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Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

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Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#251

Post by forrestthewoods »

puckmunch wrote: post #221
forrestthewoods wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the beef against discrete GPUs? Shouldn't the complaint be against cases not properly designed to house them? MacBooks also use, quite frustratingly so, damn near the slowest Nvidia mobile GPU you can buy! A newer model might actually run faster and cooler.

Discrete GPUs are soldered to boards using ball-gate arrays, a technique which was invented with lead solder balls in mind. The patent holder died before the EU mandated non-lead solders. The reason this matters is because the process by which those solder balls are made does not check for the presence of voids in them. At least 10% of these balls (regardless of composition) x-ray as having voids. GPUs go through the…

Whoa, I did not know all that. Very interesting. Thanks!

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#252

Post by slantyyz »

grandalf wrote: post #56
techrat wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think after 10 years having model after model of aluminium built laptops, Apple would have found a way to solve the heat issues they always have... but nope, they still think it's a good idea to put the heat exhaust vent right up against the bottom lip of the screen where it is still blocked when the machine is in use.

I'm sure Apple has done some pretty exhaustive (no pun intended) thermodynamic analysis of the case design. I have three macbooks, two airs and a 13" mpbr, and none have had any thermal issues at all, even in the heat of summer. If you are using a laptop in a way that generates that much heat, you probably get about 1 hour of battery life, which sort of defeats the purpose of having a laptop in the first place. A lar…

I think a big part of why the early 2011 MBPs are an outlier is that the Sandy Bridge CPUs Apple put in the 2011 MBP simply ran very hot under load.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#253

Post by rictic »

snuxoll wrote: post #232
singlow wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but consider all of the things that you might insure - appliances and electronics. Now take the total cost of insuring them and put it in a bank account. In the case that one of them breaks, the savings will likely cover that replacement. Chance are none of them will break. Do the same thing next year. Not only to you make a little interest, you have all of last year's left-over premiums.

Almost everything I would want to insure as far as appliances and electronics go are already covered by my renters policy, if you do not have a renters policy go get one, right now, mine is only $10/mo with state farm (including an additional addendum to cover up to $10K in personal electronics). Of course, there's a $500 deductible on that, but the things I expect to happen that would cause me to file a claim on my…

Do you expect the insurance company to lose money on your account? Do you expect to beat out the professionals at their game?

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#254

Post by spost »

Just a note to anyone here who may be having this problem: I had an early 2011 MBP, the GPU died three times in three months. Apple charged me $300 to fix it the first time, did it for free the second time because it was still under repair warranty, and then replaced the machine entirely with a brand new 15" MBPr the third time. Obviously, the fact that it failed three times in as many months is unacceptable (and probably uncommon) but if you're struggling with this, do set up a genius bar appointment and see if they can do anything for you.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#255

Post by slantyyz »

tonyjackson wrote: post #249
slantyyz wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your case would have much more weight if similarly equipped 2012 Macbook Pros with discrete GPUs were failing at the same rate as their 2011 counterparts.

My case is to use the right tool for the job. If you're gaming on a laptop, you're getting a subpar experience anyway. Unless you're also lugging around an additional keyboard, mouse, and headphones. Which makes the whole laptop convenience a moot point. Or are you really arguing 2012 Macbooks don't get hot when gaming? I don't buy that.

>> Or are you really arguing 2012 Macbooks don't get hot when gaming?

No, I'm saying that the 2012s aren't getting so hot that there have even been remotely same degree of hardware failures as with the 2011 models.

My 2011 MBP just died last week (already replaced the logic board once under AppleCare). I never really played any games on it, so the failure had less to do with the discrete GPU itself than the CPU causing the overheating issues.

The logic boards clearly have a design defect in that they can't handle the heat that the computer runs at under non-gaming load. So contrary to what you said, I think I do have a "license to complain when your Macbook overheats and dies".

