Report: Some 2011 MacBook Pros with AMD GPUs experiencing hardware failures

Some owners of 15- and 17-inch 2011 MacBook Pros are experiencing problems with their AMD HD 6000-series graphics chips, according to a report from MacRumors. Users on the MacRumors and Apple Support Communities forums have complained of distorted images and colors, as well as random reboots. Graphically intense activities like gaming and photo and video editing are more likely to trigger the problems.

By themselves, these scattered reports of GPU problems wouldn't merit much examination. Apple Support Communities and MacRumors threads exist for basically every problem under the sun, and it's difficult to isolate cause and effect. However, back in August Apple initiated a replacement program for some 2011 iMacs with similar HD 6000-series GPUs from AMD. The affected iMacs exhibited graphical corruption issues much like the MacBook Pros are experiencing now.

The 2011 MacBook Pros were sold between February of 2011 and June of 2012, with a slight spec bump in October of 2011. All 15- and 17-inch models included Sandy Bridge processors from Intel, and the laptops will switch between the CPU-integrated HD 3000 GPU and the dedicated AMD GPUs depending on your workload. That the problems reportedly crop up more often under graphical load suggests the issue is with the dedicated GPU, not the integrated one. The 13-inch laptops all used integrated graphics and don't appear to be affected.

We've contacted Apple for comment and will update this article if the company responds.