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13'' MacBook Screens Quietly Upgraded in April

NT1440 said:
Keep in mind those are the old screens.

Anyone on here have both an MBA and a new MB? :p
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Yes! Had some problems with my Air('s) and took it into the local store - I've had a two rev A's and one Rev B.

I'd say all the Airs had good screens, bright, good blacks, great contrast - it put my 2 and half year whitebook to shame.

My new macbook 2.4ghz has the 9CA8 screen, It's just as good as the Airs - the blacks are deep, viewing angle is great and it's as blindingly bright as the Air - really happy with my macbook.
 
I also purchased my Unibody MB 2.4 back in February, while does Apple do this, right after you guy something they come out with a new version whether it be much better or about the same, this is the type of thing that makes ppl mad and hate Apple.


I for one Don't care either way, a MacBook Aluminum is better then a PC anyday, my fear is the new stuff getting released on June 8th after just buying my MB....uggh :eek:
 
iann1982 said:
Yes! Had some problems with my Air('s) and took it into the local store - I've had a two rev A's and one Rev B.

I'd say all the Airs had good screens, bright, good blacks, great contrast - it put my 2 and half year whitebook to shame.

My new macbook 2.4ghz has the 9CA8 screen, It's just as good as the Airs - the blacks are deep, viewing angle is great and it's as blindingly bright as the Air - really happy with my macbook.
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Thats GREAT news
 
macboy4 said:
Would you prefer it if Jobs would hold a keynote and announce the slightly upgraded display?

Give me a break.
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That's not the point. Why would you have an inferior part to begin with so as to resort to a stealth upgrade?

And, why hold a keynote that advertised the screens as bright and with vivid colors with that pop out?
 
NT1440 said:
Where did Apple list anything about contrast and viewing angles?

Tons of companies do minimal updates, clearly you don't know about how manufacturing works. They are little things that just make the product a little better.
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This step was not out of sheer altruism towards customers on Apple's part. This was because they knew they included a piss poor screen in an overpriced laptop. That was ticking customers off, and so they fixed their folly.
 
Hi everyone,

Would you be so kind as to share with us the first five digits of your Macbook serial numbers alongside the display you received? In addition, it would be helpful if you can indicate whether your display is good or bad.

I.e. for my old Macbook Pro, I would write:

W8634 9C57 Good

"W8" refers to the manufacturing facility (in this case, Shanghai, China). "6" refers to the year (in this case, 2006). "34" refers to the number of weeks into the year when my MBP was manufactured.

With this information we can get a better idea of what has been happening with Apple and these Macbook screens as time passes.

IMHO, I find it quite shocking that, after all the spectacular innovation they put into this product, they failed to deliver on one of the most important aspects of the machine. Heck, I've seen Dells with better displays. I guess Apple's top brass completely forgot that at least some of us can, indeed, tell the difference between a piece-of-junk display made with technology circa 2003 versus a decent one, like the one they put in the Macbook Air. Such a fail. It probably cost them only $20 more to use the decent display. For them to cause this much angst among their customers over $20 is awful, especially when they already have a gross margin of 30%.
 
Scottsdale said:
So, is the uMB plagued with the lines if it is using the same display? Or is the power there to ensure no lines?

I would love to know more, as I may buy a new uMB if it really has the same display as the MBA less the gray lines?
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No lines here, I had them on my Air, but it never really bothered me, the display somehow looks 'cleaner' on the Macbook without them. Screen on par with the Air but without the lines, I don't think they're identical as the MB lid is twice as thick as the Airs
 
losingwithstyle said:
Hi everyone,

Would you be so kind as to share with us the first five digits of your Macbook serial numbers alongside the display you received? In addition, it would be helpful if you can indicate whether your display is good or bad.

I.e. for my old Macbook Pro, I would write:

W8634 9C57 Good

"W8" refers to the manufacturing facility (in this case, Shanghai, China). "6" refers to the year (in this case, 2006). "34" refers to the number of weeks into the year when my MBP was manufactured.

With this information we can get a better idea of what has been happening with Apple and these Macbook screens as time passes.

IMHO, I find it quite shocking that, after all the spectacular innovation they put into this product, they failed to deliver on one of the most important aspects of the machine. Heck, I've seen Dells with better displays. I guess Apple's top brass completely forgot that at least some of us can, indeed, tell the difference between a piece-of-junk display made with technology circa 2003 versus a decent one, like the one they put in the Macbook Air. Such a fail. It probably cost them only $20 more to use the decent display. For them to cause this much angst among their customers over $20 is awful, especially when they already have a gross margin of 30%.
Click to expand...

But.... people still bought them and said their displays were great. There was a thread rolling back in Oct.-Nov. about the MB "less than" displays. I bought one first day of introduction and posted about them with pic's and was flamed as a hater. Guarantee most of those flamers wish they had this new panel. Apple tried to save a buck hoping no one would care and honestly, most didn't.
 
Hey all, so today I just bought a 2.4 Macbook and noticed the screen was cloudier and less visible even at a slightly off angle. I looked at the LCD number and it's a 9C8C, one of the older models. Since it's still within 30 days can I just go back in and return it for a newer one? And how can I be sure I'll get one of the updated models?

