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My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

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Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#41
post #15

> I produce music for a living - FIVE days without my computer is unacceptable Then get two computers as a backup? While here it's Apple's issue, it could just as well be your fault that the laptop died (e.g. dropping it). Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable"...

>Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable" My computer failed to start one morning, it was my work only computer that I use for my job(work remote from a village) so I went in the city with the PC, I found a shop, the person there tested my RAM,CPU and other parts, the motherboard was broken, I baught a new motherboard , pa…

Based on this information I infer that you have a desktop machine. If you had a PC laptop you’d be equally screwed, with zero chance the shop had a spare motherboard for your machine.

Granted you’d be equally screwed with a Mac Mini or iMac but fundamentally this has nothing to do with Apple vs PC. Desktop PCs that can be changed with standard parts or even custom built are not the market norm anymore and entered the specialised market realm long ago.

Your post also reads very much as "You're wrong to use Apple" but you have to realise that they produce a very reasonable solution for many. My use case covers a wide spectrum of mobility, security, dev, music, and photo/video editing, and while alternatives can do things like that they won't do so as efficiently and with the same quality across that whole spectrum for me. It would be foolish to shoot myself in the foot by nerfing my workflows every single minute of the day for a rare event. I do have a spare machine (which does not need to be the latest and greatest so can come out pretty cheap), which allows me a very quick turnover to continue working, well within an hour of a fatal failure (and that's even though I have an Apple Store 5 min away from my place).

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#42
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable" My computer failed to start one morning, it was my work only computer that I use for my job(work remote from a village) so I went in the city with the PC, I found a shop, the person there tested my RAM,CPU and other parts, the motherboard was broken, I baught a new motherboard , pa…

Based on this information I infer that you have a desktop machine. If you had a PC laptop you’d be equally screwed, with zero chance the shop had a spare motherboard for your machine. Granted you’d be equally screwed with a Mac Mini or iMac but fundamentally this has nothing to do with Apple vs PC. Desktop PCs that can be changed with standard parts or even custom built are not the market norm anymore and entered the…

Not true,IMO

1 I would have got the person at the shop check it and tell me if I need a new laptop or a new part, this happened to a laptop of mine and I decided I would get a new laptop, then the shop person offered to buy the display and RAM from me and I sold it, so a different person would be able to fix his laptop

2 a spare part can be found from a different laptop or ordered online by the shop, so they can order it at the time I arrived with my broken laptop

I don't think that I would have been screwed but let me know if you still disagree.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#43
post #12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is a single (known) instance of a 4 year old product vs widespread issues with a brand new one on release.

Well, I think it's more likely that the fact that it's a notebook will make this less of a PR issue. HN is kind of a unique place, but out in reality land the set of people who take their 15" notebook with them everywhere, including the airplane, is much smaller than the number of people who take their phones with them everywhere. So it's hard to capture the public imagination with a notebook. Apple releasing a new p…

Also, most people aren't going to grab a camera and start filming when their laptop catches fire in their house so they can post it to the internet. That limits the number of videos like this you'd expect compared to a similar smartphone fault, which is more likely to happen in public with other people standing around idle that might film it. I'd venture a guess that this is very far from being the first such fault in four years, especially given how willing Apple was to announce a recall.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable" My computer failed to start one morning, it was my work only computer that I use for my job(work remote from a village) so I went in the city with the PC, I found a shop, the person there tested my RAM,CPU and other parts, the motherboard was broken, I baught a new motherboard , pa…

Based on this information I infer that you have a desktop machine. If you had a PC laptop you’d be equally screwed, with zero chance the shop had a spare motherboard for your machine. Granted you’d be equally screwed with a Mac Mini or iMac but fundamentally this has nothing to do with Apple vs PC. Desktop PCs that can be changed with standard parts or even custom built are not the market norm anymore and entered the…

> entered the specialised market realm

The reasoning in this thread started with something along the lines of "if you use your computer professionally... [statements]". I would argue that if you use your computer professionally you should definitely consider using specialised products, which includes custom built desktops as you correctly noted.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable" My computer failed to start one morning, it was my work only computer that I use for my job(work remote from a village) so I went in the city with the PC, I found a shop, the person there tested my RAM,CPU and other parts, the motherboard was broken, I baught a new motherboard , pa…

There's a tradeoff involved. Not always, but often: Either [A] the part is easy to access and replace, or [B] the part fits in a smaller space or the hardware can be faster and less likely to fail in the first place. If you would prefer to trade away smaller, faster, and more robust for accessibility, you should do that. MacBooks are for the folks who side with [B] a lot, and they make that fairly clear. NB: Of cours…

The main issue I have with Apple is that they are pushing to make it impossible to repair things, not selling parts, trying to make illegal refurbishing parts, trying to prevent third party repairs and finally straight lying about things, like telling customers "your data can't be recovered, say goodbye to it" when in fact this is false and the truth is "Apple won't bother do data recovery for you, third parties do this but we don't want to talk about that"

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#47
post #15

> I produce music for a living - FIVE days without my computer is unacceptable Then get two computers as a backup? While here it's Apple's issue, it could just as well be your fault that the laptop died (e.g. dropping it). Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable"...

>Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable" My computer failed to start one morning, it was my work only computer that I use for my job(work remote from a village) so I went in the city with the PC, I found a shop, the person there tested my RAM,CPU and other parts, the motherboard was broken, I baught a new motherboard , pa…

That's why I would never buy a Ferrari. In my small town, I wouldn't be able to find anyone to work on it. What a crap car.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#48
post #3

And Apple just announced the battery recall https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/20/apple-2015-macbook-pro-...

I just replaced battery myself last year because it swollen to really nasty size. It prevented touchpad from working. And the laptop didn't rest on its legs when it was on flat surface.

Same model.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#49
post #36
post #15

> I produce music for a living - FIVE days without my computer is unacceptable Then get two computers as a backup? While here it's Apple's issue, it could just as well be your fault that the laptop died (e.g. dropping it). Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable"...

Isn't this what AppleCare is for? At least with Dell my experience is that they just come to you and replace what is broken and also replace what might have been broken. But Dell computers can be opened and components can be easily replaced (most of the time without tools). As others point out this is the disadvantage of Apple laptops. Not to speak of the Microsoft surface which gets a score of zero @ iFixit.

I think the issue is that Apple used to be a more service-oriented brand.

My Dual G4 tower years ago had a run of bad processor modules. AppleCare sent service reps out three times in the space of four days trying to get it working correctly. Today, almost everything has to go back to Apple to be replaced; there are no more Apple-sanctioned repair outlets and the Apple store can't do much more than elevated diagnostics tests.

If you get into a car accident, you can take it to the dealer for repair but it'll likely be much more expensive because their goal is to keep the car running to their specifications. If the repair costs are excessive, your insurance might just total the car. You could still take it to a garage, get it repaired for a fraction of what the insurance claim was and get many more years of use out of it.

With Apple, there's not really much option for repair, as they usually won't sell parts to aftermarket repair outlets.

Re: My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

#50
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people cannot imagine live without phones. Computers at home on the other hand are not perceived as a necessity. And at work typically there is a spare PC or some other way to survive while the computer is under repair.

But the Reddit poster uses the Mac for his job in the music industry. So I'd say it is a necessity.

> But the Reddit poster uses the Mac for his job in the music industry. So I'd say it is a necessity.

The general idea is that when it comes to business, contingency planning and backups (data and hardware) are considered to be requirements.

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