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My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

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Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#251

Post by sumtechguy »

pqvst wrote: post #11
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #7

I've never quite seen a repair history like this! Does your MacBook get crushed inside of bag/backpack often? Subject to unusually high temperatures, cold, or sunlight? Any weird power issues at your home? Very curious :D Thule's Gauntlet cases are great but in your case, maybe a Pelican laptop box could work too.

Haha, nope. It's perfectly fine and undamaged. I work remote a lot, coffee shops, cafes, coworking spaces, airplanes. So it moves a lot. No unusually high temperatures. I always use a soft case when I put it in my backpack for extra protection. Heat might be an issue though, especially if the laptop is hot and goes into my backpack directly. Maybe I should consider a Pelican case now that my APP has expired... and ma…

If you do move it around a lot it could be repeated flex stress? You would not even see it unless you got the thing under microscope. Even then it may be fine but one small part in the middle of board may cause other issues that cascade?

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#252

Post by 0xFACEFEED »

I'm still holding on to my 15-inch 2014 MBP. I've been using it for work daily going on 7 years now. Never taken it into service. It just keeps going...

Fingers crossed for the new MBPs this year. I'm planning on finally retiring this beautiful machine if the new MBP looks good.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#253

Post by systemvoltage »

0xy wrote: post #201
lostlogin wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is done for all items sold to consumers in New Zealand. A base MacBook is US $999 in the US and NZ $1749 in New Zealand, which is approximately US $1200. Your maths checks out. The tiny market, currency fluctuations and long shipping route probably factor in the price too, but our legislation is surely the prime reason for the cost. I absolutely love the consumer guarantees act we have here, and the protection i…

You're forgetting about the high sales tax of 15% in NZ. That explains the vast majority of the price difference.

No, that explains precisely $150 in price increase. We can do math: $1000 base price + 15% sales tax = $1150.

How is that vast majority of price increase?

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#254

Post by gambiting »

Bud wrote: post #220
gambiting wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to accept that as an answer as to why the battery is glued in. It's just laziness by apple, there's is literally zero reason to use glue to hold the battery, and it means that if you want to ever replace it yourself you end up looking at a 50-steps long guide on ifixit where one of them is pouring solvent behind the battery - it's insane. Just have a system of tabs holding the battery packs in place, glue is…

No, it's not laziness. Nothing about the internal design of the Mac is due to "laziness". Apple has clearly decided that the battery is better held in place by adhesive than by a "system of tabs". This could easily be for durability or safety reasons. It's a big, big problem if a battery gets damaged. If your argument is that the replacement process has too many steps, this argument fails: you'd save at most one step…

>>If your argument is that the replacement process has too many steps, this argument fails: you'd save at most one step (out of your claimed 50) if the adhesive were not there.

Thank you for making an assumption on my behalf, but that's actually not my argument - I do have an issue with the fact that replacing the battery requires pouring solvent behind the case, as the guide clearly warns you that if you mess this up you will damage other components and the screen. That's an unacceptable process for a battery replacement, I don't mind the disassembly of everything else to get to there. I will repeat myself - there is absolutely no reason to use glue in a case as tight as that of a modern MacBook.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#255

Post by gambiting »

pqvst wrote: post #222
gambiting wrote: post #196

>>Swedish customer support they informed me there was no way to get a repair outside of Sweden, since that’s where I had bought the laptop. That's odd, I've had my UK-bought XPS repaired in Poland without any issue, just rang dell customer service and a local engineer came over the next day and replaced the motherboard on the living room table. It wasn't ever questioned that the laptop wasn't bought in Poland.

It was quite a few years ago now, so I don't remember the details exactly. It might have been something specific about it being a battery issue. In any case, I remembering spoking to both customer support in Sweden and Japan and was informed that I couldn't get it repaired in Japan.

It's entirely possible that the issue wasn't being out of Sweden, it was being out of Europe. I think Dell warranties are region specific.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#256

Post by lostlogin »

0xy wrote: post #201
lostlogin wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is done for all items sold to consumers in New Zealand. A base MacBook is US $999 in the US and NZ $1749 in New Zealand, which is approximately US $1200. Your maths checks out. The tiny market, currency fluctuations and long shipping route probably factor in the price too, but our legislation is surely the prime reason for the cost. I absolutely love the consumer guarantees act we have here, and the protection i…

You're forgetting about the high sales tax of 15% in NZ. That explains the vast majority of the price difference.

