue_m1_pro/ https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/s4r1m5/macbook_...)
  - xdfgh1112 4y ago
    Wow you praise Apple even after they screwed you! The cult of Apple is still going strong! Edit: parent was made to pay 800 dollars for a screen breaking which wasn't his or her fault, but still goes on to say "they said they might refund it later" and "the repair was quick". The rationalisation is painful to read.
    - thomas-st 4y ago
      To be clear, it's completely unacceptable they are charging for this repair. My intent was to give some perspective on how the repair process went overall, I needed the device back for work. While apart from the cracked screen issue the hardware is amazing in my opinion, the overall software issues make using macOS painful sometimes (processes running at high CPU -- now mostly offloaded to the efficiency cores, WebKit views having issues loading, anything syncing to iCloud sometimes not working, sometimes working on the 2nd try, Messages/Apple Mail search only finding some of the messages, audio crackling issues with wired headphones/AirPods/built-in speaker, etc.)
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > if I had broken the screen But the whole point is that it's Apple's fault that these screens are breaking, not the users'.
  - sva_ 4y ago
- fzfaa 4y ago
- jabbany 4y ago
  Actually it really isn't. The more expensive something is the higher the ongoing costs to maintain it. It's the same case with cars where more expensive ones are also more costly to maintain and fix. When people buy a more luxury item, it's because there is something about the item that they value where no cheaper equivalent exists. MacBooks certainly have several such features: quality of display, ecosystem integration, form factor, battery life, speakers, aesthetics... These things might not be the same things you value, but for those who care it's just as important. This is also why some people buy luxury cars and others just get the cheapest whatever that gets them from A to B. FWIW, I run an HP Ryzen laptop that cost me just $350. But I do so because the 2h battery, non-HDR (and probably not even 100% sRGB) 1080p screen, lackluster speaker, and "borderline serviceable" trackpad don't bother me at all. I would not buy a MacBook as it offers no features I care about at a significantly higher price, but I respect people who do buy MacBooks because they fit their needs.
  - deebosong 4y ago
    That's how I feel about bikes. I like that enthusiasts get the really nice fancypants stuff. But if I'm gonna be doing my own maintenance, and riding for durability along with functionality, then the lower end stuff ends up being more for me than the latest & greatest.
    - jabbany 4y ago
      Yeah, I have a friend who has a nice fancy carbon fibre bike meanwhile I just have a random no-name brand because it does everything I need it to do for commuting and I don't care that it weighs several kilograms more...
  - 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
    There’s lots of things that are more expensive and last longer with no maintenance. There was an entire thread yesterday about how stuff doesn’t last as long and sometimes if you can afford it, you should pay 7x for a Vitamix or KitchenAid. I’m not sure this compares to luxury cars, since MacBooks more than ever are more like appliances. So it’s arguable that paying more should get you a more durable product. I mean there’s loads of people who have pre-shitty keyboard MacBooks that have lasted years. I have a great 2012 MBA that still works great and I paid a premium for it then. I’d be happy to pay a premium again for a similarly long lasting computer. You’re also paying the apple premium so that if something goes wrong, they fix it with little fuss. Something I have also used over the years.
- ReadTheLicense 4y ago
  The cheapest comparable desktop display costs $1500 (27 inch)...
rvz 4y ago
So after all the hype that I have heard about the Apple Silicon computers, it seems like it takes a screen crack to make it useless and issue a repair cost of almost the price of a new one. Especially when as soon as the computer fails to boot or stops working, you have lost all data on the computer as the data cannot be recovered. Sounds like a total scam. Glad I never bought one on launch day.
- z9znz 4y ago
  Obviously there is a defect problem affecting some of the new Macbooks, and Apple needs to step up and take responsibility. But that said, I personally think the Apple Silicon computers (the Air in particular) are worthy of the hype. This 1 year old M1 Air with 16GB RAM is twice as fast as my colleagues' Intel MBPs (comparing same year devices), and it's _silent_. It rarely even gets warm, even with Docker, several containers, JetBrains IDEs, Spotify, Firefox with a million tabs, etc. all going. > the data cannot be recovered For most HN readers, not having an adequate active backup/cloud sync system is difficult to imagine. When you can transfer about 1GB/s to a modern fast solid state external drive, plus we mostly have fast internet, it's easy to have live and periodic physical and remote backups. If there's a scam to be found, it's that Apple has a real problem affecting more than a few users, but they are denying it. The scam is not in the computer but in the warranty/repair practices.
