My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs • Hacker News Board

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

#271

Post by zzt123 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:14 PM UTC

tdsamardzhiev wrote: post #257

zzt123 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Lots and lots of practice during moments of downtime. Those small moments add up over the years.

Back when I got my first Mac (2012) I was plateaued at 80-100 wpm. From there, it was an accumulation of intentional practice for fun and enjoyment.

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

#272

Post by cja » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:14 PM UTC

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.

I was going to write exactly this! Bought XPS in UK in 2017 and repaired in Poland in 2018.

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

#273

Post by _Anima_ » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:15 PM UTC

theonlybutlet wrote: post #57

Don't know what they're like these days but my 2011 Lenovo Thinkpad works great! Solid laptop, replaced the keyboard once aside from that still going strong.

My company provides either MacBook or Lenovo (I have a t480s and just received a t14s). I have yet to hear someone having an issue with their Lenovo (most run Fedora). Not sure about MacBooks reliability. The weak point of Lenovo seem to be the thunderbolt docking stations. Mine worked perfectly on the t480s but is unreliable with the t14s and IT support told me they are overwhelmed with docking station issues.

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

#274

Post by DLay » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:18 PM UTC

emeraldd wrote: post #71

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…

My experience with Dell laptops seems to match up with your experience on the MBP. If something is going to fail, it will usually fail immediately or last the "lifetime" of the device. Batteries being the main exception as those age out fast ..

The one thing I really miss about my Dell laptop is being able to call support and having them overnight ship replacement parts so the tech can come over to my place the next afternoon and fix it. The next available service appointment for someone at the Apple Store to take a look at my MacBook Pro’s malfunctioning keyboard won’t be until 4:20PM next week.

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

#275

Post by alwaysjoe » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:23 PM UTC

zsmi wrote: post #189

Diederich wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I've had a lot of luck putting Ubuntu on older Macbooks for quite a few years now. Works quite well.

In my experience all software seems to slow down over time. Firstly, my expectations of "fast" change, but also all the various data structures a system needs to run grow and complicate. In addition we ask more of our software over time and run more of it. For many, not even Ubuntu is immune. Hence articles like this: https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-speed-up-ubuntu-1804

Half of these tips have nothing to do with Ubuntu. Changing your SSD will do wonders for your Windows installation as well...

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

#276

Post by egypturnash » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:23 PM UTC

scns wrote: post #126

egypturnash wrote: post #29

Damn, and I thought I've had to take my 13" 2016 Pro in for a lot of repairs. There's a design flaw that makes it chew through batteries every 8-16 months and I just had to have a week-long involuntary vacation while they shipped it off to a repair center in another case, where the entire top half of the case got replaced for the third time. This is the most expensive Mac I've owned in like 18y of using the things, e…

Charging the battery over 80% produces more heat and degradesvits lifetime, did you ran it plugged in all the time? My phones manufacturer stops at 90 but i installed an alarm to pull the plug earlier.

I ran it exactly the same way I ran the several Mac laptops that preceded it: unplugged in cafes, unplugged in parks, and closed while plugged into the external monitor on my desk. It’s rare for it to spend more than a couple days plugged in, even during the pandemic. The exact same usage pattern that produced a slow, multi-year decline in battery capacity in every other machine resulted in the 2016 Pro suddenly starting to shut down completely while it thought 20-60% of the battery capacity remained. SMC/PRAM resets did nothing, “recalibration” did nothing.

2016 Pros eat batteries, and while Apple acknowledged this enough to pay for one battery replacement, they’ve still hit me for an annoyingly large amount of repair cost, plus downtime, plus the annoyance of work lost due to unexpected shutdowns before I say “oh god it’s doing this again” and start getting insanely aggressive about saving.

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

#277

Post by nathanwh » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:24 PM UTC

zzt123 wrote: post #244

amatecha wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm.. FWIW, I type at like 130wpm (I have won typing competitions), and have never experienced frequent text-input latency on my Macs (I've used Macs since the mid-80's). Only intermittent due to obvious things like CPU-intensive operations in progress. Did you see it happening on really "simple" applications like Terminal? What's crazy to me is how you saw it happening on a fresh OS install... had you installed any…

Fresh is "fresh but with IntelliJ and a large project open", but without all the background NGINX etc installed. Once one app starts lagging, they all lag. Terminal, TextEdit, Safari, Notes, IntelliJ, everything. I'm well north of 130wpm, but I don't think that matters for the issues that my Macs have had to deal with, as I used to be well below 130wpm and still experienced such issues.

How did you increase your typing speed so much? I’m sitting at around 70ish wpm and would like to increase it

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

#278

Post by tinco » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:24 PM UTC

zzt123 wrote: post #244

amatecha wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm.. FWIW, I type at like 130wpm (I have won typing competitions), and have never experienced frequent text-input latency on my Macs (I've used Macs since the mid-80's). Only intermittent due to obvious things like CPU-intensive operations in progress. Did you see it happening on really "simple" applications like Terminal? What's crazy to me is how you saw it happening on a fresh OS install... had you installed any…

Fresh is "fresh but with IntelliJ and a large project open", but without all the background NGINX etc installed. Once one app starts lagging, they all lag. Terminal, TextEdit, Safari, Notes, IntelliJ, everything. I'm well north of 130wpm, but I don't think that matters for the issues that my Macs have had to deal with, as I used to be well below 130wpm and still experienced such issues.

I've got the same issue, I'm a relatively slow typer (90WPM) but every now and then the Mac just becomes so slow and typing everywhere is lagged. It usually happens when I'm working on the frontend of our app which has a javascript 3D engine in it, and the editor is visual studio code, so I was just assuming it was some weird Blink engine problem.

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

#279

Post by CTOSian » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:27 PM UTC

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #236

ethbr0 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually becoming a fan of factory refurbished for these same reasons. I'd rather have something that's been shaken down, repaired for the problems that appeared, recertified, and shipped back out.

Depends on the manufacturer. I've had good luck with Dell's refurbs and outlet store over the years. On the other hand I bought a refurb projector from BenQ and it was straight up junk. The focusing mechanism breaks easily. It's quite clear this is a design flaw, I assume a gear that's weak plastic that should be something more durable instead. I've sent it back twice now to have it fixed, paying shipping each time u…

+1 from me for Dell's refurbs (from their outlet).

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

#280

Post by throwawaymanbot » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 8:27 PM UTC

all by design!!! Nickle and diming your for peripherals was the red herring to keep you from noticing that increased build quality issues made them way more money.