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MacBook Pro backlighting

D

DeadlyEdna

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 2, 2009
2
0
Manchester, UK
Hey

I recently bought a 17" MacBook Pro (just over a month ago). Use it for photography and gaming (under Windows 7) along with the occasional movie.

I was playing a game last week and I noticed some funny shading which seemed to be independent of the actual scene. I ignored this until I was watching a movie on it and noticed the same awkward shadow. To cut a long story short, I dropped to a completely black Windows desktop and the result was this...
2u43d5k.jpg


Not the greatest photo in the world, but it captures the problem better than I thought it would. As you can see the backlight is uneven but its only very noticible where screens fade through black (in a slideshow, or cuts in films for example), where scenes are dark but with motion, or solid black. Its obviously more noticable in a dark room which is how I do most of my gaming.

My question is... Am I being too picky? Do you think it's worth me taking a trip to the Genius bar?

My thoughts are that i've paid just under £2K for this so shouldn't accept something that affects my interaction and I believed that this kinda backlight issue was rendered negligible by LED backlighting. Whilst it's annoying while gaming/watching film, the worst impact could be whilst doing photos.....

Thoughts? Reckon Apple will be sympathetic to this?

Thanks
 
I think it's definitely worth taking to an Apple Store. That unevenness in your backlighting isn't acceptable for a machine like that, especially when you consider that LED backlighting is meant to be much more even than CCFL! :rolleyes:

They should recognise it as a manufacturing defect and have the LCD panel replaced.
 
Clearly a manufacturing issue. Take it in and don't take no for an answer.
 
That really is an issue, especially if you use it for photo editing. Take it in and if the Genius says no, talk to the manager. LED backlighting is supposed to be even and not be like this, so clearly it is an issue.
 
Photographs really do over-exagerrate some issues with displays. Whether it be reflections or glare.

My display when completely black and in a dark room has a faint un-evenness and slight backlight bleed. Not noticeable at all really unless the whole display is black and I'm in a completely dark room. If I take a photo however, the bleed is exaggerated hugely from the high exposure on the camera. While LEDs are meant to be much more even than traditional methods, it isn't 100% even.

If you aren't happy with it - take it back for an exchange and try out the replacement in the Apple Store. But you'll probably not find one that is completely even and has no backlight bleed.
 
I don't know what to say. You having some backlighting issues with black evenness on your display, clearly.

BUT -- I've noticed stuff like this with every Apple laptop I have owned, back to my first 5300cs and 5300c. It's difficult for any laptop screen to display even black consistency, when you have the brightness cranked up to high like that. I really don't know what to say. It's annoying, it's not perfect, but I doubt Apple is going to replace your screen or give you a brand new MacBook Pro because of it. Likely they may tell you some tips when calibrating or adjusting your contrast and brightness to try to minimize this issue. That's all I can say.
 
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