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Got a $2200 Apple branded brick. What do I do with it?

D

Doru Oprisan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2021
14
56
So, I made an effort and ordered a 16-inch MacBook Pro back in January 2020 to my brother-in-law in Florida. Me and my wife had tickets to come 2 months later from Europe and was planning to pick it up then. Covid came and everything was put on hold, our flights got cancelled, then a whole pandemic year passed, and now we finally managed to get here for a family event. The MacBook was waiting for me in the box.

After a year, I was extremely eager to turn it on. Only it didn't turn on. Ok, let's charge it. Except it didn't. Just the battery and flash appeared on the screen, which I thought was good, left it overnight, found it in the same state in the morning. Tried multiple outlets and chargers and cables during the day, still not actually charging. Spoke to Apple support, tried all kinds of keyboard combinations, then went to an Apple store, where a rude manager bluntly said that, since the 1 year of warranty has passed, we needed to pay $700 or maybe just $200, if it's just the battery, but there was no guarantee. He didn't try to run any diagnostic or anything. He was just blaming me that I didn't notice the problem sooner. I couldn't, being on another continent, could I? Nor did I have any reason to suspect that a $2k Apple product might be dead on arrival. I understand a year passed and I didn't have an extended warranty, but how was I supposed to know I need it, before Covid? I paid $2200 for a product that doesn't even turn on and I honestly don't think I am to blame for it not working. Don't think it's just the battery, either.
What am I supposed to do with this really expensive brick?

P.S.: Typing this from my wife's $400 Lenovo, which was ordered at the same time with the MacBook, stayed for a year in the box, until yesterday, then charged, turned on and now works just fine... Kind of liking it, too. Certainly a lot more useful than mine.
After 10 years of Apple and 2 previous MacBook Pros which eventually needed battery replacements, I am extremely disappointed.
 
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in the olden days I would say "reset smc" but I don't know if this applies to newer macs

Edit: Try this

1)
  • shut the Mac down.
  • once shut down, press and hold its Power button for 10 seconds.
  • after releasing the Power button, wait a few seconds, then press the Power button to start the Mac up.
if not working:

2)
  • Shut your Mac down.
  • Once it is shut down, press and hold the right Shift key, the left Option key, and the left Control key for 7 seconds. Then keep holding those keys while you also press and hold the Power button for another 7 seconds.
  • Release those keys and the Power button, and wait a few seconds before pressing the Power button to start it up again.
 
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robotica said:
Sounds like the battery has drained too low and is now unrecoverable, at least while it’s inside the MacBook. I would definitely contact apple support. Probably just a battery replacement if they don’t end up being helpful.
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Does this mean that newer Macs can't start up with a completely dead battery? The last few Macs I had would run fine when connected to a power adapter with a dead battery, heck older ones with removable batteries would start up fine with a *MISSING* battery even.

I'm a bit annoyed if Apple has made newer Macs dependent on a working battery to start up. This basically gives the machines a hard expiration date.
 
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zorinlynx said:
Does this mean that newer Macs can't start up with a completely dead battery? The last few Macs I had would run fine when connected to a power adapter with a dead battery, heck older ones with removable batteries would start up fine with a *MISSING* battery even.

I'm a bit annoyed if Apple has made newer Macs dependent on a working battery to start up. This basically gives the machines a hard expiration date.
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I just got a brand new 12" MacBook a week ago. It was assembled in 2018. The battery was completely dead when I opened the retail box. I wasn't surprised by that. I was surprised that it wouldn't turn on even though I had plugged it in with the packaged charger. It took a good 50 minutes of charging before the boot up screen showed where I could start set up.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
I just got a brand new 12" MacBook a week ago. It was assembled in 2018. The battery was completely dead when I opened the retail box. I wasn't surprised by that. I was surprised that it wouldn't turn on even though I had plugged it in with the packaged charger. It took a good 50 minutes of charging before the boot up screen showed where I could start set up.
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Ugh. This is troubling.

I wonder why they changed their power system. It's funny, I would have expected they might do that for the M1 Macs since they're basically based on the same hardware platform as iPhones and iPads, but they made the change much earlier, it seems.
 
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That's actually to be expected. The battery protects the internal components by being the only pathway for power - you get conditioned power - so no matter how "dirty" the source power is, that line noise won't make it to your system board (and yes, some of the components in Apple's transformer brick should catch some of that as well).

For the Op - I'd send an email - with a very calm, querying tone to Tim's e-mail (tcook@apple.com) - very unlikely he'll read it, but there's an executive escalation team that reviews any external mail that arrives in Tim's mailbox.

That being said - you DID have your MacBook shipped to another country to avoid the "Apple Tax" - you can't really fault Apple that you waited until the warranty period had expired before you took it out of the box. (you should have had your friend ship it to you and paid the import taxes).
 
