Last week three men filed a class action lawsuit in Northern California District Court alleging that Apple's 2011 MacBook Pro laptops were defective and that Apple did not take proper steps to compensate customers whose hardware broke.
The lawsuit specifically addresses 15” and 17” MacBook Pros from 2011, which the plaintiffs claim suffered from “random bouts of graphical distortion, system instability, and system failures.” The plaintiffs also assert that the problem is widespread, with an online survey conducted by the plaintiffs receiving over 3,000 responses from 2011 MacBook Pro owners in a single week.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs blame the solder used to connect the dedicated GPU in the laptops to the main circuit board, saying that the solder was lead-free to comply with EU regulations, and made its way into US products so Apple could save on manufacturing costs.
“Lead-free solder,” the complainants write, “which is typically composed of a combination of tin and silver, suffers from two well-known problems. First, it tends to develop microscopic 'tin whiskers,' which cause short circuiting and other problems within electronic devices. Additionally, lead-free solder tends to crack when exposed to rapid changes in temperature.” The complaint goes on to state that such rapid changes in temperature are caused by the processors themselves heating the inside of the laptop up.
In addition, the plaintiffs say that Apple was cognizant of this faulty engineering due to its experience with the 2008 MacBook Pro laptops, which had graphics problems as well and eventually were offered extended repair coverage.
When the 2011 MacBook Pros were announced three years ago, Ars reported claims of GPU-related systems freezes on the 15" and 17" versions, “with one user going so far as to successfully reproduce the problem on every floor model at a local Apple Store.” Apple later issued a software update that it said would solve the graphics stability issues. The complaint filed last week says the patch was ineffective because the problem was with the laptop's hardware rather than its software.
As recently as this January, a swell of 2011 MacBook Pro users took to forums to complain about graphical instability on their laptops. Ars reported then that we suspected it was an issue with the dedicated GPU rather than the integrated one.
The plaintiffs in this suit are asking that Apple acknowledge the graphics defect and “reassess all prior warranty claims and pay the full costs of repairs and damages.” Ars has reached out to Apple for comment but has not yet received a response.
75 Reader Comments
There's clearly something weird going on with this model.
Last edited by Jim Z on Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:55 pm
Edit: assuming, of course, that AMD picked the solder. Entirely possible that Apple did, in which case, it's on them.
I would agree with you if this was one of those class-action lawsuits where the lawyers get paid thousands and the plaintiffs merely get a coupon off of another product from the same company that disappointed them.
But if this class action results in me getting a full refund for the logic board replacement I paid for (times all of the thousands of us out there), it will not be one of the trivial ones.
Class actions suits can be very useful, especially in cases like this. Is there abuse and fraud? Of course there is. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
This one certainly deserves it.
BOOM!
Edit: assuming, of course, that AMD picked the solder. Entirely possible that Apple did, in which case, it's on them.
AMD sells GPU's. Not motherboards. How the ODM decides to solder it to the motherboard is up to them.
nVidia's solder problem was different. The problem was within the BGA packaging. That's why they had to pay up.
I was going to ask, has anyone's 2011 15/17" not crapped out at some point?
Mine went wonky in mid 2013, replaced under AppleCare. There's nothing more I could ask for materially, but I would support the suit, because I now know the "heh? how weird that it's doing that!" from the geniuses, feigned or not, was BS.
They also had me create an admin login/password apple/fruit, password hint apple/fruit (I had secured my data, and went along for the lulz) and didn't ask me to delete it when I got my machine back.
I was going to ask, has anyone's 2011 15/17" not crapped out at some point?
My 17's fine, but it sees light use and relatively stable ambient temps.
Thank you so much Ars for posting this article. I am going to show it to Apple and try to get a free replacement for a defective product!
Clarify, please. I'm a former service manager at an Apple authorized service center. I guarantee you that all paid repairs carry a warranty, usually 90 days.
this sounds like a good class action, the people seem to have done their homework.
all that remains to be seen is if the the settlement is good, repaired laptops, instead of money thats funneled to lawyers.
Ever since, I can't do it. Used to be #1 fan of apple hardware and support, never again. I've had stuff replaced simply because the genius got tired of scrolling through the list of items on my account, but an obviously crap screen, refused service.
I was going to ask, has anyone's 2011 15/17" not crapped out at some point?
My "Early 2011" MBP is still going strong but since its AppleCare expired a couple days ago it'll probably take a crap next month.
That's kinda the argument, that there should have been.
I have had it apart multiple times for cleanup as well as drive replacements (loving the 1TB SSD). It's amazing how much of an air filter it turns into when the fans are running full blast.
I would knock on wood but it's bad luck to be superstitious...
That last part gave me a nice laugh, thank you!
We tested a bench for led contamination once... on the right side where the soldering irons and desoldering station are usually placed. Contaminated area is supposed to turn a little pink after a few minutes. Well it turned bright red almost immediately.
My next mac will almost definitely be a hackintosh.
Apple replaced.
The replacement has had some heat issues as well, but not as bad, so I never bothered to take it back. It's now six years old and works fine. I did replace the hard drive 2 years ago, and I've noticed that it slows down the longer I leave it turned on; I have to shut down and reboot about once a week or so wheras when I bought it I only needed to do a total shut down once every few months.
Hope for the sake of all these customers that Apple does indeed decide to do the right thing and make amends by fixing these machines. Unfortunately, from what I can remember in that thread, even the people who opted to pay to have the machines repaired inevitably ran into the same problem again.
People who laud Apple's past actions in "fixing" problems need to be reminded that they only stepped up AFTER THE LAWSUIT TOLD THEM TO.
Assuming they step up for this, it's the same thing. That's nothing to laud or point to as being better or a good thing. There's a demonstrable problem and Apple has to be taken to COURT to get them to "step up".
Sorry if I can't say that's anything to boast or brag about. Court settlements shouldn't be required for companies to step up when there's an obvious, repeatable issue with their products.
(Let the hate begin)
They have a diagnostics test that they run. If it fails, new MB. If it passes, you're screwed. Mine passed the first time, so I had them run it again after it had warmed up a bit, then it failed, so new MB.
You mean you didn't pay $2000 just surf facebook??
Hasn't Apple had similar problems like this before? I know when I was looking at buying a used iBook G3 lowendmac claimed something like half of all of the white ones needed motherboard replacements due to the GPU failing. That scared me off anyways.
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