MacBook Pro Grainy Display

[nermal0]

Let's assume the C56 is grain-free. Am I supposed to return my MBP over and over again until I hit the jackpot?

For me, the grain isn't as much of an issue as the uneven brightness in the corners is. Are there differences in backlighting when it comes to the different models or may all of them be affected?

 

[PDE]

Let's assume the C56 is grain-free. Am I supposed to return my MBP over and over again until I hit the jackpot?

For me, the grain isn't as much of an issue as the uneven brightness in the corners is. Are there differences in backlighting when it comes to the different models or may all of them be affected?

I'm visiting my mother in Europe and she has a powerbook G4 1.5ghz 15" and all I can say is: wow! What a difference in quality. It's definitely not as bright as the current mbps, but it is completely evenly illuminated, has not dark or light corners, has excellent viewing angles horizontally and relatively good vertically and no grain whatsoever. It made me realize that I'm already getting used to the poor displays of the MBPs and even if I've been complaining my standards have definitely slipped. It has reinforced my feeling that the MBP displays are really bad and should not be accepted. Unfortunately, I'm also beginning to think that this is something that manufacturers are pushing: brighter displays through the brightness enhancement film but sacrificing everything else.

 

[brikeh]

I'm visiting my mother in Europe and she has a powerbook G4 1.5ghz 15" and all I can say is: wow! What a difference in quality. It's definitely not as bright as the current mbps, but it is completely evenly illuminated, has not dark or light corners, has excellent viewing angles horizontally and relatively good vertically and no grain whatsoever. It made me realize that I'm already getting used to the poor displays of the MBPs and even if I've been complaining my standards have definitely slipped. It has reinforced my feeling that the MBP displays are really bad and should not be accepted. Unfortunately, I'm also beginning to think that this is something that manufacturers are pushing: brighter displays through the brightness enhancement film but sacrificing everything else.

Why do Americans say "visiting Europe"? Its not like Europe is a giant ass country. Or does your mother have a pad in every single country in Europe? Im in Sweden...I dont feel very spanish or french.

Extremely off-topic and not at all relevant to the discussion but hey...its friday and Im tired of talking about grain

 

[nermal0]

I met US people who thought Europe was a country

 

[brikeh]

I met US people who thought Europe was a country

Thats pretty bad....

 

[TheSpaz]

I met US people who thought Europe was a country

You mean Europe ISN'T a country???
And we DON'T get French benefits?

Hehehehehe

 

[PDE]

Why do Americans say "visiting Europe"? Its not like Europe is a giant ass country. Or does your mother have a pad in every single country in Europe? Im in Sweden...I dont feel very spanish or french.

Extremely off-topic and not at all relevant to the discussion but hey...its friday and Im tired of talking about grain

Well, I'm actually Swedish from Stockholm - not American - though I live in New York now. I say 'visiting Europe' because there are many people who don't know the difference between various countries and it makes it easier. Besides, it's really irrelevant to the discussion which country I'm visiting. AND, more importantly, I don't want anybody to identify me and find out that I'm spending so much time in a forum like this!

 

[brikeh]

Well, I'm actually Swedish from Stockholm - not American - though I live in New York now. I say 'visiting Europe' because there are many people who don't know the difference between various countries and it makes it easier. Besides, it's really irrelevant to the discussion which country I'm visiting. AND, more importantly, I don't want anybody to identify me and find out that I'm spending so much time in a forum like this!

Well.....I SEE YOU!

 

[nermal0]

Back to topic: I called Apple Care Germany today and the two support people I spoke to never heard of the grain or uneven backlight issues before, at least that's what they claimed. But they did find a document in the internal support database about this issue. It was marked as non-public so they couldn't forward it to me. It was in english and described "grainy, hazy screens". The solution according to the document: clear the NVRAM. That obviously didn't help at all. They offered me to get the screen exchanged in their repair center, but I don't really believe they will find a display there with no grain, even backlighting and good viewing angles...

I'll probably return this one for a refund and order another one in the store, so I can have a look at it before I take it home.

 

[azzurri000]

I just received a replacement MBP for past problems that I was experiencing (sticky trackpad, dvd drive that didn't work properly, etc.) and this one's display seems a lot crappier than the last. The default background looks fuzzy and the colours aren't anywhere as rich.

I think I'm officially part of the "club" now

I'm going to read through the past entries now to make sure that I have the problem, and to see what options are available to me...

 

[azzurri000]

Ok, I've read through all of the posts, and I'm pretty certain that my MBP also has the problem.

