How many iPad have you returned?

[spcdust]

Hi mcdj

If I'm not mistaken (from another thread) you've now settled for iPad No. 6 - you say it's not perfect but acceptable. However, I wonder if after a month or so and real world usage and that you've got some distance from this whole "seeking perfection" scenario wether the iPad screens apparent failings will just melt away and maybe not seem so relevant or, dare I say, prevalent. It's been a month now and surely this whole thing is detracting from any real enjoyment of the iPad?

 

[mcdj]

Hi mcdj

If I'm not mistaken (from another thread) you've now settled for iPad No. 6 - you say it's not perfect but acceptable. However, I wonder if after a month or so and real world usage and that you've got some distance from this whole "seeking perfection" scenario wether the iPad screens apparent failings will just melt away and maybe not seem so relevant or, dare I say, prevalent. It's been a month now and surely this whole thing is detracting from any real enjoyment of the iPad?

You are correct, I have settled for #6. Oddly enough however, the more time I spend with it, the more annoyed I become by the screen, which while better than my previous new iPads in terms of discoloration, is still far worse than my iPad 2 was.

I spent 2 solid years with the iPad 1 and 2 and didn't have a single complaint about the screen. I'm no more picky now than I was then. I'm now nearly 2 months into iPad 3 ownership and can't find a single one that is as good as the previous models, having personally seen tens of them. It is absolutely detracting from the enjoyment.

And yet, I persist in discussing it and prodding others to give me some hope for finding a screen that does not exhibit weird colors and odd viewing angles, but I have seen very little evidence of it, and in fact, have been more encouraged to give it up, seek help, etc.

Contrary to what some people seem to think, I, and I assume others, who have been complaining about the screens are not doing it to play the "I'm right, you're wrong" game. I for one am solely interested in continuing the great experience I've grown accustomed to with the iPad, and in seeing Apple continue to be successful without lowering the bar.

 

[Capt T]

I wonder if we were able to calibrate the screen if some of these issues would be a non issue...or even if it were a thing the genius could do for us.

 

[TheWheelMan]

Not this silly argument again.

The only silly thing is your total dismissal of my post. Not only that, but you only damage your side of the argument by exhibiting total bias with no intention of rationally discussing the points I made. Whether you agree or not isn't really the point. At least some of my points are valid enough to warrant more than a cluelessly uttered summary of being silly.

 

[mac jones]

I think there's major issues with these new screens.

Hopefully these are a stop gap move, and that the next gen. will have better technology as these don't seem to make the grade.

My iPad 2 screen (and the entire thing actually) is all-in-all better than the new iPad. I'm reluctant to take the new one anywhere as it gets hot, has worse battery life at high brightness, the screen is uneven, and it's noticeably heavier.

I'll sell it soon and wait for some new materials.

Not surprising actually. Apple just gets more of my money, as I line up gladly for the fleecing, and will happily line up again, and again, and again......

 

[techster83]

I returned 4 of them before I gave up.

The first one was yellow all over (even the genius was shocked at how bad it was), and the next three had yellow-tinted vertical bars on the screen (all a little different, but mostly on the left side, and all acknowledged as problems, though subtle, by the geniuses). I kept each of them for at least a week and tried various burn-in approaches, all to no avail.

For me, once I saw a problem, I couldn't un-see, so I just couldn't get past how bad it looked. If you've never seen a problem, count yourself as lucky. As a shareholder, I'm glad that there are happy customers, but attacking unhappy customers is counterproductive, IMHO.

 

[mac jones]

I'm glad that there are happy customers, but attacking unhappy customers is counterproductive, IMHO.

Of course, to attack unhappy customers is despicable, fan-boy behavior, but to ridicule people who return it 5+ times is human

Whatever. Point now is: many of these things are shoddy.

 

[nicoplanet]

People sure make mountains out of molehills

Why look at pure white screens looking for a problem? In practice, one will never look at pure white screens. Also, if one looks for issues, they will find issues.

I don't get it. Don't get it at all. Seems like an awful lot of time/worry/stress over something that is quite unimportant in the usage of the device.

Maybe because we are not speaking of pure white here?

Most of the complains are about get a screen with a bit of homogeneity and not a dual-colored one...

 

[Larrywb]

Zer0. Either I have a perfect one or I'm not nearly as neurotic as I thought

Mine has a slight light bleed if I look at it from a sharp parallel angle, but it wasn't affecting anything I was doing, so I'm ok. I opted to not be neurotic, lol.

 

[Macdude2010]

I am on my 8th iPad and am getting increasingly annoyed with the terrible quality control. For the most part I can mostly put up with the screen tint, but I cannot stand scratches, dead/stuck pixels, dust under the screen and excessive light bleed RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. All 8 iPads I have had either one or more dead pixels, or a peices of dust under the screen, and 4 of those have even more surprising issues. And what starting to get a little bit upsetting is the attitude that the employees have been giving me, one of them going so far to call me anal. I miss the days where I can walk into a store to get a defect free product on the 1st shot, me like many others, am a loyal apple customer, and I want the quality products apple used to make (heck, i still have my iMac G3 that is working perfectly fine after 14 years.)

Also, just to list the ones I have had:
1st: cluster of dead pixels or cluster of dust
2nd: Dead pixel and a piece of dust stuck under the screen
3rd: Dead pixel and 1 LED backlight dead, making a very dark orb on the side of the screen, also damage out of the box
4th: 2 Pieces of dust stuck under the screen and a green bright stuck pixel
5th: Major Light leaking from an angle (like this:http://att.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1342106) and a dead pixel
6th: clusters of clusters of dead pixels or dust
7th: Very deep, dark scratches out of the box all over the back of the iPad, and a dead pixel
8th (current): Dead pixel and dust stuck under the screen, also after I went home I realized there were smaller scratches on it too

This is not me being picky, for the most part I can accept minor things like screen tint, but these are huge issues I should not have to settle with, I have asked a few of my friends if they would accept that, and they also said no, one of my friends even has an iPad 3 with NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER, even after me examining it.

