My mbp story (not really good experience)....

My mbp is first generation santa rosa model, right after out of first year warranty period the battery dead (which I was using carefully, discharge it every 2 monthes as Apple web site guided), and then the superdrive stop to burn any CDR, and the the famous Nvidia GPU exhibited strange issue (lot of random color dot suddenly appear on the screen and after restarting it will went away) time to time. But since I can still using it in most of time and I can not demonstrate this GPU issue to the repairing guy so I decided keeping using it until there's some persistant problem that stop me from using it.

So finally 2 monthes ago the time coming, One day when I came back to office it stopped working, when power on there's blank screen and no chime sound as well. So I took it back to CASE for checking up and after 1 week they calling me back said the MLB is failed and gave me a quotation of HK$9400 something in total for parts and labor. Since I havn't bought Apple Care so it means I have to pay all cost by myself.

Well normally I wont have problem with this kind of repairing cost for a laptop out of warranty. But this time the problem is it does have problem with the GPU and this issue has been admitted by Apple as well as Nvidia. Just bcoz this problem showing up randomly so I cannot prove it to Apple, but it doesn't mean they dont have quality issue with their brand new product at the first place, not to mention the GPU is indeed soldered on the exactly same MLB.

I sent an email to Apple desribed the real problm and GPU issue with my mbp. They just insisted the death of MLB has nothing to do with the GPU. After my insistence they end up have CASE diagnosed the MLB and said the problem is on the memory slot, coz I used a third party memory module. What a funny result, just coz I was using a third party kingston memory module so the problem is with my ram slot? I've been using it since the warranty get expired and it's already half year untill now and I have never had any problem with the RAM ! And just coz the problem of this mechanical parts they need to swap the whole MLB at cost of eight grands?! What I think is this is typical excuse to avoid their responsibility.

As a consumer what I feel of Apple's product is their build quality has been dropped dramatically these years and they're trying their best to stay away from the quality issue already been proven - by pushing it to user side. Which I've seen SO MANY people complained in web forums all over the world.

I think this is ridiculous for an international company. If their product is known to have problematic component why dont they recall it or exchange the part? Why consumer need to prove it to them before they can exchange it free? Same thing happened to Intel Pentium CPU many years ago and they exchange it at no cost and no excuse immediately after the problem has been discovered and I'm one of the sonsumers exchanged the CPU - I dont need to prove it really comes out wrong result. That's what a responsible manufacturer should do to keep their reputation and appearently Apple Inc. does not belong to them.

End up Apple offered me 50% off from the total amount of repairing cost. But I still think it's not a reasonable answer and I've been really scared from the quality of Apple product.

What u guys think of this? Should I take the 50% off offer from Apple or just have this to be fixed in small workshops
in computer mall? Is there any shop can just replace the ram slot for me (well if the problem is really as they told me)?

Sorry for my long post but I need to make decision ASAP. Since I need a computer for working and I'm using my 8 years old Samsung X10 now - except it slowness this is really a durable work horse, after all these 8 years it's still function like new, even the battery can still keep 80% of it's oroginal capacity. Poor mbp can not even live it's life for 2 years....

It's unfortunate you've had so many difficulties. It's the exception, not the rule though. In most any product line from any company, there are bound to be a small percentage of lemons. Whether or not your issues are rooted in the use of 3rd party RAM, I cannot say. If you picked up the wrong ones, or worse got faulty ones, then yeah, it's not on Apple's shoulders.

As for who to fix, you need to decide who you trust more. The company that makes them and has serviced hundreds or even thousands of your particular model, or the generic computer shop that may rarely see a Mac and may or may not even have particularly skilled, credentialed workers?

I don't know where you get you facts or opinions about apple but it is the complete opposite. Especially with customer satisfaction and problem solving...beating out other companies by A LOT! Batteries don't lie when it comes to health and how long they last. I doubt that old samsung had the same kind of battery. Seems like you should just stick with a pc or take the apple offer. You can't expect them to fix something for free when it's out of warranty. Like you mentioned about the nvidia having problems but you couldn't show it to them... I would have stayed at their store until it did show it! You can't blame the store when you couldn't show anything.
Now-a-days, if you go to apple with a problem, and they note it down, they will fix it because they know that you had the same problem before...at least that is how it is here in the US. good luck

I would ask them which slot they determined was defective. Then, I would remove the module. If the problem persists, then both you and they know that is has nothing to do with the third party memory.

The NVIDIA problem is a well-known defect and Apple has been compensated by NVIDIA to deal with it. They should have no problem in replacing the logic board.

I think most of your issue is that you're dealing with a third party repair company and not with Apple directly. The third party company may have to eat some of the labor costs if Apple were to determine that it was a manufacturer's defect. So, they're going to do their best to pin the blame on you.

Is there not an Apple Store in Hong Kong?

My MacBook was repaired at 18 months of age and 6 months out or warranty and my brothers iMac at 14 months and 2 months out of warranty and in both cases apple paid for the new Logic Board. Perhaps you will have to push a bit harder and give them 1500 reasons why it is poor service for a quality product.

CASE is an authorized service provider for repairing Apple product in HK. Maybe as you recommanded I will ask them to tell me which ram slot is failed and try another ram slot in site. But I remember I did try to start the machine with one memory module in each slot but not successful. Is there any possibility that both ram slots got failed?

What does it mean when you say "santa rosa model"

captain0120 said:

CASE is an authorized service provider for repairing Apple product in HK. Maybe as you recommanded I will ask them to tell me which ram slot is failed and try another ram slot in site. But I remember I did try to start the machine with one memory module in each slot but not successful. Is there any possibility that both ram slots got failed?

Click to expand...

It is possible, but both failing is not very common at the same time. Maybe one failed earlier and you maybe didn't notice it too much. Then the other just gave out. Or maybe the memory board has a problem. I agree that you should give them all those one thousand some reasons why they should fix it is the memory from your other laptop the same possibly?

captain0120 said:

CASE is an authorized service provider for repairing Apple product in HK. Maybe as you recommanded I will ask them to tell me which ram slot is failed and try another ram slot in site. But I remember I did try to start the machine with one memory module in each slot but not successful. Is there any possibility that both ram slots got failed?

Click to expand...

Yes, but they are not owned by Apple. So, they act as a subcontractor and Apple has to recompense them for their service. They also have to pay wholesale prices for Apple parts.

Are there no Apple-owned stores in Hong Kong?

iPod Nano said:

What does it mean when you say "santa rosa model"

Click to expand...

Santa Rosa was the code name for a specific Intel chipset. I believe the OP's MacBook Pro is a generation 3 model based on this description and timeframe.

My mbp is the first generation of mbp to use this Santa Rosa chip set, so it's the first mbp model using the Nvidia 8600GT GPU. And I'm sure my Kingston memory module is working well coz I've tried them with other laptop and all without any problem.

What I feel unfair about this whole thing is Apple sold me something with defect and it did show the problem several times but now they charge me
big $$$ for replacing exactly the same MLB, and claimed it's nothing to do with the GPU but the memory slot!

They are really "smart" in this kind of thing....