  - Ycombigatorz 4y ago
  - paulmd 4y ago
    > Obviously there is a defect problem affecting some of the new Macbooks, and Apple needs to step up and take responsibility. But that said, I personally think the Apple Silicon computers (the Air in particular) are worthy of the hype. > This 1 year old M1 Air with 16GB RAM is twice as fast as my colleagues' Intel MBPs (comparing same year devices), and it's _silent_. According to the comments in the apple forum thread, this bug affects people with older Intel-based MBPs as well. Taking the thread at face value, if this is a super common issue, then your coworkers should also have observed significant numbers of "random failures" on their legacy Intel MBPs because those laptops too are cited in that "50 page thread" as being subject to this supposed failure mode. Do you find that to match your experience? It is, of course, unclear whether this is an actual issue, or just a catch-all for people who damaged their screens (micro-fracture) from various drops/impacts, and then over time the micro-fracture eventually worked and became a macro-fracture. They do that - glass can be damaged without actually being visibly damaged until you put it under a microscope, and then some later much smaller stress (even just thermal stress) causes it to fracture along the weak spot. 50 pages of people sounds like a lot, but Macs are the most popular single-series laptop in production (other laptops have more in total, but it's fractured over many manufacturers and series) and if that translates to 500 posts / 200 unique users who broke their screen, across 10 years of usage... that's not actually all that much, or that surprising. Once it hits the internet it gets blown all out of proportion... remember when RX 480s were "killing motherboards", or NVIDIA GPUs killing themselves due to "bad drivers", or EVGA 1080s were "dying en-masse" due to bad VRMs? Remember POSCAP vs MLCC on Ampere GPUs? Once a social-media pitchfork mob gets started, it becomes basically impossible to measure because all kinds of random failures get attributed to The Current Thing and people trumpet every random failure as being evidence of it. I'd believe there are some amount of "childhood mortality" in a screen - the person in this thread whose screen delaminated right in the middle after a couple weeks isn't the only person to have a bad screen. But it's very difficult to distinguish which users have that, and which users just dropped it and then later had a crack start working at that fracture point. And once it becomes public that there's "an issue" (regardless of if a significant issue actually exists) there is a huge amount of piling-in where everyone whose screen ever micro-fractured from a previous bump will pop up and tell you about their screen that "randomly shattered". Genuine question but how is a manufacturer supposed to handle that? Let's say Framework puts out a glass screen model. Do you just give everyone who says their screen shattered a replacement screen? So you're providing unlimited warranty screens for customers who aren't being careful but know to say "it did that by itself"? Do you limit it to one freebie per customer? What if that one also shatters? Do you just do it for the first 3 months, and what happens when someone says theirs shattered after 4 months? And any customers you let fall through the cracks will post a thread like this one about how you've wronged them... Worst of all Apple is involved here, and that just sets people off like crazy. I know I'm going to get various un-civil responses for all this. There’s no question that the design of the screen is certainly worryingly fragile, but, I really don’t think that all of these are truly manufacturing faults, they’re people bumping an overly fragile design and then later having a micro-fractured screen start working on them.
haunter 4y ago
And that’s why most people buy $500 laptops. Even if the screen broke you can probably buy a 3rd party one from Aliexpress for $100. But $800 for a replacement one? I’d rather sell the MBP for parts on eBay and buy a new one if must then pay that much. Like you would get more for that with a broken screen for sure, some people would fix it on their own or use it as a desktop computer. But I don’t have a SV engineer salary so what do I know
- z9znz 4y ago
  > And that’s why most people buy $500 laptops. Most people is a sketchy expression, but I would venture a guess that "most people" buy cheap laptops because they don't really care, they don't know how to adequately judge which ones are worth more, and they also just don't want to spend much on a computer. It's hard to imagine, but "most people" actually care little about computers.
  - JustSomeNobody 4y ago
    I needed a new laptop last year. I decided to care less about my computer and so I chose not to get another Mac. Got a small Lenovo instead. Runs great with Linux. Does exactly everything I need it to do.
    - jdshaffer 4y ago
      I've been pondering doing something similar myself. If you don't mind my asking, which Lenovo did you get and which Linux variant does it seem to play nice with? :-)
