To return or not to return...give me your opinion.

I

iBrad

Guest
Hey, common to many people I have two issues with my MBP...CPU whine and heat. It gets hot...but only a couple times it got untouchable. A lot of the time it's just hot to the touch, but a few times it got to the point that I thought if I left my hand on it I would get an actual burn. Do you think that my MBP is victim to the excessive thermal grease issue?

Secondly, I have the CPU whine thing. I can live with it, but it's really annoying. I don't notice it when it's plugged in, but on battery it's very easy to hear. I'm sure you've all read plenty on this issue and it's nothing new.

My question is, should I contact Apple...will they accept it for service...I dont' want to return it altogether as I LOVE this machine...but I would like to send it just for service.

I guess in a nutshell I was wondering if Apple had a fix for these problems yet or will they give me "these are normal operating conditions sir".

Thanks for your opinions!!
 
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iBrad,
I had the same thing happen to me.
I really liked the MBP, just has I was crazy about my Powerbook G4 before it. However, I found that "whine" sound to be very annoying after a while. I wasn't so much that it was so loud, but the frequency or pitch of it just got on my nerves.
I ended up returning it, and yes, I did have to go through the "normal operating conditions" bit. I got a hold of customer service though, and told them I'd have to get my credit card company to get my money returned as it was a defective product. Apple ended up refunding my credit card.
As far as the heat issue goes, I didn't find that such a big deal ( on mine at least). I know from my previous Powerbook that aluminum cases can get hot.
What I've ended up doing is ordering myself a Macbook, and, someday when it's all sorted out, I'll sell it and get myself another Macbook Pro.
I just think that for the price you pay for a MBP it ought to not have an issue like the "whine".
 
OP
I

iBrad

Guest
I bought mine at an authorized Apple reseller so I'd have to go through them but I got such an awesome deal that I'd almost put up with the whine...like you said, it's not loud, but the pitch is annoying. But it's only on while in battery mode. Maybe I'll get used to it.

I bought mine in Canada so the retail here is $2299, then I got $200 off for student discount. The day after I bought mine they came out with the 2.0GHz model. I called the store and asked about the "Upgrade Protection Policy". They gave me the option to either return it and get the 2.0GHz model (but it would be a 4 week wait for one to show up) or take a discount. They told me that they would have to check out what the discount was and get back to me. The next day they got back to me and said they'd give me $200 off!! I happily took that. So I ended up getting it for $1899 CDN. That's about the equivilent of getting it for $1639 USD...which for a bit of whine, it's probably worth it. Who knows...maybe Apple will come out with a fix.

In the meantime, I may send it back for the heat issue and also mention the CPU whine....they may know something to do with it now.
 
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Exchange it for one that doesn't have the whine, take the new one apart and apply Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, and enjoy it for the next several years :)
 
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I

iBrad

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kaidomac said:
Exchange it for one that doesn't have the whine, take the new one apart and apply Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, and enjoy it for the next several years :)


Will that void the warranty?
 
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D

dthorn

Guest
It will void the warranty.

Apple released a MBP SMC Firmware 1.0 update the other day without stating what it was concerning. It seems to have cooled down my MBP (as well as many others') quite a bit.

No matter what I was running before, if I touched the area just above the keyboard near the screen, it would be burning hot. Now it's not very hot at all and I'm running multiple heavy programs at the moment.
 
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Apple are picking mine up tomorrow to do 'whatever' to it which will hopefully fix all. Think they are going to replace the logic board as well. (serial W8609)
 

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