Help light and dark spots on display?

[Anonymous Freak]

Note up front: I am not talking about dead or stuck pixels. I am talking about apparent wear in the display itself.

This is an early 2008 MacBook Pro (15", LED backlight, matte display.) There are some "keyboard rub marks" on it, but I'm not talking about that. There is a scratch on it, but I'm not talking about that.

I have tried to clean the screen with LCD-safe cleaner. But I'm left with quite a few "dark spots" (if the screen is darker than about 60% gray, most of them disappear, the last one at about 80% gray.) Plus a couple "light spots" (which, likewise, disappear at about 80% gray.) So they appear to be places where the backlight is either hidden or shines through more than normal.

I've found many references o similar things, but nobody seems to have an actual answer for what causes it, and if it can be fixed or improved (without replacing the entire display panel, of course.)

I've attached a photograph showing the goofiness, with the dark and light spots circled. (Needless to say, they don't appear in a screenshot, so it's 'hardware' not software.)

 

[kittencounter]

It's well known problem also with the retina display on the MBP. There is nothing you can do about it. Bring/send your machine to the Apple Store and let them replace the screen...but your machine is from 2008 so I guess you won't have warranty left .so it will cost like 600$ ? You are pretty stuck with it.

 

[DeltaMac]

A 2008 MBPro is way older than a retina display…
but - if a careful cleaning with a good product does not change anything, you could try the "pixel massaging" that sometimes helps with "stuck" pixels.
Some more info here: http://lifehacker.com/152062/fix-your-lcds-dead-pixels

But, I don't think you do have any "stuck" pixels, but just minor surface damage.
The two mars near the lower center of the screen might have been caused by keycaps not seated quite right, and touching those points of the screen.

The right lower edge of the screen is the one that I would be most concerned about, as it appears to be a stress crack in the LCD. I would suggest that you don't apply any pressure at that point, as it could easily crack across the screen - and then you would be done.
And - I think you are done, anyway. Your screen is just not perfect now, and there's at least some minor damage on the screen surface. If you want that to be close to perfect again, then your choice is replacing the LCD panel.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Thanks, that's what I thought. We'll just wait until the screen gets too bad to deal with, then.