      - harry8 4y ago
        T480s 3.5yrs old, out of warranty, ex-corporate cost me USD$430 running ubu 22.04 on a 4 core 8th gen core i5 & intel gfx is getting me 10 hours of battery life without having replaced the battery. (power settings set to Power Saver in the very obvious gui menu above shutdown). I did shove in more ram and a bigger ssd. Meh, 8G & 250G would have been enough fwiw. Gnome desktop is a thing I now find really polished and lovely to use. In all it's just a beautiful thing I'm very, very happy with. Use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_T_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_T_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_series & Ebay. But it's also a very reasonable & justifiable decision to buy a new thinkpad imho. When it's a couple of years old the hardware support is usually perfect on first install - but I guess I don't use garbage like fingerprint readers so ymmv on that kind of silliness. Thinkpads, T-Series, X1 carbon are the best laptops on the market by a good margin and have been there in that spot consistently for a long time. Buy apple if you really want/need to run apple software. I'd say just about /any/ distro will place nicely with the kernel-hackers laptop of choice. I'd bet fedora, rhel/centos, debian, arch would all be just terrific if you prefer one of those (and why not?)
threeseed 4y ago
I just had my 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen crack a few days ago and it was replaced for free. Be curious about your circumstances whether it was repaired at an Apple Store and when this happened. Perhaps there is a policy that isn't being disseminated around properly.
- bozhark 4y ago
  Sounds like Apple might be aware it’s their fault now. Perhaps they were intending on keeping that a customer responsibility for the comment above yours.
  - millzlane 4y ago
    The warranty has always covered a single hairline crack. If there are multiple cracks, chips, or a POI on the outside of the glass. It's clear as day what happened to the screen. I can't count on my hands or toes how many people will say they don't know what happened to the physically damaged machine. Maybe someone else broke it and they didn't know. But I can tell you that we fix more physically damaged machines than we do single hairline cracks. So I would say this isn't a huge issue that people make it out to be. I think it's more plausible that people are surprise that their really expensive super thin and sleek computer breaks when it's physically damaged.
    - Crosseye_Jack 4y ago
      To me the super thinness out right screams to being part of the cause. Without taking one apart to confirm it for myself, going off past patterns I would guess Apple have thinned the lid and the display past its limits under every day use (not lab conditions). Pair that with People having got used to using a single hand to open/close their screen, heck even Apples marketing pushed one finger lid openning/closing. So people are not closing their screens "carefully" from both sides with two hands any more (and haven't been doing so for many years, as its easier to close a laptop lid than open it). But with thinness comes lack of rigidity, so closing the screen with a single hand unless you do it smack bang in the middle I would guess is putting more strain on one side of the lid leading to a premeture screen failure. Basically "Bendgate" all over again. But its not the first time we seen screen issues on macbooks come to light once the devices where in the hands of real world people. Look at the stage light defect which for the longest time Apple denied as a fault https://support.apple.com/en-gb/13-inch-macbook-pro-display-backlight-service https://support.apple.com/en-gb/13-inch-macbook-pro-display-... which turned out to be that the flex cable was just a smidge too short and repeated normal use damaged the flex cable. I'm not saying the customers are not at fault. <edit>Heck I've seen plently of dropped devices and the customer swears on their first born they didn't do nothing. Until you point out the impact damage and suddenly it all comes flooding back to them.</edit> I just see a repeating pattern and would like to dig into it more before I dismiss the customer saying they don't know what happened.
TacticalCoder 4y ago
> My 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen repair cost was $809. I was quoted, for the MacBook Air screen repair (it died overnight), 490 EUR VAT included in Belgium. Paid the M1 MacBook Air 1020 EUR or so 10 months ago. In addition to the price being ludicrous, I've got an interest close to zero in owning a laptop which can suddenly stop working for no reason. Serious build quality issues: I think it's simply a piece of shit and has to be called for what it is, regardless of whether replacement parts are highway robbery (which they are) or not.
fezfight 4y ago
I wonder if Tim Cook has a lot invested in rare earth mining companies or something.
phoenixreader 4y ago
