Attention new MBP owners: Please perform this Yellow tint test

[mcbeej]

My Penryn 2.4GHz stock MBP has serial that begins with W8809..., and I have a samsung display (glossy) of the type 9C83..

Thanks for all the reports so far guys. Of course, we don't know how they are manufactured, but I'd suggest they probably have batches of displays they work through - so with your W8809, it might be the end of a batch of Samsung dsplays, before they moved into a batch of ChiMei displays...

They might just pick random displays from a big pile and so the serial numbers might show no display trends at all, but it's useful to compile this kind of user data to see if any trends emerge - so keep the reports coming in if you guys can, it would be interesting to try to build up a picture of display usage.

So, one W8813 serial number with an AUO display - at this stage, I'm just trying to avoid getting another ChiMei, so that's a positive sign so far..

 

[winty03]

Is there anything we can do if we end up with a yellow screen? I just sent my MBP back for exchanged because it was scratched on arrival. I did do a test on that MBP and seemed to not have the issue. Are we able to get it exchanged at the Apple store? Or is it something that don't warranty? Also is there a certain model that has it bad and or does not have it? I have been reading through the posts and it seems to vary and hit all over? what’s your thoughts?

 

[super98111]

Ok update, i just got my MBP back from having the screen replaced and the new screen is virtually perfect. Its a 9C83 and you have to imagine a difference between the top an the bottom. Its virtually unoticeable even when you looking for it so i am very happy. The display seems to be overall better than my previous 9c81's. Im now very happy .

My Samsung panel is also good. The yellow is very minimum. The off angle is viewing angle issue.

 

[PDE]

I don't quite understand when people say that the yellowing is minimum, or you can only see it sometimes and so forth. I mean, is that the new standard??? What's the next step? Maybe "It only shuts down for a few hours at a time, but I can always go to the movies then or meet some friends." I thought each generation of LCDs was supposed to get better, not worse and yet the other day I compared a friend's powerbook G4 with my MBP LEd and I liked his much better (better viewing angles and much whiter whites), even though of course it wasn't as bright as mine.


Any amount of yellow tint in one part of the display is a defect. If you're fine living with that that's your choice but Apple really should be held to a greater standard, don't you think?

 

[trcwest]

fine

2.5 mbp great

 

[brandon.vong]

That's really awful! Maybe see it as a sign that it's not the right time, but I'm afraid this is the new Apple and that it won't matter if you try again in the future. It's the luck of the draw.

Apple has been having widespread display issues ever since the last generation of powerbooks and through to this generation of MBP. That's several years so I doubt they're really trying to fix the problems, especially given that people continue to buy them even with the bad displays. Why would they bother?? If everybody returned their laptops for displays issues, Apple would be forced to do something, but I think most people just don't care or don't see the issues. Obviously yours is very visible though!

My recommendation: try one more replacement and then, if that one isn't good, just hold off for a while. Alternatively, try to find a used one that you can inspect before buying.

UPDATE: 2 hours later, I just got back from the Apple Store and have to ship it (ONCE AGAIN) to Apple for another one. This makes it machine number 5. This BETTER be the last time... though I explained to them the HUGE INCONVENIENCE and ridiculousness of this situation on a college student that I freakin' got a $100 refund back towards my card. At least I got something out of it right? You would think after so many iterations of the PB/MBP aluminum inclosure that they could for once get it right. Sighs... all I have to say is that I am quite weary of Apple laptops now. VERY...

 

[bcaslis]

I don't quite understand when people say that the yellowing is minimum, or you can only see it sometimes and so forth. I mean, is that the new standard??? What's the next step? Maybe "It only shuts down for a few hours at a time, but I can always go to the movies then or meet some friends." I thought each generation of LCDs was supposed to get better, not worse and yet the other day I compared a friend's powerbook G4 with my MBP LEd and I liked his much better (better viewing angles and much whiter whites), even though of course it wasn't as bright as mine.


Any amount of yellow tint in one part of the display is a defect. If you're fine living with that that's your choice but Apple really should be held to a greater standard, don't you think?

