Newest MacBook Pro NVIDIA Chips Potentially Faulty? - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Newest MacBook Pro NVIDIA Chips Potentially Faulty?

The Inquirer presents evidence that they believe the current 15" MacBook Pro may continue to suffer from faulty graphics chips. NVIDIA previously reported manufacturing defects in July that were later found to affect some MacBook Pros. The issue was thought to have been resolved.

In a seemingly thorough analysis, however, The Inquirer claims that NVIDIA 9600 graphics chips found in an off-the-shelf 15" MacBook Pro also contains similar defects.

So, what does this all mean? It suggests that there are 15-inch Macbook Pros being sold with 'bad bumps', the same materials that brought down so many HP, Dell and Apple parts, both laptop and desktop. For some odd reason, Nvidia really does not want you to know this.

NVIDIA's Mike Hara, however, denied the association and had the following comment:

The GeForce 9600 GPU in the MacBook Pro does not have bad bumps. The material set (combination of underfill and bump) that is being used is similar to the material set that has been shipped in 100s of millions of chipsets by the world's largest semiconductor company."

The article suggests that the problem could be related to the "black screen of death" issue that some MacBook Pro users have seen during gaming sessions.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Instagram Feature 2

PSA: Instagram Encrypted Messaging Ends on Friday, May 8

Tuesday May 5, 2026 8:24 am PDT by
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform. Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
macbook neo launch day

Apple May Drop Base $599 MacBook Neo as Chip, DRAM Costs Climb

Thursday May 7, 2026 4:55 am PDT by
Apple is considering dropping the cheapest MacBook Neo configuration as one possible response to the rising cost of building the popular laptop, according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. The Neo currently starts at $599 for a 256GB model, with a 512GB version at $699. Writing in his latest Culpium newsletter, Culpan says cutting the entry-level...