Retina display too fragile?

[Puevlo]

Warning. The Retina display is an ultra fragile piece of garbage and if it breaks you may have to pay about $800 to have it replaced by Apple.

I bought a 15" rMBP. I had it in a special Apple branded Kensington bag. On my way into the building I work in the door hit me the bag with my computer in it. When I got to my office and opened the computer 1/3 of the screen was blank and the inside surface of the glass appeared cracked, though not the surface. There was a small nick on the case, likely caused by the power cord scratching it as it was between the computer and the inside wall of the case.

I had been using it for 5 days and was under 14 days. Apple told me damage is not covered and it would cost me about $800 to replace. We're talking about a few ft/lbs of force, max, to a computer in a padded bag and it destroyed the screen and I'm screwed. I carried my 2007 MacBook in that bag to places like rock concerts, it was dropped twice, took several hard knocks (all while out of the case) sustained no damage and it's still ticking. If Apple wants to sell displays that will crack at the slightest bump, they should put a big label on it saying it is extremely fragile. IT'S A LAPTOP, it WILL take as least some vibration.

If it can't survive that, it does not meet the universal commercial codes definition of implied warranty of merchantability and customers should get a refund or a replacement but they will not.

It's an outrage and I am seriously considering becoming a plaintiff in a class action law suit against Apple. I have never been in a lawsuit before so I'm not litigious or and opportunist. If I broke it through negligence, I would pay to have it fixed. I have been a loyal Apple customer since 1987 but that changed today.

Plus, they failed utterly with customer service. I could not get a single employee to meet my gaze when I went in for my 12:45 appointment and not one of them asked if they could help me. I walk with a cane and by the time I got to the back of the store and found someone who would talk to me (after I stood and stared at him), he directed me to the one rep who handled appointments. The email regarding my appointment said any employee could assist me. They did not say that I would be ignored by the 10-20 I passed in the store and attempted to make eye contact with. A designated greeter is a concept Apple should consider.

In retail, the most unforgivable sin is acting like a customer is invisible and not acknowledging their presence. When I finally was directed to the rep who handled appointments he asked my name and appointment time. I gave my name and said my appoint time was 12:45. He said "yeah, that appointment had been cancelled." I said "why" and he said "because it's 12:57" and I would describe his tone as snotty or condescending. I may have walked in 3 o4 4 minutes late as the result of an ambulance a few blocks away blocking traffic but I find this policy and response infuriating. The President of the United States might have to schedule his day that tight, but a retail store? That's just hubris. I finally got him to say that he would try to find someone to help me.

My total wait time was about 20 minutes. At 1:01 I received another email confirming my appointment at 2:35PM. I was finally received by the geniuses at the bar. I was told it would cost me about $800. The genius and I discussed it for a while until it became clear we had reached an impasse. At that point he got a manager involved who reduced the cost to $300 for the display part and the bottom case replaced, gratis. Not good enough. Apple should have replaced the computer. I almost wish they hadn't reduced the price. They made an enemy of me by not going the remaining $300. Guess I know what I'm worth to them.

The retina is an extremely fragile piece of garbage as far as I'm concerned and I would advise anybody who has one to wrap it in a pillow if you take it out of the house. I'm done with Apple. I heard their customer service was excellent but my experience was one of the worst retail experiences in all my 60 years. Don't be surprised if you see my story in other places. I will tell anyone who will listen. They turned a devotee into and enemy. May they be beaten and rot in an overseas sweat shop. I am profoundly sad and furious at the same time. I can't believe they could turn my opinion of them to dust in mere moments. I'm also not pleased with the elimination of the cable lock slot, but that's a rant for another post.

Very intriguing story. Thanks for the information. I won't be buying one if it's that flimsy.

 

[eron]

Very intriguing story. Thanks for the information. I won't be buying one if it's that flimsy.

Panasonic has something that might suit you.
http://www.panasonic.com.au/Products/Toughbook/Overview

Not as shiny as a Macbook Pro, but certainly shines in certain areas.

 

[Beta Particle]

The Retina display is an ultra fragile piece of garbage and if it breaks you may have to pay about $800 to have it replaced by Apple. I bought a 15" rMBP. I had it in a special Apple branded Kensington bag. On my way into the building I work in the door hit me the bag with my computer in it. When I got to my office and opened the computer 1/3 of the screen was blank and the inside surface of the glass appeared cracked, though not the surface. There was a small nick on the case, likely caused by the power cord scratching it as it was between the computer and the inside wall of the case.

Seems unreasonable to expect a computer to stand up to being slammed into a door, especially when you also have the power brick inside the case to create a smaller area of impact. That “small nick” likely indicates that all the pressure of the impact was located on a single spot—not hard to imagine the magsafe connector ending up between the brick and the lid of the MacBook.

I would also be concerned that you could even fit the power brick in the same compartment as the laptop—it doesn’t sound like this case was designed to protect a 15″ notebook at all.

I had been using it for 5 days and was under 14 days. Apple told me damage is not covered and it would cost me about $800 to replace. We're talking about a few ft/lbs of force, max, to a computer in a padded bag and it destroyed the screen and I'm screwed.

Warranties do not cover accidental damage.

I carried my 2007 MacBook in that bag to places like rock concerts, it was dropped twice, took several hard knocks (all while out of the case) sustained no damage and it's still ticking.

Being dropped, and sustaining an impact are two different things. I’d also say that you got lucky escaping any damage from dropping your old MacBook Pro.

I was told it would cost me about $800. The genius and I discussed it for a while until it became clear we had reached an impasse. At that point he got a manager involved who reduced the cost to $300 for the display part and the bottom case replaced, gratis. Not good enough. Apple should have replaced the computer.

