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So tell me, when I'm working on some graphic - do you think it is normal and acceptable to have to crouch down four inches to see the bottom as it should be?

Yes, unfortunately. I haven't seen any screens where this wasn't the case to some degree. Desktop LCDs seem much better in this regard (different technology again).
 
as i have mentioned in the other threads..
the MBPs and MBs at the local apple store are deceiving..
the lighting in the store for one..
i remember when the MB came with just 1GB of RAM, all the MB displays have 2 installed,
giving you the impression that they're really blazing fast..
so when you get the stock, you'll think you're MB is slow.

not all buyers know how to check system preference esp the new switchers.

now going back to the screen issue,
i think apple is doing this deliberately, to force us buy buy an ACD..:D
clearly, if you're going to do heavy graphics with color, doing it solely on a 15 inch MBP is not recommended
 
Ok, I tried to get a decent photo of my laptop screen but I don't have an amazing camera or anything so bear with me.

This is a 9C81 screen, using a calibrated profile. The darker edges of the screen are due to the funky angles I had to hold the camera at to get a reasonable pic... the first couple I took were much closer to the screen but didn't turn out well at all. I opened the unedited file in Photoshop and used the digital color tool to measure the colors both at the top and bottom of the image, just to make sure I'm not "imagining" a white image.

I've seen the yellowing issue - this screen doesn't have it. If you still don't believe me I'll try to get some better photos.
 

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I'm on my 3rd MBP. First one had a Samsung with 1/3 of the screen yellow as well as some shadowing and blurring problems, 2nd one had a Chei Mei (it was just a sad looking screen in addition to having the yellow problem), and now I got an LG which is 100 times better than the other two, but still has some yellowing - only about 1.5" on the bottom. I will be keeping this one.

BTW, I am not running any "yellow screen tests" to look for problems. I simply launch Firefox and compare the bottom of the screen to the center and top - it is clear as day to me, but I have an eye for details. I guess I can see many people not even noticing it...

Ok, I tried to get a decent photo of my laptop screen but I don't have an amazing camera or anything so bear with me.

This is a 9C81 screen, using a calibrated profile. The darker edges of the screen are due to the funky angles I had to hold the camera at to get a reasonable pic... the first couple I took were much closer to the screen but didn't turn out well at all. I opened the unedited file in Photoshop and used the digital color tool to measure the colors both at the top and bottom of the image, just to make sure I'm not "imagining" a white image.

I've seen the yellowing issue - this screen doesn't have it. If you still don't believe me I'll try to get some better photos.

You won't see the problem if the entire screen is a solid white. You need to bring up something with defining lines or text. Try this... set your background to white as you did, open a finder window and go to your applications folder so you can have some pretty icons on the screen. Now drag that finder window from the top of your screen to the bottom keeping your eye on the bottom gray bar of the finder window. Once to get near the bottom of your screen, you will see that gray bar slightly change color - it shouldn't.

On my Samsung and Chei Mei screen, this color change would happen probably 3" from the bottom, my latest LG screen only does it on the bottom inch or so.
 
I'm on my 3rd MBP. First one had a Samsung with 1/3 of the screen yellow as well as some shadowing and blurring problems, 2nd one had a Chei Mei (it was just a sad looking screen in addition to having the yellow problem), and now I got an LG which is 100 times better than the other two, but still has some yellowing - only about 1.5" on the bottom. I will be keeping this one.

BTW, I am not running any "yellow screen tests" to look for problems. I simply launch Firefox and compare the bottom of the screen to the center and top - it is clear as day to me, but I have an eye for details. I guess I can see many people not even noticing it...

Im on my 3rd replacement as well, first 2 were Chei Mei with bleedings on 3 sides and yellow tint problems, and now Im awaiting for the 3rd one...I dont even understand why they are using Chei Mei at all, they are the most recalled ones based on the forums alone.
 
simple answer!

the ratio of the customers complaining about the screen.. ( those who somehow came along this forum and know what and how to look for it) is " insignificant" compared to ALL the MBP buyers worldwide.

so, instead of doing a massive recall, which will definitely hurt the apple stocks and their "EGO", it's BEST or the company to just wait for a customer to ask for a replacement incase there is a problem with his screen
 
Another comment for those who say that we can't go by the limited number of people who complain here when trying to assess how big the problem is: we can also assume that what we see here represents only a fraction of the problem since most people don't ever come to these kinds of discussions forums, and either learn to live with the issue or just contact Apple directly for repair.
 
Well good luck on your crusade. I don't argue that this is a fairly widespread problem, but to say they all have the issue is incorrect.
 
Well good luck on your crusade. I don't argue that this is a fairly widespread problem, but to say they all have the issue is incorrect.

i used to think like you..
that not all MBPs have problems with the screen..
but what's the chance of someone going through 3-5 replacements ( someone from this forum went through 10 literally) before getting THE ONE that has
" less yellowing" than the previous one..

it seems, the RULE is most MBPs have the yellow tint.. and it's only an EXCEPTION if you get a good one.. considering it is really a GOOD one.
 
I spent some time calibrating my 9C81 with SuperCal. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I think it completely gets rid of any yellowness on the 9C81. The apple default profile is really bad.
 

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I spent some time calibrating my 9C81 with SuperCal. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I think it completely gets rid of any yellowness on the 9C81. The apple default profile is really bad.

calibrating cant fix the bottom yellow screen issue, its a hardware defect not a calibration issue.
 
Well good luck on your crusade. I don't argue that this is a fairly widespread problem, but to say they all have the issue is incorrect.

