Should I return my new Powerbook 15?

Just before I walked out of the door the other day to buy a Powerbook I read the thread on this forum talking about the horizontal line problem with many of the new revision of the Powerbook 15. After reading I was a bit more cautious before buying my laptop at the Apple Store. I looked at all three Powerbook's side by side up close and couldn't see much of a line problem with any of them. I was expecting much worse after reading all of the commotion stirred up on various forums. I ended up buying a Powerbook 15 and love the design, OS, etc.(This is my first Mac). Now that I have this "horizontal line" thing in my head though I always look for lines when I view any photo and it is annoying me quite a bit, I dont want to be even debating this in my head, lol. It is hindering my enjoyment even though I am not even sure if my monitor has a problem or not just by knowing that mine may have the problem. If I have my face pratically touching the screen I can see some lines but the same goes for many LCD displays that I look at up close. I really love the laptop and wish that I never read about the problem because I doubt that I would ever notice anything or look for anything of the sort otherwise. I really do not want to return it since I am not sure if the rep will even see the lines since I am not sure about them myself, and will more than likely charge me a re-stocking fee. I also have Apple Care for it and I am not sure if I can transfer that to a new Powerbook if I decided to exchange for a different one. My other problem is that I need a laptop now, I love the 15, the 17 is too big, and the 12 is too underpowered.

Point is...I can't wait longer for new models, I love the 15, and I wish I never read about the line issues since I would be not bouncing back and forth about this issue in my head for hours.

I could return it and get a 12 inch one but I am not even sure if the rep's there will be able to see the lines, I mean you have to be VERY anal to see them, I am not even sure if mine has them or not. The 12 is nice too and maybe better for me since I move around a lot but the thing that turns me off is the graphics card and the hotter surface.

Well I ended up returning it tonite. I am just going to wait for a while and see if Apple fixes it in a new release or something. I would hate to have had it past the return date, only to see that a new version of the 15 is released with a better screen. The apple guy told me that when he looked the problem up on apple he said he saw a message stating that "apple is working on the issue" so hopefully there will be a new screen put in them soon. If no screen fix comes though I will most likely just get another 15, the lines didn't bother me much it was just that once they were pointed out to me every time I looked at the screen I got mad since I dropped $2,000+ on the machine. I hope it all works out for me soon.

runninmac said:

Just wondering about something with your powerbook.

When did you get it? Im assuming it was opened (since you saw the screen) so was there a restocking fee? How long is the return period?

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I just got my Powerbook on December 26th(yesterday). It was opened but there was no restocking fee that I had to pay. The apple "genius" inspected my powerbook and I showed him a few pictures posted here that pointed out the horizontal line problem. He then looked at other 15's in the store on display to compare with mine and said something like "I see this problem in all of our 15's, its because we use different screens, I wouldn't call this a defect since it is not only your screen but the entire line of new rev. Powerbook 15's. I think you will still need to pay the restocking fee because your Powerbook 15 is no different from the other Powerbook 15's." There was no way I was going to pay a restocking fee to Apple for this though so I just acted a bit frustrated and talked to him some more and he got the manager to wave the restocking fee for me. The manager was awsome, she even let me return my apple care even though the box was open(though not activated yet). I got very lucky that I found a store full of nice and understanding employees.

I found that the best picture for displaying the line issue is the black and white line pic posted in an earlier thread here. Just showing them the blue apple default desktop probably will not do it for them since the lines are very subtle and hard to notice against it in my opinion. The black and white stripe picture clearly shows how every other row of pixels is lighter than the other.

Edit: Here is the picture I used: http://www.cameraid.com/art/quadrants.gif

Notice how the bottom two squares look the same but the top two look different from each other while viewing them on most a new-rev. Powerbook 15's. The reason for this is because the top left square has the black row of pixels one row above the black row of pixels on the top right square. This shows how every other row of pixels is a bit brighter which is what makes these lines from my understanding. I never noticed the lines until I looked at this picture on my now returned Powerbook 15 and then on my brother in law's new Dell LCD. It made the problem pretty evident.

Deepdale said:

It is good your situation ended the way it did because I have overheard people facing that same restocking fee getting into lengthy and sometimes vocal discussions with store employees, and some did not fare as well as you. Hope your next PB turns out to be pixel perfect.

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I am pretty sure that anything bought from one Apple Store can be returned to another. If one store doesn't work for someone there are always other stores to try out. If anyone is in San Diego the store I went to was the Apple Store in the UNC Mall right near Scrips Hospital. Great people in there. I was a bit worried at first after the tech guy there told me I would probably need to pay a restocking fee but I the manager in there saw my problem and was great about it. It is a shame I do not know her name since I know there are probably multiple managers in there.

As for me at the moment I am computerless. I do not want to get another 15 since I know it will probably have the same problem and I got pretty lucky being able to return it this first time and all w.o much hassle. School does not start for me until January 7th though so I do not need a new laptop quite yet. I can manage to use the library computers until some announcements are made.