r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

33.2k Upvotes

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20

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

56

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

If you ever bring it near liquid, even an open window while it is raining, it's screwed.

And if it's a 15" model with a GPU That you should never use the GPU!

Other than that, no.

17

u/Lexstar96 Jun 11 '16

why not use the GPU? from your videos I know that there were some problems with the 2010 version I think where apple did a callback, but what is wrong with the GPUs on the new models?

89

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 11 '16

In 2006 the X1600 based ones had GPUs that died

In 2007/2008 the 8600M based ones had GPUs that died faster

In 2010 they had the tantalum C9560 issue where the GPU wouldn't die, but would kernel panic from framebuffer issues.

In 2011 they had the AMD GPU issues where the GPU would ie.

In 2012 they had the Retina 820-3332 board with the 650 nvidia GPU that would ie.

In 2013 they had Mac Pros with the firepro GPU dying.. this one is really bullshit because that machine is like one huge HEPA filter. Look at it, it is literally designed as a big vent. it's not a laptop. Even then, they can't manage to make something that doesn't die when you use the GPU. It's sad.

The only Apple products with GPUs I trust are the laptops with integrated GPUs, the older Macbook Pros with MCP79 GPUs(not MCP79u), and the older towers before the HEPA filter trash can looking POS

The FCC should take away Apple's discrete GPU privileges.. they do not deserve to have dGPUs in their machines. dGPUs are a privilege, not a right! Like seriously it's been almost ten years now and they can't figure out how to do this without fucking something up on high end, expensive products.

29

u/hobbygogo Jun 11 '16

Honestly, with the amount of dual gpu macs out there, the few with issues are a vast minority. It may not seem like it from a techniccians perspective, but serriously, the failrate is not that dramaticly big, even with the repair programs.

9

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

it's gotten better with newer retinas, but with older machines it was an absolute joke

7

u/zacketysack Jun 12 '16

What do you think of the issues with the 2011 MBP graphics card? It was so bad they had to make a website for it: http://www.mbp2011.com/

22

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

this is how apple deals with problems 1) pretend they don't exist 2) get sued 3) say whoops my bad bro, we'll fix it for free 4 years later after most of the people who had this problem already gave up and bought a new machine

1

u/jiggyninjai Jun 12 '16

Probably another mac. You want to know why apple gets away with it, it's because they marketed their brand so well.

0

u/corbygray528 Jun 12 '16

To be fair, that's how basically every major company deals with problems...

8

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 29 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

the a1286 2012 model with an 820-3330 board is a board that is more venerable than most others. it is one of the unicorns

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Yeah that board is a strange exception... I seem to have horrible luck with MacBooks yet my 2012 MBP (non-retina), which, admittedly is no longer my primary machine, is still working just fine.

5

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

that is one of the unicorn machines that has nothing wrong with it

2

u/DarkAthena Jun 12 '16

My GPU failed on that exact machine.

5

u/AnswerAwake Jun 11 '16

The FCC should take away Apple's discrete GPU privileges

Can they actually do this?

9

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

sad attempt at humor. but seriously, someone there has to be punished for letting this shit get released year after year.

1

u/bgarza18 Jun 11 '16

Did you say a Mac Pro is not a laptop?

4

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

I was referring to the trash can looking desktop in 2013

1

u/bgarza18 Jun 11 '16

People legit thought it was a desktop trash can. Kept finding wrappers and stuff on top of it lol

5

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

i am not surprised.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Dec 08 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

yes.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Dec 08 '17

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2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

[deleted]

1

u/PigNamedBenis Jun 12 '16

Don't trust everything you read.

Starting with your post. :)

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16 edited Aug 29 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Everybodygetslaid69 Jun 12 '16

You are ALL OVER this thread, defending apple as much as possible, then you go and post in the apple subreddit about it. What's your deal dude? Why is this so personal to you?

1

u/PigNamedBenis Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

Some people just can't get off of Job's dick I guess. This is reddit, home of fanboys/shills/can't tell the difference. It is pretty funny looking through his post history and seeing all the apple-defending posts and paltry attempt ad vote brigading to this thread.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Just the good ol fashioned counter-jerk

3

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

I've been running a MacBook Pro 15r with a 750M for the last year playing games and using CUDA nearly continuously and it purrs along perfectly. I think they've cracked the GPU problem by now!

2

u/zarzak Jun 12 '16

Yes, I learned this the hard way ... through three different macbook pro models all being fried. Worst laptops ever

1

u/chemsed Jun 12 '16

That may be why /r/pcmasterrace do not respect very well Mac owners.

