Some owners of new MacBook Pro models have been complaining about various graphics glitches, but there’s some seemingly good news in that Apple has reportedly fixed these problems with the latest beta of macOS Sierra.
According to an email reply to a MacRumors forum denizen, which came direct from Craig Federighi, senior VP of software engineering at Apple, the flaws are all fixed in version 10.12.2 of Sierra.
Federighi wrote: “We believe we have addressed all of these graphics issues in the latest beat of Sierra 10.12.2 (available at beta.apple.com). I hope that you enjoy your new MacBook Pro – it’s a fantastic machine!”
Said email appeared as a screenshot and seems genuine, and although of course there is a possibility it could have been faked, as 9 to 5 Mac (which spotted this development) notes, that’s probably not too likely. Reading through the message thread, it seems pretty much on the level.
Frustrating flickers
The graphics glitches in question – which we reported on at the end of last month – include some pretty awful screen flickering nastiness, and other weirdness including changes in the hues of colors and major problems with the screen becoming pixelated.
Initial thoughts were that this could be a hardware issue, but if Apple is right on this matter, a software fix is all that’s needed.
Indeed, given that the graphics gremlins have hit all manner of MacBook Pro machines across the new 13-inch and 15-inch models, with varying different types of processes, discrete and integrated GPUs, a software issue would make sense. Either that, or there’s quite the range of problems across all manner of configurations, which would be pretty odd.
The beta version of Sierra doesn’t appear to have cured the problems being experienced by every tester, but the fix might need further refinement (which, of course, is what beta testing is all about).
Hopefully macOS Sierra 10.12.2 will be released this side of the holidays, bringing relief to those whose shiny new MacBook Pros have been suffering at the hands of aberrant graphics.
We’ve contacted Apple for a comment on whether this fix is indeed incoming, and will update this story with any response.
- Want an alternative to the MacBook Pro? These are the best laptops of 2016