How about: Everyone post their Manufacturer # and Model # along with their opinion on whether or not the grain is bad and a description of the overall quality of the display? Information on manufacturer and model can be found by Apple Icon > System Preferences > Display > Color > Open Profile

Mine is manufactured by 610
9C60 on a 15"

Grain is there, but i see it on every other lcd screen. including my friend's 22" widescreen Dell LCD. Lighting is not as bad as some i've seen. No bleeding on the bottom.

Mine is manufactured by 610 as well, and it's 9C57 on a 15".

I really don't know a whole lot about LCD screens and what is the norm, so I'll just write about the differences that I have observed between this replacement MBP and my last one (also a C2D.)

- A lot of noise is noticeable in my desktop image (a default Apple image.)
- The text lightens when I scroll in any direction

Strange, and I thought the C57 display is a lot better than the C60...

Guess not

 

[hqsbud]

I'm visiting my mother in Europe and she has a powerbook G4 1.5ghz 15" and all I can say is: wow! What a difference in quality. It's definitely not as bright as the current mbps, but it is completely evenly illuminated, has not dark or light corners, has excellent viewing angles horizontally and relatively good vertically and no grain whatsoever.

I don't know why I haven't tried this before, as I have a 15" C2D MBP, and I still have my old 1.5GHz 15" Powerbook G4. I took photos with a DSLR with manual exposure, manual focus, and manual white balance, at 105mm focal length. The Powerbook is on the left, and the MBP is on the right. The MBP is significantly brighter, so I adjusted its brightness to be as close to the full brightness of the Powerbook. I posted the results below. The MBP is color calibrated with a Spyder2, and the Powerbook just has the standard color profile, which probably explains the color difference.

One strange thing. You can see clearly it's brighter at the bottom of the MBP screen when not viewed straight on, as people have mentioned. I had never noticed before, but while I was adjusting focus, I noticed it and thought, "Well I'll be damned." When I moved my head to the side to see it without the camera, I couldn't see it. I have absolutely no explanation for this. It makes no sense to me yet.

On grain, I've noticed none on either. Maybe I don't know what to look for. Both look very similar close up. I doubt grain can be adequately photographed, except maybe with a macro lens. Not sure; I have no macro lens, and I see no grain anyway.

On the top photo, which shows both screens viewed straight on, I find both to be equivalently evenly lit. When not viewed straight on, the Powerbook has a very slight advantage. As I don't work with my MBP at an angle (and I don't think my wrists would last long in that configuration anyway), that's not an issue.

 

[dios]

America

Why do Americans say "visiting Europe"? Its not like Europe is a giant ass country. Or does your mother have a pad in every single country in Europe? Im in Sweden...I dont feel very spanish or french.

Extremely off-topic and not at all relevant to the discussion but hey...its friday and Im tired of talking about grain

Yea but not all "Americans" live in the USA. America is a continent. THE USA is only a country on that continent. So yea

 

[azzurri000]

Yea but not all "Americans" live in the USA. America is a continent. THE USA is only a country on that continent. So yea

haha... just be careful not to call a Canadian an American... we enjoy having our own "identity."

 

[iW00t]

I just received a replacement MBP for past problems that I was experiencing (sticky trackpad, dvd drive that didn't work properly, etc.) and this one's display seems a lot crappier than the last. The default background looks fuzzy and the colours aren't anywhere as rich.

I think I'm officially part of the "club" now

I'm going to read through the past entries now to make sure that I have the problem, and to see what options are available to me...

Does your replacement machine have warranty even?

It seems like the lot of us are probably SOL and accept it as the price of being stuck on OSX

 

[jemmX]

so, the north american prototipe who defend de flag and de goberment are the reason when all of europeans hate your country.

Be water my friend...

 

[azzurri000]

Does your replacement machine have warranty even?

It seems like the lot of us are probably SOL and accept it as the price of being stuck on OSX

That's a good question... I don't know if the warranty begins today, the day I received the replacement, or the day that I received my first MPB c2d. I believe that my warranty begins today, though.

I was on the phone with various Apple departments for about an hour and a half, and I noticed a few interesting things. First of all, the first technical specialist that I spoke to asked me if my screen looked "sparkley" when I had only told her that it seemed grainy and fuzzy. She also asked if it looked like there was "dust" on the screen. These are all things that I had read here before calling...

She asked me if I had an external monitor that I could use to check the problem with, and I said that I don't, so she told me that I would have to bring it into a store, and that I would get a case number.

