We just hit 1,000 registered users with Random Shutdown problems – what gives Apple?
Wow. we just hit the 1,000 registered cases of Random Shutdown Syndrome on the site. I strongly believe that there are least 25x if not more users affected than what we have logged on the site. If that is conservative (which I think it might be honestly), then according to this article from Apple Insider, with Apple shipping just at 775,000 Macbooks thus far by the end of their fiscal quarter, a little less than 5% of all Macbooks have the Random Shutdown Syndrome. If my estimate of 25x is low – say maybe it’s 100x, then that brings the % of affected Macbooks to 12.9% – an unreal number at anyrate.
Also, here is a quick breakdown of our 1,000 plus cases by machine type and color: *a sample size of 1,000 isn’t much, but this is quite interesting – 70%+ of the affected machines are the 2Ghz models – hmmmm
| Model | Registered Users |
| 2GHz White | 402 |
| 2GHz Black | 324 |
| 1.8GHz White | 272 |
| 1.8GHz Black | 3 |
Like I said, my estimates may be way off here, but if our site is registering 1,000 cases thus far, I have to believe the total number of affected users is way higher than that figure.
Here is an excerpt from the article on Apple Insider:
In a research note released to clients on Monday, analyst Robert Semple said his channel checks indicate overall MacBook shipments are tracking at approximately 200,000 units ahead of his initial estimate of 580,000 for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter of 2006, which ends later this month.
“Specifically, we estimate total shipments will reach at least 775,000 with a blended average selling price of of $1,100, driving upside of $215 million to our original $4.6 billion revenue estimate,” he wrote. “We are also raising our fiscal year 2006 revenue estimate to $22.65 billion from $22.03 billion.”
Thoughts?
Matthew
September 28th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Are there 1.8GHz Black macbook?
September 28th, 2006 at 6:00 am
no there are not… but since a PRO option was not in the list many may have picked the cpu type they had since rss affects the whole macbook line…
September 28th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Excellent observation that over 70% of reported cases on MBRS are the 2.0Ghz models which run faster — and hotter than the 1.8′s. Perhaps Apple simply needs an extension on their research into cooling these computers.
September 28th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Don’t read too much into the ‘observation’ that it is more common on 2GHz models – this is much more likely to be explained by the fact that the two 2GHz models just sell more than the 1.83 version.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
I think the % of affected MacBooks could be even higher than this estimate. You would also need to take into account that RSS is a problem that only surfaces after a few months of use. That means that the MacBooks sold in the past 3 months have most probably NOT YET shown signs of RSS although they may be affected!
September 28th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
I got my white 2Ghz macbook last a
August. It came with extra memory (2GB) that I have asked for. It starts to present the RSS less than month after I got it. I am working in the Amazon where the temperature often reaches 100 degrees during the day, when it seems there are less RSS. During the night, when it is cooler, and even if my mac was resting for the whole day the RSS increase exponentially until I can’t turn it on any more. I don’t think the RSS it is related with the cooling system. I have run the disk utility and the mac hardware test and there is no report of hardware problem. I need to schedule a trip to the US in order to have it fixed.
September 28th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
yea i think its jsut that they sell more 2ghx white macbooks, i dont think there is much of a correlation btwn model and RSS
they just all have it
September 29th, 2006 at 5:01 am
My MB have ben fixed at the local Appl store yestrday. My RSS wa so bad that I just stopped using it! When I went to the Apple store for the first time to report it 2 weeks ago they told me to wait for a phone call becuase they currently dont have the parts to fix it. Yesterday afternoon they called me to bring the MB for repair and it was ready that same evening! My repair recipt says that they have replaced the heat sink and something else… My MB have been on for over 24 hours now with no RSS. If you havn’t gone to the Apple store yet or called Apple Care do it now becuase the RSS is just going to get worse!
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:05 am
By Dave Merten It appears the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP may be gearing up a class action law suit against Apple concerning defective MacBooks. Their web site states: “We are investigating the occurrence of random and repeated unprompted shutdowns
this was a very interesting article,i gave this firm my information as they are tying to find more people with the rss problem. why should we have to suffer because of a faulty product. everyone of you has to email this law firm. only in numbers can we make a difference
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:29 pm
I get my 1,83 white macbook in july, 5 days ago it starts to RSS, now i can only use them when i make a safe boot (hold power button until led blinks and starts long beep). Local apple store service tells me that i must wait about month when they gett new logic board to replace existing, i live in Latvia and shipping from usa takes long time…
I am wery dissapointed about Macs, im always think – they make wery cool stuffs… Its wery, wery dissapointning to see no response from apple about this problem, only: “go to apple service” bla bla bla… And what i found – Apple doesnt support Latvian apple service – they must get parts paying money to apple, and its not surprise if in major of cases they dont fix this problem. Its shame to apple…
I dont know how to fix this problem in Latvia…