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Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

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Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#111

Post by navidfarhadi »

empyrical wrote: post #39
forgingahead wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue with all models after 2012 was the lack of being able to replace the parts since everything was soldered on -- I could be wrong about the year though.

I know that on the 2015 rMPB the SSD is replaceable. You can even get a recent Samsung SSD and install it (provided you have the right adapter) https://medium.com/@MaestroVolis/samsung-960-pro-in-15-macbo...

I ended up doing this last year. I bought a Sintech adapter and a Toshiba XG4 SSD for my 2015 15” rMBP. It works just fine but the battery life ended up being terrible compared to the stock SSD. I was getting around 60% of the battery life of the stock SSD with the XG4 + adapter combo.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#112

Post by kilburn »

saagarjha wrote: post #99
kilburn wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you don't use your laptop in your lap. It is impossible to avoid some strain on the cable while the computer is on your lap, because it must hang unsupported. Use it this way for a while and I guarantee that no matter how much you care, the plastic will splinter exposing the inner cables and eventually shorting them.

I do use my computer in my lap; the strain is minimal and has no real effect on durability. That's like a couple of ounces of weight–there's no no way that will permanently damage the cable.

There should be no way, but as plenty of people can attest to... it happens. Really, why would so many people be complaining if it wasn't true?

I'm still using my late 2011 machine as a daily driver, day in and day out. I think you can agree I don't generally mistreat my stuff (or the thing would be destroyed already). I'm telling you I've been careful with the charger cables, and still got 3 of them to fry this way.

You may or may not believe me, but at least you should understand that my opinion (and many others') is that those cable strains are unfit for their purpose.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#113

Post by ksec »

andr wrote: post #53
stunt wrote: post #6

There are many examples of Apple never admitting design issues! Beside what they are doing with their reputation and customers loyalty, I’m wondering how is it going to affect their engineering culture within the company itself. They are very biased with their strategies in everything and they hardly change them. Same situation Microsoft was in some years ago.

On the flipside, Apple has a lot more data on what components fail than we do. They can detect issues before they become a "-gate" and I imagine slight improvements like this one happen fairly often. Which, I'd say, is a good engineering practice and culture.

They will have the Data when it was actually repaired by their Store. Notice How most of the Street Laptop Repair Store advertise with Apple repair? There is a whole Apple 2nd Hand, Repair economy out there. If they have an 3% repair rate on Apple Store, you can bet it is at least double that amount on total repair outside of Apple.

Which is one of the Key Point of Genius Bar, these front line Genius were suppose to Report back all sort of problems with their Product so the design team would know. Steve make sure this so they can services their customer better. Look at the Genius Bar now.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#114

Post by jbrooksuk »

artiscode wrote: post #2

Nice knowing that, in addition of three failing keys (u, i and o) and one failed speaker, I can also expect the display flex cable to fail. 2017 MBP that's been plagued with problems from the very beginning.

My 2018 MacBook Pro arrived last week £2.6k and I turned it on to find the right speaker crackling. I now have to make a trip to Apple to get it fixed.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#115

Post by zuron7 »

adrianN wrote: post #33
zuron7 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I do know a few (mid-size) companies who tend to replace the entire system, then send the faulty piece back to a centralized repair facility which repairs the boards, and then they're used to repair another faulty piece. Don't know whether the large companies do this though.

The repairs at the central facility would be much more efficient if the repairable unit was a cable instead of half the machine.

Can't argue with that, but these repair houses have special tools which make the entire process almost as efficient as repairing a bulkier and modular device. At the end of the day, we can call it a user hostile measure and it needs to be tackled with government policies.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#116

Post by jordanthoms »

alexis_fr wrote: post #64
sbaha88 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bought first Macbook Pro retina in 2012 with a hefty $2500 price tag. It's been seven years and it still just works fine. Not looking to upgrade

But, important thing to say, I hold on to my Macbook Pro 2013 because of the bad quality of the new versions, not because I’m happy keeping my 2013. The money is still available and I would happily throw €3000 at Apple. It’s just that, they don’t want it, as if I’m not in their target audience. I don’t write enough emojis to benefit from an emoji bar.

Yeah, there's a ton of money just sitting there for whoever makes a viable replacement for the 2012-2015 rMBP. Anything with windows on it is disqualified, and I don't have the inclination these days to deal with driver issues from running Linux on something unsupported.

The closest I've seen are the Dell XPS 13/15 and Thinkpad X1 Carbon/X1 Extreme, but I'm not a fan of the Dell build quality, and the linux support on the Lenovos isn't quite good enough yet (Nvidia Optimus driver issues mostly, and issues with battery life relating to it).

The other potential option is System76, but their laptop hardware just isn't up to par - their POP!_OS seems pretty good though, despite the horrible name, so they are part of the way there.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#117

Post by majewsky »

fooker wrote: post #24

Is there any signal that they are going to introduce a better keyboard? I just can't grow to like the current ones.

They got a patent for putting key switches under a touchscreen, so my guess is that it's just going to get worse.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#118

Post by ms013 »

sametmax wrote: post #63
devwastaken wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, Louis rossman, a popular apple repair guy on YouTube talks similiar about this a lot. The overwhelming majority of problems are fixable for 10 minutes or less and less than a dollar in components. But apple will just tell you to buy a new board and purposefully makes it harder for repair. The whole 'sustainability' is a marketing act.

It makes you wonder how much of the privacy features are a marketing act too.

Not really. With recent articles talking about their push more deeply into health, privacy is a core feature and basis of trust. Very different than the marketing speak we get from other gigantic companies that are fundamentally ad brokers: privacy is at odds with their core business. Privacy is not at odds with where Apple is or is going, so there isn’t the business incentive there for them to violate it.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#120

Post by libertine »

The weirdest part of all of this is the recurrent problems of Apple products in peoples tech-life-time, and the same people, while annoyed, embrace it... and I just don't get it.

If products fail on you consistently, why you keep buying them?

It's 2019, there's a lot of great products out there, with way more quality than some Apple products.

If the problem is the "ecosystem" you bought into, well maybe it was a mistake to begin with because it seems it's not much of a balanced ecosystem - so maybe you should consider jumping out of it.

I know I'm biased because I've been a windows user all my life, and I'm not from USA where Apple reigns supreme and people communicate with each other via Apple products/apps... but damn, is it really worth it? Because you're being part of the problem, not part of the solution.

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