There is zero sales tax on US Apple store sales? Where is tax paid?

I certainly have missed that.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#257

Post by tdsamardzhiev »

zzt123 wrote: post #233
ubermonkey wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Full time Mac user with a very, very high typing speed (consistently tested at 90+ WPM), and I have never had a keyboard lag issue with a Mac. Sure, I've had piggy apps -- usually web apps -- create lags, but that's happened on lots of systems, not just Macs. If my Macs couldn't keep up with my typing, I'd have kicked them to the curb a LONG LONG LONG time ago.

I am quite a bit above 90 wpm. Almost exactly double for sustained (1 min+), and more than that for burst. My theory is that the Intel macs generate too much heat for the chassis to handle (I'm currently on a 16" 2019), especially when being used by IntelliJ in projects with many files, having additional dev stuff running in the background, and with an external monitor connected. Additionally, I perceive more lag on…

My theory is that you generate too much heat by typing that fast :)

No, seriously, what’s the secret?

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#258

Post by systemvoltage »

sombremesa wrote: post #88
pier25 wrote: post #52

It's absolutely ridiculous that Macs don't come with a 3 year warranty by default. I've bought maybe a dozen macs in the last 15 years (for myself and the family) and while some have lasted many years without issues, some have died on me on the second or third year. Because the initial investment is so high you're practically forced to add extra Apple Care to protect it because there's a 20-30% chance you will have p…

> Because the initial investment is so high you're practically forced to add extra Apple Care to protect it because there's a 20-30% chance you will have problems during those first years. Here's the inverse argument: it's absolutely ridiculous I have to pay 20-30% extra for my Macbook even though I don't care about the mandatory 3-year warranty. They should let me opt out for a discount! Well, they do. > you're prac…

I’d much rather save $$$ than to pay everyone else’s repair bills.

That said - its just ridiculous how much Apple charges for individual a-la-carte repairs. Or rather lack thereof - they’d just say replace the entire motherboard or display.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#259

Post by sombremesa »

0x0 wrote: post #145
sombremesa wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because the initial investment is so high you're practically forced to add extra Apple Care to protect it because there's a 20-30% chance you will have problems during those first years. Here's the inverse argument: it's absolutely ridiculous I have to pay 20-30% extra for my Macbook even though I don't care about the mandatory 3-year warranty. They should let me opt out for a discount! Well, they do. > you're prac…

Or, you know, it's absolutely ridiculous that they sell broken stuff and then want to charge you more for you to receive a working product that you paid for in the first place. Maybe they should try to engineer things so that they don't break within a reasonable time frame under normal wear&tear. Would save money for both themselves and the customer in the end.

> Maybe they should try to engineer things so that they don't break within a reasonable time frame under normal wear&tear. Would save money for both themselves and the customer in the end.

You sound pretty confident, but just think about this: do you really know more about how Apple should be run than all of their executives combined, or is there a false assumption here?

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#260

Post by kowlo »

ubermonkey wrote: post #186
zzt123 wrote: post #42

I have a gripe with every Macbook Pro I've owned, and I've owned 4 of them over the last 10 years. They all lag when I type. I hit a key, and it takes a while before it shows up on screen. The effect is at its worst in Safari, but it shows up most everywhere else as well. Sometimes, I'll type a few letters or even words before they start showing up. Doesn't matter if I wipe the machine and reinstall, and Apple has ne…

Wow. Full time Mac user with a very, very high typing speed (consistently tested at 90+ WPM), and I have never had a keyboard lag issue with a Mac. Sure, I've had piggy apps -- usually web apps -- create lags, but that's happened on lots of systems, not just Macs. If my Macs couldn't keep up with my typing, I'd have kicked them to the curb a LONG LONG LONG time ago.

WPM in the 90s is above average, but not "very, very high"! But I can see that you are a really really really big fan of adverbs...!
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