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Horizontal Lines in New Powerbooks

Hi All

I also have a powerbook with lines, W8547, at first it didn't seem to bother me to much but it starts to irritate me that you buy a laptop of about 2000 dollar and it has a crappy screen.

I love hi-res screens and that was the reason I chose this powerbook and ofcourse because I wanted to use OS X.

I bought my powerbook thru the Apple.nl site (Netherlands) I will contact them this afternoon to see what my options are. The lines definetly are not because working longer than an hour on the powerbook gives me a huge headache.
 
well having had a read of some of the links in this page, it seems that it could be a potential driver update as the screens with 60MHz refresh rates dont have it, but if you're under that, they get progressively more severe the lower you go. for me, exchanging my pb is not an option. i'm not going back to windows for anyone, ESPECIALLY if all it takes is changing the refresh rates or a driver update!
 
Crankycat double-check

For those of you who state you have a good display, could you please double check by moving the window containing the image a pixel at a time (up / down)? If the lines disappear and reappear on the kid on the right... you have the problem. Another good check is espn.com' s logo -- move the browser window a pixel at a time and let us know if the lines of the graphic appear and reappear...

Do let us know! Cheers!
 
ybakos said:
For those of you who state you have a good display, could you please double check by moving the window containing the image a pixel at a time (up / down)? If the lines disappear and reappear on the kid on the right... you have the problem. Another good check is espn.com' s logo -- move the browser window a pixel at a time and let us know if the lines of the graphic appear and reappear...

Do let us know! Cheers!
Click to expand...

I'll do that when I'm on the PB; right now I'm using the iMac. It seems to me that early on I did do the test with the ESPN logo and again had no problems.

OTB
 
k

hi guys i had my pb with the serial range thats good but mine had the lines what gives ?

every pb i have seen in the uk has the lines, i have looked at 8 now at uni and at store all suffer in some way !

sic you should check things before making claims that COULD mislead !!
never meant to cause any trouble !! :D
 
Gokhan said:
hi guys i had my pb with the serial range thats good but mine had the lines what gives ?

every pb i have seen in the uk has the lines, i have looked at 8 now at uni and at store all suffer in some way !

sic you should check things before making claims that COULD mislead !!
never meant to cause any trouble !! :D
Click to expand...
there is no "good" serial number range...
 
Wombert said:
there is no "good" serial number range...
Click to expand...

Yep! All 15" screens suffer. The ones saying they have good screens just havent noticed yet and are oblivious to it. I wish I was :rolleyes:
 
and Apple Care US knows it

MacRumorUser said:
Yep! All 15" screens suffer. The ones saying they have good screens just havent noticed yet and are oblivious to it. I wish I was :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Called Apple care France this afternoon :

After a quick search in the database, the rep on the phone told me the problem is known by AppleCare US, and a special procedure of "PB capture" is set up in US (If I understood well, they take the delictuous PB for examination by Apple Ingeniors).

Not such a thing is set up in Europ yet. And the only choice Applecare gave me is for the powerbook to be "repaired" (I don't want that), or call applestore for an exchange or repair. As I have no proof whatsoever that a line less PB has ever been released from Apple plants anywhere (and especially in Shangai), I may prefer the refund. This will cost me 80 Euros, and it is the price to pay for the cowards like me that hate to be stuck with bad level products..

I had this afternoon the first evidence that a Lined LCD screen is a defective one :
I found exactely the same lining in a Sony LCD screen connected to a G5 Bipro at my working place. I have the same configuration at home (same screen, same brand, same computer) without any lining problem.
The SONY screen at work is evidently a defective screen, with a blueish color, and is alos impossible to calibrate properly.
I may have time to do some testing to it using my old and my new powerbook before apple take back my new PB.


Luc
 
Some fixes I've attempted

Just wanted to let other readers know that I've tried using a registered version of DisplayConfigX, which lets you modify the refresh rate. I fiddled for hours.

No luck. (BTW, this is my second PB with the problem... and it's default refresh rate was 60HZ).