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Check with brother-in-law if it was purchased on credit card. If yes, most likely this will be covered under the extended warranty. Also, what the store manager did was not right. At very least he needs to run diagnostic software in order to give you proper estimate on he cost of repair. That is your right to know what is involved in repairing. I would write to Apple to complain about the service you received in store, give them the actual date/hour you visited store and your case number so they can look up. Good luck.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
I just got a brand new 12" MacBook a week ago. It was assembled in 2018. The battery was completely dead when I opened the retail box. I wasn't surprised by that. I was surprised that it wouldn't turn on even though I had plugged it in with the packaged charger. It took a good 50 minutes of charging before the boot up screen showed where I could start set up.
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This is a strange change that Apple made. You could start up a Mac with out a battery. I have. 2012 MBP that my dad uses. I removed the old bloated battery and not only is the computer much lighter😂 but it works fine. The MagSafe LED just stays green all the time.

I’ve also powered up the logic board from a 2014 MBP with the board remove from the top case. Just the logic board, fan/heatsink, and MagSafe board.

I’m curious if this change was made starting with the 2016 touchbar redesign or sometime after that.
 
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Maybe a lesson learned here is that one should order and pay for products in one's own country, where there would then be timely delivery and receipt, not to mention setup and use of the item? As the OP has now seen, undoubtedly with more than a little regret, it's not such a good idea to order an expensive electronic item to be delivered to a relative's or friend's home in another country where there is going to be extensive travel involved before the actual new owner can even get ahold of the item?
 
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You go to an Apple Store and have them have a look at it. Or you try charging it over night. It might turn on. It's not a 'brick'.

You wanted to save tax $$, you paid your price. Now go to the Apple Store, they might be nice enough to fix for free or else you pay your saved $$.
 
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ouimetnick said:
This is a strange change that Apple made. You could start up a Mac with out a battery. I have. 2012 MBP that my dad uses. I removed the old bloated battery and not only is the computer much lighter😂 but it works fine. The MagSafe LED just stays green all the time.

I’ve also powered up the logic board from a 2014 MBP with the board remove from the top case. Just the logic board, fan/heatsink, and MagSafe board.

I’m curious if this change was made starting with the 2016 touchbar redesign or sometime after that.
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It is rather odd. I am curious to know when Apple made the change.
 
That’s a terrible experience when you first open your new mac. To be fair though, the OP could’ve a) had the laptop shipped to them and paid for the shipping/import fees or b) asked the brother-in-law to return the laptop back to Apple and repurchase when they could travel again

As for the store manager, they probably didn’t think having a computer in your possession for a year in a box was justification for exchange, pandemic or not. I mean, if it’s just sitting in a box you really should’ve returned it if you weren’t using it.
I’m not just talking out of my ass either. One of my best friends from South America had me order a Macbook Air for them but after the pandemic started their trip got cancelled so I had it shipped back to Apple after a month of waiting not knowing when they could come.

Sucks to have bad luck with that battery though, totally not expected.
 
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I would charge it overnight and then try and switch it on. Sometimes when batteries have completely drained it takes a while for them to reach a state where they will transmit power to the motherboard.
 
Apple stores are extremely inconsistent. Try a different store. Usually something like this could be offered flat rate repair. It used to be $350 for 15" and the old 17" (similar price territory for the 17") models without signs of damage. If it went to $700, that is just ridiculous.

Batteries are again $199 as a la carte repairs. That still isn't good though and generally shouldn't happen. They are usually shipped with around 50% charge, which is what Apple suggests for long term storage, where it will remain unused.

Keep in mind that companies expect you to buy this stuff in your country of residence, not have it shipped to a relative in a different country to be picked up at a later time.
 
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tsa1 said:
So the warranty doesn’t start when you actually register or turn on the product? It starts when it’s delivered? I’m sure they can check it wasn’t turned on for a year or something.
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It starts the moment your order is confirmed. Same with AppleCare. So you don't actually get the full 3 years of cover.

Whilst it would have made sense for the OP, to get their relative to at least turn it on and make sure it worked occassionaly check the battery status, especially once the travel ban was put into place.

A brand new computer should not be dead, just because it hasn't been turned on for over a year. Battery issues potentially, but it should work fine from the mains.

Clearly the unit has a fault, hopefully the purchase was made on a credit card and the OP will have some way of at least getting the situation resolved.
 
Li-ion batteries need to be stored following certain rules, especially long term. They should be stored at 40-60% and recharged to this value every +- 3months. Otherwise they can deeply discharge, which can destroy them or permanently reduce their capacity. Storing temperature is also a factor. So if this Macbook was delivered a year ago, this may well be the reason. If it was at around 50% when it arrived, it may have gone to 0% in a half year and next half year the battery was already dying.
 
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I had a similar case with a rarely used MacBook Pro 15 inch from 2015. The battery only started charging (and thereby allowing me to work with it) after being on the charger for more than 10 days. I kept it on the charger for months, rarely using the machine on the battery only, and eventually the battery almost fully recovered. I am still using this MacBook (I'm waiting for a 16 inch with ARM processor).
 
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