I asked to speak with another technical specialist, who was trying to convince me to do the same. He said that they would get me a replacement immediately if they found whatever it was they were looking for... he wouldn't say. I said that there are over 15 pages written about the issue on these forums, and that it is obviously a problem, and that I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to be a satisfied customer. He told me that they didn't really know about this problem, that those people hadn't complained, because there hadn't been enough complaints to "catch" the problem (so how did the previous rep know all about my problem, before I even went into detail, hmmmm?!?!) He said, though, that the engineers would want my laptop if it was diagnosed with whatever problem they were looking for...

I asked what would happen if they didn't find what they were looking for, and he said that it would have to be sent for repairs. I told him that it would be ridiculous for a brand new laptop to be sent for repairs, so it ended up being labeled DOA.

End of story.

The point: Yes, I agree. I think that we are all SOL. No grainy display? You will most likely experience some other problem with you brand-new MBP... Is it true that iMacs don't experience many problems?

so, the north american prototipe who defend de flag and de goberment are the reason when all of europeans hate your country.

Be water my friend...

What exactly are you trying to say?

 

[puddle27]

He said, though, that the engineers would want my laptop if it was diagnosed with whatever problem they were looking for...

I do not have 15" grain issues. but i do have 17" uneven backlighting issue. I was in contact with a top level customer service rep at the corporate headquarters, and he tried to help me find a good laptop. But in the end, they couldn't provide. All the screens at the store he sent me to were messed up in one way or another. I only saw one matte screen that looked very good but that was a display model.

But the thing i want to point out is he said my computer, and the two that were opened at the Apple store that i also claimed to have uneven backlighitng in one way or another (they all varied in degree and pattern), will be sent to Apple engineers. However, others here are claiming the same, that Apple is saying their 'bad' display computers will be sent to engineers. Well, how many computers do they need? Heck, all they need to do is head to the nearest Apple store and see the problems themselves. The problems in my opinion are not anomalies, it's just overall quality is poor with probably less than half being good quality. So that means they are just not a good model for graphic professionals to have at this time. I hate to use PC laptops as standards, but because there are so many choices, they are. and overall, the PC laptops have better displays. And if you find a PC company with a poor display, you move to the next company. Apple has no competition in their niche so they get away with this, and we have no choice to move tot he next laptop maker if we want to continue to use the Mac Platform (which most of us do). And of course too much attention to ipod ipod ipod and all thing ipod related (iphone) has really destroyed overall Apple quality, imho. It's good for the shareholders, bad for the professional Apple users that want quality!!


I want to stress, it is very important that everyone with display issues let Apple know. send in emails or let the customer service reps know. a good email to send to is sjobs@apple.com. However, if you send contact info a Corporate Executive Relations rep may contact you and try to help you with your problem. In the end though they still see these problems as anomalies (officially. obviously this makes sense for PR reasons, but who knows, they may actually feel this way if not enough people are complaining). Well this solve anything? probably not until the media realizes many customers see a problem and have reported problems. bad press make companies 'fix' things, not customers. SO LET APPLE KNOW YOUR DISPLAY RELATED ISSUES WITH THE MBP LINE.

Fanboys, please do not get all defensive. It's always better to be fans of an 'improved' company, rather than one getting away with substandard quality.

 

[iW00t]

Hey this is very good news. I have been holding off that phone call since I didn't plan on wasting an hour of my time during the christmas rush arguing with some tech support staff, but your experience seems to indicate that they are aware of the problem.

That's a good question... I don't know if the warranty begins today, the day I received the replacement, or the day that I received my first MPB c2d. I believe that my warranty begins today, though.

I was on the phone with various Apple departments for about an hour and a half, and I noticed a few interesting things. First of all, the first technical specialist that I spoke to asked me if my screen looked "sparkley" when I had only told her that it seemed grainy and fuzzy. She also asked if it looked like there was "dust" on the screen. These are all things that I had read here before calling...

She asked me if I had an external monitor that I could use to check the problem with, and I said that I don't, so she told me that I would have to bring it into a store, and that I would get a case number.

I asked to speak with another technical specialist, who was trying to convince me to do the same. He said that they would get me a replacement immediately if they found whatever it was they were looking for... he wouldn't say. I said that there are over 15 pages written about the issue on these forums, and that it is obviously a problem, and that I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to be a satisfied customer. He told me that they didn't really know about this problem, that those people hadn't complained, because there hadn't been enough complaints to "catch" the problem (so how did the previous rep know all about my problem, before I even went into detail, hmmmm?!?!) He said, though, that the engineers would want my laptop if it was diagnosed with whatever problem they were looking for...