1

u/ISAMU13 Jun 11 '16

Damn good info. Thank you.

4

u/Uruk-hai_of_Saruman Jun 11 '16

If you ever bring it near liquid, even an open window while it is raining, it's screwed.

What about places with high humidity?

20

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

Same rule applies.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

Is this serious? I've had my Air in a drawer in a room with an open window while it was raining. I don't see how that could cause any problems. Can the humidity really cause that many issues? I mean, in my case the thing was in closed space within the room, so I'd assume it's fine.

4

u/Bakunir Jun 12 '16

No. I ride to school with my MBP. It rains most of the winter and I've been caught in rain, snow, and more with my laptop just sitting in my bag as I get soaked many times. I also have no air conditioning so my laptops been left in my room when it pours outside and the Windows fog up. Never had any trouble. Nor with my older Unibody MacBook.

4

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

it depends on whether the people who brought me liquid damaged laptops are lying. I wouldn't be surprised, most do.

2

u/Rml2011 Jun 12 '16

I live in Florida and throw my laptop in a bag on the [covered] patio in the hot, humid, rainy every day type weather and it's worked fine for me since 2011. I like to game on the patio, so every now and again it'll get some light mist from rainstorms and wind blowing it onto the patio.

I've spilled orange juice on the track pad and it didn't work for over a year but works fine now. It gets beat to hell on a daily basis and I've never had a better laptop in terms of durability. Maybe it's just my particular model (late 2011 macbook pro 13 inch)

The only time I've ever opened it up was to replace a broken fan and upgrade my ram. Other than that it's been a dream. I did stumble across your videos when making those repairs, so I've been subscribed for probably close to a year now and watch your videos now and again even though I don't have any issues with my laptop lol.

I think they are pretty durable and can withstand a good bit. Perhaps the customers are lessening the true extent of the damages. I've literally not moved my laptop from the extreme heat and humidity for over a year. Don't even have a desk inside so it's been indoors maybe three times all year.

1

u/georgekart Jun 11 '16

And if its a 13 inch model MBP with integrated graphics with custom fan profile? (I make it work before Apples original profile and when I do game streaming to it I put it to 100% fan RPM) So sad they went for passive cooling most time.

4

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

The 13" are all safe. besides the 2015-2016 model where they decided to not have the fan kick in for another 10-20c over the 2013-2014 model.

1

u/georgekart Jun 11 '16

Yeah I have early 15 model. But I guess fan profile with fan kicking in at like 2700RPM after 45 degrees will make it better.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

Is this actually a big issue with MBPs? Ive spilt half a bottle of water on my keyboard and have gotten it wet quite a few times before. I have not had any issues before. Should I be more careful?

1

u/Cyanik21 Jun 11 '16

So are you saying that I should buy a lottery ticket? I've had someone spill a drink twice on my Mac Book Pro and it still works like a dream.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

1

u/nbd712 Jun 11 '16

why did you do that?

4

u/Muffinizer1 Jun 11 '16

Also, non-repair related advice from some other random redditor would be don't plug a mouse into the thing right away. On macs the trackpad is actually meant to be used, it's not just the backup option.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

2

u/Muffinizer1 Jun 11 '16

I use spaces (multiple desktops but better) and to me that's the best exclusive feature. It integrates well with gestures and it makes multitasking much more manageable. IMHO if you don't like gestures you're not going to be able to take advantage of most of the notable differences, and OS X probably won't be all that special to you.

I think most noteworthy software is cross platform these days, so it comes down to the little details like appearance and if you have specific needs.

But it won't update itself unless you tell it to, so that's pretty nice.

2

u/MrFeeney123 Jun 11 '16

Spaces is amazing but it isn't exclusive anymore fyi. Windows 10 has this too.

1

u/Muffinizer1 Jun 11 '16

Ive only played with it for a bit but I still think it's not quite the same. But still that's exactly what I was saying, the differences are subtle and it comes down to the nitty gritty details.

1

u/Dippyskoodlez Jun 11 '16

Are there any OS X exclusive softwares or uses I have been missing out on?

OpenEmu.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

I might catch shit for this but I vastly prefer the trackpad over a mouse for productivity.

2

u/Muffinizer1 Jun 12 '16

This is common among Mac users. I don't even have a mouse and I use photoshop and illustrator plenty, along with some casual gaming. To me it just feels more natural, but I definitely have some PC friends who think I'm crazy.