Apple finally confirmed that they had faulty chips in their Macbook Pros. The root of the problem is a faulty NVIDIA based GPU, that is present in most of the Macbooks produced from May 2007 to September 2008.

The fault is attributed to a bug in the GeForce 8600M GT graphics processing unit (or the GPU), which causes some abnormalities on the screen in some cases. The defect is present in all Macbook Pros that carry the 8600M GT in them. Apple is yet to comment on exactly what percentage of the systems actually do fail, but they have been brave enough to announce free repairs even if the system is out of warranty.

This news might raise some questions about the quality of Apple’s notebooks, specially when there is an event scheduled for tomorrow, possibaly revealing a new notebook. According to the rumors, the new notebooks would be based on the NVIDIA GeForce 9300M and 9400M chipsets. While there are no similar bugs discovered in those chips so far, nothing is set in stone.

As far as this problem is concerned, we may even have some issues right here on Sizlopedia. So be sure to look out for any strange ‘black-outs’ or chopping on screen, and make sure that you report that to your local Apple retailer.

You can find more technical details on the issue on Apple Support Center.