MacBook Owner Sues Apple Over Defective Motherboard

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I have 2 MacBook Pros, 1 MacBook Air, and 1 Mac Pro. Haven't had any problems with any of them and I've opened up everything but the air and added SSDs, HDDs, and RAM. I guess some folks just have bad luck.
 
[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]PS: ThinkPads have the best customer support... ALL of their service manuals are easily online for anyone to download. You can ORDER spare parts from Lenovo for any recent Thinkpad (up to about 5 years)... every single part is in the service manual... its amazing. Tell you exactly how to take apart the notebook. Check it out yourselves... To make it simpler for those who don't know models, locate a manual for the "T400 CTO" that should cover the basics.[/citation]
ThinkPads last ages...
 
Was the Macbook still under warranty? If the laptop was still under warranty, he should get it fixed for free. If not, it's perfectly normal to have to pay to get things fixed.
 
overpriced crap. thats why i am with pc hardware and free Linux software. imho, much much better than these proprietary toys. I can use it forever for free. It becoming better and better for free. I can even change anything in it for free. MS & Apple are unacceptable crap. I dont need that crap, coz I prefer a good beer instead :) for my money.
 
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]yes, it is, but those oems don't pretend that their kit is 'magical' and 'better than the others'.[/citation] Every manufacturer claims their product is better than their immediate competitor. Thing is, a Mac is the only place you can legitimately install and run MacOS X ... Puff ... and there's the magic. Right there.

A Mac is not a PC with Windows or Linux. It is a PC with OSX. For that privilege one pays a premium. Simple as that.

For gaming I use a self-built highish-end Windows 7 Ultimate PC (Not enough devs using OpenGL and putting games on Linux). For everything else I use MacOSX. Why? Because I think it is better than any Microsoft or Linux offering. For that elegant OS, I, and millions of other folk are prepared to pay more. If they're too stupid to look around for cheaper RAM, HDD's and the like, that's their problem. Not yours nor anybody else's.
 
My bad experience with apple products started with the airport extreme, lasted only 26 days.

Next was with a MBA 13". Used it for 2 mths & it died with the famous 3 beeps (go google)

After a week service, came back & lasted ONLY 1hr! Sent it back again & waited another week for that.

Bought 2 apple products thinking they are different so QC would differ... but hell NO!!! SAME SHIT!!

Currently I'm still using my Fujitsu laptop from '07, still working except for some small plastic parts chipping off. Lesson learnt, never to buy another apple product
 
[citation][nom]usersname[/nom]Every manufacturer claims their product is better than their immediate competitor. Thing is, a Mac is the only place you can legitimately install and run MacOS X ... Puff ... and there's the magic. Right there.A Mac is not a PC with Windows or Linux. It is a PC with OSX. For that privilege one pays a premium. Simple as that.For gaming I use a self-built highish-end Windows 7 Ultimate PC (Not enough devs using OpenGL and putting games on Linux). For everything else I use MacOSX. Why? Because I think it is better than any Microsoft or Linux offering. For that elegant OS, I, and millions of other folk are prepared to pay more. If they're too stupid to look around for cheaper RAM, HDD's and the like, that's their problem. Not yours nor anybody else's.[/citation]


Or you can build a hackintosh for 2/3 the price. I understand getting a Macbook/air because you want the best portable OSX experience, but I see no reason to buy any iMac or Mac tower when you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself for a lower price.
 
How is this even worth discussing and what judge would seriously consider this litigation? Same holds true for every computer on the planet.

Throw the word "Apple" into anything posted on Tom's and that posting becomes instant chum in the waters for the sharks (haters)........
 
With Windows 7 and decent hardware you really had a great alternative to what some feel is overpricing by Apple. ...so no need to buy the more expensive fruit to get an intuitive experience. With Windows 8 and it's new ...interesting... UI a lot of smart folks will find OS X more intuitive and worth the higher price of entry. MS is really not helping PC oems.
 
