[amikula]

In the last 6 months, I've had my 15" late 2011 model MBP repaired three times for this exact problem. After the first failure, they haven't charged again for the subsequent motherboard replacements. I guess so many are failing all at once that they couldn't ignore the problem anymore.

Interestingly, the first time I had it repaired, I was charged $550 by a third-party "repair" shop who told me up front that it the motherboard needed to be replaced, then took it to Apple and payed them $330 to fix it. Caveat emptor.

[kenrikm]

Yeah the standard flat rate fee for motherboard related issues from Apple is just about $300. With this in mind it's usually a better idea to take them to Apple then use third party shops. I've had the exact same issue happen to me on Apple laptops all the way back to my 2008 Macbook Pro and eventually Apple made the same extension for that model as they are with these newer models. After a few years the video chipset seems to have connection issues that may or may not be solved with a reflow attempt (baking the logic board in the oven)