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

15inch PowerBook Display Issues?

hmm

I don't recall when I ordered my powerbook, that I would also be receiving white spots on them. I don't care that other LCD displays from different manufacturers have had problems. I just want my Display replaced with something that works and that is all I care about.
 
Re: hmm

Originally posted by LinkJaffa
I don't recall when I ordered my powerbook, that I would also be receiving white spots on them. I don't care that other LCD displays from different manufacturers have had problems. I just want my Display replaced with something that works and that is all I care about.
Click to expand...

Hello, I'm on your side here. I'm just explaining the problem. Maybe you should try to understand my posts before you reply to them because you took it in an entirely different way than I intended. But if you'd rather live in ignorance (read ignorance and not stupidity) and not know about manufacturers and problems not specifically apple keep it to yourself and just pass my post on by. Thank you.
 
Sorry

Hey Sorry I didn't want to make fun of your post or anything, I was just excited to check macrumors tonight and find out that others were having the same problem as me. I was going to live with the spots, but now that i can get it replaced makes me happy. Sorry didn't mean anything by my post. This is the 2nd powerbook I have ever bought and the 3nd time I have had problems with displays.
 
Re: Sorry

Originally posted by LinkJaffa
Hey Sorry I didn't want to make fun of your post or anything, I was just excited to check macrumors tonight and find out that others were having the same problem as me. I was going to live with the spots, but now that i can get it replaced makes me happy. Sorry didn't mean anything by my post. This is the 2nd powerbook I have ever bought and the 3nd time I have had problems with displays.
Click to expand...

I apologize if I was rash in my reply. You are a decent person. Few would have replied with such courteousy, though I did mean no ill sentiment. I too am glad they've publicly addressed this issue and hope we'll all have reparations for our current "spotty" LCDs. 🙂
 
Im on my third 15" 1.25!!

So glad to hear i'm not just extremely unlucky. My first powerbook had four of these spots. I got it DOA'd (you can refuse your computer as dead on arrival if it ships with this fault and they not repair but replace the entire unit: you have to request this, it will not be offered to you when you contact apple care).
I received my new powerbook threee weeks later with a lovely white spot on the left of the screen. I am now waiting for this to be collected and a new one to be sent which probally meens another three weeks. Nice one apple!

- To check your screen turn the background in system preferences to a solid colour (light grey seems to work best) and like magic they appear.
 
Getting my 2nd screen replacement

See, this is why I'm so worried that I'm going to get my computer back from AppleCare for the SECOND time this week, only to have the white spots come back again.

No one seems to know what's causing the problem, or at least they're not telling us! They replaced my screen once, and as far as I know, that's all they're doing this time as well. The technicians I've talked to on the phone try to convince me that it's simply a bad batch of screens, but everything I read online (including that post on Apple's forums from the supposed "Apple Technicial) say that it's the spacers causing the problems. If it's the spacers causing this problem, why are they only merely replacing the screen? I'd rather be told, "hold off on sending it in while we work up a fix for this problem," rather than having my PB suffer the wear and tear of shipping it all the way to Texas and back, TWICE, only to have the problem reoccur again.

All I can say is that if I get my computer back this week and the same problem occurs, heads are gonna roll. And no, I'm not going to baby this computer or treat it any differently than I would any other computer. If this computer can't withstand going back and forth to work with me everyday without getting white spots all over it, then it's not worthy of $2600 and I WILL get a refund for it.
 
Originally posted by sethypoo
It's times like these I'm glad I have my 12" PowerBook G4.....🙂

But for those of you who have the 15" PowerBook G4's, wait a little while, live with the white spots, and send your machine in when Apple has this figured out.
Click to expand...

I plan to do that. I have one spot in the lower right corner of my new powerbook. I have been living with it for over a month now and am actually used to it. I'll hang low until Apple decides what they want to do about it.
 
I'm on my second LCD too

I can't believe some people hadn't heard of this yet. There's a lot of angry customers. I'm one of them. This is my second display (and the repair went horribly awry--when I got it back the screen wouldn't light up, so it got fixed for a second time). It has white spots worse than the first (I could only see those on solid white. These shine through everything.)

The very nice, but helpless AppleCare people I talk to say there is no permanent solution documented yet. So I'm holding out on a repair.

I've heard of 17's getting the spots, but it seems to be a very isolated problem.

iBooks get them too, but much smaller and less noticeable, at least from the one I saw. That looked like it might have been damaged somehow. I guess I can't say much from one computer.

I almost feel like trading for a 17", but I think that might be too big for me, and I don't know if they'll let me. But I don't want to send the dang computer in every 2 weeks so they can replace the screen over and over and over.
 
look on hardmac.com

Hello guys,

sorry for those affected by this screen problem.
I just wanted to mention to all of you, that if you were reading hardmac.com more often, you could have noticed that this problem of white spots was reported several weeks ago, and that (at least in Europe) there is a replacement program.
The center for that program is located in Holland, but as hardmac.com reported recently, it seems that there is a shortage of the screen supply, and hardmac.com was advising to delay sending back the PB15" since due to that shortage it might stay on a shelf in Holland for few days to few weeks.
It is not clear if it is a production batch of this screen which was wrong, or directly the manufacturing process. but at least it seems that the new screen installed are working fine , now (so screens installed since around 2-3 weeks)
 
Here is a photo of mine

whitespot.jpg
 
yup got em too

Thought that this was some kinda of quirk, didn't bother me until everyone seems to have them.