I have to agree with this. I find the yellowing very annoying. I got a new 17" hires and it's display is much better than the 15". Brighter, truer to a real white, and greatly reduced color shift off angle. If the 15" was like the 17" just smaller, I would have no issue. The 15" I have now is as good as I've personally seen the 15" in three different units (there may be better samples but I haven't seen them yet) but I can't really call it a good display. The color shifting is really bad and I can see subtle color variations between the top, middle, and bottom.

 

[brandon.vong]

I don't quite understand when people say that the yellowing is minimum, or you can only see it sometimes and so forth. I mean, is that the new standard??? What's the next step? Maybe "It only shuts down for a few hours at a time, but I can always go to the movies then or meet some friends." I thought each generation of LCDs was supposed to get better, not worse and yet the other day I compared a friend's powerbook G4 with my MBP LEd and I liked his much better (better viewing angles and much whiter whites), even though of course it wasn't as bright as mine.


Any amount of yellow tint in one part of the display is a defect. If you're fine living with that that's your choice but Apple really should be held to a greater standard, don't you think?

I agree wholeheartedly!

 

[mox123]

Thanks for all the reports so far guys. Of course, we don't know how they are manufactured, but I'd suggest they probably have batches of displays they work through - so with your W8809, it might be the end of a batch of Samsung dsplays, before they moved into a batch of ChiMei displays...

They might just pick random displays from a big pile and so the serial numbers might show no display trends at all, but it's useful to compile this kind of user data to see if any trends emerge - so keep the reports coming in if you guys can, it would be interesting to try to build up a picture of display usage.

So, one W8813 serial number with an AUO display - at this stage, I'm just trying to avoid getting another ChiMei, so that's a positive sign so far..

actually i just picked up mine last Friday 3/29/07 from an apple store...so maybe they've worked through the chimei batch and now using the samsung batch?

It is sometimes hard to see the new "white-yellow" in the penryns on photos because sometimes it is very slight. The yellowing problem is when you look straight on at it and it seems as if it has a yellow tint. The LCD to have a yellow tint when looking at an angle that is normal, thats just how the displays are. To check if yours has the yellow bottom problem DL the test at the beginning of this thread then put your screen perfectly upright as in directly perpendicular with the keyboard, and then just lif the screen up to your eyese. Look at the top of the screen with the top level with your eyes then lift your computer higher where the bottom of the screen is level with your eyes, if you notice a slight "white-yellow" tint then your screen has the problem. 2/3 of my MBP's had this problem althought it wasnt very noticeable but you could still see it, and im just getting my MBP back today after sending it in to have the LCD replaced, ill update about my new screen.

ahhh...i think mine looks fine....not sure if i want to do the test to look for imperfections that i can't see now and really don't want to know if it hasn't bothered me....would these yellowing issues show up over time? like i should check it now before the 14-day return policy runs out?

otherwise, i'm quite happy to be in state of ignorance-is-bliss

 

[dallas112678]

ahhh...i think mine looks fine....not sure if i want to do the test to look for imperfections that i can't see now and really don't want to know if it hasn't bothered me....would these yellowing issues show up over time? like i should check it now before the 14-day return policy runs out?

otherwise, i'm quite happy to be in state of ignorance-is-bliss

I dont think theyll just "show" up, if its there then its there, you may notice it later on for w/e reason but its up to you. If you cant see it in normal use then dont worry about it, the test image will drive you crazy.

 

[mcbeej]

actually i just picked up mine last Friday 3/29/07 from an apple store...so maybe they've worked through the chimei batch and now using the samsung batch?

Dunno, but if your Apple Store is in Chicago and mine is in London, I'm willing to bet the chances of each machine coming from the same batch aren't *that* high...


(...but not impossible...)

And when you say "last Friday" - do you mean "a year ago last Friday"..? (check your dates )

 

[mox123]

Dunno, but if your Apple Store is in Chicago and mine is in London, I'm willing to bet the chances of each machine coming from the same batch aren't *that* high...


