April 4th, 2006
MacBook Pro issues addressed with 'Rev. D' logic board
Apple’s MacBook Pro is undoubtedly the fastest and most powerful notebook computer Apple has ever launched, but it’s not without its problems.
Tuan Nguyen at Daily Tech has posted a number of issues with his MBP:
- AirPort doesn’t automatically rejoin a preferred network after waking from sleep.
- AirPort reception drops down to nearly 1 bar randomly once in a while.
- At the lowest screen brightness setting (one bar), the LCD’s backlight flickers noticeably.
- Heat is a big issue. Using the AC power, the palm rest area becomes very warm, and the area above the F keys is very hot.
Apple’s own MacBook Pro discussion boards are filled with posts about various issues with the new notebook but it doesn’t mean that it’s defective. After all, only people that are having problems are going to post to the boards. Apple’s dedicated MacBook Pro Support page has some great tips on troubleshooting most issues.
While I agree that it gets pretty hot (especially above the F2 to F4 keys after more than an hour of use) my Airport reception is good and I don’t have any LCD backlight flicker on my MacBook Pro 2.0GHz.
Other users have reported a high-pitch "CPU whine," which I hear intermittently on my particular MBP. Another problem is "Display whine" which is caused by a buggy display inverter and is only head at higher brightnesses. To test if you have this listen carefully and turn your MBP brightness all the way down to two bars. If the sound goes away, you have the problem.
According to Daily Tech the MBP issues are well known at Apple. Apple has started addressing the issues by replacing affected machines with a new "Revision D" logic board. The revision of your logic board is only identifiable by the serial number. You can get the serial number from inside the battery bay or by clicking on "About This Mac" in the finder and clicking twice on the software version number.
- Serial numbers starting with W8611 are Revision D
- Serial numbers starting with W8610 are Revision C
For what it’s worth, my MBP serial number starts with W8607. MacBook Pros shipping now are in the W8612 (Rev. D) serial number range.
Have you experienced any problems with your MacBook Pro? Which ones? Which serial number range? Post your comments in the TalkBack section below.
UPDATE 2006-0404 10:20 EDT:
Daniel Jalkut has posted a pretty detailed analysis of the MacBook Pro "CPU whine," "Display whine" and a has a link to a little app called MagicNoiseKiller that opens access to the iSight camera which fixes the problem for some.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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