But there is a product defect class action lawsuit against Apple literally every two years. Apple must treat it as a cost of business at this point. 2009 (macbook display): https://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/222100056/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-apple-over-allegedly-defective-displays.htm https://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/222100056/ju... 2012 (Iphone display): https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/judge-tosses-lawsuit-over-cracked-iphone-4-glass/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/judge-tosses-lawsuit... 2013 (macbook motherboard): https://www.law360.com/commercialcontracts/articles/485286/apple-shuts-down-faulty-macbook-class-action https://www.law360.com/commercialcontracts/articles/485286/a... 2015 (macbook motherboard): https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/09/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-allegedly-faulty-apple-macbook-logic-boards https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/09/judge-dismisses-l... 2017 (using refurbished parts): https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-kills-apple-warranty-class-action/ https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-kills-apple-warranty-cl... 2019 (butterfly keyboard): https://www.girardsharp.com/newsroom-news-apple-keyboard-order https://www.girardsharp.com/newsroom-news-apple-keyboard-ord... All of them are dismissed. The last one got settled for $50 million, which is peanuts. Edit: looks like the judge already dismissed this new one too... https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/California_Northern_District_Court/5--21-cv-07109/Almeida_v._Apple_Inc/40/ https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/California_Northern_Distri... (technically a different class action lawsuit, but it alleges the same facts)
- michaelcampbell 4y ago
  > Apple must treat it as a cost of business at this point. As should every company, because it is. Not saying Apple SHOULDN'T make decent equipment, but nothing is perfect so these things just have to be part of the accounting/business plan. They clearly are relying on their customers' brand loyalty as part of that calculation, and that + cheaping out or whatever else is causing these bi-annual issues is clearly more profit than fixing them.
rowanG077 4y ago
While I believe $800 is way too much I do actually believe the screen is an extremely expensive component. It's a 120hz microled screen with a very good webcam. I wouldn't be surprised it's the most expensive part on a mbp.
- rowanG077 4y ago
  Correction: MiniLED not microLED
- newaccount74 4y ago
  I agree that the screen is fantastic, but you are wrong about the webcam. The webcam on the new 14"/16" Macbook Pros is complete crap.
  - rowanG077 4y ago
    Then why does the notch exist? And compared to what is it crap, webcams have always been utter shit if you compare it to smartphones or dedicated video cameras. If I look at a review comparing the Intel based Mac webcam and the 14 inch Macbook pro webcam you see how insanely better it is: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/macbook-pro-2021-14-inch https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/macbook-pro-2021-14-inch
    - newaccount74 4y ago
      I made some side by side photos and videos (that I don't want to share because of privacy) of Macbook Pro 2015, M1 Macbook Air 2020, 16" M1 Macbook Pro 2021, and the front facing camera of a cheap android phone. My conclusion: - the only good camera is the front facing camera of the cheap android phone - the 2015 MBP camera has low resolution and lots of noise, but the image at least looks natural - the images from the M1 Macs look very similar. They added extreme smoothing to hide the noise. The result is that there is no details at all in the images. Skin looks unnaturally smooth and facial hair is a blurry mess. When you move your head, there are weird artefacts near the eyes. - comparing M1 Macbook Air 2020 and M1 Macbook Pro 2021 looks similar, except the smoothing seems even stronger on the 2021 Macbook Pro - even in perfect lighting the resolution of the camera is very low. There is no way this is actually a 1080p camera. The 720p image of the 2015 Macbook Pro has more detail than the cameras in the new Macs. - the only good thing about the cameras in the M1 Macs is the low light performance. The algorithm is pretty good at producing a usable image even in very low light. It's really not a good camera. It really sucks. Everything else about this laptop is perfect: The display, the speakers, the keyboard -- everything is wonderful, apart from the fact that whenever I facetime with someone I look like a blurry mess.
9935c101ab17a66 4y ago
Do you have a photo of the crack before it was repaired? Apple Technicians have access to a document that provides instruction on how to classify (in warranty / out of warranty) display cracks. There are actually plenty of display issues that look like the result of physical damage, but are instead categorized as 'in-warranty' by Apple's documentation. Reach out to me at my username at gmail.com, I can maybe help you if you have a photo of the screen before it was replaced.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

