Fragile MacBook Pro display cable: another trap into which Apple engineers have driven themselves
The cables in question are loosely wrapped around the display controller board. They are tightly stretched when opening the screen lid, which eventually leads to tears. IFixit
specialists have analyzed the next design error in Apple laptops in detail . Design errors in the devices of this company have especially sad consequences, because Apple laptops and smartphones are difficult to repair, and components are often very expensive or unavailable. The same situation here. Apple designed the cable as part of the display, so it cannot be replaced . The user will have to change the entire display. As a result, instead of $ 6, he will give $ 600 for repairs.
We are talking about the display cable (in the photo above). Starting with the MacBook Pro 2016 model, flat cables are used here that are wrapped around the controller board. They stretch tight when opening the screen lid and wear out over time. The backlight cable suffers first. This is manifested in the effect, which is informally called the “stage light”. This effect is even devoted to the whole site Flexgate , where information is collected on the topic.
At a certain angle of inclination at the bottom of the screen visible characteristic light, similar to the stage lighting in the theater. The video shows what happens to a laptop when this cable is wiped and badly contacted. If you rotate the display at an angle of about 40−45 °, the backlight completely disappears, that is, the screen goes dead.
Affected devices :
- MacBook Pro (13 ", 2016, two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- MacBook Pro (13 ", 2017, two ports Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13 ", 2016, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- MacBook Pro (13 ", 2017, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- MacBook Pro (13 ", 2018, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- MacBook Pro (15 ", 2016)
- MacBook Pro (15 ", 2017)
- MacBook Pro (15 ", 2018)
The problem only concerns the generation of MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. The new MacBook Air is not such display cables , although fundamentally they are just as vulnerable as they are wrapped around the controller and are an integral part of the display, that is, they cannot be changed separately.
What is characteristic, in the previous MacBook Pro models, there were no problems, and they do not arise, because ordinary wires were used there, missed modulo the controller (in the photo below).
If you have a laptop with a flat cable listed in the list above, you should carefully handle the device. In order to avoid premature cable wear, it is recommended not to open the display at an angle greater than 90 °. Still, it is not very pleasant to pay more than $ 600 for such an oversight by Apple designers, who sought to make the laptop more miniature and reduce its thickness by another couple of millimeters.
The recall of millions of laptops sold will cost Apple too much (each costs up to $ 7,000 ), so the company has no choice but to hush up the problem and delete user complaints on the forums . There is no talk of a free replacement, Apple has not yet recognized the problem.
As has been repeatedly discussed, one has to pay for miniaturization and beauty. Not just extra hundreds of dollars. We are talking about reducing the reliability, reducing the capacity of the batteries, the inability to replace individual parts and generally repair the laptop yourself. In general, the cost of repairing the device increases many times.
iFixit writes that past problems with MacBook Pro laptops — with the keyboard , overheating , low battery capacity, and short life span — all of them are explained by the same reason: the priority of the form over the content .
Here is what the same iFixit wrote in June 2018 about replacing defective MacBook Pro keyboards with a new design: “Small thickness is fine, but everything has a compromise. Ask any Touch Bar owner if he would change a tenth of a millimeter to a robust keyboard. No person who has followed this statement from Apple Support shake the laptop at an angle of 75 ° and wave in the air precise zigzag movements, not priderotsya a slightly thicker design. This is design anorexia : the product is increasingly thinning due to its utility , functionality , maintainability and the environment ”(from the article"The trap into which Apple engineers have driven themselves with a MacBook Pro keyboard" ).