Sarcasm? Or maybe attempt to insult? I just wrote my personal experience with two pieces, nothing more... Maybe some apple zealots cant stand fact that there are SOME pieces that are faulty, but that is something I cant help you... To make it clear for you - i had two rMBPs, both with IR, so I have both returned them and bought Air instead, dont have time to play Apples hit or miss game.. (Especially when there is no apple store here so every piece has to be ordered from online store - assembled in china and then send to me and when returning similar time consuming procedure is needed) Whoever have time/luck to get IR free rMBP, if there is any, good for him and enjoy...
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2013 Macbook Pro 13" Retina Display Models A018 vs A020 Which do you Have?
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Sarcasm? Or maybe attempt to insult? I just wrote my personal experience with two pieces, nothing more... Maybe some apple zealots cant stand fact that there are SOME pieces that are faulty, but that is something I cant help you... To make it clear for you - i had two rMBPs, both with IR, so I have both returned them and bought Air instead, dont have time to play Apples hit or miss game.. (Especially when there is no apple store here so every piece has to be ordered from online store - assembled in china and then send to me and when returning similar time consuming procedure is needed) Whoever have time/luck to get IR free rMBP, if there is any, good for him and enjoy...
C'mon, let's be reasonable here.
Some of us have issues with IR with single or multiple retina Macbooks. I consider that a fact because I have no reason to doubt people who are saying that. It's highly improbable they just complain for fun.
Some of us don't have IR on their Macbook, at least not yet, not now. Let's also consider that a fact, since it is highly improbable that all of those people are blind and there are definitely some people here who know where to look for.
Where the problems start is when opinions are presented as facts and other's experiences are simply denied.
You can hardly blame Jeanloup for his negative bias because of his experiences with his Macbooks, but when he presents them as facts things get heated up because other people tend to disagree since they obviously have a different opinion / experience.
First point, when people ask Jeanloop to support his facts with some proof we don't get much feedback at all. At least I did not even get an answer while I wrote down my questions explicitly and quite politely asked for it.
Second point, if you have a look at Jeanloops post history you will see that they are not all consistent with the things he presents as facts now.
Third point, Jeanloop's stubbornness can also be witnessed in the same post history: someone took the trouble to take microscope photo's of the subpixel structure of a 3016 A018 screen (which I have and he also had). The photo's showed that the panel pixels had the exact same structure as that of another SAMSUNG display in a Macbook review. As we probably all know, (sub)pixel structures are highly specific to manufacturers.
Jeanloops reaction? "This is not proof of anything?" and "no one ever reported IR on a Samsung display or someone did reported getting IR with that 13" model so ... I would put it in the LG basket and tend to beleive my uneducated guess better."
See here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18292198#post18292198
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18273789/
So in all honesty I have a hard time accepting something presented as a fact by someone who refuses to backup his statements with some proof while at te same time het simply denies a pretty well exercised research about the panel source as it is presented to him.
Sure there is a thread with problems about IR, and sure there is a problem with that, but I keep asking myself how this proofs all retina Macbooks have IR? If the thread is 500 pages it obviously means that there are more people with this problem through the years, but let's be realistic: if everyone would have this problem the thread could easily be 5000 pages long, or even 50000 pages. By the way if I am not mistaken this thread is largely about 15 inch Macbooks.
Some of us have issues with IR with single or multiple retina Macbooks. I consider that a fact because I have no reason to doubt people who are saying that. It's highly improbable they just complain for fun.
Some of us don't have IR on their Macbook, at least not yet, not now. Let's also consider that a fact, since it is highly improbable that all of those people are blind and there are definitely some people here who know where to look for.
Where the problems start is when opinions are presented as facts and other's experiences are simply denied.
You can hardly blame Jeanloup for his negative bias because of his experiences with his Macbooks, but when he presents them as facts things get heated up because other people tend to disagree since they obviously have a different opinion / experience.
First point, when people ask Jeanloop to support his facts with some proof we don't get much feedback at all. At least I did not even get an answer while I wrote down my questions explicitly and quite politely asked for it.
Second point, if you have a look at Jeanloops post history you will see that they are not all consistent with the things he presents as facts now.