@ belardo

- Sure I agree but if you pay double-triple the the price for a Macbook over a Dell/HP notebook, wouldn't you be pissed about its mechanical issues considering the amount you paid?

- I agree with some commenters here, if the customer had enough cash to shell out for the Macbook, then why would a $335 motherboard be an issue? It's like buying a Ferrari and opting for $99 Walmart tires because you're trying to save money. Or buying a luxury brand hybrid vehicle because apparently squeezing MPG's is paramount.

@ GreaseMonkey_62

LOL! You totally made my Friday!


 
I got a quote from sony before for a motherboard and keyboard replacement and it was more than the price of a brand new unit (a netbook). Lesson learned.
 
[citation][nom]innocent bystander[/nom]$335 for a motherboard? That's pretty steep.[/citation]
Not really. I know someone with a Toshiba that the motherboard has been replaced twice. First time was under warranty and the second time cost her $350. The motherboard ended up failing again just past the 90 day warranty. She has wisely decided to go with a desktop and not attempt to resurrect it again. I think the guy suing is trying to make it a point that Apple knew of the issue and still sold defective product.
 
[citation][nom]jimmyjohnz[/nom]Or you can build a hackintosh for 2/3 the price. I understand getting a Macbook/air because you want the best portable OSX experience, but I see no reason to buy any iMac or Mac tower when you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself for a lower price.[/citation]
Not legally, you can't. Plus, with each OS upgrade, there may be issues to resole. I've better things to do with my life than fart around with the innards of a PC. Time is money...and the return on a legal copy of OSX is covered by being 99.9999999999% trouble free. I also use Winclone on my Mac to create complete Windows 7 Ultimate SP bootable images that I can re-install onto an NTSF drive in under 10 minutes. Yes, 10 minutes to completely wipe a Windows install and reinstall via a Mac. So, if my Windows gets slow it gets wiped. OSX never gets slow with time. It'll be as snappy in a years time as it is today and I need absolutely no free or otherwise third-party Mac utilities to accomplish this.
 
Bestbuy, Nvidia, and Dell all worked together to delete the purchase history of laptops that failed due to overheating nvidia gpu's. After owing one for 4 months it failed, went in to have it replaced and they told me it couldnt have been purchased from them. I had the receipt in my hand. The store manager was called up instantly and asked me to leave the store. 900$ mistake on my part to do business with these companies.
 
[citation][nom]oasiz[/nom]You people seem to forget that laptop motherboards pretty much house everything, plus you need lots of money for the labor alone. Ever tried replacing a laptop motherboard before? I've done it a couple of times and still get goosebumps on the thought alone. (Hello 20+ small screws)This issue is not manufacturer specific, every laptop suffers from this same issue.Especially the ones with nVidia 6xxx and 7xxx series GPU were known for their constant failure rate due to a manufacturing issue.I once replaced a failed laptop GPU that was a high end 7900 series, cost like 700e for the replacement part plus installing it took around 1-2hrs. Yes, 700euros.Laptops are never easily serviceable, you don't have a "one board fits all cases" situation that you get with desktops, everything is manufactured to fit the specific model.Premium price? I'd say that a lot of the 1000euro range laptops actually have pretty decent pricing considering the features and battery life. Sure it costs slightly extra but the cheaper you go, the cheaper it gets. Sure you can get a plastic fantastic acer for 600-700e with the same features.Go for enterprise stuff in regular PC side and you'll find your expensive stuff pretty quickly.I do agree that stuff like Mac pro/high spec iMac/MBP is really expensive but obviously it's not meant for average gamers and apple does not really cater them.Sometimes I think that the apple hate in here seems to be way too biased And this is coming from a PC user since -94 who can't stand using osx.[/citation]


Speaking as someone who has replaced thousands of laptop motherboards, mac and otherwise, once you are practiced, its nothing to swap a motherboard. The macs are fairly simple to replace, and most manufacturers no longer use the 60 screw configs.

There is no reason for the boards used is macbooks to be priced as they are, aside from apple tax; and I have had to take many a heat gun to a logic board, reflow usually resolves the issue, which is indicative of a manufacturing/engineering problem.
 
