Apple's new MacBook Pros have faster chips and a Thunderbolt port. Image courtesy Apple.
by Mark Brown, Wired UK
According to numerous forum threads on Apple’s official discussion boards, the latest fleet of MacBook Pro models is plagued with technical hiccups that have lead to lock-ups and freezes.
The issues, which some speculate derive from the graphics card, graphics driver or power management, cause the laptop to completely freeze up when under any kind of stress. Users have complained that when trying to render a clip in iMovie, play a game or use Adobe Flash the CPU temperature rockets and the unit locks up.
Some users believe that the problem is in the software, rather than hardware. Forum poster portergoodness says that he could get his MacBook Pro to reliably freeze in a matter of minutes by encoding a video, running Netflix and playing Civilization V at the same time. When he did the same test on Windows 7, the laptop ran the three processes without a hitch for half an hour.
If this is the case, it means Apple could solve the problem with a software update, rather than an expensive product recall. This isn’t the first time that Apple’s solved a technical glitch in this way — in 2010, a firmware update managed to fix intermittent flickering on iMac screens, and updated iOS builds have solved various Wi-Fi problems on the original iPad.
Polish forum poster Horniasty claims that Apple revealed, in a support phone call, “that they are sure that this is an firmware/driver related problem, not a hardware one, which raised my hope up a bit.” Apple hasn’t yet released an official statement on the subject.
Last week, the same forum erupted with claims that the new MacBook Pros were having trouble connecting with iTunes Home Sharing. Apple hasn’t acknowledged this issue either.
Apple, like most major hardware manufacturers, has a history of engineering issues. The iPhone 4 caused a frenzy in 2010, for example, when consumers realised that touching a specific point on the phone’s edge caused signal strength to tank. The firm called an emergency press conference and distributed free rubbery bumper-cases to all customers.
The technology giant currently has another problem on its hands with the iPad 2, thanks to a potentially defective screen that lets dots and rays of light bleed from around the edges. Once again, Apple hasn’t commented on those complaints.
This story was originally published on Wired UK: MacBook Pro users complain of hardware failures.
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