(...but not impossible...)

And when you say "last Friday" - do you mean "a year ago last Friday"..? (check your dates )

LOL....ooops! i meant last friday last friday (3/29/08)

 

[stiphone]

My MBP looks good...didn't notice the yellow tint..

 

[Digital Skunk]

We can officially close this thread now, just about everyone that has done this test with the new MBPs have NO issues with their screens. Including myself.

I think this topic will go on forever with the same results.

 

[PDE]

We can officially close this thread now, just about everyone that has done this test with the new MBPs have NO issues with their screens. Including myself.

I think this topic will go on forever with the same results.

And how do you deduce that? There are a lot of people with issues so either you haven't read the thread, or you're ignoring reality....

 

[bcaslis]

We can officially close this thread now, just about everyone that has done this test with the new MBPs have NO issues with their screens. Including myself.

I think this topic will go on forever with the same results.

I disagree that there are no problems. I had one with severe yellow and one with minor yellow. I wouldn't call this no issue at all.

Whether you close the thread is a different matter.

 

[RSC10]

New MBP 17" 2.6 w/hi res LED display. No yellow or backlighting issues

 

[mcbeej]

We can officially close this thread now, just about everyone that has done this test with the new MBPs have NO issues with their screens. Including myself.

You obviously missed the part where I've been trying to buy a MBP over the past two weeks, and am now waiting for the shipment of MBP #5 in the hope to get a decent screen without the yellowing and uneveness.

Or the plenty of other people *still* playing the MBP lottery...

 

[DJJONES]

my screen has a bit of yellowing at the bottom and the bottom doesnt look as crisp as the top does. what to do?

 

[bcaslis]

New MBP 17" 2.6 w/hi res LED display. No yellow or backlighting issues

I would agree the new 17" is much better than the current 15". The yellowing problem is an issue primarily on the 15" it seems.

 

[Digital Skunk]

And how do you deduce that? There are a lot of people with issues so either you haven't read the thread, or you're ignoring reality....

I disagree that there are no problems. I had one with severe yellow and one with minor yellow. I wouldn't call this no issue at all.

Whether you close the thread is a different matter.

You obviously missed the part where I've been trying to buy a MBP over the past two weeks, and am now waiting for the shipment of MBP #5 in the hope to get a decent screen without the yellowing and uneveness.

Or the plenty of other people *still* playing the MBP lottery...

I have been reading the thread, since page one, and there are more posts from the same people talking about the yellowing, but there are more people putting in one liners that merely say they have no problem.

Maybe the machines you are receiving are just that small percentage like the SR book fiasco before. I would hate to have a serious yellowing issue on my screen, but I don't have one, and my fiancees, 24" iMac didn't have a yellowing issue or gradient issue either. And neither did a lot of the color fanboys/girls that I work with.

We go through a lot of Macs, and we recently upgraded all of our portables from 1.0 GHz Powerbooks to SR MBPs, not one of them had a yellowing issue.

NOT disagreeing with you though, so I will recant my first statement.

 

[MacPluto]

I got a Penryn based MBP 2.4, 15" screen (matte) with a 9c81 display (assumingly a LG screen) two weeks ago in Germany. The last years I worked on an IBM Thinkpad with an amazing screen based on FlexView technology, so I'm probably spoiled.

I ran the "yellow tint test". Yes, there definitely is a color difference between the upper part and the lower part when having the test picture in full screen mode. Assumingly this is the yellowing. However, when just having a white background the yellowing is almost invisible (maybe there's a bit on the lower left part).

Well, I don’t really know what to think about this. If I hadn't read about this "problem" and downloaded the test pictures, I probably wouldn't have recognized it at all. I suppose that the test pictures just emphasize the "problem" and bring the screen to its limits. (By the way, I now also found some discoloring/ yellowing on my 22” display which I hadn’t seen before. )

Moreover, I checked several Apple places in Munich and ran the test there. The outcome: I did not find a single screen on the available 15" MBPs which was "perfect" (they had the 9c81 = LG, and 9c83 = Samsung screens).

