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Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

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Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#91

Post by dcx »

Jonnax wrote: post #3

A colleague of mine recently got a MacBook Pro, whenever they plug in an external monitor the fans are pretty much fully on when doing not much at all. They now loathe using it. These computers are so expensive. They seem to have a ton of issues with ridiculous repair costs. What's going on? The keyboard issue from before is another example. Clearly they have the profit margin to ensure their products work well. And…

I had this issue. I found people with the same problem up and down the web, across tons of MacBook models (examples: [1] [2]). Most people blamed it on bad drivers, GPU issues, bad graphics ports, firmware issues, and so on.

What actually did the trick - opening the case up, flushing the dust from both fans using compressed air, and replacing the thermal paste on the CPU & GPU. My MacBook is totally silent now.

I'm sure there is more than one possible root cause, but I feel this solution is not nearly as well known as it should be. Laptops generally run hot, and MacBooks have great fans, but they do trap dust. So there are a ton of people running around with old MacBooks which are being absolutely crippled by throttling. I ran some rough benchmarks and performance has approximately doubled. It's super noticeable.

IMO Apple is incentivised to do a poor job in highlighting this (and say, setting up a service program), because when your laptop starts to feel slow after a few years, people tend to feel like maybe it's time to buy a new laptop...

[1] https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/1322323-macb...

[2] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2017-15-mbp-fans-run-w-...

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#92

Post by oneplane »

selfhoster11 wrote: post #84
freeqaz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just swapped from Android to an iPhone for privacy concerns. The other side of the fence is pretty user hostile as well. Google makes you disable a lot of functionality on the phone if you try to get out of their invasive tracking. And they are constantly nuking apps that I use like Google Play Music and Google Inbox. Maybe check out PinePhone if you're interested in hacking something together!

You can deactivate pretty much all the Google apps you're not using. I use VLC, Firefox and K-9 Mail instead of the default Google apps and have been doing it for ages. Pretty much doesn't break anything, other than some banking apps that immediately assume you must have Gmail installed, so they direct you to that instead of your default email client. That's not a big deal, you can just open your email client by hand…

But you can't disable play store and framework(s) without losing a ton of integrated facilities. Probably also why the integrate most ad and tracking stuff in there.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#93

Post by kop316 »

freeqaz wrote: post #28
SirensOfTitan wrote: post #6

They’ve also quoted me more than a whole new pair to repair some AirPods Pro that I accidentally washed in the laundry. They didn’t tell me that was the case when I was on the phone with them. Apple uses a lot of customer hostile behaviors nowadays. Recently: * I canceled the Apple TV+ year trial that came with my iPhone. While, I believe, they require other apps to allow access until the trial ends, they ended my ac…

I just swapped from Android to an iPhone for privacy concerns. The other side of the fence is pretty user hostile as well. Google makes you disable a lot of functionality on the phone if you try to get out of their invasive tracking. And they are constantly nuking apps that I use like Google Play Music and Google Inbox. Maybe check out PinePhone if you're interested in hacking something together!

Right now my android phone is GrapheneOS with no Google Play Services/Apps. I download everything via F-Droid. However like you said, there is a lot of functionality disabled.

I have a Pinephone and hope that sooner then later that I can use it full time.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#94

Post by currysausage »

aosaigh wrote: post #50
seb4433 wrote: post #38

Recently my iPhone XR stopped working after only a few months of usage. I thought it shouldn't be much of a problem since the device still had warranty. But I was very wrong... dealing with Apple Support (Germany) was one of the most frustrating customer support experiences I've ever had. My local Apple Store sent the phone to the repair facility 3 times but it always came back with the comment "Couldn't replicate is…

Did you try going via your consumer rights instead of their warranty? Completely anecdotal I know, but I had a Apple Pencil fail on me outside of warranty. On the phone they refused to fix or replace it. Once I mentioned my consumer rights (which cover 6 years in Ireland https://www.apple.com/ie/legal/statutory-warranty/ - I'm sure it's similar in Germany) they put me through to a separate phone line and sent me out…

6 years? This is amazing!

In Germany, it's 2 years of statutory warranty (Gewährleistung), but there's a shift in the burden of proof (Beweislastumkehr) after 6 months, so if the retailer insists, it's up to you to prove that a defect was actually present when you bought the item.