[citation][nom]EDVINASM[/nom]One of many reasons I stay away from Apple products. Especially PCs since there is no "after-market" compatibility (apart from very few approved vendors). I don't like sitting on a time bomb knowing the easiest fix is spending loads of cash. Kinda reminds me SAAB - nice, comfy, safe, unique but when goes wrong you might as well recycle the darn thing.[/citation]
+1

also, didn't know that about SAAB. I've seen them around but never drove one or personaly knew anyone who drove one. I do remember the TV ads years ago tho... And thanks for the info.
 
usersname :
"Not legally, you can't. Plus, with each OS upgrade, there may be issues to resole. I've better things to do with my life than fart around with the innards of a PC. Time is money...and the return on a legal copy of OSX is covered by being 99.9999999999% trouble free. I also use Winclone on my Mac to create complete Windows 7 Ultimate SP bootable images that I can re-install onto an NTSF drive in under 10 minutes. Yes, 10 minutes to completely wipe a Windows install and reinstall via a Mac. So, if my Windows gets slow it gets wiped. OSX never gets slow with time. It'll be as snappy in a years time as it is today and I need absolutely no free or otherwise third-party Mac utilities to accomplish this."

Sigh Mac Zealots....

You DONT own a Macintosh. I own probably about 20 mac's and all of them are REAL mac's with either a 68k, or PPC processor running between OS 6 and OS 9, "made" by Apple. You own an obsolete PC sold by apple to run their "clone" of BSD UNIX with their GUI slapped on top. 99% trouble free? Never slows down over time? Yeah... no. OS-X can be crippled by simply entering a character in any of OS-X's many, many, many boot files. What a piece of sh*t!.... But such is UNIX.

dontcrosthestreams :
"Bestbuy, Nvidia, and Dell all worked together to delete the purchase history of laptops that failed due to overheating nvidia gpu's. After owing one for 4 months it failed, went in to have it replaced and they told me it couldnt have been purchased from them. I had the receipt in my hand. The store manager was called up instantly and asked me to leave the store. 900$ mistake on my part to do business with these companies."

That sucks you had a bad experience, but don't put the blame on Nvidia. They just made the chips, they're not the ones that made the laptops that overheat because the cooling system is inadequate to handle the TDP specified by Nvidia(you're also supposed to over-engineer things, not just make it to specs). When you see your GPU go to temps like 180 deg F, or 190 deg F, it's going to fail, simple... as... that! I had to re-design the stupid heat pipe system in my Dell 6410 because the temps would exceed 180 deg. As soon as I saw that, I ran to Lowes, bought some copper sheet and went to work. My temps don't exceed 165 deg F now under full load. Still high, but better. More improvement is needed. Yes the under-fill in those chips melt at a lower temp. than should, but the chipset should NEVER be allowed to get that hot, ever, ever, ever! Blame the laptop/video card manufacturers, not Nvidia. And Both the 8500Gt's I owned at the same time NEVER malfunctioned from heat. As soon as I got them, I ditched the OEM heatsinks and purchased oversized ones.

It's like, you wouldn't buy a 400 watt power supply and expect it to last more than a few weeks - months when pulling 400 watts. You'd buy at the very least a 600w - 800w PSU, then it would last for years. It's just common sense.
 
A mobo is pretty much the most expensive thing on your laptop. If Apple Charged 335.58 for the mobo then where does the 2,000 extra dollars you pay for the mbp go to? As far as 335.56 is very cheap for a mobo replacement. I'm surprised Apple didn't charge 900+ for the repair since their laptops cost around 2k.
 
Well, given that Foxconn makes the logic/mother boards the boards are the same quality as that used in most (almost all) other oem's laptops as Foxconn makes the logic boards for most oems. I doubt Apple's laptops are having any more failures than dell, hp, Sony, acer, Toshiba, Vizio, etc. However, i've not researched it (nor will I), so I may be wrong.
 
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