Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Retina display: Subtle dark sections scattered across display.

K

klover

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 7, 2009
802
95
I've had 3 rMBPs now (2 LG, 1 Samsung) and my last one, a Samsung, had a strange issue where there were a few dark "splotches" about 2-3 inches long in the middle of screen. The LG that came before it also had the same issue but they were so light that it was generally unnoticeable.

It's an odd issue since on a static image you can barely make it out but if you move a window around they become quite apparent. In fact, it kind of looks like the screen is dirty in some section (it's not); it's either the backlight (likely) or pixels (unlikely). It's one of those "once seen, cannot be unseen" type of problems.

Anyone seen this? Either way, going for a forth unit and then...well...I'm probably done.
 
Seems to be a fairly common issue unfortunately.

As with the new iPad, the retina screens used in the new MBP are plagued with quality issues.
 
Jacksteruk309 said:
I've noticed this on all of the three rMBPs I've been through. I went into the Apple Store and had a look at some other models and found it was also common on the MacBook Airs.

Generally it's not a problem unless you can see it when the screen is static. The first two rMBPs I had were returned for different reasons, but the third one had this to quite a noticeable extent - so much that I could see it just when reading a page on a white background.

EDIT: This was noticeable on both LG and Samsung models. It was at an acceptable level on one LG unit and one Samsung unit, but present to an unacceptable level on another Samsung unit.
Click to expand...

Yes, I remember seeing something similar on a Macbook Air last year. In that case, it was a darker section along the bottom that definitely looked like an issue with the backlighting system.

On the rMBP, it was dead-centre which was so annoying. Maybe I'm expecting too much from these displays but I have much cheaper LCDs (both TN and IPS) that don't have any of the issues I've had with the Retina line (yellow gradient at bottom, red/green tint, etc.).

If these weren't such great systems otherwise, I wouldn't even bother.
 
striker33 said:
Seems to be a fairly common issue unfortunately.

As with the new iPad, the retina screens used in the new MBP are plagued with quality issues.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree. I returned numerous iPad 3 units until I found a perfect screen void of dust, dead pixels, yellowing, backlight bleed, red/green tint, etc.
Low quality control on the IPS panels.
 
klover said:
I'd have to agree. I returned numerous iPad 3 units until I found a perfect screen void of dust, dead pixels, yellowing, backlight bleed, red/green tint, etc.
Low quality control on the IPS panels.
Click to expand...

Did you manage to get one in the end though? As in my sig, I went through 5 before Apple told me I could do no more exchanges. I'm just wondering if its actually possible to get a good iPad 3 screen, as I'll be trying again next month (providing the IGZO high res iPad 'mini' rumours dont turn out to be true).

BlazednSleepy said:
Normal. I can guarantee you'll see it on your tv as well.
Click to expand...

Not normal at all. You sir have a broken TV.
 
striker33 said:
Seems to be a fairly common issue unfortunately.

As with the new iPad, the retina screens used in the new MBP are plagued with quality issues.
Click to expand...

No, completely false. You are drawing a conclusion based upon the complaints in this forum. However, you would be drawing the wrong conclusion because more people come here to complain than to praise. Only in these forums do you read about people exchanging their MBP three, four or five times. When yo speak to less OCD customers, you'll find that most are satisfied.

Remember the "light leak" issues with the iPad 2? You would think this was a huge problem that affected lots and lots of iPads - after all, look at how many people here were complaining. In the real world, however, it was a complete non-issue because it affected a tiny handful of customers, figuratively speaking. The same is true here.
 
AZREOSpecialist said:
No, completely false. You are drawing a conclusion based upon the complaints in this forum. However, you would be drawing the wrong conclusion because more people come here to complain than to praise. Only in these forums do you read about people exchanging their MBP three, four or five times. When yo speak to less OCD customers, you'll find that most are satisfied.

Remember the "light leak" issues with the iPad 2? You would think this was a huge problem that affected lots and lots of iPads - after all, look at how many people here were complaining. In the real world, however, it was a complete non-issue because it affected a tiny handful of customers, figuratively speaking. The same is true here.
Click to expand...

Nope, actually you are completely wrong.

If you bothered to go to Apple stores, you can find that issues with the iPad 3 affected nearly ALL of their store displays.

Whether or not normal consumers are sensitive enough to these issues is irrelevant. They are widespread, detracting, and an obvious defect.
 
I can't speak for everyone, but I've never noticed any display issues with the display models of the MBPrs or iPad3s.
 
