MacBook Pro part of nVidia settlement
Over a year, Apple offered blanket warranty extensions to MacBook Pro with nVidia 8400M and 8600M graphics processors. Although a proposed settlement promises repair, replacement or compensation, you’ve only got until mid-December to make a claim.
Over the course of two-plus years, nVidia played coy about manufacturing issues in 8400M and 8600M to users and the press while paying its OEM partners, including Apple, to fix the issue. Theruepon, the mothership did extend MacBook Pro warranties, providing additional coverage for affected models.
Now, according to AppleInsider, nVidia has agreed to fix or replace, or provide monetary compensation for, MacBook Pros manufactured between May 2007 and September 2008 as part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against the graphics chip maker.
The issue is believed to be an inherent defect in all GeForce 8400M and 8600M graphics processors based on NVIDIA’s choice of non-eutectic (varied melting point) contact material in the graphics chips. As the cores regularly hit a temperature that damages the contacts between the chip dies and the package they rest in, the parts are gradually worn down to where contacts break and produce either obvious visual glitches or no visuals at all.”
Most Blorge readers will remember this issue as a bad case of the bumps, which some allege also affects 9400M-equipped MacBook Pros and, yes, those models fall outside the settlement coverage period.
If you think you’re covered by this settlement, point your browser at nvidiasettlement.com, where you’ll find additional details about what you’re entitled to. However, you have to make a claim by December 20, 2010.
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