Just want to make sure I get the best out there while I'm still within my return period. Any help?
 
KDups said:
Hey all, so today I just bought a 2.4 Macbook and noticed the screen was cloudier and less visible even at a slightly off angle. I looked at the LCD number and it's a 9C8C, one of the older models. Since it's still within 30 days can I just go back in and return it for a newer one? And how can I be sure I'll get one of the updated models?

Just want to make sure I get the best out there while I'm still within my return period. Any help?
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If it was not from Apple you have a good chance. Best Buy is known to exchange with little hassle. Since this wasn't an official upgrade, unfortunately it's the luck of the draw. Unless you find something wrong with it beyond wanting a new display that Apple never acknowledged, I'm afraid you may be stuck if purchased from Apple.
 
NC MacGuy said:
If it was not from Apple you have a good chance. Best Buy is known to exchange with little hassle. Since this wasn't an official upgrade, unfortunately it's the luck of the draw. Unless you find something wrong with it beyond wanting a new display that Apple never acknowledged, I'm afraid you may be stuck if purchased from Apple.
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You won't know till you boot up the computer and they usually won't open up new laptops and boot them unless you are ready to buy it or have already bought it. In Hong-Kong they allow you to pick the one you want and once you pick it there is no returning it. If something is wrong then you can take it to their repair center:rolleyes: So you are pretty much Fuc*ed if you get the model with the older display if you have paid here in Asia.:eek:
 
So I called up the Apple store I bought the Macbook at and talked to a manager. They looked up my serial number and said there hasn't been any LCD updates since they released them back in October. I said I've been reading a lot about the stealth update on the mac forums and she seemed to imply that everyone on here didn't know what they were talking about. She said I could come in and return it but there wasn't much else they could do.

Not quite sure I know what I'm going to do now. I may bring it into another Apple store tomorrow and talk to another manager about it. Or I might return it and take a chance at another one. Tough call.
 
KDups said:
So I called up the Apple store I bought the Macbook at and talked to a manager. They looked up my serial number and said there hasn't been any LCD updates since they released them back in October. I said I've been reading a lot about the stealth update on the mac forums and she seemed to imply that everyone on here didn't know what they were talking about. She said I could come in and return it but there wasn't much else they could do.

Not quite sure I know what I'm going to do now. I may bring it into another Apple store tomorrow and talk to another manager about it. Or I might return it and take a chance at another one. Tough call.
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Surprised? Shouldn't be if you are.
What was your date of manufacture? Perhaps they gave you one that's been sitting on the shelf for two months which wouldn't surprise me either. Unless you can find something really wrong with it, you may be SOL.
 
NC MacGuy said:
Surprised? Shouldn't be if you are.
What was your date of manufacture? Perhaps they gave you one that's been sitting on the shelf for two months which wouldn't surprise me either. Unless you can find something really wrong with it, you may be SOL.
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Nah not really, just deciding what to do. Where would I find the manufacture date?
 
I have a 9C89.

I bought it from Best Buy about two weeks ago. It has a very wide viewing angle and does have a little light leakage but no where near as extreme as shown in the pictures in the posts above. I did find when I fist bought it that the color and contrast was a little subpar to my dell mini9 and I could not seem to calibrate it to my liking. However once I found and applied the "jc display" color calibration it was a perfect calibration for my screen and took care of any gripes I had. Of course I read about the screen issues after I bought my new amb and thought darn it but in reality I could not be happier with this machine. Note: I am not a pro photographer or graphic designer.
 
bubbagumpshrimp said:
where does this tell the manufacture date? this is all mine says:

Name: MacBook Unibody (Late 2008)
Model: Mxxxx MacBook Alu (Late 2008) 2.0GHz
Bus speed: 1.07GHz
Screen size: 13 inch
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Are you sure?

Name: MacBook Unibody (Late 2008)
Model: MB467 MacBook Alu (Late 2008) 2.4GHz
Bus speed: 1.07GHz
Screen size: 13 inch
Colour: Please tell us what colour this MacBook is.
Memory - number of slots: 2
Factory: W8 (Shanghai China)
URL: Technical specifications by apple-history.com code_to_number: 2N7 -

Model introduced: 2008
Production year: 2008
Production week: 48 (December)
Production number: 3067 (within this week)
 
Just wanted to update my status to anyone that cares. Today I went into the Apple Store and checked their display units to see if any of them had the new LCDs. Only one of them did and I immediately noticed a difference. Having used an Air daily for more than a year I definitely noticed the improvement. So I set up a Genius appointment to see what I could do. The guy was really nice and and understood my issue but said he couldn't do anything. He got his manager though and I talked to her about my options.

She basically said she could give me a replacement and would waive the restock fee but made it clear that she had no way of knowing if I'd get the new LCD and really didn't want to do this more than once. I totally understood and took the replacement unit in the hopes that I got lucky. I noticed the serial number was from week 20 (May '09) so I had high hopes. I took it home and sure enough it's the new 9CA5. Nice!

In closing I'm totally satisfied with the new unit and everyone at Apple was both understanding and helpful in all my analness. Guess that's why I stick with them:)
 
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