New Macbook Pro Retina, 2.7Ghz, 16gb ram impressions

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Well... My impression of my 2.7GHz 16GB / 768GB MBP Retina is changing a bit... Did it once the other day, twice last night and now constantly this morning. It just shuts off on me for no reason. Even if I'm not touching it, the thing can't go for more than about 5 minutes today without just shutting off instantly. I just made an appointment for this evening at the "Genius" Bar so some guy can look at it and go "uuuuuuhhh..." before taking it in for repair. Then it will sit there for 3 days before they realize they can't fix it and will have to replace it. I'll have to call them 3X daily to get them to admit that and then they'll order me a replacement, which will take the current 2 to 3 week wait to arrive. Yay!

[Bob Gundu]

Thats too bad Jeff. Mine just came in last night and I hope i don't find this issue with mine. Your situation reminds me of when my previous MacBook had the random flicker issue. They finally replaced it and then my wife accidentally dumps coffee all over it :(

[Neil W. Smith]

Well... My impression of my 2.7GHz 16GB / 768GB MBP Retina is changing a bit... Did it once the other day, twice last night and now constantly this morning. It just shuts off on me for no reason. Even if I'm not touching it, the thing can't go for more than about 5 minutes today without just shutting off instantly. I just made an appointment for this evening at the "Genius" Bar so some guy can look at it and go "uuuuuuhhh..." before taking it in for repair. Then it will sit there for 3 days before they realize they can't fix it and will have to replace it. I'll have to call them 3X daily to get them to admit that and then they'll order me a replacement, which will take the current 2 to 3 week wait to arrive. Yay!

Sorry to hear about your negative experience, Jeff ... we've been running our RetDisp MBP non stop for the last few weeks with no problems at all ... running Resolve 9 and Express Dailies - both beefy image processing apps that push the nvidia 650M to the limit.

What apps are you using? ... did you have a Tbolt PICe Expansion card attached? ... any other relevant details?

Agree that the "Genius" bar is a bit of a pain but do you have a Business Account with your local Apple Store? ... I have one here in West Hollywood and they look after us very well.

Neil

[Eric Santiago]

I know its a corny answer but you always get one bad Apple in the bunch.
Its too bad you had to experience that Jeff.
Ive had over 3 dozen Mac computers at my disposal in the last 15 years and honestly one arrived with almost same result as yours but a G5 Power Mac.
Mother board replacement.
If you have any connections to a dedicated Apple Service avoid the box store if all possible.
We are about to order a few of these so your experiences are gold :)

[Jeff Kilgroe]

No big deal, guys... It happens. I have owned and do own tons of Apple stuff, nothing is going to change that in the foreseeable future. The percentage of failures on these Apple systems is so incredibly low, one as to admire what Apple has accomplished here. Anyway, my issues are with the "Genius" bar and, having gone through this before due to the number of Apple systems / products I do purchase, I know full well that it's going to get replaced and I'll have to suffer the 3 weeks or so to get one.

Yes, I do have a business account with my local Apple Store and they do take care of me well. While it probably works out best for their end user customers, I wish that the Genius Bar wasn't their first line of contact for business and/ or advanced users encountering issues. I'd love it if I could go straight to one of their actual technicians and get a solid verdict right there, working with him. Even if it takes a bit longer to schedule an appointment. I will see a "Genius" later today, but I know full well it will be at least monday afternoon before an actual tech gets to the system and who knows from there.

I've had the system for about 3 weeks. Nothing plugged in when this issue first occurred a few days ago, nor since. I have had the system connected, at various times, to a Sonnet PCIe expander and a Promise RAID. Both of which reside almost permanently on an iMac -- working on that iMac right now. Also used LaCie and Buffalo Thunderbolt external drives, also a few USB3 externals... Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary.

Apps primarily used on this system since getting it --- Photoshop, Xcode, Premiere, Illustrator, InDesign... System's intermittent shut-off happens even if it's sitting idle with no apps loaded and we're staring at a pretty much bare OSX desktop. No warning or signs of anything wrong, just *pop* and a millisecond later, the system is off. Power button to turn it back on, system comes up to a notice that it wasn't shut down correctly. It's not the OSX installation either, I connected another drive to boot from and the system shut off on me again when I was at the option-boot, drive selection screen. I haven't turned it on since then, just going to take it up to the "Geniuses".... and hope they can get me a replacement ASAP.

[Eric Santiago]

Good to hear your positive views Jeff :)
Up here in Midwest Canada we are lucky.
We have a few Apple Service that's been around way before our Apple Store sprung up at local mall.
Its nice to have that option.

On a side note, have you done any major tests with external displays and do you have any preferences?

[Neil W. Smith]

Apps primarily used on this system since getting it --- Photoshop, Xcode, Premiere, Illustrator, InDesign... System's intermittent shut-off happens even if it's sitting idle with no apps loaded and we're staring at a pretty much bare OSX desktop. No warning or signs of anything wrong, just *pop* and a millisecond later, the system is off. Power button to turn it back on, system comes up to a notice that it wasn't shut down correctly. It's not the OSX installation either, I connected another drive to boot from and the system shut off on me again when I was at the option-boot, drive selection screen. I haven't turned it on since then, just going to take it up to the "Geniuses".... and hope they can get me a replacement ASAP.

mmhhmm ... be good to know what the diagnosis of the fault is ... one last question, the machine runs pretty warm when doing intensive image processing ... do you think you had good air circulation around the underneath of the chassis?

i wonder if it's the SSD failing?

Neil

[Sergio Perez]

Sorry to hear about your experience, Jeff. I haven't honestly pushed mine yet , since I still Didn't have time to use it in a project- I have a couple running on my old Macpro's and didn't risk it yet. However, your experience is certainly asking for me to do it as soon as possible. Better have the issues now than later- or the replCement rout becomes unlikely!

By the way, any ghosting happening amongst Retina buyers? Mine has Been fine so far...

[Bob Gundu]

So far so good with mine. Just fired it up for the first time today with the Sonnet/RED Rocket. Realtime 4K is nice! I've also hooked up my 30" mac monitor too. Trying to get used all these darn wires everywhere!!!

[A. Clint Litton]

No big deal, guys... It happens. I have owned and do own tons of Apple stuff, nothing is going to change that in the foreseeable future. The percentage of failures on these Apple systems is so incredibly low, one as to admire what Apple has accomplished here. Anyway, my issues are with the "Genius" bar and, having gone through this before due to the number of Apple systems / products I do purchase, I know full well that it's going to get replaced and I'll have to suffer the 3 weeks or so to get one.

Is there any kind of courtesy replacement program? Even if it's not spec'd like yours, it would be great to have something in a similar vein (even the stock 2.6) to hold you over while they get you the replacement. It's these kinds of things that really show how a company is willing to look out for their customers...and it might make that "genius" frontline a touch more forgivable if they're handing you a laptop you can walk home with until yours is ready.