MacBook Owner Sues Apple Over Defective Motherboard

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EDVINASM

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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.
 

Pennanen

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Apple products are not bad, they are just overpriced. Macbooks that have these kind of flaws should cost 200$ but its not stupid to sell them for 2000$ if idiots pay that.
 
Oh, come on. I am no fan of Apple hardware, but sueing them because the computer does not work when the motherboard fails? Really? Had he sued for bad customer support or Apple screwing him out of the warranty I'd give him kudos.

And stating that the cost for repair is too high (and lacks alternative) is no decent argument, since he chose to buy their stuff knowing, and probably even bragging, that it is an expensive closed package.

Some people just lack common sense.
 

innocent bystander

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$335 for a motherboard? That's pretty steep.

I'm not big on laptop component pricing because mine is maintained and supported by my employer but I could replace my desktop motherboard for less than $200 + about an hour of my labor).

That being said, Apple has every right to charge whatever it wants for service and support. God knows, their users should be used to paying through the nose for trivial things by now.

Unless there is a systemic problem with the motherboard, however, the lawsuit shouldn't go anywhere. Electronics fails and when it does, it takes the entire system down with it. This should be obvious to anyone.

IB
 

ewood

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[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]
the only time saabs have issues are when people avoid routine maintenance... like the blown engine problem: always the direct result of someone waiting too long between oil changes and using shitty oil.
 

ohim

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To be honest i have no pity for apple products owners. If they can afford the premium price because of the looks and a logo then screw them, he payed prolly 2000$ for the god damn thing in the first place , why should i care if apple charges him 350$ for the repairs.
 
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My MB Pro (late 2007) lasted 1.5 years. It stopped booting after one of firmware updates. It also looks like the logic board problem from what I've read on various forums - and yes, found a lot of people complaining. Obviously I am no longer Apple customer...
 

codefuapprentice

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now is it me, or does it seem like this is apple's mentality:
"DENIED......., now, that'll be $335 just for a second of our time.......now then, can i interest you in this lovely $2400 macbook with all the trimmings?"
I often get this impression every time i've ever been into an apple store, like those clerks feel like they should be charging you to browse the store
 

oasiz

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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. :)
 

oasiz

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Well, not necessarily suffers from the issue, some just are very error prone where some laptops can last for ages, risk is still there.
 

orionite

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$355 for a motherboard replacement is not as expensive as you think. Just look for motherboard prices and add labor, and I don't mean for apple products.
Regarding the article: There is one guy who claims that the manufacturer knew of a defect and ignored it. The article states there is "no information" whether the manufacturer withheld information or even knew of it. Judging by the level of common sense displayed by people posting on the internet (hi there TH posters), I'm as inclined to think that this is a frivolous lawsuit by one irate customer, as I am to believe that a company has wilfully sold defective products.
 

drwho1

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At least this Apple user is not blindfolded anymore, hope that at least this helps other Apple users to get their blindfolds off and see that their are better options out there.
 

damianrobertjones

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[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]Boo hoo... This is the same crap that HP and Dell does all the time.[/citation]

yes, it is, but those oems don't pretend that their kit is 'magical' and 'better than the others'.
 

belardo

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Ever priced a motherboard for a business class HP, Dell or Thinkpad? Even a typical $500~700 notebook will still have a $200~300 system board replacement part. The pricing is not new.

You buy a cheap $500 notebook, you don't bother with the replacement/extended warranty. You spend $1200+ on ANY notebook, you should spend $75~200 for a 1~4 yr extended warranty.

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.
 
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google for "macbook logic board" and you see its not one customer... but I agree, things are not made now to last, whether its 700 or 2000$ piece.
 

rosen380

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"google for "macbook logic board" and you see its not one customer..."

Even if it is thousands of people, when you sell millions of something, some are bound to fail over time.
 

nebun

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ok...the company offers extended warranty....if the product was still under warranty then the work should have been done for free...also when the warranty expires he can extend it for very cheap....i see noting wrong with apple...this m...can't is at fault....nothing lasts forever.
 
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LOL. $350 for an Apple motherboard replacement is frankly getting off cheap. Chances are, whoever replaced it for him was not an Apple certed shop and got the part refurbed from eBay. Apple parts are expensive no matter what vendor you get them from, Apple laptops are by far the most difficult to work on in the industry (although Sony is trying hard to unseat them), and Apple certification is the most expensive in the industry. $120-$150 for the labor is at least average from a non-certed shop, and a certed shop would likely charge $200. And that's for "flat rate" repairs in both cases. A warranted part from a reputable vendor could be anywhere between $150 and $1000 depending on model and availability.

And this is hardly the first time Apple's had an issue with motherboards. Back in the days before Intel started making their processors, I remember they had a recall on a sizable percentage of their G5 iMacs for mobo and PSU issues. The shop I worked at was Apple certified, but as the Apple tech was only part time, I must have changed out at least 20 of those recalled boards personally.
 
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\begin rant

When I worked at Apple, I witnessed some shady sh*t. This was around 05, or 06, and computers that were sold 2 weeks ago would come back for repair due to motherboard failure. (especially that whole bad capacitor scandal during that time) The first priority was double checking the computer to find any reason that would void Apple's - Apple Care warranty, and trust me, the smallest thing would void it. I saw a lot of pissed off people back then, I still can't believe people buy Apple crap.

Anyways, even thou Apple knew about the faulty capacitors, or the faulty RoHS solder joints, they would replace computers that somehow managed to fall under warranty with KNOWN DEFECTIVE PARTS! That is they would replace a motherboard with failed capacitors with another NOS one that had the exact same capacitors and would fail again in 6 months. Same thing with the faulty solder joints(which they still do). They would do this until the warranty had expired and then tell the customer to buy another computer or F off.

Ever since Steve Jobs took over apple, that's the kind of quality people have gotten. Sure, there were a few defective lines before Steve came back, but Apple usually admitted to, and fixed the defective parts. Apple is (since around '99) nothing more than a money hungry, lawyered up patent troll that sells known defective computers to unsuspecting people and apple zealots that are blind and deaf to anything that isn't Apple.

\end rant
 
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