I asked what would happen if they didn't find what they were looking for, and he said that it would have to be sent for repairs. I told him that it would be ridiculous for a brand new laptop to be sent for repairs, so it ended up being labeled DOA.

End of story.

The point: Yes, I agree. I think that we are all SOL. No grainy display? You will most likely experience some other problem with you brand-new MBP... Is it true that iMacs don't experience many problems?

 

[fustercluck]

Yea but not all "Americans" live in the USA. America is a continent. THE USA is only a country on that continent. So yea

I have this same argument with my Spanish girlfriend.

We don't consider "America" a continent. There is North America and there is South America: two separate continents. The former is comprised of the United States of America, Mexico, Canada, and what we call "Central America." South America is everything south and east of Panama - starting with Columbia and comprising the rest of that landmass.

I know that my girlfriend was taught that the entire landmass is one continent. Like you, she hates the term "American." She says "United Statesian." It's cute, trust me.

As for the guy with the first comment, do you say that you're visiting "the States" (as many people say)? Are you visiting all of them? Why would you say that then? ;P

 

[hqsbud]

Fanboys, please do not get all defensive. It's always better to be fans of an 'improved' company, rather than one getting away with substandard quality.

This is wise, I think. But similarly, when those of us who aren't seeing problems ask for evidence, you don't have to get defensive either (and I'm not talking about you, puddle), nor do you have to threaten physical violence. You're not obligated to give evidence of course, but it certainly makes your argument look much, much more convincing. I didn't see anyone provide convincing, side-by-side evidence of the MBP screen not being as evenly-lit as a Powerbook G4 screen until I came up with it myself today.

 

[iW00t]

$2500 computers here...

... with displays that even Dell customers will scoff on...

It's no wonder tempers can get a bit hot

 

[hqsbud]

It's no wonder tempers can get a bit hot

$2500 is a microscopic amount compared to losing a loved one for no apparent reason, and many, many other things in this world.

 

[iW00t]

$2500 is a microscopic amount compared to losing a loved one for no apparent reason, and many, many other things in this world.

Yes, but that is no reason why the affected users can't get mad.

By your logic do you routinely buy rotten groceries from the store and just accept it anyway? After all groceries are so cheap compared to a $2500 Macbook Pro.

And who cares about losing a loved one, when the sovereignty of your own nation is under attack and terrorists roam about destroying what generations of your forefathers have fought for - freedom.

Likewise who cares about our individual nations when our world will eventually be destroyed when the sun goes supernova, throughout history nations have risen and fallen anyway.

Your point is completely moot. People are perfectly entitled to put their priorities where they want to put it.

 

[hqsbud]

Yes, but that is no reason why the affected users can't get mad.

Getting upset about something, sure. Threatening to gladly gouge someone's eyes out because they asked for evidence to back up a statement seems to me to be way out there.

By your logic do you routinely buy rotten groceries from the store and just accept it anyway? After all groceries are so cheap compared to a $2500 Macbook Pro.

No, I don't buy rotten groceries. It's normally pretty obvious. But if it's bad inside of a can for example, I just return it. If they won't take it (highly unlikely), then I just suck it up. No big deal.

And who cares about losing a loved one, when the sovereignty of your own nation is under attack and terrorists roam about destroying what generations of your forefathers have fought for - freedom.

I care about my loved ones. I'm surprised to find someone who doesn't. I'm not worried about terrorists since they don't roam around here and are hardly likely to. But I just found out someone I used to work for is in danger of losing her foot because of a drunk driver. My brother's receptionist is a widow because of a drunk driver. I worry more about the likely threats, not the rare threats.

Do you really think the United States (I'm assuming that's what country you're talking about) is in danger of not existing because of terrorists? By one estimate, Iraq has lost about 2% of its population due to the current conflict, yet there's only conjecture that Iraq as a country will cease to exist in the near future. I rather think the United States is a stronger country than Iraq.

Likewise who cares about our individual nations when our world will eventually be destroyed when the sun goes supernova, throughout history nations have risen and fallen anyway.

That's true. Refer to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.

Your point is completely moot. People are perfectly entitled to put their priorities where they want to put it.

Absolutely true. That's why I'm not telling you to change who you are. I'm telling you what I think. And I think threatening physical violence against someone who asked for evidence to back up a claim I think is getting extremely bent out of shape because of the characteristics of a computer screen.

Get upset about your screen! I won't take that away from you, and I couldn't even if I wanted to! Return the machine and go on with your life with some other computer, or no computer! Many people here have reported getting full refunds. No big deal.