I didn't realize anybody was on a crusade, unless bringing more attention to an unacceptable problem is considered a crusade. It seems obvious that Apple is no longer serious about being attractive to pro users with their laptops. If they were, they'd make sure that displays put in their MBPs were of the highest quality available today within the limites of current LCD technology. Even those who are lucky enough to get a really good LCD in their MBP are not getting the best there is, and those who are getting the average MBP LCD are getting a pretty raw deal given how much they've paid. Besides, at over $2,000 this should not be about luck.
 
I didn't realize anybody was on a crusade, unless bringing more attention to an unacceptable problem is considered a crusade. It seems obvious that Apple is no longer serious about being attractive to pro users with their laptops. If they were, they'd make sure that displays put in their MBPs were of the highest quality available today within the limites of current LCD technology. Even those who are lucky enough to get a really good LCD in their MBP are not getting the best there is, and those who are getting the average MBP LCD are getting a pretty raw deal given how much they've paid. Besides, at over $2,000 this should not be about luck.

PDE, i truly think there are good displays, even though ive had to go through a couple already and am in the process of getting it replaced again. My first 9C81 had the yellowing, but my replacement MBP also a 9c81 had no yellowing at all, it was the perfect display but i had to take it back because i had that annoying fan buzz, now im just waiting to get another perfect display. I do believe they are out there but they are rare.
 
PDE, i truly think there are good displays, even though ive had to go through a couple already and am in the process of getting it replaced again. My first 9C81 had the yellowing, but my replacement MBP also a 9c81 had no yellowing at all, it was the perfect display but i had to take it back because i had that annoying fan buzz, now im just waiting to get another perfect display. I do believe they are out there but they are rare.

Oh, I know that not all are bad - I don't think I ever said that they were. In fact, I've had a good display myself so I know that there are good ones. But I've seen more bad ones than good ones. The good one I had was an LG 9c67 in a SR MBP. No yellowing and relatively good uniformity. What I'm trying to say is that I think there many more bad ones out there than what people seem to believe, and that part of the issue is that Apple's default color profile covers it up by making the entire display slightly yellowish. And, unless you put the display next to one that isn't yellow, you're unlikely to detect the yellowish tint because your eyes adapt. A yellow tint is not desirable for a display so covering it up by making the rest of the display bad is not a solution. the lower part yellowing is much more detectable if the entire display is calibrated so that the white point is at 6500k, as opposed to the native WP.

I'm definitely not on a crusade, but I'm frustrated that returning the one I have right now (it's ok, not terrible in terms of yellowing) could result in one that is much worse or some other problem. So I'm trying to live with rather than risk something worse.
 
Had the screen replaced twice now. And I've had two different SR macbook pros. First screen was as LG 9c81, no yellowing but it had a scratch directly from the damn applecare tech. My current screen is another 9c81 LG and it has OK color uniformity, but unfortunately it also has the same bottom third yellowing that my original screen had. This time the whole screen is much more uniform in overall white balance. So I'm thinking about keeping this one for awhile ;) It's true. You can get a 9c81 screen that doesn't have yellowing, but I imagine it's rather hit or miss. Considering I've had a total of 5 screens and new lids each time, I can safely say that many of these screens DO have the yellowish tint at the bottom. There's no way that 3/5 screen being yellow for me is any sort of bad luck. I'm just going to live with this as it's likely no going to do me any good going through the hassle of another repair. Too bad.
 
My 9c85 looks gorgeous. Whites are white top to bottom and colors are vivid (not washed out). I heard it does not go as bright as the LG screen, but who cares I cannot bear this one at full brightness. Next to my last gen MBP it is a huge improvement.

Btw: it appears that the upgrade to 10.5.6 caused my screen to revert to the default color calibration. Did anyone else notice this? It was no problem to switch it back, which makes a big difference on my screen.
 
My 9c85 looks gorgeous. Whites are white top to bottom and colors are vivid (not washed out). I heard it does not go as bright as the LG screen, but who cares I cannot bear this one at full brightness. Next to my last gen MBP it is a huge improvement.

Btw: it appears that the upgrade to 10.5.6 caused my screen to revert to the default color calibration. Did anyone else notice this? It was no problem to switch it back, which makes a big difference on my screen.

Pssst... This thread is about the early '08 MBPs...
 
Mine is fine.

*Edit*

Thought they were talking about the new ones.

I'm sending mine back in yet again after all this. It will be my THIRD screen replacement. You'd think apple would do some QC on these things before sending them out again. I'm actually thinking about taking it in to an apple authorized repair center this time (3rd party, not an apple store). They seem to be a lot more capable than the "geniuses."
 
I would honestly recommend people not run these yellowing "tests". If you don't notice the "yellowing" or discoloration normally, then you'd never know. When I first got my SR MBP 2.2 I had heard and read about this issue, so one of the first things I did with my new MBP was to run the test. And sure enough it was a little yellowed, but I had not even noticed it before. I never returned it, but for a while it bugged me and I kept thinking about it. Now is doesn’t even bother me and I really don't even notice, except maybe when the entire screen is grey... which is never.

Funny enough, I ran the same test of my desktop's LCD, Samsung xxx. I've had this setup for over 4yrs or so and I never heard about the issue before and honestly never even thought about it or noticed it on the display. Man, when I ran the test... the Samsung was very yellowed, terrible. I would have returned that one if I knew about it. Having never heard of the issue and what to look for I actually never noticed it under normal usage. :D
 
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