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#256

Post by wcfields »

slantyyz wrote: post #218
uptown wrote: post #79

My early 2011 MBP has had one logic board replaced so far at my own expense a short while after AppleCare expired. This site has been compiling relevant information to those experiencing the same problem, and the #mbp2011 hashtag on Twitter is also a good resource for those affected: http://mbp2011.org/ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mbp2011

I had one logic board replaced under AppleCare in 2013. It only took a few months before the new logic board exhibited the same GPU/heat problems. Finally, just a few days ago -- right before Christmas -- it just up and died. Seeing how I didn't want to pay for a new logic board with the same design defect, I just ended up buying a new laptop (and no, it is not a Mac). My early 2011 MBP was probably the most expensiv…

I had my "2011 MBP - refurbished" covered under Applecare so I got to at least get it covered as these issues were cropping up. They replaced both the logicboard and the harddrive.

I ended up selling it for whatever I could get for it a month ago and just cutting my losses before the Applecare ran out.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#257

Post by snowwrestler »

spost wrote: post #254

Just a note to anyone here who may be having this problem: I had an early 2011 MBP, the GPU died three times in three months. Apple charged me $300 to fix it the first time, did it for free the second time because it was still under repair warranty, and then replaced the machine entirely with a brand new 15" MBPr the third time. Obviously, the fact that it failed three times in as many months is unacceptable (and pro…

I was sitting in an Apple store getting the battery replaced on my MacBook Air. It only lasted 300 cycles instead of the 1,000 it is supposed to. My battery replacement was free despite being outside the 1 year warranty.

Next to me a woman had brought in her laptop because of problems (did not overhear what), and they replaced it for free despite it being 3 years old.

I definitely agree that the first step with Apple stuff is to see what they'll do for you. Hitting the Apple store is the best way to do that, but they're not everywhere. I wonder if the mail-in folks have as much latitude to please the customer. (And of course if you mail it in, you're missing your computer for at least a week or two.)

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#258

Post by derekp7 »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #87
mike-cardwell wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A T420 with no heat issues whatsoever. [edit] Not a great image but you can see where the vents are on the back and the left hand side on this image: https://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpIDoMt_OkYzjIF9E6... Doesn't matter how far I fold the screen back, the vents aren't blocked by it.

From this review ( http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-thinkpad-t420/ ): "Thick and bulky, with a keyboard studded with enough auxiliary buttons to look like a space shuttle control panel, the T420 is as old-school as a laptop can be." I mean, it's all a matter of trade-offs, as the parent says. Personally I have been using my Macbook mostly as a desktop replacement, so in hindsight I would probably trade the small f…

I haven't had any of the ultra thin ultrabooks. I do have a netbook (slightly older Acer model), but the screen was too limiting on it. So now I use a Thinkpad X230. The differences between the X230 and my work laptop (HP Elitebook 8470) is night and day -- I have no problem carying the X230, but wouldn't dream of lugging around the 8470.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#259

Post by rasz_pl »

Alupis wrote: post #134
Someone wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wondered that, too. I wonder whether he actually reflowed solder in the oven. Wikipedia gives a sample profile that heats to over 200 degrees Celsius for a minute or so. This uses around 170 degrees Celsius, which is used for preheating in the Wikipedia example. Also, a Google image search gives me reflow heats above 200 degrees for the 5 images I checked. Also "The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The scre…

Why do you doubt the temperature did not reflow the board? When I solder electronics, I'm usually somewhere between 500F to 650F, but that's so things get hot enough quickly enough to not burn. I don't doubt a slow bake at 340F would do the same thing... some online googling shows people doing reflows with toaster ovens in the same temperature range (340F-450F). It's likely the solder joints were not completely disco…

physics, 340F will NOT melt solder

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#260

Post by [deleted] »

spost wrote: post #254

Just a note to anyone here who may be having this problem: I had an early 2011 MBP, the GPU died three times in three months. Apple charged me $300 to fix it the first time, did it for free the second time because it was still under repair warranty, and then replaced the machine entirely with a brand new 15" MBPr the third time. Obviously, the fact that it failed three times in as many months is unacceptable (and pro…

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