Display Stretch Marks: 24" apple cinema display 2009

[late show]

Just noticed this last week just after my apple care expiration

The lower part of my 2009 24" apple cinema display screen has what looks like stretch marks or streaks, which can only be seen in middle/darker colors like grey, white seems to blow them out.

Is this the end my 3 year old display?

Anybody have this or know what's going on?

 

[davidambler]

I actually had the exact same problem with my 24" ACD (as seen in the image below).

I bought the display late in 2009 and did not purchase Apple Care.

I gave my local Apple store a call and explained the problem. They asked me to bring it over to the store so they can take a look at it. I got in my car, drove to my local store (about 30 minutes away) and showed it to a 'genius'. They explained that since the item was out of warranty and I had not purchased Apple Care, there was nothing really they could do. Normally if covered they would have either taken it in for repairs or just swapped it out for a new one. He also said that this should be considered normal 'wear & tear' and should be accepted in any display that is a number of years old. I did not accept this. This should not be considered 'normal' for a premium priced display, Apple or not. The genius told me to take the display home and call Apple Care and explain my situation.

So, I took my screen home and got straight on the phone. They gave me the same story - since the screen is out of warranty and no apple care yadayada... but I did not accept this. I stayed polite and persisted. I again explained how one should expect a display like this to last longer than 2 years without developing a fault. I offered to send a picture (the one above) via email to him to look at the problem himself. Once he saw the problem, he became more helpful. He said to leave it with him and he'd get on to the Apple engineers and see what they think.

The next morning I woke up to an e-mail in my inbox asking for my 'thoughts and opinion' on how Apples customer care had been so far. I wrote how I've come to expect a certain level of quality from Apple products, but again, stayed polite. True to the Apple Care representatives word, he gave me a call later that day to say that the engineers would like me to send my display to them in Ireland and as soon as they had it there in their hands, they would send me a brand new display to replace it. After giving my their shipping account details (to get it shipped free and that same day), I packaged up my display and send it on its way.

The next day, I got a call from the Apple Care guy who said they'd received the display and they'll be sending out the new later today. He went through their ordering system and stumbled on the fact that Apple no longer produce or stock 24" screens, so instead sent me a brand new 27" display!

So. Get on the phone to them. Stay polite, and persist and Apple Care or not, they might replace your screen for you! Sorry for the wall of text.

 

[jenzjen]

Just noticed this last week just after my apple care expiration

The lower part of my 2009 24" apple cinema display screen has what looks like stretch marks or streaks, which can only be seen in middle/darker colors like grey, white seems to blow them out.

Is this the end my 3 year old display?

Anybody have this or know what's going on?

Any update? I have the same issue but seems to go away once the monitor is on for a little while. It is most pronounced after sleep.

 

[late show]

Many thanks to davidambler for suggesting I call apple, even though I was no longer covered by apple care. I was able to have my display repaired. I'm not sure what the cause was, but it did almost literally happen overnight, and seemed to become more noticeable each day.

my repair story:

After about an hour on the phone with apple, they granted me a repair based on the fact my apple care had only expired by 10 days.

After getting approval for a repair (not replacement) I went to the apple store and had the unit repaired. The issue is seemingly a new one, as they had no record of at my apple store.

They replaced the LED and the glass and I took it home and saw a few issues: fingerprints on the underside of the glass, dust and 22 "pockmarks" in the glass coating which looked like dead pixels when there is a light background, the LED was fine, but had this strange issue.

So I took the unit back to the apple store and had them do another repair, this time suggesting how about just give me a new one. No dice. But the repair (LED, logic board, new glass) should be done in 2 days they said, 5 days later I called in and they said the unit was on hold status and they wanted to try one more thing to fix the LED issue and if they couldn't I would get a new display. The next day it was ready, and I assumed it was going to be a new display due to how fast the issue was resolved (overnight). But, it turns out they replaced LED and put the same fingerprinted/pockmarked glass back on.

I pointed out the glass was the same and the new LED they put in had a dead pixel, they replaced the glass, but it had the same pockmarked issue, I suggested maybe another apple store would have glass that wasn't so faulty. So I went to another apple store, had the glass changed, but still there was pockmarks and now lots of dust under the glass, at which point, i gave up (I was beginning to feel like a crazy person) and went home with what I had which was not perfect, but better than what I had before.

I was very happy to have my unit repaired for no charge, but wish that there was some sort of quality control at the apple stores and things like monitors are sent to a factory and refurbished/repaired.

 

[medi.freak]

would have expected them to just give you the new one after all these problems...on the other hand, the 24 inch models sell of a very high price still, so how about selling it as "refurbished" and getting the 27in one by spending another $200 ? It's probably what I would do.