Apple to provide free repairs for 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pro models experiencing video problems

Apple has just announced a repair programme for its MacBook Pro models. Specifically, this applies to 15- and 17-inch models sold between February 2011 and December 2013.

The problem facing these users are well-documented and seems to affect owners of early 2011 MacBook Pro models the most. Users most often experienced system freezes, image distortion, artifacts on screen or failure to boot.

The Apple Support forum has a thread dedicated to this issue and it is over 850 pages long and has over 4.1 million views. And numerous other websites (such as this) have been started to document experiences from owners of these MacBook Pro models. A petition page was also started in an attempt to get Apple's attention to this issue.

Fortunately, Apple has heeded the calls and has just announced a repair programme for users affected by this issue. According to Apple the affected models that qualify are as follows:

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15 inch, Early 2013)

Apple also said that symptoms can include:

Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen
No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on
Computer restarts unexpectedly

Owners affected should bring their MacBook Pro to an authorised service centre for diagnosis and repair. This repair process has already begun in the US and Canada and will roll out to the rest of the world by February 27 later this week.

The programme also covers affected MacBook Pro models until February 27, 2016 or three years from its original date of sale, whichever is longer.

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