Macbook Pro Flexgate discussion [Merged]

[pshufd]

Well, the screen on my 2106 Touch Bar MBP finally went black yesterday about a week after the stage light effect appeared. And this is after I lost the built in camera a few months ago. Now trying decide if I should get this fixed, "reward" Apple with another purchase or just buy a non Apple laptop. It's tough to leave their eco system when you own multiple devices , but jeez does their hardware fail a lot. This is the 4th Apple hardware failure for me in the last 5 yrs between laptops (3), iPhone(1) and Apple TV(1) and that's not including the current swipe stuggle I'm having with the Series 6 Watch. As Einstein said, the definifiton of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. I think my Apple product purchase history would qualify.

My 2014 and 2015 Retina MacBook Pros are still working just fine. Son has the same set of laptops and they are working fine. So Apple gear can work really well and last a very long time. It's just that you have to get the right year. Luke Miani did a video on Best Apple MacBook Pros and Worst of the last decade and the 2016 was among the worst. The 2015 was the best.

I am very tempted to get the AS MBP but the lack of a 32 GB RAM option and the lack of ports gives me pause. I am hoping that they've gotten things right as of 2019 but it's too soon to make that determination. I built a big PC and am running macOS on a Virtual Machine and that works really well when I am at my desk. I use my MacBook Pros when I am not at my desk.

I have a hard time buying an Intel Mac at this time given that they will be obsolete in two years.

 

[fschuh]

My 2014 and 2015 Retina MacBook Pros are still working just fine. Son has the same set of laptops and they are working fine. So Apple gear can work really well and last a very long time. It's just that you have to get the right year. Luke Miani did a video on Best Apple MacBook Pros and Worst of the last decade and the 2016 was among the worst. The 2015 was the best.

I am very tempted to get the AS MBP but the lack of a 32 GB RAM option and the lack of ports gives me pause. I am hoping that they've gotten things right as of 2019 but it's too soon to make that determination. I built a big PC and am running macOS on a Virtual Machine and that works really well when I am at my desk. I use my MacBook Pros when I am not at my desk.

I have a hard time buying an Intel Mac at this time given that they will be obsolete in two years.

My 2014 and 2015 Retina MacBook Pros are still working just fine. Son has the same set of laptops and they are working fine. So Apple gear can work really well and last a very long time. It's just that you have to get the right year. Luke Miani did a video on Best Apple MacBook Pros and Worst of the last decade and the 2016 was among the worst. The 2015 was the best.

I am very tempted to get the AS MBP but the lack of a 32 GB RAM option and the lack of ports gives me pause. I am hoping that they've gotten things right as of 2019 but it's too soon to make that determination. I built a big PC and am running macOS on a Virtual Machine and that works really well when I am at my desk. I use my MacBook Pros when I am not at my desk.

I have a hard time buying an Intel Mac at this time given that they will be obsolete in two years.

 

[Tmac0918]

I have a day 1 2019 MBP 16”. I just had to send it in for repair.

i have grey horizontal lines on the entire screen that go away when the lid is closed to a certain point. When the lines are there, theres also a lot of blurring when anything is moved on the screen.

looks like im one of the first to have this issue with the 16”. This literally happened 1 week before my 1 year warranty was over. My warranty just ended yesterday.

i have a local apple store and every day at midnight i was on the support app trying to snag an appt to no avail. So i ended up having to send it in on Monday. Not ideal since i need my mac for school, really hoping to have it by saturday

 

[Kung gu]

I have a day 1 2019 MBP 16”. I just had to send it in for repair.

i have grey horizontal lines on the entire screen that go away when the lid is closed to a certain point. When the lines are there, theres also a lot of blurring when anything is moved on the screen.

looks like im one of the first to have this issue with the 16”. This literally happened 1 week before my 1 year warranty was over. My warranty just ended yesterday.

i have a local apple store and every day at midnight i was on the support app trying to snag an appt to no avail. So i ended up having to send it in on Monday. Not ideal since i need my mac for school, really hoping to have it by saturday

all good here on my 16", I don't push the display all the way, just a bit over 45degrees.

 

[sl23]

I have had this exact issue happen to my 2017 15 inch macbook pro. I even had apple care which expired worthless in August of this year and then a week or so again my screen just went black when I would tilt it past 45 degrees. Contacted Apple, they quoted me $995 (canadian Dollars) to get the screen repaired, and would not do it for a discount even though my apple care had recently expired. Now after hearing about this design flaw it just pisses me off even more. Apple should do something about ALL macbooks that have this issue, and not just the 13inch ones. Maybe they chose the 13inch ones only for their program because the 15 inch screen costs more to repair? Still think this is BS and someone should bring some publicity to this issue because it seems like everyone has forgotten except those that got duked into spending thousands on these POS Macbooks.