We talk a lot about the throwaway society and about planned obsolence, but six years of statutory warranty could actually change something.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#95

Post by emsy »

arkitaip wrote: post #80
emsy wrote: post #61

At this point it’s as if Apple is begging to be regulated. Absolutely disgraceful. To be clear my issue is not with the price of the repair but with the lack of alternatives due to Apple’s replacement part policy. I’m pretty sure if the EU were to regulate them they’d still enforce their customer hostile policies onTo their other markets.

What Apple is doing isn't different from what manufacturers have been doing for centuries. Expensive repairs and parts have always been a way to earn more money at the expense of the consumer. I'm not saying their behavior is acceptable, just that it's very unlikely that laws are a solution to this problem.

I think the issue is that faulty hardware isn’t actually that common. I have more than 20 Apple devices in my family circle without any issue. But if there were to e failure it would going to be costly and strenuous to repair. So I don’t think customer choice will solve this issue. We need lawmakers to protect the few unlucky ones from these customer hostile practices.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#96

Post by apetresc »

The title and initial blurb of the article makes it sound like the rep tried to somehow disguise the cost or downplay it.

But if you read the transcript, it's the exact opposite. The rep warned them the repair would cost more than a replacement before he even quoted them a price, and tried multiple times to explain why. He acted completely professionally, and the situation itself is totally unremarkable too.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#97

Post by sbuk »

danlugo92 wrote: post #10
SirensOfTitan wrote: post #6

They’ve also quoted me more than a whole new pair to repair some AirPods Pro that I accidentally washed in the laundry. They didn’t tell me that was the case when I was on the phone with them. Apple uses a lot of customer hostile behaviors nowadays. Recently: * I canceled the Apple TV+ year trial that came with my iPhone. While, I believe, they require other apps to allow access until the trial ends, they ended my ac…

Been a long time since I havent used apple devices (for unrelated reasons) this sounds so different from how they used to be.

I broke the screen on a new Macbook 2 years ago, days after buying it. It was entirely my own fault so not covered by warrantee. I called Apple support and was told £800. Since I bought it with an Amex card, it was covered on that insurance, so I made an appointment to get it replaced. I went to the Apple store and was given a formal quote of £645 parts + labour. They went off to get the paperwork and were gone for a while. When they got back, they told me that the part wouldn't be available for 3 months (it was a new release) and gave me a new laptop, free of charge, on the spot.

edited for clarity.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#98

Post by Wowfunhappy »

oneplane wrote: post #92
selfhoster11 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can deactivate pretty much all the Google apps you're not using. I use VLC, Firefox and K-9 Mail instead of the default Google apps and have been doing it for ages. Pretty much doesn't break anything, other than some banking apps that immediately assume you must have Gmail installed, so they direct you to that instead of your default email client. That's not a big deal, you can just open your email client by hand…

But you can't disable play store and framework(s) without losing a ton of integrated facilities. Probably also why the integrate most ad and tracking stuff in there.

> But you can't disable play store and framework(s) without losing a ton of integrated facilities.

But can’t those basically be considered part of the operating system at this point? I can’t disable Apple frameworks on my iPhone either. Mind, iOS of course does less user tracking.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#99

Post by coldtea »

For what is worth, I had an iMac 27" out of warranty and Apple replaced the screen for free.

It had started having an issue (condensation) after 3-4 years of use and apparently the part number was from a run that could display was issue and had free repair even if out of warranty.

The iMac cost like $3500 (corresponding local price), and the repair part was listed as costing $750 but given for free.

Another good experience is when they fixed a MBP (charging adapter) from free in a totally different country than the one purchased. Bought in Europe, fixed in an Apple Store in the US.

That said, the first case is 7 years ago, and the other is 6.

Re: Apple Tried Charging the Price of a New MacBook Pro for a Screen Replacement

#100

Post by jrochkind1 »

andyhmltn wrote: post #18

I'm currently having to go through a home insurance claim for a similar reason. I stupidly took one of the keys off and bent a bit of plastic getting it back on. The damaged part of the key is on the keycap itself, rather than the mechanism underneath. Silly mistake but I imagine not super uncommon. Took it to an Apple store and was quoted £700 to fix it which is equivalent to almost half the cost of the laptop. For…

Some years ago I had the tech at the Apple store replace a single damaged key on my laptop for me completely free, he had a drawer full of keycaps, it took him five minutes, he was just like, no problem, bye.

Times have changed. :(

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