AZREOSpecialist said:
No, completely false. You are drawing a conclusion based upon the complaints in this forum. However, you would be drawing the wrong conclusion because more people come here to complain than to praise. Only in these forums do you read about people exchanging their MBP three, four or five times. When yo speak to less OCD customers, you'll find that most are satisfied.

Remember the "light leak" issues with the iPad 2? You would think this was a huge problem that affected lots and lots of iPads - after all, look at how many people here were complaining. In the real world, however, it was a complete non-issue because it affected a tiny handful of customers, figuratively speaking. The same is true here.
Click to expand...

Blah blah blah blah blah.

All I heard was "Apple is God. They can have my ringpiece any time they want it."
 
mzjin said:
If you bothered to go to Apple stores, you can find that issues with the iPad 3 affected nearly ALL of their store displays.
Click to expand...

Correction - YOU could find issues that 99% of consumers could not detect or care about. How awesome that you've personally determined that all iPad 3s are affected with a non-existent issue that doesn't bother anyone else.

Whether or not normal consumers are sensitive enough to these issues is irrelevant. They are widespread, detracting, and an obvious defect.
Click to expand...

Really, it's irrelevant that the vast majority of consumers can't find what you're talking about, but totally relevant that you (one person) has determine that all iPads are defective? LOL
 
AZREOSpecialist said:
Correction - YOU could find issues that 99% of consumers could not detect or care about. How awesome that you've personally determined that all iPad 3s are affected with a non-existent issue that doesn't bother anyone else.



Really, it's irrelevant that the vast majority of consumers can't find what you're talking about, but totally relevant that you (one person) has determine that all iPads are defective? LOL
Click to expand...


You basically hit the nail on the head, albeit the wrong nail. The point being made by others is that just because people don't realize that it is a problem, doesn't mean that it isn't a problem. For instance, even in this thread, there are examples of people saying that it is normal, and to accept it. In other threads, there are some people suggesting that ALL IPS screens are subject to bleeding - and people are eating it up (btw, IPS screens are NOT all subject to bleeding, in case I left the wrong impression)! The problem is that most people want to believe that their investment is fine while ignoring evidence to the contrary. You will find people accepting minor flaws, as long as it isn't a big deal. This is true for most products, and not exclusive at all to Apple.
 
So I returned the Samsung with dark spots on screen only to get an LG with yellowing in bottom left corner. Swapped again and received an LG with red tint on right and green tint on left.

5 units and not a decent one yet...

For casual surfing it probably wouldn't bother anyone but if you're using this for color-sensitive photo work (as I am) it's impossible to calibrate the screen on a panel with such poor color and brightness uniformity.
 
One of the engineers in my group was complaining about the same thing on his. A very picky guy I wrote it off as him simply picking the machine apart. Then after reading this post, I went back to him, took a look at his, and I can indeed see the issue.

So I put it side by side with two of the five others we have and found his was the only one with the issue.

I took it in to the Apple store and they were happy to replace it. The genius was very candid and said they are just starting to see this. I doubt he would have disclosed this info to me, but for the fact that I'm in the store rather frequently, as there's always something I'm buying from them. Therefore I know them well and get some great info from time to time.

Now I'm really glad I had it replaced. Putting it side by side with the others, it now looks just like they do... clear and fault free.
 
Textureboy said:
Are there any pics for this? I'm curious to see what it looks like
Click to expand...

It's very hard to capture since it's a slight but noticeable difference in brightness. It is very similar to the dark spots that plagued the iMacs at one point. Here is a picture of an iMac screen that is similar to what I saw on my rMBP.

at8c0hg27
 
help

I have noticed this vertical band on the left side of the screen. If you carefull notice under weather widget under saturday weather. Dark on left and bright on other part of the screen.....Please advice
 

Attachments

  • apple_lcd.jpg
    apple_lcd.jpg
    261.7 KB · Views: 333
rocksakar, that's the "ghosting" or "image retention" problem people are talking about. That line is probably the edge of a window that you have on another desktop. If you let it sit there or maybe close the laptop for a while and open it does that make it go away? In my case I notice the URL bar from chrome "burned" into my background everytime I close it after having it open for some time.

EDIT: I have that line as well, and it lines up perfectly with the edge of the chrome window that I'm using now.
 
Andrew thanks for the explanation. I was having hard time explaining apple about the issue and they were asking me the laptop for repair.. I will contact them back and hope they will replace my machine
 
Is this noticeable when your transitioning windows ? I think I got splotches as well but I can't really tell if my eyes are playing tricks with me because it looks fine unless i look really close at the glass doing the backlight bleed test
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back