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The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

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11–20 of 84 posts

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#11
I have a 2012 model with the 256 hd - I just downloaded and played the song and no fans came on.

Did have a dead pixel show up in my display but apple fixed that for free. Also it does get too hot for lap usage sometimes.

Other than that this is the best computer I've ever used. Pretty much every other computer I've use now seems slow and pixelated.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#12

I have a 2012 model with the 256 hd - I just downloaded and played the song and no fans came on. Did have a dead pixel show up in my display but apple fixed that for free. Also it does get too hot for lap usage sometimes. Other than that this is the best computer I've ever used. Pretty much every other computer I've use now seems slow and pixelated.

Re: heat. My problem is that when the fans of my 2012 rMBP are whirring, the heat emanates from the keyboard which is.... odd. It's not something I'm used to, and irks me to no end.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#13
post #8

But have they fixed the problems with the previous generation? I have a couple issues with my 2012 retina MBP. These are all corroborated by others on Apple's support community: * LG panel ghosting * Graphical glitches in Safari * Audio clicks, pops and stutters when using Intel graphics * Power manager issues: Sometimes it'll drop to sleep when I unplug the magsafe, even though the laptop is in use. Sometimes it has…

See my top-level comment.

* Graphics issues are fixed in 10.8.3 (still in beta). It appears that the drivers have been rewritten from scratch, this was the worst beta seed series I can recall for any OS X release, ever, with new seeds days apart, seeds that were completely broken, kernel and graphics driver instabilities, etc. The latest seed is much improved and should address this issue.

* LG panel ghosting: I had my clamshell replaced a few months ago. There was a new part number, it has been officially "fixed."

* I have hisses and pops when listening via headphones, but not over the speakers

* Power management: Finally fixed with latest firmware updates + 10.8.3 + reset NVRAM/PRAM and SMC. Firmware updates plus NVRAM [0] and SMC [1] reset will likely fix it for you.

0: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

1: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#14

I just spent 1 hour today at the Apple store and talking to Apple care getting my brand new (2 days old) 15 Retina MBP replaced. It kernel panicked on me and bricked itself. The only sign of life is a slight hum of a fan when I try to power it on. It's the first Apple product I've bought but I can't shake the feeling that this frequency of bad hardware is becoming normal.

I had an 06 MacBook that was an absolute lemon. Had to bring it in for randomly turning off and go through two motherboard replacements before they sent it away for 4 weeks to redesign the motherboard. Then it still had to go back in several times before they finally just gave me a new one almost a year newer because of how troublesome it was. I don't think this is a sign of getting worse!

(I now have a 2012 rMBP and absolutely love it)

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#15

I just spent 1 hour today at the Apple store and talking to Apple care getting my brand new (2 days old) 15 Retina MBP replaced. It kernel panicked on me and bricked itself. The only sign of life is a slight hum of a fan when I try to power it on. It's the first Apple product I've bought but I can't shake the feeling that this frequency of bad hardware is becoming normal.

>It's the first Apple product I've bought but I can't shake the feeling that this frequency of bad hardware is becoming normal.

Probably because you haven't experienced the overheating G4 Cubes, the liquid cooling dripping G5 Pros, the frequently crapping out on the motherboards iBook G3, the wheezing MacBook Pros, and tons of similar stuff.

There's even a saying that goes as far back as 2002: NEVER buy Apple 1gen product (like the Retina was) --or at least be cautions. Wait till the put the second generation in the market.

So nothing to do with "declining quality" as such. All new models have some ironing out of issues to do, and all models will have some problematic runs. Same thing in the PC world, be assured, just that noone buys 3 million of the exact same PC model, whereas in the Mac world they do.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#16

I just spent 1 hour today at the Apple store and talking to Apple care getting my brand new (2 days old) 15 Retina MBP replaced. It kernel panicked on me and bricked itself. The only sign of life is a slight hum of a fan when I try to power it on. It's the first Apple product I've bought but I can't shake the feeling that this frequency of bad hardware is becoming normal.

I had the same issue, they fixed it without 2 days without discussion though. A motherboard replacement was required there, billed out for about $800 (of course for me it was free).

After all I'm still glad having a macbook. Friend of mine bought a $2.5k lenovo that bricked itself after a month, after having serious thermal management problems (the GPU would suddenly clock down). It took them more than six weeks to get him a replacement.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#17
post #8

But have they fixed the problems with the previous generation? I have a couple issues with my 2012 retina MBP. These are all corroborated by others on Apple's support community: * LG panel ghosting * Graphical glitches in Safari * Audio clicks, pops and stutters when using Intel graphics * Power manager issues: Sometimes it'll drop to sleep when I unplug the magsafe, even though the laptop is in use. Sometimes it has…

See my top-level comment. * Graphics issues are fixed in 10.8.3 (still in beta). It appears that the drivers have been rewritten from scratch, this was the worst beta seed series I can recall for any OS X release, ever, with new seeds days apart, seeds that were completely broken, kernel and graphics driver instabilities, etc. The latest seed is much improved and should address this issue. * LG panel ghosting: I had…

Apple's DACs have hissed for a long time. My 2010 MBP had the same problem. They just use shitty DACs.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#18
post #8

But have they fixed the problems with the previous generation? I have a couple issues with my 2012 retina MBP. These are all corroborated by others on Apple's support community: * LG panel ghosting * Graphical glitches in Safari * Audio clicks, pops and stutters when using Intel graphics * Power manager issues: Sometimes it'll drop to sleep when I unplug the magsafe, even though the laptop is in use. Sometimes it has…

I've had the same power management issue for my non-Retina mid-2012 MBP. The main issue is that the machine insists on doing something whenever AC power status changes. Even if the machine is asleep, it'll wake for 10 seconds or so and then sleep again. Even if you change the appropriate pmset flags, which is unnerving, because those flags are now being ignored. The best way to reproduce is to take the sleeping MBP, unplug it, open the lid, and begin using it. BAM, it goes to sleep on you!

The problem appeared either with 10.8.2 or a firmware update that arrived around that time. There are a couple Apple support threads about it, and I've done everything (yes, I've reset the PRAM).

I hope it gets fixed soon.

Re: The early 2013 retina MBP 15” have faulty firmware/hardware

#20

I just spent 1 hour today at the Apple store and talking to Apple care getting my brand new (2 days old) 15 Retina MBP replaced. It kernel panicked on me and bricked itself. The only sign of life is a slight hum of a fan when I try to power it on. It's the first Apple product I've bought but I can't shake the feeling that this frequency of bad hardware is becoming normal.

We spent an hr at the Apple store and 1 hr on the phone speaking with their customer care, but they pretty much refused to believe that it was an actual issue! And we have the same issue with two macs, not one!
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