umvi 4y ago

> My 14" M1 MacBook Pro repair cost was $809 My custom Ryzen 7/RX 570 Linux PC built from parts cost less than this, so a repair of this magnitude just boggles my mind. At that point just buy yourself a new computer.

wtallis 4y ago
Is a desktop whose price doesn't include any display really the best comparison you could come up with for a discussion of laptop display repairs?
- brewdad 4y ago
  The beauty of the desktop is that you can buy a display that fits your budget and needs. A desktop monitor that's equal to a typical 1080 laptop display can be had for $150. If you need something better, you can spend more but very few people will need to spend more than $500. If it breaks, you plug in a new one at 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the laptop repair with the only downtime being how long it takes to drive to the store.
  - acdha 4y ago
    This is like saying that you don’t think formalwear is a good deal because your Costco jeans are more durable. Desktops are great, I heartily recommend using them instead of laptops for most people, but it’s not especially revelatory to point out that laptops make design trade offs to hit their size & battery trade offs.
testing7787 4y ago
- biohacker85 4y ago
numlock86 4y ago
What boggles my mind is why you didn't get a computer with a Centrino Core 2 Duo with an integrated graphics card. > Ryzen 7/RX 570 At this point just buy yourself a couple of used computers.
aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
May I ask how long the battery lasts on your your Ryzen 7/RX 570 Linux PC?
- Krasnol 4y ago
  A CMOS battery lasts probably something around 5 years.
  - qbasic_forever 4y ago
    Does it scale down your graphics and sound to look like Tiger handheld LCD games when you're gaming on the CMOS battery?
    - Krasnol 4y ago
      I plug it in just the same way I'd do with a gaming laptop.
- jxy 4y ago
  You can last a "full day" on AAA batteries. A manageable configuration is likely double-suitcase with copper link, each contains 10000 Alkaline AAA batteries.
TheDong 4y ago
People just don't understand how good desktops are, right? On my flight yesterday, when I pulled out my full tower Ryzen with 2x 3090 GPUs, I got told that the power outlet on the plane seat shouldn't be used for my 1200W power supply. And yet, the same flight attendant said nothing to the macbook user a few rows over who was clearly plugged in. Frankly, it's appalling how few people understand that a cheaper desktop is comparable to a laptop.
- depr 4y ago
  Next time bring a portable battery.
- kurupt213 4y ago
  You should have shown her the daisy chain of 5v lithium batteries you used to power it. That really puts the stewardess in bitch-mode
- sseagull 4y ago
  I mean, unless you are an extreme outlier, you spend more time on the ground than on an airplane. Why would you optimize for working on an airplane over your typical workday? For me personally, 99.9% of my work is done at my desk (1), so why not have a more powerful, upgradeable, repairable computer to work with? (1) I'm not hip enough to work from coffee shops
  - z9znz 4y ago
    > extreme outlier Contrary to popular myth, not all of us live and work in a basement. Myself and many people I know, my non-technical girlfriend included, use our laptops all around the country and in multiple other countries. I do agree about upgradeable and repairable, which is why the Framework laptop is getting pretty attractive. But there's still nothing that compares in performance and portability to my M1 Air.
    - runjake 4y ago
      Right, that's why they said "outlier". Most people aren't going all around the country and multiple other countries. Most people sit at home on a computer, and sit at work on another computer. Like you, I am also an outlier, using my MacbBok all over Hades.
thomas-st 4y ago
Honestly, if I had broken the screen, this seems like a fair cost for a new display like this. Apart from the the cost, I'd also like to mention the repair process (via mail at their Houston repair facility) was very speedy. I got a quote within hours of them receiving the product, and it was shipped the next day after I approved. The supervisor mentioned that if they ever set up a repair program for this issue, they will refund the fee. Now, if only they could also fix the audio crackling issue that me and many other users are experiencing... (https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/s4r1m5/macbook_pro_16_2021_audio_crackling_issue_m1_pro/ https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/s4r1m5/macbook_...)
- xdfgh1112 4y ago
  Wow you praise Apple even after they screwed you! The cult of Apple is still going strong! Edit: parent was made to pay 800 dollars for a screen breaking which wasn't his or her fault, but still goes on to say "they said they might refund it later" and "the repair was quick". The rationalisation is painful to read.
  - thomas-st 4y ago
    To be clear, it's completely unacceptable they are charging for this repair. My intent was to give some perspective on how the repair process went overall, I needed the device back for work. While apart from the cracked screen issue the hardware is amazing in my opinion, the overall software issues make using macOS painful sometimes (processes running at high CPU -- now mostly offloaded to the efficiency cores, WebKit views having issues loading, anything syncing to iCloud sometimes not working, sometimes working on the 2nd try, Messages/Apple Mail search only finding some of the messages, audio crackling issues with wired headphones/AirPods/built-in speaker, etc.)
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > if I had broken the screen But the whole point is that it's Apple's fault that these screens are breaking, not the users'.
- sva_ 4y ago
fzfaa 4y ago
jabbany 4y ago
Actually it really isn't. The more expensive something is the higher the ongoing costs to maintain it. It's the same case with cars where more expensive ones are also more costly to maintain and fix. When people buy a more luxury item, it's because there is something about the item that they value where no cheaper equivalent exists. MacBooks certainly have several such features: quality of display, ecosystem integration, form factor, battery life, speakers, aesthetics... These things might not be the same things you value, but for those who care it's just as important. This is also why some people buy luxury cars and others just get the cheapest whatever that gets them from A to B. FWIW, I run an HP Ryzen laptop that cost me just $350. But I do so because the 2h battery, non-HDR (and probably not even 100% sRGB) 1080p screen, lackluster speaker, and "borderline serviceable" trackpad don't bother me at all. I would not buy a MacBook as it offers no features I care about at a significantly higher price, but I respect people who do buy MacBooks because they fit their needs.
- deebosong 4y ago
  That's how I feel about bikes. I like that enthusiasts get the really nice fancypants stuff. But if I'm gonna be doing my own maintenance, and riding for durability along with functionality, then the lower end stuff ends up being more for me than the latest & greatest.
  - jabbany 4y ago
    Yeah, I have a friend who has a nice fancy carbon fibre bike meanwhile I just have a random no-name brand because it does everything I need it to do for commuting and I don't care that it weighs several kilograms more...
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
  There’s lots of things that are more expensive and last longer with no maintenance. There was an entire thread yesterday about how stuff doesn’t last as long and sometimes if you can afford it, you should pay 7x for a Vitamix or KitchenAid. I’m not sure this compares to luxury cars, since MacBooks more than ever are more like appliances. So it’s arguable that paying more should get you a more durable product. I mean there’s loads of people who have pre-shitty keyboard MacBooks that have lasted years. I have a great 2012 MBA that still works great and I paid a premium for it then. I’d be happy to pay a premium again for a similarly long lasting computer. You’re also paying the apple premium so that if something goes wrong, they fix it with little fuss. Something I have also used over the years.
ReadTheLicense 4y ago
The cheapest comparable desktop display costs $1500 (27 inch)...

