No, I own i1 Display Pro. Use it to calibrate external Eizo display, as well as retina display.
Yes, I did see the problem. One side of the screen was yellowish, and the other one was bluish. Clearly visible. I don't think that any software can measure physical screen properties. This is impossible. You need a sensor to do that.
I don't suppose you need that much evidence with you. As long as you explain it clearly to the genius, he should be able to follow your leads and to find out what's wrong with the screen.
Anarti, if you're reading this please keep on because I have a question at the end of this post.
Some background on all of this. My rMBP is 25 months old. I do not have Applecare. My rMBP developed some very visible dead pixels in the center upper left of the display.
In the UK we have some strong consumer protection law called the Sales of Goods Act which states that 'goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances'. This covers you for up to six years. The obvious argument is that a reasonable person would expect a £3000 top of the line laptop to be free of such faults for a period longer than 25 months, and in my discussions with Apple they agreed it would be covered under what they term 'consumer law'.
My display was a Samsung and I requested a Samsung replacement which was acknowledged.
I had my appointment on Wednesday the 3rd of September. The first Genius I spoke to told me that it was a cluster of dead pixels because it was clearly visible, a single dead pixel would not be visible on a Retina display (which is something I had wondered about for a long time). A second Genius took a look at it through a magnifying glass and stated that the screen had a chip in it and would not be fixed free of charge. This was a shock to me as I had not noticed any physical defect before, but sure enough if you ran your finger nail across the screen you could feel an absolutely minuscule blemish. The implication was that I had damaged the screen through misuse.
I went away to have some lunch and did some research on the topic. I discovered that rMBPs have been known to suffer from 'pixel explosion'. This is where pixels suffer a violent catastrophic failure and leave small pitting in the surface of the display. Here is a link where the authors put some pixel exploded displays under a microscope.
http://www.mikcx.com/macbook-pro-retina-exploding-pixels/
I went back to the Apple Store that same day to to question further. Interestingly the Genius mentioned the phrase 'pixel explosion' before I did, so it's something they have heard of. Once again I was declined service.
So it came down to whether I damaged the screen and that killed the pixels behind it, or exploding pixels caused damage in the screen surface. I can't 100% rule out the fault being mine, but I take exceptionally good care of my laptop and even the Genius remarked he thought it was a 2013 model and it was in the best condition he had ever seen. I felt I had a case and once again spoke to Apple Care. I had to take it all the way through three different advisers each more senior than the last, but Apple finally relented and agreed to replace the screen.
I trudged back to the Apple Store on Thursday the 4th and they took in my Macbook for repair free of charge. They asked that I leave my own personal case because my laptop was in very good condition and they felt it would help protect it. It was ready and I picked it up on the 9th. I was very pleased that they looked after it very well, no damage was done and even so far as all the screws being in perfect condition (it's common for other technicians to strip screws which is a pain).
Unfortunately the replacement screen was not as I requested a Samsung but is a LG. In the bottom left hand corner it has quite a bit of light leakage, becoming particularly apparent watching letterbox movies. For the longest time I have wanted to calibrate my own plasma television so I decided to take the plunge and purchase the i1 Display Pro. It's very good and I can highly recommend it.
I have used the i1 to check the uniformity of the display so you can see it it is an objective measurement, not my subjective opinion. Is this an unacceptable amount of light leakage? Anarti, is this the sort of information you went to Apple with? Do you think I should request a replacement screen?
Thank you.
