MacBook Pro Special Report follow-up #3: Replacement units shipping with improved right speakers; Wake-from-sleep issues

Replacement units shipping with improved right speakers In our MacBook Pro special report we noted that several readers experienced poor sound quality from the system's speakers. In particular, some readers are reporting that the right speaker outputs distorted or otherwise poor quality audio while the left speaker is relatively normal.

We've now begun receiving reports from readers indicating that new replacement units from Apple do not exhibit the right-speaker distortion. Note that in-house, our MacBook Pro (which was among the first shipped from Apple) does not suffer from the right speaker distortion issue.

MacFixIt reader Brandon Demko writes:

"Sent back my first Macbook Pro which arrived in late Feb.

"First one had a horrid right speaker, TmOP hardware error, the CPU Whine and my trackpad button was a bit spongy.

"This one sounds 100% better. No more distortion on my right side speaker and the trackpad button is better. No inverter whine -- the CPU whine I think may still be there (need to double check again) but if it is, it's much quieter than my previous model."

Wake-from-sleep issues Meanwhile, some users are reporting issues where the MacBook Pro does not properly wake from sleep.

One reader writes:

"The MacBook Pro has been reported to sometimes have problems waking from sleep. This has certainly been my experience. It is about a third of the time, and I have not been able to associate it with anything in particular; except perhaps when I am using an external monitor I find the MacBook Pro likes it better if I disconnect the monitor prior to putting the MacBook Pro to sleep. When it does not wake up from sleep, I need to restart using the power button -- command shift power does not work. Resetting the power manager does not stop this sleep waking problem."

If you are experiencing similar issues, you may want to try some of the suggestions listed in our tutorial "Dealing with Wake-from-sleep issues." If you find relief with one of the suggested workarounds, please let us know.

More on random shut-downs Over the past few days we've been covering an issue where the MacBook Pro suddenly shuts off when disconnected from external power, apparently not receiving power from a charged battery.

In some cases, the cause has been an seemingly loose battery.

Now some users are reporting random shutdowns even when MacBook Pros are connected to external power.

"My 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro has just been shutting off for no apparent reason. At first it was running on battery power. Now it's just at random times even with the adapter plugged in. Jiggling the battery (which i agree seems loose) does not have an effect. Sometimes it shuts off when i move the computer from a still position. Other times, I can just be typing and it'll power off. I have never had a problem turning it back on again. Apple says they won't do anything unless i reproduce this problem for them, but it happens like twice a day. How can i prove this!? ugh... the genius looked at my crash logs and noticed a bunch of wacky stuff. His suggestion was to re-install Mac OS X. We'll see what happens."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

For more coverage, see our MacBook Pro special report.

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