rvz 4y ago

So after all the hype that I have heard about the Apple Silicon computers, it seems like it takes a screen crack to make it useless and issue a repair cost of almost the price of a new one. Especially when as soon as the computer fails to boot or stops working, you have lost all data on the computer as the data cannot be recovered. Sounds like a total scam. Glad I never bought one on launch day.

z9znz 4y ago
Obviously there is a defect problem affecting some of the new Macbooks, and Apple needs to step up and take responsibility. But that said, I personally think the Apple Silicon computers (the Air in particular) are worthy of the hype. This 1 year old M1 Air with 16GB RAM is twice as fast as my colleagues' Intel MBPs (comparing same year devices), and it's _silent_. It rarely even gets warm, even with Docker, several containers, JetBrains IDEs, Spotify, Firefox with a million tabs, etc. all going. > the data cannot be recovered For most HN readers, not having an adequate active backup/cloud sync system is difficult to imagine. When you can transfer about 1GB/s to a modern fast solid state external drive, plus we mostly have fast internet, it's easy to have live and periodic physical and remote backups. If there's a scam to be found, it's that Apple has a real problem affecting more than a few users, but they are denying it. The scam is not in the computer but in the warranty/repair practices.
- Ycombigatorz 4y ago
- paulmd 4y ago
  > Obviously there is a defect problem affecting some of the new Macbooks, and Apple needs to step up and take responsibility. But that said, I personally think the Apple Silicon computers (the Air in particular) are worthy of the hype. > This 1 year old M1 Air with 16GB RAM is twice as fast as my colleagues' Intel MBPs (comparing same year devices), and it's _silent_. According to the comments in the apple forum thread, this bug affects people with older Intel-based MBPs as well. Taking the thread at face value, if this is a super common issue, then your coworkers should also have observed significant numbers of "random failures" on their legacy Intel MBPs because those laptops too are cited in that "50 page thread" as being subject to this supposed failure mode. Do you find that to match your experience? It is, of course, unclear whether this is an actual issue, or just a catch-all for people who damaged their screens (micro-fracture) from various drops/impacts, and then over time the micro-fracture eventually worked and became a macro-fracture. They do that - glass can be damaged without actually being visibly damaged until you put it under a microscope, and then some later much smaller stress (even just thermal stress) causes it to fracture along the weak spot. 50 pages of people sounds like a lot, but Macs are the most popular single-series laptop in production (other laptops have more in total, but it's fractured over many manufacturers and series) and if that translates to 500 posts / 200 unique users who broke their screen, across 10 years of usage... that's not actually all that much, or that surprising. Once it hits the internet it gets blown all out of proportion... remember when RX 480s were "killing motherboards", or NVIDIA GPUs killing themselves due to "bad drivers", or EVGA 1080s were "dying en-masse" due to bad VRMs? Remember POSCAP vs MLCC on Ampere GPUs? Once a social-media pitchfork mob gets started, it becomes basically impossible to measure because all kinds of random failures get attributed to The Current Thing and people trumpet every random failure as being evidence of it. I'd believe there are some amount of "childhood mortality" in a screen - the person in this thread whose screen delaminated right in the middle after a couple weeks isn't the only person to have a bad screen. But it's very difficult to distinguish which users have that, and which users just dropped it and then later had a crack start working at that fracture point. And once it becomes public that there's "an issue" (regardless of if a significant issue actually exists) there is a huge amount of piling-in where everyone whose screen ever micro-fractured from a previous bump will pop up and tell you about their screen that "randomly shattered". Genuine question but how is a manufacturer supposed to handle that? Let's say Framework puts out a glass screen model. Do you just give everyone who says their screen shattered a replacement screen? So you're providing unlimited warranty screens for customers who aren't being careful but know to say "it did that by itself"? Do you limit it to one freebie per customer? What if that one also shatters? Do you just do it for the first 3 months, and what happens when someone says theirs shattered after 4 months? And any customers you let fall through the cracks will post a thread like this one about how you've wronged them... Worst of all Apple is involved here, and that just sets people off like crazy. I know I'm going to get various un-civil responses for all this. There’s no question that the design of the screen is certainly worryingly fragile, but, I really don’t think that all of these are truly manufacturing faults, they’re people bumping an overly fragile design and then later having a micro-fractured screen start working on them.

