I took the MBP to the Genius Bar in Annapolis, MD, on 17 August. The advisor (genius, I mean) agreed that the computer was defective after I demonstrated the screen flickering on the store’s Studio Display. He understood the problem completely, but, of course, could not diagnose the cause, so he sent the MBP to an Apple repair facility. Said I would have it back in less than a week. Actually, I received it on Wednesday, 21 August. The invoice said that they replaced the logic board and the Touch ID board. The cost would have been a bit over $800 if I had not had AppleCare+. The machine works great now, no matter how much the video is stressed. When I started it up I got the “new computer” screen, so I used Migration assistant to restore from one of my two backups (two 16TB mechanical drives). I had had some concerns, as those Carbon Copy Cloner backups were not isolated from other files on the drive, but Migration Assistant recognized the files that needed restoring and disregarded the chaff. Thankfully, my Lightroom library was intact. It took about five hours to migrate and a couple of additional hours to put the machine into shape—mostly. I had to reinstall some software and I had to jump through a few hoops to get my Apple ID entered; it wanted me to create a new Apple ID, which would have nobbled syncing of calendars, contacts, iCloud Drive, and some other things. But I straightened that out with some lucky guesses and all’s well that ends well. The machine is a bit faster on graphics-heavy tasks than it was before it went for service. I again thank those who replied to my original post.
—David Illig
P.S. I got the MBP back and working just in time to upload photos from my brand new (20 August) Canon EOS R5 Mark II. Great camera with amazing focusing options. And great ergonomics for an 80-yr-old like me.
AppleCare is worth getting in the long run, I’ve had fails over the years and I think the overall returns have outweighed the overall costs, at one point it covered the full replacement of a high end 15” MBPro in the last month of its cover. I would also factor in the stress reduction in having it, I don’t buy it without. Glad you got sorted.
I am in Australia and Australians have the Consumer Rights Law - legislation by our Parliament to look after consumers.
A malfunctioning MBP screen meant a trip to the Apple store. I did not have AppleCare. Because of that, I was told that I would have to pay for the repairs. I said I was covered by the Consumer Rights Law and didn’t matter what Apple HQ said. The shop manager agreed and the MBP was fixed at no charge.
The idea that replacing the logic board means the hard drive is wiped always annoys me. Apple seems to have a policy of wiping machines that way… but why?
That being said I often wonder how much of my data they get when they put their little mind probe in for any service (I got a new battery, which required them to run their diagnostic tests with that, for reasons unexplained), so if I was putting it in for them to keep I’d consider wiping the drive…
… AFTER making several backups, crossing my fingers, and being stressed the whole time.
IMO it’s unlikely that Apple would be getting any of “your data” when placing your system in for service and running their diagnostics. But if you’re concerned about the level or risk, make sure that FileVault on an Apple Silicon (or T2 equipped Intel Mac) is enabled.
FileVaullt on those Macs has no additional overhead (unlike on pre-T2 Intel Macs) as the SSDs are always encrypted with an encryption key stored in the secure enclave. Turning on FileVault provides additional protection for that key as it encrypts it with credentials only you know. If you turn on FileVault, there’s no way Apple or anyone else can unlock the disk and get at any of your data without you providing a valid password or the recovery key. You also don’t need to wipe the disk if FileVault is enabled.
With a verified set of at least 2 backups, you shouldn’t have to cross your fingers or be stressed. If Apple replaces the system board, you recover your data from your backup (using Migration Assistant or other mechanism to re-populate the Data volume such as CCC clone of the Data volume).
Because the “drive” (which is just a pair of flash chips) is soldered onto the board. If they swap the board, they are swapping those chips.
Now sure, you could ask why they don’t transfer the data from one board to the other so you won’t notice that the “drive” has been exchanged. But then recall encryption makes this non-trivial (unless you want Apple to have your keys). And then let’s not forget the fact that Apple prefers just telling you to have a backup in hand (as they expect you to do that migration on your own time and dime) instead of them spending their time and money doing it for you. Especially when their repair job is under warranty, i.e. at no cost to you and at increasing cost to them with every extra minute they spend on it. (Not saying they have a rough deal here, just reminding you of the fact that you don’t get as rich as Apple without being frugal and/or greedy).
These answers come to mind. Any or all of them might be true.
It’s cheaper to solder chips to the board as a part of assembling the rest of the board vs. having a human install an SSD component into a socket.
By not having a socket, they can make the board a millimeter or two thinner. Apple has had an obsession with being thin for a very long time.
Reliability. An SSD can’t come unseated from its socket if it’s soldered to the board.
They’re not supposed to get anything, but we have all seen news reports about staff violating policy by surfing through customers’ files and even sharing them on social media.
But as I understand it, Apple doesn’t require your login credentials when performing service (I think their diagnostic tools don’t require them to log in to any of your accounts).
So if you lock the drive with File Vault and/or set your file permissions so other users can’t access your content, you should be reasonably safe.
If for some reason, they do want an account to log in to, create a new non-admin account and give them its credentials. If they say they need administrator access, press them for a reason why. And if they insist, backup and delete anything you consider sensitive. But it would surprise me if they require that level of access.
… Or make a few full backups and wipe it yourself before giving it to them. But I’d consider that overkill for most people. Especially for something like a battery replacement, which shouldn’t require them to log in at all.
… and Apple does not do board-level repair. They swap entire assemblies. And there aren’t many assemblies on a modern Mac laptop:
Lower case
Trackpad
Motherboard
Upper case, which includes the keyboard
For some models, this includes the battery, which is solidly glued to it.
For newer models, Apple has started using removable adhesive strips, which permit battery removal/replacement,
Lid, which includes the display and all its support circuitry
A few small boards for the USB/Thunderbolt ports
This is also why out-of-warranty repairs can be so expensive. If (for example) the USB charging chip blows, they are not able to just microsolder in a replacement chip (as an independent repair shop may be able to do). They’ll replace the entire motherboard (and charge you for a refurbished board). Then they’ll send your old board to some centralized location, where they will probably replace the chip, wipe the SSD and sell it as a refurbished board to the next customer that “needs” a board replacement.
Yeah, thanks all. I think I was having a flashback to the good old days when the separate hard disk was a thing, and also an IT dept that would wipe every laptop as a first thing regardless of the problem… ‘lost your power supply? we reformatted your hard drive, you are welcome.’
That still doesn’t explain why the little probe had to be used before my battery got replaced… the ‘genius’ said that’s just the process.
I get that with filevault all my data SHOULD be protected, but then he could do many things in my laptop with the probe in that I would have thought needed a user to be logged in to do, which I wasn’t. Hey ho.