Third point, Jeanloop's stubbornness can also be witnessed in the same post history: someone took the trouble to take microscope photo's of the subpixel structure of a 3016 A018 screen (which I have and he also had). The photo's showed that the panel pixels had the exact same structure as that of another SAMSUNG display in a Macbook review. As we probably all know, (sub)pixel structures are highly specific to manufacturers.
Jeanloops reaction? "This is not proof of anything?" and "no one ever reported IR on a Samsung display or someone did reported getting IR with that 13" model so ... I would put it in the LG basket and tend to beleive my uneducated guess better."
See here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18292198#post18292198
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18273789/
So in all honesty I have a hard time accepting something presented as a fact by someone who refuses to backup his statements with some proof while at te same time het simply denies a pretty well exercised research about the panel source as it is presented to him.
Sure there is a thread with problems about IR, and sure there is a problem with that, but I keep asking myself how this proofs all retina Macbooks have IR? If the thread is 500 pages it obviously means that there are more people with this problem through the years, but let's be realistic: if everyone would have this problem the thread could easily be 5000 pages long, or even 50000 pages. By the way if I am not mistaken this thread is largely about 15 inch Macbooks.
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I would love to see IFix It to do a teardown of A18 and A20 13" rMBP's screen assemblies to finally confirm whether they are LG or Samsung branded, just as they did last year on a 15" rMBP screen (was an LG) 
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Im awaiting my 3rd 13" rMBP. First unit had a A020 week 48 2012 screen with bad IR (2 minutes chessboard test was enough to show severe IR). Second one also has A020 screen, this one is from week 4 2013. No IR at all but unfortunately the lower half of the screen shows much more yellow then the upper half. Wil try 1 more and really hope it wil have a good screen, love this MBP but if next screen is not ok it wil be a MBA for me this round.
A018.
Replaced an A020 within the two week grace period, and the different panel was a noticeable difference. Whiter and sharper.
I replaced the first one for lag, and disappointment with the retina display. Both issues were rectified by the replacement.
13" Pro 2.6GHZ 8gb 512mb
Replaced an A020 within the two week grace period, and the different panel was a noticeable difference. Whiter and sharper.
I replaced the first one for lag, and disappointment with the retina display. Both issues were rectified by the replacement.
13" Pro 2.6GHZ 8gb 512mb
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Did the test another time today. This time 50+ minutes, fullscreen black & white checkerboard pattern, max brightness, caffeïne on to prevent the macbook from sleeping. Checkerboard hurting my eyes, so bright, so I turned the macbook facing the wall. After 52 minutes I switched to full grey and tried very hard to spot anything. But there was nothing there, really nothing at all. Full white screen, same story. No IR. A018.
I'm on my fourth A018. It's ridiculous the differences between the screens. The last one had a part of the screen that was more dim than the others. Also, the colors on this screen are so much more vibrant. Also, the keys are so much more solid on this laptop. I dont get how the same manufacturer can make the same laptop but have them vary so much. The other laptop felt like crap. All 4 had IR just FYI. I dont believe you can do the checkboard on the 13 inch for 10 minutes and not have even faint IR.
Well you'd better believe it, since I'm having it. I had another Haswell MBPr (base model) before this one that had some (very) light IR after 10-20 mins. This one just does not seem to want to show any, even after 50+ minutes. Yet.
They do vary, true. Keyboards on both where fine, pretty sturdy, no problems there. However I have to click the trackpad noticeably harder on this one compared to the previous one. The click is also sounds a bit louder. It's not a real issue since the click is smooth and everything feels very sturdy, but I preferred the one of my previous MBPr.
Also the hinge on this one is a bit tighter than the previous one, which is even less important but still a slight difference.
By the way: why don't we compare? Is it possible to get your IR on camera? Let's do the test for 20 or more minutes at max brightness and then make a picture of the grey screen immediately after? Preferably using an iPhone 5s using AE/AF-lock, then we use the same cam too.
For best comparable results, do you know a good automated test that allows for more than 10 minutes of testing? http://www.mitchmalone.name/retina-test/#goSettings and http://www.marco.org/rmbp-irtest.html seem to be limited to 10 minutes, so I did my 20+ and 50+ minutes tests using fullscreen slides and switching manually.
