2018 MBP Still Prone to Flexgate Display Issues?

[smirking]

I suspect that Flexgate is alive and well as an issue in some of the later generation 15" Macbook Pros. My 2018 MBP just started looking like this. It was also flickering and showing unusual patterns on the screen when starting back up from sleep.

Eventually the screen spontaneously resolve so it's entirely possible that it's not due to the cable and this wasn't doing the classic stage lights effect that's the hallmark sign of a bad display cable. The only reason why I suspect the connection to be a failure point is because I was sometimes able to replicate this issue by opening the lid all the way and there were no issues on an external monitor or with the graphics card when Apple ran diagnostics at the Apple Store.

It's $680 to fix a bad display, but I lucked out big time. I was on my last few hours of AppleCare coverage when this happened. I quickly filed a repair request for the following day and they let it slide at the Apple Store when I said my AppleCare had literally just expired hours before.

 

[JPack]

Everything 2016-2020 MacBook Pro/Air is confirmed to be affected, including M1 models. Apple added a little more slack with 2018, but fundamentally the same problem exists.

Even 2021 MacBook Pro uses the same fundamental flex cable design, just with even more slack.

 

[smirking]

Everything 2016-2020 MacBook Pro/Air is confirmed to be affected, including M1 models. Apple added a little more slack with 2018, but fundamentally the same problem exists.

Even 2021 MacBook Pro uses the same fundamental flex cable design, just with even more slack.

Ugh. Great. I hope the reduction in heat in the M1's will alleviate this issue because I forgot to get AppleCare on my M1 Pro.

I'm of the opinion a lot of the issues Apple's had with these laptops is as much heat related as anything else. If something were simply a matter of using a longer cable, it should be resolved within a generation of the product. If heat accelerates material wear, it's a whole other ballgame.

 

[Sanpete]

Everything 2016-2020 MacBook Pro/Air is confirmed to be affected, including M1 models. Apple added a little more slack with 2018, but fundamentally the same problem exists.

Even 2021 MacBook Pro uses the same fundamental flex cable design, just with even more slack.

Since the lack of slack was thought to be the problem, I don't know that it's right that it's been confirmed to be a problem since that was fixed. The cable can still be defective, of course, like any other part.

 

[JPack]

Since the lack of slack was thought to be the problem, I don't know that it's right that it's been confirmed to be a problem since that was fixed. The cable can still be defective, of course, like any other part.

The lack of slack exacerbated the problem. However, the fundamental design of using a flexible ribbon cable means even with slack, the cable still bends. There may be less stress, but it's still there.

It's quite easy to find stage light complaints with a quick search.

 

[Sanpete]

The lack of slack exacerbated the problem. However, the fundamental design of using a flexible ribbon cable means even with slack, the cable still bends. There may be less stress, but it's still there.

It's quite easy to find stage light complaints with a quick search.

Right, it's designed to bend. There are still cable failures, but I don't know that there are still more failures than with other designs, as there were back a few years.

 

[smirking]

Right, it's designed to bend. There are still cable failures, but I don't know that there are still more failures than with other designs, as there were back a few years.

Has anyone heard of this weird striped display issue that I have? Is that more likely a cable connection issue or a graphics card one? This was on a 2018 Intel MBP with a Vega20.

 

[Sanpete]

Has anyone heard of this weird striped display issue that I have? Is that more likely a cable connection issue or a graphics card one? This was on a 2018 Intel MBP with a Vega20.

I think I've seen that attributed to the cable too. Cable trouble can lead to various graphics issues, and as you said yours seemed to be affected by the angle of the lid, so it might well be that.