Windows on New Macbook Pro Permanently Damages Speaker Due to Poor Drivers

The amount of hardware issues with the new MBP are kinda staggering....

USB-C issues, GPU issues, image corruption, now this.

Has there been as contentious a Mac release as there has been with the new MBPs?

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).

GPU issues plagued some previous models also but not this early, usually after 1-2 years due to less than optimal thermal design, but Apple usually had an extended warranty program for those.

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.

Yeah, the GPU issues - but like you said they didn't manifest themselves right away.

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.

It took 4 years for the GPU in my 2011 MBP to die. Apple still covers GPU repairs on those models (or at least they did in 2015). They refused service on my laptop because I had upgraded the hard drive (to an SSD) and RAM (upgraded to 16 Gigs). I pointed out that the user's manual for the 2011 Macbook Pro specifically says that upgrading these components does not void the warranty for the entire machine, just that Apple will not cover your new HD and RAM (rightfully so).

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.

I was in a very similar boat to you.

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.