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Possible Washed Out Screen - Need Help

C

c.dub

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
44
0
I have a new unibody MacBook. Got it in January sometime.

Anyways I have been quite happy with it but after reading all kinds of forum threads (from here and other places) about the screen being really poor quality, I decided to pay closer attention to how mine looks.

I have looked in my 'Book's profile, and the screen I have is the 9C89. Apparently a "bad" one, but there are other people saying theirs is fine. Just opinion/preference I suppose.

I do find the vertical viewing angle is pretty bad, and also after testing the screen closely, I noticed the bottom inch of the screen seems to fade out to white, or loses color. I don't know the proper term, washed out?

So what I have found is the viewing angle sucks, and the bottom portion seems to lose it color. Is this a common problem with this screen/MacBook? I was thinking of calling Apple for support to see if they could perhaps replace it.

Any suggestions and/or opinions are welcome.
 
NewMacbookPlz

NewMacbookPlz

macrumors 68040
Sep 28, 2008
3,266
0
What you listed are the common symptoms of the early UMB screens. Sadly, Apple won't take it back and replace the panel just for that.

Your best bet is to take some time and calibrate the screen. This can be done by going System Preferences-->Display-->Color (Tab at the top of the pane) and then click the calibrate button and use the advanced settings.

Alternatively, you can search around here, and pull up multiple user created profiles, some of which are quite nice.
 
C

c.dub

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
44
0
Thanks for the response.

So what you are saying is the faded color on the bottom of my screen is actually normal? That is pretty brutal :(

I was planning to calibrate the screen with SuperCal. It seems that it is a tedious process, but would be worth it in the end.

For those who have calibrated the screen, do you find the washed out portion of the screen (in my case the bottom) would be cleared up?
 
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
No amount of calibration is going to make the blacks "black" on the early Unibody Macbook. The easy way to see this is use a black desktop wallpaper or fire up the DVD player application and go to full screen. When you pivot the screen back and forth you'll easily see how washed out the black level is, it's horrible. The newer Macbooks have a nice high contrast screen like the Macbook Air and the Pro.
 
NewMacbookPlz

NewMacbookPlz

macrumors 68040
Sep 28, 2008
3,266
0
c.dub said:
Thanks for the response.

So what you are saying is the faded color on the bottom of my screen is actually normal? That is pretty brutal :(

I was planning to calibrate the screen with SuperCal. It seems that it is a tedious process, but would be worth it in the end.

For those who have calibrated the screen, do you find the washed out portion of the screen (in my case the bottom) would be cleared up?
Click to expand...

After I calibrated my 9C89 screen with SuperCal, I'm fairly happy with it, but the bottom is still washed out in the blacks for sure.
 
C

c.dub

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
44
0
I have read the thread here talking about the newly updated screens, and I have looked at a MBA screen as well, it does look quite a bit better!

It's pretty upsetting to find out how bad this screen is. Even if the MacBook is supposed to be more of a consumer level laptop, there is no excuse for having such a bad screen.

I will certainly take the time to calibrate it and will try and call Apple anyways (no harm in trying to get some compensation).

Any other suggestion and/or info is still greatly appreciated.
 
C

c.dub

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
44
0
hajime said:
Can you post photos? My SR MBP may have the same problem.
Click to expand...

At work right now, will post pics later if I can capture it from my camera.


panzer06 said:
Be happy :rolleyes: it's not an 09 White MB, the screen is even worse with the noticeable lines throughout the display.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I am very happy with it, but it is disappointing that this is a known issue with these screen. Yes it is much better than the white/previous generation MacBooks, however why the hell should someone be okay with a washed out screen? I'm sitting in front of an old Dell LCD from a few years ago (non widescreen) that does not have this problem...

Not to mention Apple has clearly updated the MacBooks with the new 'MBA' screen which is a noticable improvement.
 
clyde2801

clyde2801

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2008
4,365
54
In the land of no hills and red dirt.
Find a classic or film noir dvd and play it fullscreen. Does it look like crap? Can an idiot see that it's washed out or has bad contrast?

If so, take your mb along with the dvd and make a genius reservation. Don't tell him about the new screens, etc. Tell him you want the screen fixed. If he says no, find the second closest apple store.

Or, call apple support and politely but firmly raise heck.
 
C

c.dub

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
44
0
hajime said:
Can you post photos? My SR MBP may have the same problem.
Click to expand...


Just letting you know I tried to take a picture of it but my camera does not show the washed out area. Too hard to capture.
 
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