haunter 4y ago

And that’s why most people buy $500 laptops. Even if the screen broke you can probably buy a 3rd party one from Aliexpress for $100. But $800 for a replacement one? I’d rather sell the MBP for parts on eBay and buy a new one if must then pay that much. Like you would get more for that with a broken screen for sure, some people would fix it on their own or use it as a desktop computer. But I don’t have a SV engineer salary so what do I know

z9znz 4y ago
> And that’s why most people buy $500 laptops. Most people is a sketchy expression, but I would venture a guess that "most people" buy cheap laptops because they don't really care, they don't know how to adequately judge which ones are worth more, and they also just don't want to spend much on a computer. It's hard to imagine, but "most people" actually care little about computers.
- JustSomeNobody 4y ago
  I needed a new laptop last year. I decided to care less about my computer and so I chose not to get another Mac. Got a small Lenovo instead. Runs great with Linux. Does exactly everything I need it to do.
  - jdshaffer 4y ago
    I've been pondering doing something similar myself. If you don't mind my asking, which Lenovo did you get and which Linux variant does it seem to play nice with? :-)
    - harry8 4y ago
      T480s 3.5yrs old, out of warranty, ex-corporate cost me USD$430 running ubu 22.04 on a 4 core 8th gen core i5 & intel gfx is getting me 10 hours of battery life without having replaced the battery. (power settings set to Power Saver in the very obvious gui menu above shutdown). I did shove in more ram and a bigger ssd. Meh, 8G & 250G would have been enough fwiw. Gnome desktop is a thing I now find really polished and lovely to use. In all it's just a beautiful thing I'm very, very happy with. Use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_T_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_T_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_series & Ebay. But it's also a very reasonable & justifiable decision to buy a new thinkpad imho. When it's a couple of years old the hardware support is usually perfect on first install - but I guess I don't use garbage like fingerprint readers so ymmv on that kind of silliness. Thinkpads, T-Series, X1 carbon are the best laptops on the market by a good margin and have been there in that spot consistently for a long time. Buy apple if you really want/need to run apple software. I'd say just about /any/ distro will place nicely with the kernel-hackers laptop of choice. I'd bet fedora, rhel/centos, debian, arch would all be just terrific if you prefer one of those (and why not?)

threeseed 4y ago

I just had my 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen crack a few days ago and it was replaced for free. Be curious about your circumstances whether it was repaired at an Apple Store and when this happened. Perhaps there is a policy that isn't being disseminated around properly.

bozhark 4y ago
Sounds like Apple might be aware it’s their fault now. Perhaps they were intending on keeping that a customer responsibility for the comment above yours.
- millzlane 4y ago
  The warranty has always covered a single hairline crack. If there are multiple cracks, chips, or a POI on the outside of the glass. It's clear as day what happened to the screen. I can't count on my hands or toes how many people will say they don't know what happened to the physically damaged machine. Maybe someone else broke it and they didn't know. But I can tell you that we fix more physically damaged machines than we do single hairline cracks. So I would say this isn't a huge issue that people make it out to be. I think it's more plausible that people are surprise that their really expensive super thin and sleek computer breaks when it's physically damaged.
  - Crosseye_Jack 4y ago
    To me the super thinness out right screams to being part of the cause. Without taking one apart to confirm it for myself, going off past patterns I would guess Apple have thinned the lid and the display past its limits under every day use (not lab conditions). Pair that with People having got used to using a single hand to open/close their screen, heck even Apples marketing pushed one finger lid openning/closing. So people are not closing their screens "carefully" from both sides with two hands any more (and haven't been doing so for many years, as its easier to close a laptop lid than open it). But with thinness comes lack of rigidity, so closing the screen with a single hand unless you do it smack bang in the middle I would guess is putting more strain on one side of the lid leading to a premeture screen failure. Basically "Bendgate" all over again. But its not the first time we seen screen issues on macbooks come to light once the devices where in the hands of real world people. Look at the stage light defect which for the longest time Apple denied as a fault https://support.apple.com/en-gb/13-inch-macbook-pro-display-backlight-service https://support.apple.com/en-gb/13-inch-macbook-pro-display-... which turned out to be that the flex cable was just a smidge too short and repeated normal use damaged the flex cable. I'm not saying the customers are not at fault. <edit>Heck I've seen plently of dropped devices and the customer swears on their first born they didn't do nothing. Until you point out the impact damage and suddenly it all comes flooding back to them.</edit> I just see a repeating pattern and would like to dig into it more before I dismiss the customer saying they don't know what happened.

