It’s been said that the solution to the most difficult of problems and situations is often the simplest. That message was rekindled for Apple recently, when it decidedly performed extensive (some would say unnecessary, even) repairs on the MacBook Pro of one man.
The issue started when Greg Benz, a photographer by profession, said that he was having some issues with his MacBook Pro. According to Benz, his problem began when his display was simply black, and stayed that way no matter what he did. Because his MacBook Pro was still under warranty, Benz decided to send his notebook in to Apple to diagnose the issue.
Upon receiving the notebook, the fruit company struggled to figure out the issue with Benz’s MacBook Pro. By the process of logic, Apple first replaced its display, thinking it was defective. But alas, the issue with the black display persisted. Returning to the drawing board, Apple then proceeded to replace the notebook’s logic board and some cables. Not once, but twice.
Ultimately, and at this point, the repairs done to the MacBook Pro soon totaled up to US$10000 (~RM41700); far more expensive than Benz’s machine was worth. For context, even the most decked out MacBook Pro available in Malaysia tops out at approximately RM30800. In the end, Apple simply gave Benz a brand new MacBook Pro as a replacement to his old model. More importantly, because he was still covered by his warranty, it was to relief that he didn’t have a hole in his wallet either.
The punchline to this story is that the problem came when an Apple Genius at the store Benz took his MacBook Pro decided to shine a flashlight into the display of his original MacBook Pro, and found out that the display was actually functioning. To be precise, the display’s brightness had been lowered all the way down.
When asked about it, Benz said that the last time he had used his original MacBook Pro, he had turned down the brightness on the display via the Touch Bar. As he had connected it to external displays. Upon deeper inspection, it turns out that the Touch Bar issue also contributed to other issues. Off the top, the notebook’s keyboard wasn’t lighting up, the brightness controls on his external keyboard didn’t work, and the Touch Bar didn’t even activate when he turned on the notebook.
Despite everything that happened, Benz said that his situation seemed to be unique, and that he doesn’t expect other Apple users to experience the problems he went through. Further, had he known about the brightness issue, he probably would’ve just typed in his password, if only to gain access to his notebook and to bring up the brightness.
(Source: Business Insider via Hot Hardware)