 

[Tmac0918]

all good here on my 16", I don't push the display all the way, just a bit over 45degrees.

I rarely ever open it more than 45 degrees as well. This is my 4th macbook. I had an issue with my 2017 13 inch non touchbar mbp as well, but not sure if that was flexgate or something else

i would get apple care if you still can or be very cautious. This has me seriously contemplating selling my mbp before it happens again out of warranty

 

[Tmac0918]

Now i just got an email that my repair is being delayed with no estimated repair date! I am furious! Im a college student relying on my mbp to finish my senior year

 

[pshufd]

Now i just got an email that my repair is being delayed with no estimated repair date! I am furious! Im a college student relying on my mbp to finish my senior year

Our kids used MacBook Pros in college. I had two systems, my main and a backup. They had the notorious 2007 models and one needed three MB replacements and the other needed two. I loaned them my backup for the times it was in the shop. Everyone has to have a backup plan because any hardware can fail at any time (or get lost or damaged).

 

[Tmac0918]

Our kids used MacBook Pros in college. I had two systems, my main and a backup. They had the notorious 2007 models and one needed three MB replacements and the other needed two. I loaned them my backup for the times it was in the shop. Everyone has to have a backup plan because any hardware can fail at any time (or get lost or damaged).

i do have some options, luckily i gave my 2017 (also slight flexgate damage, but still usable) mbp to my fiance and i have a crappy dell work laptop. She is in grad school and needs her hardware as well
It’s really just the principle for me. Im lucky to have those options, plenty dont

 

[pshufd]

i do have some options, luckily i gave my 2017 (also slight flexgate damage, but still usable) mbp to my fiance and i have a crappy dell work laptop. She is in grad school and needs her hardware as well
It’s really just the principle for me. Im lucky to have those options, plenty dont

I'd say that most people don't think about it.

We've had people at work with MacBook Pro failures. They were to bring it into the local Apple Store if they had one or we would get onsite service within two days. When we went into hard shutdown, getting service became a lot harder. So people could be without a system for a week. Some went out and bought their own systems so that they could deal with an outage.

I'm surprised that people don't have backup systems and backups of their systems and backups of their backups. But most people, for whatever reason, don't think about what can go wrong. I have a backup system for my desktop and a backup system for my laptop. I have three backup drives. One of my backup drives failed several weeks ago. I immediately ordered a new one when I discovered it and ran full backups from my laptops.

Similar to home maintenance, car maintenance, furnace maintenance, etc. Do it while you can so that you aren't forced to fix it when it is inconvenient.

 

[Mauimartin]

My Macbook Pro 2017 with 15 inch screen has exactly this issue. Started with a "white stage light effect" along the bottom edge of the screen and then went dark a few days later. I called Apple Costumer relations before finding out about the Flex cable issue and talked with them for around 30 min to explain what was going on. They walked me through reset options but did not acknowledge that there was any manufacturing issue. Once I researched it I found it all over the internet and I also found the class action law suit regarding this issue. The repair would cost $700 so not really worth it as I could get a new PC for that amount.
What upsets me most is that Apple does not stand behind its product and that they pretent this is my fault or an isolated issue when quite obviously their product is faulty. For $2500 I would have expected to have more than 3 years use out of my laptop.

 

[pshufd]

My Macbook Pro 2017 with 15 inch screen has exactly this issue. Started with a "white stage light effect" along the bottom edge of the screen and then went dark a few days later. I called Apple Costumer relations before finding out about the Flex cable issue and talked with them for around 30 min to explain what was going on. They walked me through reset options but did not acknowledge that there was any manufacturing issue. Once I researched it I found it all over the internet and I also found the class action law suit regarding this issue. The repair would cost $700 so not really worth it as I could get a new PC for that amount.
What upsets me most is that Apple does not stand behind its product and that they pretent this is my fault or an isolated issue when quite obviously their product is faulty. For $2500 I would have expected to have more than 3 years use out of my laptop.

I had this problem with my 2008 MacBook Pro 17, and 2007 MacBook Pro 15 though it was the backlight causing it back then. I'm really surprised that this is still a problem these days. I have not seen this problem at all in the 2014 and 2015 MacBook Pros and I use them daily.

 

[Mauimartin]

My 2016 macbook pro with Touch Bar that i owned since it was release, started a its "flexgate" issue a week ago. Flexgate appears to be an issue caused by very fragile lcd flex cables. The LCD itself is fine, i never dented it or forced on the screen while opening it or anything...

Problem is, apple currently isn't acknowledging this issue which seems to spread a little more everyday. Apple is currently charging 600$ for a fix right now, which is insane for a design issue. I hope this gets more attention somehow....

