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

Apple Says MacBook Air With Retina Display Can Exhibit Anti-Reflective Coating Issues, Unclear if Eligible for Free Repairs [Updated]

DeepIn2U

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,826
6,880
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GalileoSeven said:
lol...........who didn't see this coming?? ?? Amazed at people still paying the Apple Tax for machines with these kind of QA/QC issues.
Click to expand...

we pay the 'Apple Tax' for ....
- QC as Apple listens to their customers for the most part and implements no cost for repairs such as this (a 2012 iMac had GPU issues which took forever for Apple to recognize, even their repair was an issue and implemented repairs in 2018 yet again).
- Ability to create an appointment in less than 3-5days and walk into Apple store to have anything from hardware to filesystem checked and repaired. the HP/Dell/Lenovo tax is You pay the shipping, wait 14 days quoted/usually 7 days, and likely end up paying for the repair cost before return. Very rarely consumer machines yet 3y/3y/3y warranty like corporations do.
- Resale value after years of use is still very high ... due to real QA/QC renowned for Mac's.

Should we both look at issues across the major pc manufacturers over 10yrs I'm sure Apple users would have less. I have no time to search for this yet I've seen many over 10yrs of PC support at various corporations. Take it how you will.
 
brdeveloper

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2010
2,629
313
Brasil
rofetov said:
This has happened on my early 2013 15" rMBP. Any idea if they would cover it?
Click to expand...
Bought my early-2013 15" rMBP on Christmas, 2013. Got Apple Care and the warranty extended until Christmas, 2016. Had the screen issue in 2018, along a faulty battery. They replaced both at no cost. Don't know if they'd do it in 2020, though.
 
bollman

bollman

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2001
678
1,449
Lund, Sweden
diego.caraballo said:
Hi!
Curious about what product did you use to remove the coating without scratching the display. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Well, the last time I used a very wet kitchen scrubber and some dishwashing liquid. Just keep it wet and it will be fine. The glass is actually pretty hard. Don't go medieval on it and it will be fine.
[automerge]1585247208[/automerge]
Seanm87 said:
As usual the macrumors hysteria machine is in full force.

Millions of people have their Macs and have no problems. There will also be a small number of defects when mass producing something.
Click to expand...
That is totally wrong. The coating gets damaged on around 90-100% of all macs that are actually used as laptops. When you carry you computer in a bag and some pressure is applied to the lid, the keyboard and area between keyboard and touchpad comes in contact with the screen. It seems the grease from fingerprints breaks down the coating. Also, right where you open the lid, it's inevitable that you touch the screen and you might scratch the coating with your nail. As soon as the coating gets scratched, it starts to break down and fall off.
The computers without any problems that you see are not carried around much, or even at all, or the users are extremely careful. Out of the perhaps 1-200 I've seen at work, almost all have had some damage to the coating.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Val-kyrie and diego.caraballo
F

fbr$

macrumors 6502a
Feb 6, 2020
547
1,124
Maybe waiting to close the MacBook's lid only after several seconds or even one minute, only when the temperature is low, could prevent this issue?
 
  • Like
Reactions: TTTedP
npmacuser5

npmacuser5

macrumors 68000
Apr 10, 2015
1,758
1,966
Glasses with anti reflective coating do the same thing. On glasses the coating can be removed for a no reflecting solution that offers clear vision. Not sure if that would be an option if Apple will not fix for a reasonable price.
 
llllllllll

llllllllll

macrumors member
Mar 18, 2020
95
55
npmacuser5 said:
Glasses with anti reflective coating do the same thing
Click to expand...

I was just talking to an optician the other day who explained to me how the coating is, in short, less "flexible" compared to the (plastic) lenses - thus it cracks.
Following this logic it's maybe not so much / not only the keys coming in contact with the screen but rather / also the "twisting" of the screen (like when you're pushing the lid open with one hand at left or right corner) that causes the coating to fail.
 
nylon

nylon

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2004
1,393
1,029
Had this issue on last gen MacBook Pro 15" like 5-6 years ago. Genius Bar replaced the screen no questions asked at the time.
 
E

Enerccio

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2020
80
47
why not keep that film that is there for shipping to force layer between display and keyboard?
 
T

the-msa

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2013
425
210
hey relax, apple is going to take care of the issue and offer repairs/replacement.... eventually. like, in 5 years when no one who has this issue has this model anymore ?
 
Iconoclysm

Iconoclysm

macrumors 68040
May 13, 2010
3,141
2,569
Washington, DC
GalileoSeven said:
lol...........who didn't see this coming?? ?? Amazed at people still paying the Apple Tax for machines with these kind of QA/QC issues.
Click to expand...

3% of ALL electronic devices have issues like these. You better just go back to using pen and paper.
[automerge]1585258666[/automerge]
macduke said:
It’s because Apple doesn’t really care about the Mac any more. But they will sell you one with a CPU with less than half the cores of a competing AMD PC for $50K.
Click to expand...
lol, the cores...
[automerge]1585258742[/automerge]
brdeveloper said:
Bought my early-2013 15" rMBP on Christmas, 2013. Got Apple Care and the warranty extended until Christmas, 2016. Had the screen issue in 2018, along a faulty battery. They replaced both at no cost. Don't know if they'd do it in 2020, though.
Click to expand...

They likely would. For all the whining you hear about this issue or that issue, the reason Apple has repeat customers is that they're better about this sort of thing than other companies. Not that there aren't some really messed up stories out there...but I probably have more of my own with other companies than I've heard anywhere about Apple.
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
My powerbook G3 display had marks from the keyboard, no coating on that one but you could see the slight damage done by the keyboard.
There's a reason why new MacBooks get shipped with a protection sheet in between, if you use that each and every time it won't be an issue.
 
Iconoclysm

Iconoclysm

macrumors 68040
May 13, 2010
3,141
2,569
Washington, DC
justperry said:
My powerbook G3 display had marks from the keyboard, no coating on that one but you could see the slight damage done by the keyboard.
There's a reason why new MacBooks get shipped with a protection sheet in between, if you use that each and every time it won't be an issue.
Click to expand...

I had this with a 15" MBP from 2012. They replaced the screen for me in 2015 at no cost. However, I don't recall ever seeing a protection sheet even on my latest macbooks.
 
N

nebsta

macrumors member
Jul 13, 2007
51
4
Australia
This is really frustrating.

I have the issue on my 2014 MBP - it started off fairly small in the centre of the screen and it had been damaged it but grew over time. I took it to the Apple store last year but they refused to fix as it was outside of their support program. The most annoying part is that Apple cover this issue up as much as possible so that customers do not know about it, and by the time they find out it’s too late to be covered. They should notify every customer who has registered an affected product of this manufacturing fault.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GalileoSeven and Expos of 1969
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