2018 15" MBP - screen developed a narrow dark shadow

[patwithamac]

I've had a new 2018 15" MBP since late July 2018.
So far, it has been working perfectly.

However, about 4 months after picking it up, I started noticing a dark shadow developing in a long narrow region of the screen. The shadow didn't have well defined edges. It was about an inch or so high, about mid-way down from the top of the display, and about 6 inches or so wide on the left region (more left than right). I would characterize it as a dimming of the LED backlight.

Over the holidays, I took it into the local retail store. A genius ran a few diagnostics. They declared the screen had to be replaced. They were able to replace the screen within a day (under warranty).

I've been using it now for a few weeks, and the replacement screen has been perfect so far.

Hopefully, there's no further drama with this very expensive laptop.

 

[patwithamac]

I've had a new 2018 15" MBP since late July 2018.
So far, it has been working perfectly.

However, about 4 months after picking it up, I started noticing a dark shadow developing in a long narrow region of the screen. The shadow didn't have well defined edges. It was about an inch or so high, about mid-way down from the top of the display, and about 6 inches or so wide on the left region (more left than right). I would characterize it as a dimming of the LED backlight.

Over the holidays, I took it into the local retail store. A genius ran a few diagnostics. They declared the screen had to be replaced. They were able to replace the screen within a day (under warranty).

I've been using it now for a few weeks, and the replacement screen has been perfect so far.

Hopefully, there's no further drama with this very expensive laptop.

Well, the drama continues....
It's been a little over three months since my display was replaced. The same thing is starting to happen again. It's been gradually getting worse. The dark shadow is in roughly the same region of the display, but wider this time. Like almost spans the entire width left-to-right.

I made a genius bar reservation, took it in, and they confirmed it.
Of course, I got the usual - "This is the first time we've seen this" story.
There were no displays in stock, so they've ordered a new display, and will be replacing it at no cost [again] later this week.

There has got to be some sort of defect in the backlight design, or power delivery to the backlight. My MBP spends most it's life plugged in sitting on my sofa and/or ottoman, or sitting on the desk in my home-office. To have a backlight degrade like this over such a short period of time, and under very light use, is baffling.

Is there some sort of lemon-law for a situation like this? I'm getting tired of this. I'm ready to ask for a refund, and move on to another vendor. This is just nutty.... $5000 for a laptop and it's been in for service for the same issue twice within the first year of ownership.... geeeesh.

 

[harrypham]

Thankfully, I returned my 2018 15” Macbook Pro 512GB to B&H on Monday although it was $500 off.
I should wait for 2019 Macbook Pro

 

[vaugha]

Have you googled 'flexgate'? Is it what you're describing?

 

[patwithamac]

Have you googled 'flexgate'? Is it what you're describing?

I'm very familiar with flexgate. Certainly possible, But I do not believe this is that.

 

[patwithamac]

The Apple store called to let me know they had a replacement display in stock.
I took the machine back to the local Apple store.
They called me after one day to let me know they replaced the display, but now it was reporting some "undefined" error code during a diagnostic test. Hmmm, me thinks that's double-speak for - We broke something in the process of replacing the display.
So, they had to ship it to the service center in Houston for further analysis.

After a few days, I received a call that the machine is ready for pickup.
It turns out they had to replace the logic board, and the touch-id board, in addition to the display.

After restoring from backup, I'm back in business. Display looks perfect. And so far no other unwanted/unexpected behavior as a result of the logic board replacement. I'll be keeping a close eye out for Bridge OS kernel panics.