So i'm on my 4th macbook pro, and still have the same video tearing problem, heres the e-mail i've sent to apple, as apple care and the retail store i purchased the machine from seem pretty useless.
"First of all, I'm writing this after being advised to do so by an apple store employee.
Ok, so its June the 17th (exactly one week before the purchase of my iphone 4, which I love by the way) and I've finally saved the cash for a brand new macbook pro 15 inch, and believe me, as a part time waiter, that wasn't an easy feat.
Naturally, as a graphic design student, I chose the top spec i7, with the higher resolution screen. Purchase went through fine, and the apple employee's were very helpful.
After setting things up at home, and using for only a couple of days I started noticing problems, the mac wouldn't wake up from sleep, and I was getting terrible screen tearing and scroll distorting(text and image) issues. Apple care advised me that it was a hardware issue, and I could send it for repair or replace it in store, I can't be without a computer for the 10 days that it may or may not have taken, so I opted for the replacement in store.
The second macbook pro, I didn't have time to check if the system had the same issues as what I noticed on the first, as, as soon as I was home and booted the system up, I noticed multiple dead pixels. Great. Another drive to the store.
Third time around I was informed that this would be my last in store replacement, as one customer can only exchange an item 3 times. 3rd time lucky I hear you say? Nope, not at all, I demanded that I see the system opened and turned on in store before I take it home, this was of course agreed on, but upon pressing the 'on' button, nothing happened, the apple would appear, but the machine wouldn't boot.
Baffled by the problem, apple assistants offered me another replacement or a complete refund, I dubiously took the replacement, the manager came down to the store, shook my hand and apologised.
I took the 4th machine home and started using it immediately, though to my dismay, it has the same video issues as the first machine! (even when typing this e-mail I'm noticing a distorting horizontal wave in the middle of the screen whilst scrolling)
Apple care seem pretty ineffective in solving the problem(they seem to have tried everything), as do the apple store employees, who just hand me a new laptop and hope that that one works.
Now after £100 in traveling fee's to and back from the store, and spending almost £2000 on a laptop, I really do expect it to be perfect. With the traveling fee's I've spent, I probably could have justified going for the 17" model.
What can I do in this situation? as I really do not believe that another exchange (5th!!) will fix my issue, if needed I can explain the problem more thoroughly, and I even have videos taken on my iphone to prove its occurrence.
Since moving to mac 3 years ago, I've always been a die hard fan of apple products, but this incident has ultimately put me off paying the premium for the (as it appears) below premium quality, I just want to settle down with my new macbook pro and be happy in the fact I know I will be able to use it without having to hand it back a couple of days down the line.
I really hope you spend the time to read through this.
Thanks, from a concerned customer,
James Pears
(purchased from the high cross in Leicester http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/highcross/)"
here are a couple of links of the video tearing that i've posted on my blog, hope this helps in showing my problem, and any solutions would be welcome, as replacing the machine in store seems to be useless.
http://jamespears.co.uk/post/823960118/one-more-with-scroll-distortion
http://jamespears.co.uk/post/821334191/my-macbook-pros-display-video-tearing-taken-on
if these links aren't working, the issue tears videos, and makes them look as if parts of the video arent refreshing properly, giving 'jagged' instead of smooth playback (kind of like when you're sky/freeview/cable tv screws up)
it also creates scrolling distortion, as if theres a wave or ripple in the middle of my screen, and when scrolling, this wave is stationary, but the text behind it looks distorted, and somewhat zoomed in.
a reboot does solve the problem, but after some use, or after sleep, the problem persists.
thanks for any solutions,
Jimmy
"First of all, I'm writing this after being advised to do so by an apple store employee.
Ok, so its June the 17th (exactly one week before the purchase of my iphone 4, which I love by the way) and I've finally saved the cash for a brand new macbook pro 15 inch, and believe me, as a part time waiter, that wasn't an easy feat.
Naturally, as a graphic design student, I chose the top spec i7, with the higher resolution screen. Purchase went through fine, and the apple employee's were very helpful.
After setting things up at home, and using for only a couple of days I started noticing problems, the mac wouldn't wake up from sleep, and I was getting terrible screen tearing and scroll distorting(text and image) issues. Apple care advised me that it was a hardware issue, and I could send it for repair or replace it in store, I can't be without a computer for the 10 days that it may or may not have taken, so I opted for the replacement in store.
The second macbook pro, I didn't have time to check if the system had the same issues as what I noticed on the first, as, as soon as I was home and booted the system up, I noticed multiple dead pixels. Great. Another drive to the store.
Third time around I was informed that this would be my last in store replacement, as one customer can only exchange an item 3 times. 3rd time lucky I hear you say? Nope, not at all, I demanded that I see the system opened and turned on in store before I take it home, this was of course agreed on, but upon pressing the 'on' button, nothing happened, the apple would appear, but the machine wouldn't boot.
Baffled by the problem, apple assistants offered me another replacement or a complete refund, I dubiously took the replacement, the manager came down to the store, shook my hand and apologised.
I took the 4th machine home and started using it immediately, though to my dismay, it has the same video issues as the first machine! (even when typing this e-mail I'm noticing a distorting horizontal wave in the middle of the screen whilst scrolling)
Apple care seem pretty ineffective in solving the problem(they seem to have tried everything), as do the apple store employees, who just hand me a new laptop and hope that that one works.
Now after £100 in traveling fee's to and back from the store, and spending almost £2000 on a laptop, I really do expect it to be perfect. With the traveling fee's I've spent, I probably could have justified going for the 17" model.
What can I do in this situation? as I really do not believe that another exchange (5th!!) will fix my issue, if needed I can explain the problem more thoroughly, and I even have videos taken on my iphone to prove its occurrence.
Since moving to mac 3 years ago, I've always been a die hard fan of apple products, but this incident has ultimately put me off paying the premium for the (as it appears) below premium quality, I just want to settle down with my new macbook pro and be happy in the fact I know I will be able to use it without having to hand it back a couple of days down the line.
I really hope you spend the time to read through this.
Thanks, from a concerned customer,
James Pears
(purchased from the high cross in Leicester http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/highcross/)"
here are a couple of links of the video tearing that i've posted on my blog, hope this helps in showing my problem, and any solutions would be welcome, as replacing the machine in store seems to be useless.
http://jamespears.co.uk/post/823960118/one-more-with-scroll-distortion
http://jamespears.co.uk/post/821334191/my-macbook-pros-display-video-tearing-taken-on
if these links aren't working, the issue tears videos, and makes them look as if parts of the video arent refreshing properly, giving 'jagged' instead of smooth playback (kind of like when you're sky/freeview/cable tv screws up)
it also creates scrolling distortion, as if theres a wave or ripple in the middle of my screen, and when scrolling, this wave is stationary, but the text behind it looks distorted, and somewhat zoomed in.
a reboot does solve the problem, but after some use, or after sleep, the problem persists.
thanks for any solutions,
Jimmy
