Is this what you would consider a good MBP display?

[PDE]

I'm on my 798th MBP and I've been (un)lucky enough to get a Chimei 9c82 LCD. It's *ok*, but not without noticeable issues and I'm considering trying to get a replacement display since the computer itself is without any defects. They all have issues so in many ways it's just the luck of the draw whether I'd get one that is better than this.

I'd like to hear your opinions based on the pictures below whether this would be acceptable to you. I've used a good camera and lens (nikon d300 and nikon 60mm micro)and have compensated exposure in order to portray exactly what I see - it's very hard to not capture the weird anti-reflective layer artifacts, but the general illumination and characteristics of the screen are still visible.

[PDE]

Couldn't fit all the pictures in my first post...

[Kaupa]

tHAT IS UGLY!

[kabunaru]

I see some darker spots on the grey backgrounds. Other than that, it's acceptable to me. :)

[alphaod]

It's not too bad, it's just you can see obvious black spots, light pillars on the gray/white; it's not bad, but not great. If I got that, I would ask for a replacement or a refund...

Here's mine:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/alpha_ran/test%20screen%20mbp%2017%20led/be3b76cc.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/alpha_ran/test%20screen%20mbp%2017%20led/9be0830a.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/alpha_ran/test%20screen%20mbp%2017%20led/d903d17f.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/alpha_ran/test%20screen%20mbp%2017%20led/ae53485c.jpg

[Burtonsnow9]

nah, it has bands of light and dark areas coming up from the bottom. take that in and have the lcd replaced. maybe with an led ;)

[PDE]

nah, it has bands of light and dark areas coming up from the bottom. take that in and have the lcd replaced. maybe with an led ;)

Unfortunately it IS an led display...

[amusiccale]

I don't know...it doesn't look significantly worse than my LG santa-rosa 15" display...which I just got replaced from apple about 2 weeks ago, so it's about as new as it's going to get. Depending on where you live and how strongly you feel about your chances of improving it, there's always bringing it up at a genius bar and trying your luck. I just try not to think about grays.

[PDE]

I don't like when I feel that I feel that I'm avoiding ANY colors on my laptop - greys, whites, or blacks. I took it in and the genius agreed to replace the display, even though I don't think he really thought it needed replacement. Hopefully whatever I get will be a little better, at least in terms of bleeding against dark backgrounds/while watching movies.

It's pathetic that this is what is has come to with apple's 'pro' laptops. While I was sitting at the genius bar, a guy came in with his ancient powerbook 17" with panther installed. His screen was beautiful, completely evenly illuminated with crisp whites throughout. I wanted to scream out: "THAT'S the display I want on my new MBP!" - while it wasn't nearly as bright as mine, it was very consistent throughout and consistency in color, illumination and contrast counts for more than just bright when you're working on a display.

I'll post back with details about the new screen....and some pics.

[PDE]

I got my new display yesterday = a samsung 9c83. It's the first samsung I've owned and I feel VERY happy with it compared to the other ones. There's a big difference compared with the chimei and even with the LG in terms of backlight bleed. This display is very evenly illuminated with just slight bleed at the bottom and slightly darker top corners, but nothing major and nothing disturbing in everyday usage. There IS a tiny yellow hue at the far bottom, but only a strip less than a quarter inch wide at the bottom. Really not disturbing, especially given how good it is otherwise. :) Is it fair that some people get a Chimei and others get a Samsung? these are NOT comparable displays, yet the price is the same. Apple needs to deal with quality assurance so that a customer can feel confident that they'll get a good one.

So, with this information, I'd probably rate my MBP displays like this:

1. Samsung and LG (different qualities, but similar overall experience)
2. AUO
4. Chimei


Here is the samsung:

[TheCookie]

How does one know what brand your MBP screen is?

[DanD81]

Hi PDE,

did you get your display exchanged?
I have a similar problem.. after a LONG period of MBP exchanges I finally completely reordered. The new MBP arrived yesterday. It is a really nice machine, no issues at all BUT the display. I got an AUO display.. not too bad, not much yellowing but a really terrible colour gradient.. shadows of the MacOS X windows look like a dark frame around the window.
And I have too say that the display is quite "cloudy", so not really pure white but with some darker areas, especially at the bottom. However, no noticeable backlight bleeding..
So, I don't really know what to do.. I DO NOT want to exchange againg but I am afraid that I will get a ****** display if I just exchange this one... :(

Cheers, Dan

[cptpower]

How does one know what brand your MBP screen is?

here's a post that explains how to get the vendor code for it.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=5402286&postcount=5

As for what vendors those codes translate into, I'm not sure how people know that for certain. I guess if you find out what your's is, and then searchs the MacRumors forums for that string, it'll likely show you what brand you have.

[MattZani]

My screen is the same model as yours, but my Grey looks even, only a few dark spots near the bottom of the screen, nowhere near as bad as yours!

[PDE]

Hi PDE,

did you get your display exchanged?
I have a similar problem.. after a LONG period of MBP exchanges I finally completely reordered. The new MBP arrived yesterday. It is a really nice machine, no issues at all BUT the display. I got an AUO display.. not too bad, not much yellowing but a really terrible colour gradient.. shadows of the MacOS X windows look like a dark frame around the window.
And I have too say that the display is quite "cloudy", so not really pure white but with some darker areas, especially at the bottom. However, no noticeable backlight bleeding..
So, I don't really know what to do.. I DO NOT want to exchange againg but I am afraid that I will get a ****** display if I just exchange this one... :(

Cheers, Dan


Hi Dan,

Yes, I got a new LCD. I don't know what to advise, except that I wouldn't settle for an inferior display with shadows or dark areas. The reason many of us go for a 15" MBP instead of a macbook or Air is the promise of a large and beautiful display that is grat to work with. Darker shadows, spots, yellowing, bleeding etc on a display that comes in this class of laptops is really not alright.

The gradient issue is something I wouldn't expect to get fixed with a new display, and the shadow I think has more to do with Apple than with the displays. For some reason they decided to make the shadow rendering very strong...

Hard to say, but I'd try to get an exchange if you're not happy with the current one. Otherwise you'll never be happy!