They do vary, true. Keyboards on both where fine, pretty sturdy, no problems there. However I have to click the trackpad noticeably harder on this one compared to the previous one. The click is also sounds a bit louder. It's not a real issue since the click is smooth and everything feels very sturdy, but I preferred the one of my previous MBPr.
Also the hinge on this one is a bit tighter than the previous one, which is even less important but still a slight difference.
By the way: why don't we compare? Is it possible to get your IR on camera? Let's do the test for 20 or more minutes at max brightness and then make a picture of the grey screen immediately after? Preferably using an iPhone 5s using AE/AF-lock, then we use the same cam too.
For best comparable results, do you know a good automated test that allows for more than 10 minutes of testing? http://www.mitchmalone.name/retina-test/#goSettings and http://www.marco.org/rmbp-irtest.html seem to be limited to 10 minutes, so I did my 20+ and 50+ minutes tests using fullscreen slides and switching manually.
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I would love to see IFix It to do a teardown of A18 and A20 13" rMBP's screen assemblies to finally confirm whether they are LG or Samsung branded, just as they did last year on a 15" rMBP screen (was an LG)
The displays are both 99% LG. Both are designated manufacturer "610". Macbook Airs with LG screens also have manufacturer designated as "610". Logically 610 would be the code for LG. Question is why is LG supplying two different display models for the same spec product, and which display is better - if at all. A018 is seemingly the most common display, but "most common" usually means "least expensive" and therefore "inferior". Review places like anandtech have received A020 models. Maybe Apple reserves the best displays for the press.
All speculation of course. I have never seen an A020 display, hence the request for pictures from members who have them. I'm reasonably satisfied with my A018 panel such that I've decided not to swap it out. Who knows how many times I would have to play the display lottery. I had a poor display on my 2006 MBP from the start (the widespread "grainy", backlight bleed, and dimming on one side problems), watched early adopters of the first LED Santa Rosa MBPs complain about yellow tint, and now see complaints about yellow tint and IR on the latest MBPs many years later. Conclusion is Apple doesn't use the best displays for these products.
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Just to add info for my rMBP with A018 (3016).
It survives 10 min checkboard test without IR. But for 20/30 min test, it fails. I could even see the dock (using full screen terminal with dark gray background)
For ipad applications I think it is fine. But it is not fine for doing normal "pc" stuff. Many times some parts of the screen would stay for extended time. Also gaming with fixed elements on the screen would be bad too.
If you going to buy it, you'd better consider this.
It survives 10 min checkboard test without IR. But for 20/30 min test, it fails. I could even see the dock (using full screen terminal with dark gray background)
For ipad applications I think it is fine. But it is not fine for doing normal "pc" stuff. Many times some parts of the screen would stay for extended time. Also gaming with fixed elements on the screen would be bad too.
If you going to buy it, you'd better consider this.
Chatran did the IR happen right from the beginning or did it start after using the macbook for a while? It seems a game of hit and miss with those screens. Whatever the brand is does not matter much to me, unless the brand name would really differentiate between a good and a bad screen, which it doesn't seem to do.
I only test with 10 mins one when I just received it (since the website http://www.marco.org/rmbp-irtest.html only has 10min version). I did the same test several times in a few days and it looked ok. So I thought it was ok.
Until I found this thread ( https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1422669/ ). I followed and set the background to the checkerboard in one desktop and a solid dark gray colour in another desktop. After 20/30 mins and IR appeared. (I also test with 10min one, still ok).
Actually I find that, there is no need to use checkerboard image at all (troublesome). Open terminal, set background to dark gray (1/4 from black) and maximize it. Then switch to another desktop with the bottom dock, and let it stay that way for 20 or 30 mins, Switch to terminal and I can see the faint dock.
Until I found this thread ( https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1422669/ ). I followed and set the background to the checkerboard in one desktop and a solid dark gray colour in another desktop. After 20/30 mins and IR appeared. (I also test with 10min one, still ok).
Actually I find that, there is no need to use checkerboard image at all (troublesome). Open terminal, set background to dark gray (1/4 from black) and maximize it. Then switch to another desktop with the bottom dock, and let it stay that way for 20 or 30 mins, Switch to terminal and I can see the faint dock.