TacticalCoder 4y ago

> My 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen repair cost was $809. I was quoted, for the MacBook Air screen repair (it died overnight), 490 EUR VAT included in Belgium. Paid the M1 MacBook Air 1020 EUR or so 10 months ago. In addition to the price being ludicrous, I've got an interest close to zero in owning a laptop which can suddenly stop working for no reason. Serious build quality issues: I think it's simply a piece of shit and has to be called for what it is, regardless of whether replacement parts are highway robbery (which they are) or not.

fezfight 4y ago

I wonder if Tim Cook has a lot invested in rare earth mining companies or something.

phoenixreader 4y ago

But there is a product defect class action lawsuit against Apple literally every two years. Apple must treat it as a cost of business at this point. 2009 (macbook display): https://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/222100056/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-apple-over-allegedly-defective-displays.htm https://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/222100056/ju... 2012 (Iphone display): https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/judge-tosses-lawsuit-over-cracked-iphone-4-glass/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/judge-tosses-lawsuit... 2013 (macbook motherboard): https://www.law360.com/commercialcontracts/articles/485286/apple-shuts-down-faulty-macbook-class-action https://www.law360.com/commercialcontracts/articles/485286/a... 2015 (macbook motherboard): https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/09/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-allegedly-faulty-apple-macbook-logic-boards https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/09/judge-dismisses-l... 2017 (using refurbished parts): https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-kills-apple-warranty-class-action/ https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-kills-apple-warranty-cl... 2019 (butterfly keyboard): https://www.girardsharp.com/newsroom-news-apple-keyboard-order https://www.girardsharp.com/newsroom-news-apple-keyboard-ord... All of them are dismissed. The last one got settled for $50 million, which is peanuts. Edit: looks like the judge already dismissed this new one too... https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/California_Northern_District_Court/5--21-cv-07109/Almeida_v._Apple_Inc/40/ https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/California_Northern_Distri... (technically a different class action lawsuit, but it alleges the same facts)

michaelcampbell 4y ago
> Apple must treat it as a cost of business at this point. As should every company, because it is. Not saying Apple SHOULDN'T make decent equipment, but nothing is perfect so these things just have to be part of the accounting/business plan. They clearly are relying on their customers' brand loyalty as part of that calculation, and that + cheaping out or whatever else is causing these bi-annual issues is clearly more profit than fixing them.

rowanG077 4y ago

While I believe $800 is way too much I do actually believe the screen is an extremely expensive component. It's a 120hz microled screen with a very good webcam. I wouldn't be surprised it's the most expensive part on a mbp.

rowanG077 4y ago
Correction: MiniLED not microLED
newaccount74 4y ago
I agree that the screen is fantastic, but you are wrong about the webcam. The webcam on the new 14"/16" Macbook Pros is complete crap.
- rowanG077 4y ago
  Then why does the notch exist? And compared to what is it crap, webcams have always been utter shit if you compare it to smartphones or dedicated video cameras. If I look at a review comparing the Intel based Mac webcam and the 14 inch Macbook pro webcam you see how insanely better it is: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/macbook-pro-2021-14-inch https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/macbook-pro-2021-14-inch
  - newaccount74 4y ago
    I made some side by side photos and videos (that I don't want to share because of privacy) of Macbook Pro 2015, M1 Macbook Air 2020, 16" M1 Macbook Pro 2021, and the front facing camera of a cheap android phone. My conclusion: - the only good camera is the front facing camera of the cheap android phone - the 2015 MBP camera has low resolution and lots of noise, but the image at least looks natural - the images from the M1 Macs look very similar. They added extreme smoothing to hide the noise. The result is that there is no details at all in the images. Skin looks unnaturally smooth and facial hair is a blurry mess. When you move your head, there are weird artefacts near the eyes. - comparing M1 Macbook Air 2020 and M1 Macbook Pro 2021 looks similar, except the smoothing seems even stronger on the 2021 Macbook Pro - even in perfect lighting the resolution of the camera is very low. There is no way this is actually a 1080p camera. The 720p image of the 2015 Macbook Pro has more detail than the cameras in the new Macs. - the only good thing about the cameras in the M1 Macs is the low light performance. The algorithm is pretty good at producing a usable image even in very low light. It's really not a good camera. It really sucks. Everything else about this laptop is perfect: The display, the speakers, the keyboard -- everything is wonderful, apart from the fact that whenever I facetime with someone I look like a blurry mess.

9935c101ab17a66 4y ago

Do you have a photo of the crack before it was repaired? Apple Technicians have access to a document that provides instruction on how to classify (in warranty / out of warranty) display cracks. There are actually plenty of display issues that look like the result of physical damage, but are instead categorized as 'in-warranty' by Apple's documentation. Reach out to me at my username at gmail.com, I can maybe help you if you have a photo of the screen before it was replaced.

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