If it was a simple fix like a refresh rate incongruency I am sure some tech at Apple would have figured this out by now. So I wouldn't get too hopeful about a software patch (ask Apple for a replacement immediately and let the forum know if the new unit has the same problem).
 
Returning my PB for refund

After calling 800-SOS-APPL several times to find a friendly agent, and being transferred to a Tier 2 custserv representative, I'm going to be returning my PB (and printer!) for a refund, with no restocking fee -- even though I'm in my fourth week of owning it.

I love Apple and have been a loyal user since the Plus, but, wow, they're just dropping the ball on quality.

Please take my advice: be patient (I know, with Apple's cool stuff, it's hard!!), and wait a couple months for the Intel PB. It will be worth it.
 
Absolutely Blind.....(faith)

beolab1
Please take my advice: be patient (I know, with Apple's cool stuff, it's hard!!), and wait a couple months for the Intel PB. It will be worth it.
________________________________________________________________

:eek: I just can't take it any more!

How can ANYBODY, who reads any or all of the threads that chronicle the serious drop of Apple quality control in hardware and software, blissfully believe that with the onset of MacTels everything is going to be ginger peachy???

Apple is into Revision E and there are still unbelievable issues in the PowerBook and OS 10.4.3

Are we to believe these nightmares will go poof, when a Windoze driven Intel reaches into your wallet?

I don't thinnnnnnnk so! :(
 
A ray of hope?

Went to the Menlo Park, NJ store today. Spoke to the genius about the powerbooks. He was pretty open to talking about the problem of the lines. We looked at the 15" there and he showed me something interesting. He loaded the PB into its command mode and as we looked at the screen we saw no lines. Only when the machine was booting to OS X or in the actual OS were the lines present. He's convinced it's a software issue and is pretty sure it will be fixed in the 10.4.4 update. So we'll see because I really need a new PB. My current one, 800mHz Titanium, has a failing hard drive and a display that doesn't like to wake up from sleep mode. Sometimes I have to reboot the machine 4 or 5 times before the display kicks on. So I'm waiting patiently for a fix.

As far as the last user who mentioned waiting for the MacTel PBs because they'll be "awesome," I beg to differ. The first revs of these machines are going to be buggy at best. On top of it you will not get any forseeable performance increases unless you're buying new software built for x86. I already need to drop $2500 on a new PB. I don't want to have to then purchase Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut all for x86. On top of that, as far back as I can remember, Macs have always performed better in tests with Photoshop and other design and video programs. I don't see why it's going to suddenly get better under the new x86 architecture.

EJD
 
A Voice of Reality!!

EJDischer said:
Went to the Menlo Park, NJ store today. Spoke to the genius about the powerbooks. He was pretty open to talking about the problem of the lines. We looked at the 15" there and he showed me something interesting. He loaded the PB into its command mode and as we looked at the screen we saw no lines. Only when the machine was booting to OS X or in the actual OS were the lines present. He's convinced it's a software issue and is pretty sure it will be fixed in the 10.4.4 update.

As far as the last user who mentioned waiting for the MacTel PBs because they'll be "awesome," I beg to differ. The first revs of these machines are going to be buggy at best. On top of it you will not get any forseeable performance increases unless you're buying new software built for x86. I already need to drop $2500 on a new PB. I don't want to have to then purchase Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut all for x86. On top of that, as far back as I can remember, Macs have always performed better in tests with Photoshop and other design and video programs. I don't see why it's going to suddenly get better under the new x86 architecture.

EJD
Click to expand...


:) We are on the same page as to the pie-in-the-sky MacTels.

Regarding the assessment by the Apple Genius in Menlo Park, NJ, isn't it a bit incredible that all the rocket scientists in Cupertino couldn't arrive at that analysis by now?? Why keep it a secret?

If that Genius is correct, he or she should immediately be flown to California or China and be authorized to kick some serious butt!