 

[BornRight]

NONE!

My screen is absolutely gorgeous, no issues here.

I LOVE my new iPad! It brings a smile to my face every time I use it.

 

[The Economist]

My first iPad (3rd gen.) was great out of the box, one corner was a little bit darker but it wasn't that noticeable and didn't bother me that much. After 9 days of use the screen started to get pink. It was an uniform pink and it was noticeable when reading something with a white background.

It was annoying, so I returned it and asked for a refund. So now I'm iPad–less and I'll wait a couple of days/weeks before ordering one, just to make sure I get a recently–made one.

 

[nicoplanet]

It was annoying, so I returned it and asked for a refund. So now I'm iPad–less and I'll wait a couple of days/weeks before ordering one, just to make sure I get a recently–made one.

In my opinion it's the good choice! Apple has some pressure to put on some of its suppliers

I hope some clean models will emerge in the near future. In the meantime, I keep my dual-tint iPad, until some great models are available for an exchange.

 

[TheWheelMan]

I think there's major issues with these new screens.

Hopefully these are a stop gap move, and that the next gen. will have better technology as these don't seem to make the grade.

My iPad 2 screen (and the entire thing actually) is all-in-all better than the new iPad. I'm reluctant to take the new one anywhere as it gets hot, has worse battery life at high brightness, the screen is uneven, and it's noticeably heavier.

I'll sell it soon and wait for some new materials.

Not surprising actually. Apple just gets more of my money, as I line up gladly for the fleecing, and will happily line up again, and again, and again......

Oddly enough, very similar things were said about the iPad 2 in comparison to the iPad 1 when it was launched.

 

[mcdj]

Oddly enough, very similar things were said about the iPad 2 in comparison to the iPad 1 when it was launched.

There were some screen issues with the iPad 2, but if you search way back to the launch of the iPad 2 in the forums here, you will find considerably less complaints about screen problems than we are seeing with the new iPad. And the chatter that did exist back then died down about a month after release, whereas the chatter this time is getting noticeably louder a month after release.

Searching with the keyword "yellow" in thread titles only, the most replies in an iPad 2 thread was 46. The most replies in an iPad 3 thread...1460.

To be fair, the backlight bleed issue was far bigger with the iPad 2, though I personally never noticed it in normal use.

 

[nicoplanet]

Wow, based on 340 users here, the return rate is 30%.

Sure, it doesn't represent anything near a real return rate, but it's overall very high... I'm not yet in the voters since I wait to see how much replacement model(s) I'll need to get a correct one.

 

[Tom G.]

I have had the iPad1, the iPad2 and now the iPad (New iPad or whatever you want to call it.). I've never had to return a single one for any problem whatsovever.

They just work.

 

[VFC]

Wow, based on 340 users here, the return rate is 30%.

Sure, it doesn't represent anything near a real return rate, but it's overall very high... I'm not yet in the voters since I wait to see how much replacement model(s) I'll need to get a correct one.

Check your math. As of 8:45am est. the return rate is > 46% (that's using an average of 7 for the 5 and over category). There were 679 iPads purchased and 315 returned. If you factor in the people who have not returned any iPads but have screen issues, intermittent wifi, etc, the manufacturing defect rate is over 50%.

Why would anyone reward a company (by purchasing their product) that is selling a product with such poor quality?

 

[VFC]

With a >50% manufacturing defect rate; Apple will never admit they have quality issues with the new iPad.

Imagine if they were a reputable company and offered a voluntary recall; the cost would be prohibitive. If you assume 50% of the people who purchased the first 30 million iPads wanted a replacement; that would cost Apple ~ $7.5 billion ($500 cost x 15M). Now they do have ~ $100B in cash reserves, but I'm sure they would not use it to make things right with their customers.

 

[nicoplanet]

You are probably (and sadly) right. I've read that Sony has done a statement about a similar problem, and exchange defective devices with good ones? Apple is probably not the type of company to do that... Let's hope specialized press rise this up: a little bad press will do the best to Apple right now.

Thinking I am an Apple addict since 20 years now. Thinks are changing.

 

[rkahl]

Check your math. As of 8:45am est. the return rate is > 46% (that's using an average of 7 for the 5 and over category). There were 679 iPads purchased and 315 returned. If you factor in the people who have not returned any iPads but have screen issues, intermittent wifi, etc, the manufacturing defect rate is over 50%.

Why would anyone reward a company (by purchasing their product) that is selling a product with such poor quality?

What percentage of the MacRumors community where actually just having fun with this silly poll when voting?

 

[spcdust]

The poll cannot be relied upon to be a fair and accurate indication of the actual overall return rate as the sample it's based on will be skewed. It's interesting to a point but people should apply some common sense and realise that an iPad forum will likely only attract a certain type of dedicated Apple user, not your average joe customer, and of these the proportion with "issues" are likely to be higher - generally that's the most common reason to visit such a forum and post on it in the first place.

 

[Fruit Cake]

One hundred billion dollars

 

[rkahl]

The poll cannot be relied upon to be a fair and accurate indication of the actual overall return rate as the sample it's based on will be skewed. It's interesting to a point but people should apply some common sense and realise that an iPad forum will likely only attract a certain type of dedicated Apple user, not your average joe customer, and of these the proportion with "issues" are likely to be higher - generally that's the most common reason to visit such a forum and post on it in the first place.

Best reply of the entire thread.

 

[Jase Winter]

I returned one as it had dead pixels out of the box, absolutely no problems with the replacement one I got though.