The white stage light effect at the bottom of the screen below caused by flexgate isn't due to the photo, it's like that (maybe worse) irl

View attachment 810211 View attachment 810213

Here is a website someone made about flexgate if you want to learn more... https://flexgate.me

Same issue I have with my Macbook pro 2017. Would have to shell out $700 for repair. Apple not acknowledging this problem and acted very confused by what I was describing to them. Black screen now.

 

[nickng]

My 2016 MacBook Pro 15" screen will turn black if it's flipped over 45 degrees now. There is no Apple store in New Zealand but I have quoted the price of replacing the screen from an Apple Authorised Service Provider, it will cost $1040 usd...This is my first Mac and I'm very disappointing on Apple products now.

 

[Jerec]

Seeing all this here...I just sold my MBP15 2017. Im not gonna risk this. Thank you Apple! Now wondering if newer ones still have it.

 

[GumaRodak]

well, my 16" is working fine...the manufacturing date is april 2020. Looks like every single MB model has its flaw..no matter which model you purchase

 

[Jerec]

well, my 16" is working fine...the manufacturing date is april 2020. Looks like every single MB model has its flaw..no matter which model you purchase

It’s still too new to show this flex problem. But I heard some of these already have it 😔 I will keep an M1 for a year probably, as it would also have flexgate later I guess.

 

[RBlok]

I have a Macbook Pro 13" mid 2017 and also with a flexgate problem. It has been confirmed by an Apple service agent but in order to get it fixed I need to pay over €700 for it. It's a well know problem / design flaw but Apple leaves their customers with nothing. Thanks for nothing!

 

[pshufd]

I have a Macbook Pro 13" mid 2017 and also with a flexgate problem. It has been confirmed by an Apple service agent but in order to get it fixed I need to pay over €700 for it. It's a well know problem / design flaw but Apple leaves their customers with nothing. Thanks for nothing!

Do you have any other avenues? Credit card insurance? Consumer protections in your country?

 

[RBlok]

I have a Macbook Pro 13" mid 2017 and also with a flexgate problem. Picture lookes the same as the one above. It has been confirmed by an Apple service agent but in order to get it fixed I need to pay over €700 for it. It's a well know problem / design flaw but Apple leaves their customers with nothing. Thanks for nothing! We should all sue Apple for this. Too many customers are affected.

 

[RBlok]

Do you have any other avenues? Credit card insurance? Consumer protections in your country?

No, I do not have any additional insurance to cover a problem that Apple caused in the first place... I am just furious and ready to throw it out of the window. In these times, where everyone needs a computer (working from home) Apple shows least reliable but also least customer friendly.

 

[pshufd]

No, I do not have any additional insurance to cover a problem that Apple caused in the first place... I am just furious and ready to throw it out of the window. In these times, where everyone needs a computer (working from home) Apple shows least reliable but also least customer friendly.

I think that the hardware from 2016-2018 was miserable and their support equally as bad. The nature of how they did the hardware drives the high cost of the repair and their reluctance to do repairs for free. The best I can say as that they won't have these problems with their own CPUs.

I would not repair a device that will only fail the same way in a few years.

 

[dendenden]

I have a 2017 MBP 13” with the same issue. This device has had a very easy life and seldom left a desk. It has been back for other issues twice to Apple previously (keyboard replacement due to faulty keys).

I spoke with a senior advisor who told me to send it off to an authorised service centre for diagnostics (this cost me £30) as once the issue was confirmed they may be able to repair / replace due to my previous issues. The service centre confirmed the hardware issue and said that a screen replacement was required.

I got back in touch with the Apple representative; she today informed me that this would cost me over £450 to replace.

Of course I don’t expect devices to last forever. However, two and a half years for a well-looked after premium product is not acceptable. I have been brand loyal up until. now. This will be the last Apple product that I buy. Very disappointed.

 

[bschampers]

I have a MBP 13inch 2017 model with Touch Bar. Extremely disappointed to have the same issue as so many of you’ve had. Just had a quote of $900CAD+ to fix it. I could almost buy 3 x 60inch led screens for that.

Premium product that lasted 2.5 years - that’s messed up and not what I paid $2.5k for. Not to mention that this MBP has had a very easy life and well looked after.

Wondering if there is somewhere I can formally log a complaint for legal action?

Can’t find much information on anyone fixing this issue themselves. Does anyone have some helpful links they would like to share?
Thank you

 

[bschampers]

Please follow the link and sign this petition in an effort to change this issue:

Can you spare a minute to help Blake Schampers?

Fix all MacBook Pro 2016 and later with stage light effect or backlight shutdown #flexgate

chng.it

Flexgate 😡