I truly hope it is a software solution for Apple and we the $$$ CUSTOMERS!:confused:
 
Crankycat picture test

I've made the pic as my desktop, and it appears to me that the picture of the boy eating the corndog on the left has the white lines going across, while the picture on the right doesn't, what does that mean for me?
 
thairs said:
I've made the pic as my desktop, and it appears to me that the picture of the boy eating the corndog on the left has the white lines going across, while the picture on the right doesn't, what does that mean for me?
Click to expand...
That means your screen suffers from the line problem, too.
 
EJDischer said:
Went to the Menlo Park, NJ store today. Spoke to the genius about the powerbooks. He was pretty open to talking about the problem of the lines. We looked at the 15" there and he showed me something interesting. He loaded the PB into its command mode and as we looked at the screen we saw no lines. Only when the machine was booting to OS X or in the actual OS were the lines present. He's convinced it's a software issue and is pretty sure it will be fixed in the 10.4.4 update. So we'll see because I really need a new PB. My current one, 800mHz Titanium, has a failing hard drive and a display that doesn't like to wake up from sleep mode. Sometimes I have to reboot the machine 4 or 5 times before the display kicks on. So I'm waiting patiently for a fix.

As far as the last user who mentioned waiting for the MacTel PBs because they'll be "awesome," I beg to differ. The first revs of these machines are going to be buggy at best. On top of it you will not get any forseeable performance increases unless you're buying new software built for x86. I already need to drop $2500 on a new PB. I don't want to have to then purchase Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut all for x86. On top of that, as far back as I can remember, Macs have always performed better in tests with Photoshop and other design and video programs. I don't see why it's going to suddenly get better under the new x86 architecture.

EJD
Click to expand...

What background color does the open firmware use? Also, maybe the lines weren't there because the display was not in a 16.7M color mode. Someone suggested that Apple just used a 220k color panel which just has to dither the image to make the colors look okay, thus creating the lines. If that is the case, only a replacement of the display might help, something which is unlikely to happen since there either is no 16.7M color panel available in this size and resolution, or it was way too expensive in Apple's eyes...
 
EJDischer said:
Went to the Menlo Park, NJ store today. Spoke to the genius about the powerbooks. He was pretty open to talking about the problem of the lines. We looked at the 15" there and he showed me something interesting. He loaded the PB into its command mode and as we looked at the screen we saw no lines. Only when the machine was booting to OS X or in the actual OS were the lines present. He's convinced it's a software issue and is pretty sure it will be fixed in the 10.4.4 update. So we'll see because I really need a new PB. My current one, 800mHz Titanium, has a failing hard drive and a display that doesn't like to wake up from sleep mode. Sometimes I have to reboot the machine 4 or 5 times before the display kicks on. So I'm waiting patiently for a fix.

EJD
Click to expand...

Did your Genius also run the Apple Hardware test off of the first install CD? The lines are present there on both laptops that I returned. They aren't visible on an all white (Open Firmware) or all black (terminal/command line) background.
 
wildcard said:
Did your Genius also run the Apple Hardware test off of the first install CD? The lines are present there on both laptops that I returned. They aren't visible on an all white (Open Firmware) or all black (terminal/command line) background.
Click to expand...
Exactly. The Genius was wrong. I just wasn't sure what the background color of the Open Firmware is (and too lazy to look for it ;))

The problem is not visible on colors that use the full intensity of one or more of the RGB color range's components, so they're not visible on 255/0/0, 0/255/0, 0/0/255, 255/255/0, 255/0/255, 0/255/255 and 255/255/255. You also cannot see them on black (0/0/0), because no light shines through pixels of this color.
 
guys i must say that after reading all this i will most certainly not order a powerbook,although i've been waiting to get the money for one for a long time!!!

i just think i'll go for the 20" imac g5 instead

does that have any problems?

any drawbacks as opposed to the powerbook?


ps.i saw a firmware update thingy on the apple uk website,does that fix anything?
 
sk3pt1c said:
guys i must say that after reading all this i will most certainly not order a powerbook,although i've been waiting to get the money for one for a long time!!!

i just think i'll go for the 20" imac g5 instead

does that have any problems?

any drawbacks as opposed to the powerbook?


ps.i saw a firmware update thingy on the apple uk website,does that fix anything?
Click to expand...
What firmware update?
 
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