Yes I also did the test on the website. Unfortunately it is only limited to 10 minutes. Since I was not able to notice IR yet I prefer a worst case scenario type of test, for which manually controlled full screen, full contrast black & white + grey patterns seems adequate. A 50% grey should do, but I bet a 25% grey like you use will be fine too.
I just use 2 jpg images full screen, they open by a click, so I am not sure what you mean by saying a checkerboard image is troublesome. It's just a good worst-case scenario. If think that if one doesn't notice IR using that one, he won't notice it with any other screen.
I can see your point in using the dock icons itself as a test if you want to continue using your computer during the test, although te dock itself obviously isn't as good a pattern as the full contrast checkerboard. The advantage of your method is that you can use your computer the whole day and then have a look. Unfortunately for me I hate the dock being in the way all the time (eating a considerable amount of my usable screen estate for writing, surfing, etc), so I always have the hidden dock option on.
Hey! I just realized my menu bar is always visible on top of the screen and is almost white with black text on top, but if I switch to a full screen 50% or 30% grey screen I am not able to see anything of it.
I just use 2 jpg images full screen, they open by a click, so I am not sure what you mean by saying a checkerboard image is troublesome. It's just a good worst-case scenario. If think that if one doesn't notice IR using that one, he won't notice it with any other screen.
I can see your point in using the dock icons itself as a test if you want to continue using your computer during the test, although te dock itself obviously isn't as good a pattern as the full contrast checkerboard. The advantage of your method is that you can use your computer the whole day and then have a look. Unfortunately for me I hate the dock being in the way all the time (eating a considerable amount of my usable screen estate for writing, surfing, etc), so I always have the hidden dock option on.
Hey! I just realized my menu bar is always visible on top of the screen and is almost white with black text on top, but if I switch to a full screen 50% or 30% grey screen I am not able to see anything of it.
Went to the Apple store today, they had a number of display models. Two of them side by side A020 and A018.
After examining both, my conclusion is that the A018 panel is slightly brighter, has slightly higher color saturation with the default color profile (the greens were a bit more green when viewing the Apple frog desktop background on the A018), and the black levels (how black a black wallpaper looks) looked ever slightly better on the A018. Both had equally even backlights (tested on solid white, gray, dark gray, blue, and black backgrounds)
At a glance however both panels looked exactly the same, you could not clearly tell which was the A018 and which was the A020 without looking at the specs.
After examining both, my conclusion is that the A018 panel is slightly brighter, has slightly higher color saturation with the default color profile (the greens were a bit more green when viewing the Apple frog desktop background on the A018), and the black levels (how black a black wallpaper looks) looked ever slightly better on the A018. Both had equally even backlights (tested on solid white, gray, dark gray, blue, and black backgrounds)
At a glance however both panels looked exactly the same, you could not clearly tell which was the A018 and which was the A020 without looking at the specs.
Good examination.
So it appears that the A018 - though you think that they are the "most common" ones compared to the A020's - might not be the "least expensive" and therefore "inferior" at all.
Ofcourse we'd all like to know if A018 vs A020 means different panel manufacturers, different panel models or different iterations of the same panel model.
So it seems. Though I don't think anyone with either panel is getting short changed vs. the other.
FWIW in the Apple store, there more A020s than A018s. I checked a few laptops to see what display they were rocking.
dont settle
Traded my 5th macbook in. All were A018. All had image retention, some A LOT worse than other. Tried my luck one last time and got an A020 yesterday. Colors are much better IMHO. NO IMAGE RETENTION. I am beyond happy. Im frustrated it took me so much time and effort but feel so happy to have a quality laptop. Dont settle.
Traded my 5th macbook in. All were A018. All had image retention, some A LOT worse than other. Tried my luck one last time and got an A020 yesterday. Colors are much better IMHO. NO IMAGE RETENTION. I am beyond happy. Im frustrated it took me so much time and effort but feel so happy to have a quality laptop. Dont settle.
They could very well be using different color profiles, even if both were default. Color profiles aren't universal.
Does anyone have a yellower lower half of the screen compared to the top part? It's very noticeable on mine especially with brightness set at around 50-60%. Could you check yours ? It's pretty much visible on whitish backgrounds, or just run this test (yellow screen test) on http://imac.squeaked.com and let me know Mine is an A020 by the way
Mine is an A020 by the way