Guess I'll wait at least a month until apple resolves this issue.
 
Spots AND darkened area

I've got the spots on my 15", but my display is also darker on the right side than the left - almost like a gradient change from left to right. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Originally posted by Foxer
Yep. I'm in the market for one of these, but even the display model at the local apple store had them. I'll hold out a little while. I'll be ordering off the website anyway, where there is a three week wait.

Why didn't this problem crop up with the 17 or 12 inchers?
Click to expand...

Just curious, why are you ordering from the apple website? Unless you're getting a discount only apple can offer you like educational, etc.

I mean, ordering from any third party like macmall, macconnection, clubmac, etc. will usually double or triple your ram, give you free software and usually a printer or something for free too. They don't charge sales tax either which here is an instant 7% off.
 
Hello everyone,
I just called AppleCare Germany. They told me that the production in Taiwan has been stoppen for investigating the "white spots" issue. The production should start again at the beginning of next week.

Greetings from Germany
 
Re: Spots AND darkened area

Originally posted by dezeinstein
I've got the spots on my 15", but my display is also darker on the right side than the left - almost like a gradient change from left to right. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

Totally! I thought it was just the light that I'm in. The bottom right especially is more noticable. shesh 🙄
 
Originally posted by bretm
Just curious, why are you ordering from the apple website? Unless you're getting a discount only apple can offer you like educational, etc.

I mean, ordering from any third party like macmall, macconnection, clubmac, etc. will usually double or triple your ram, give you free software and usually a printer or something for free too. They don't charge sales tax either which here is an instant 7% off.
Click to expand...

Two reasons: Edu discount and two Apple Store only "coupons."

Total savings: Almost $500 dollars.
 
I have a 15" tibook 550 from 2 years ago that has the same white spots on the monitor. The biggest spot is about a 1/2 an inch tall by 3 inches wide about a third of the way up in the center of the screen. It doesn't seem to correspond with certain keys, dents in the lid, or where i regularly pick it up.

I've used and abused my laptop quite a bit and just attributed the marks or blemishes on the screen to the harsh usage.

I'm suprised this wasn't reported earlier.
 
Re: Not just a 15" problem...

Originally posted by zync
I think on the 15" it's caused by the way you pick up your powerbook (my spots are where my fingers are when I pick it up) or by, as some have already noted, spacers between the LCD and the back of the lid.
Click to expand...
I think you may be onto something there. When you pick up your PowerBook, do you carry it by holding it around the hinge area, or around the clasp area?

I ask this question because I have a 15" AlBook as well and although it doesn't have this problem (yet), I'd like to avoid having to return it if possible.

I try to carry mine by the area around the hinge, rather than the clasp area, simply because the way the clasp on this thing is loose and has so much space it doesn't seem safe to carry it that way.
 
Ok I have a buddy @ Apple in Apple repair and he said that the spots r due to to much preasure being put on the back of the display from the lid (I think) and with a simple reenforcement it could be fixed, as of now apple is looking at other displays by a different manufactture which can bear a heavyer weight load until they can update the case to easy the stress on the LCD, but it should all be worked out for the next batch due in (more stock not updates).
 
Originally posted by Liquidity X
but it should all be worked out for the next batch due in (more stock not updates).
Click to expand...
Dude, I hope so. I have a 15" 1.25 PB on order for a week due to ship on or before 11/18, so I sure hope this is fixed in my book.
 
Re: Spots AND darkened area

Originally posted by dezeinstein
I've got the spots on my 15", but my display is also darker on the right side than the left - almost like a gradient change from left to right. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

I've noticed this problem when I turn down the contrast for a substantial period of time, and turn it back up again. Like you, the lower right hand corner always seems to be darker. Before I noticed the white spots on my screen, I called AppleCare with this "dark screen" problem. They said that it was still within spec, just that this part of the screen wasn't warming up fast enough.

Now, I've started to develop the same white spot problems as everyone else is reporting (It may have been there before, I may just have tried to ignore it) It's not as bad as the poster of the picture above, but it's annoying nevertheless. It cuts across straight through the middle of the screen, almost all the way across. I'm debating whether to send it back right now because:
1. There doesn't seem to be a sure fix for it, even people who've had their LCDs replaced still report the same problem,
2. The turnaround time most people report seem to be around 2-3 weeks, and I can't afford to go without it for that long. Is there any other way to get this problem taken care of without waiting so long?

This is the first Mac I've purchased, and to see it develop problems so soon doesn't bode well for the company. Is this the kind of quality control I should expect from Apple?
 
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