The amount of hardware issues with the new MBP are kinda staggering....
USB-C issues, GPU issues, image corruption, now this.
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USB-C issues, GPU issues, image corruption, now this.
I've been using Macs since the mid 80s, and I'm trying to think of some, but am drawing a blank.
The only possibilities I can think of are the two processor switches (680x0 -> PPC followed by PPC -> Intel) or maybe the first release of OSX (but that's not necesarily hardware related).
I don't remember a release with so many weird issues, that honestly should've been picked up pretty early during the design and acceptance phases.
I got hit by the 2011 MBP issue a year or so in. I had to buy a new laptop because Apple didn't issue the repair order until well after my AppleCare expired and I wasn't going to pay $500+ for the repair not knowing whether Apple would eventually pick up the tab.
Apple customer support refused to live up to the text of their manual, even when I read directly from it and requested that they repair the faulty GPU because I had remained within the terms of the manual.
They lost my business.
Mine died right (weeks) after my AppleCare ended.
Because a local authorized Apple dealer would fix it without an appointment (vs the local Apple Store), I took mine there.
I did upgrades too, but I always keep my original RAM and HD in case I get a nitpicky tech. I stuffed those in there (with a fresh OS install) when I sent it for repair and had no issue.
A friend of mine who has two of the same models but were not bricked yet - he had mixed experience at the Apple store. For his first one which was glitching badly, the Genius gave him a hard time because it was not glitching at the store (in spite of the repair order not indicating that the issue needed reproducing). They ended up fixing it, but not without causing stress to my friend.
My friend then repaired the second one right before the repair order was ending but did not get a hard time from the Apple Store for that one.
Because I had to choose between spending $500 on replacing a board (I already had replaced mine once under AppleCare - they basically just put a new version of the defective board in, and it started glitching in less than 3 mos) or spending a little more on a new laptop, I opted for the latter. And at that point, I was officially on the path off of OSX.
I would have stuck around if Apple issued the repair order sooner (i.e., before my MBP bricked). Apple historically has had a great reputation for making people whole again. Given how much I spent on my 2011 MBP, I expected better, sooner.
Still, they should have honored what they promised in their manual. The fact that I even had to break out the manual (via PDF) is an annoyance. The representative's failure to honor that language, even as they readily admitted that yes, that was an official Apple manual, and the manual says I should be covered...but we're not going to cover this repair because we're not going to cover this repair...that was where I lost patience. I left the store and vowed to never buy another Apple product.
I read stories on the Apple Support boards related to repairs on the 2011 MBPs and some people were getting laptops back from Apple with RAM upgrades missing, etc. And because of the Geek Squad horror stories (yes, I know Apple is not the Geek Squad - but better safe than sorry), I'd rather just give them a working HD with no data on it.
-- edit
Having said all of this, you can't swap out parts with the newer macs as easily since they're not as user-serviceable as the 2012 unibodies and earlier.