I probably leave everything as is (the chances are high that sending the notebook back to Apple makes things worse - scratches, pixel failures, etc.) and accept that the screen may not be absolutely perfect (it remains a TN panel). In my view the MBP, including its LED screen, is nonetheless far superior compared to many other notebooks (which, of course, can be expected given the price).

 

[PDE]

I got a Penryn based MBP 2.4, 15" screen (matte) with a 9c81 display (assumingly a LG screen) two weeks ago in Germany. The last years I worked on an IBM Thinkpad with an amazing screen based on FlexView technology, so I'm probably spoiled.

I ran the "yellow tint test". Yes, there definitely is a color difference between the upper part and the lower part when having the test picture in full screen mode. Assumingly this is the yellowing. However, when just having a white background the yellowing is almost invisible (maybe there's a bit on the lower left part).

Well, I don’t really know what to think about this. If I hadn't read about this "problem" and downloaded the test pictures, I probably wouldn't have recognized it at all. I suppose that the test pictures just emphasize the "problem" and bring the screen to its limits. (By the way, I now also found some discoloring/ yellowing on my 22” display which I hadn’t seen before. )

Moreover, I checked several Apple places in Munich and ran the test there. The outcome: I did not find a single screen on the available 15" MBPs which was "perfect" (they had the 9c81 = LG, and 9c83 = Samsung screens).

I probably leave everything as is (the chances are high that sending the notebook back to Apple makes things worse - scratches, pixel failures, etc.) and accept that the screen may not be absolutely perfect (it remains a TN panel). In my view the MBP, including its LED screen, is nonetheless far superior compared to many other notebooks (which, of course, can be expected given the price).

I think accepting it sends the wrong signal to Apple and allows them to continue to compromise on quality in order to maximize their profite margins. If we continue to complain and return multiple displays, Apple may eventually listen and do soemthing about their lacklustre quality control.

I think the reason people don't see the yellowing is that they're using the default colorlcd profiles which is yellowish throughout and therefore masks the lower yellow tint. If people would calibrate for neutral whites (6500k), I suspect a lot more people would discover that their LCD have the infamous lower yellowing syndrome.

It is what it is and I suspect that you're right about that returning it for a replacement will most likely not fix the problem.

 

[dallas112678]

I think accepting it sends the wrong signal to Apple and allows them to continue to compromise on quality in order to maximize their profite margins. If we continue to complain and return multiple displays, Apple may eventually listen and do soemthing about their lacklustre quality control.

I think the reason people don't see the yellowing is that they're using the default colorlcd profiles which is yellowish throughout and therefore masks the lower yellow tint. If people would calibrate for neutral whites (6500k), I suspect a lot more people would discover that their LCD have the infamous lower yellowing syndrome.

It is what it is and I suspect that you're right about that returning it for a replacement will most likely not fix the problem.

Sure it sends the wrong message but some people like me have gone through 4 screens in total and are tired of waiting to use their computer, just saying that maybe he needs it for something like his job or school.

 

[PDE]

Of course I understand that. I wish I could switch to another manufacturer because I've wasted so much time over the past few years trying to get a satisfactory computer from Apple. Unfortunately, I realize that at this stage it is probably impossible to get one with a first rate display. I know people will claim that theirs is perfect, but I don't believe it. I have yet to see one that doesn't have an issue once you look at it and work with it. And I've looked at many at the Apple Stores here in NYC too.

So, I agree, who has the time to keep replacing when the outcome is really uncertain? I've become obsessed with it all after I went through a series of replacements and problems (ten or more!) when they first came out. Now it's hard for me to accept any screen. It seems Apple is no longer committed to using good quality displays in their pro laptops. Before the LED LCD introduction, everybody was assuming that the LEDs would solve the huge problems with the old technology - the grain, the terribly uneven backlighting, but it just introduced more problems and barely solved the uneven illumination problem at all. Oh well....