That seems very generous of them.

I’m sorry to hear that you broke your new MacBook Pro, but Apple is under no obligation to pay for your mistakes, and reducing that to $300 seems more than reasonable.

 

[bill-p]

The Air does NOT have protective glass and as a result, people (including myself) have had screen issues. When taken to the Apple store, the Genius demonstrated that the screens were very susceptible to flexing, and as a result, it takes very little to 'flex' the screen into the keyboard - causing damage. I have since used a 'cloth' in between, and it has been fine.

I imagine the retina display will suffer the same flexing issue, but I intend on using a cloth on it as well.

Nope. Retina MBP does not suffer from the same flexing problem as MacBook Air. The construction of the display pane of the rMBP is extremely solid and rigid. You'd have to use quite a significant amount of force to flex it.

I know this because I have owned both...

 

[katmeef]

Edit oops posted in wrong thread

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

But in this case I can see myself jumping to conclusions with the lack of real world data. tbh, I still am concerned due to the lack of extra glass sitting in front of the panel.

If you're concerned about damage while it's in your bag, then the damaging force would have to come through the back of the screen since, presumably, your laptop would be closed. Once you've closed it like that, the screen is quite well protected.

 

[ViralInfection]

stvlush is correct, this issue happened to me as well, I put my retina into my backpack (as I always have done with my unibody macbook pro). The cab I was in must have hit a speed bump and an impact fracture occurred by the time I got to work.

Apple offers to repair this for $700 + $50 labour CAD, after talking them down, they lowered it to $100, I argued it's a manufacture detect because the new display has no protection against any stress or impact like previously models, I got the feeling this is a common problem.

Generally the retina display is a nightmare from being fragile to ghosting issue.

This is also *not* covered by applecare, and only the iphone has applecare+ for screen damage. Maybe apple will bring applecare+ to the retinas.

Apple ********d the retina display up like google maps on the iphone.

 

[SchuettS]

stvlush is correct, this issue happened to me as well, I put my retina into my backpack (as I always have done with my unibody macbook pro). The cab I was in must have hit a speed bump and an impact fracture occurred by the time I got to work.

Apple offers to repair this for $700 + $50 labour CAD, after talking them down, they lowered it to $100, I argued it's a manufacture detect because the new display has no protection against any stress or impact like previously models, I got the feeling this is a common problem.

Generally the retina display is a nightmare from being fragile to ghosting issue.

This is also *not* covered by applecare, and only the iphone has applecare+ for screen damage. Maybe apple will bring applecare+ to the retinas.

Apple ********d the retina display up like google maps on the iphone.

No they did just fine. How many people have reported they broke their screens? Not many. You guys got unlucky, ***** happens. They could have charged you full price but didn't.

 

[ciscomacman]

Fragile display on my MBP retina

Well, my MBP retina display cracked yesterday. All I did was have a sheet of paper in it and close the lid before going to sleep. I got up today in the morning and I see half the screen is has gone bad - lot of vertical lines and distorted display. I think a small piece of staple at the bottom cracked the display. The MBP retina is without a doubt far more fragile than my old non retina MBP. There are no two opinions abt it. It is great until it breaks and it breaks very easily even without a big impact. It is great that apple made it this thin, but I think they made a laptop that is not great for everyday use for ppl traveling with it. It is very very fragile. I got mine from work, so hopefully they will fix it. But if you are not the most mindful and delicate user don't buy the MBP retina...trust me everyday usage is far more brutal than most ppl think.

Yes, as mentioned earlier the retina has some plastic layer on top almost feels like a polyurethane layer covering the LCD not glass! very flimsy. The LCD is very exposed.

 

[laurihoefs]

I think a small piece of staple at the bottom cracked the display.

There was a staple in the papers?

The gap between the display and the body is very narrow on the rMBP, so I really would not place any sharp metal objects between them and then close the lid..

Edit: I wantes to add that my intention is not to be condescending.The thing is, that you can brake ANY laptop screen by leaving something in between the body and the screen. The rMBP just makes this a bit easier, as the gap is narrower than usual.

It's not that uncommon to see broken hinges and panels with laptops, and most of the ones I've seen were caused by leaving a pen, a stack of papers or earbuds between the display and the body.

 

[frimp]

That's one reason to get an insurance against those accidents!

 

[204353]

Well, my MBP retina display cracked yesterday. All I did was have a sheet of paper in it and close the lid before going to sleep. I got up today in the morning and I see half the screen is has gone bad - lot of vertical lines and distorted display. I think a small piece of staple at the bottom cracked the display. The MBP retina is without a doubt far more fragile than my old non retina MBP. There are no two opinions abt it. It is great until it breaks and it breaks very easily even without a big impact. It is great that apple made it this thin, but I think they made a laptop that is not great for everyday use for ppl traveling with it. It is very very fragile. I got mine from work, so hopefully they will fix it. But if you are not the most mindful and delicate user don't buy the MBP retina...trust me everyday usage is far more brutal than most ppl think.

Yes, as mentioned earlier the retina has some plastic layer on top almost feels like a polyurethane layer covering the LCD not glass! very flimsy. The LCD is very exposed.

I don't mean to be rude, but I honestly think that it's pretty silly to put anything between the display and the body of the Mac. It's just not designed to be a form of storage for anything at all, even sheets of paper (especially those with stables or paperclips attached).

Since my first MacBook Pro in 2006, I've always kept the Mac by itself inside a soft, protective neoprene sleeve, which is then placed inside my backpack. All four Macs I've had over the years have never suffered any damage at all whilst carried around in such a way.

 

[beestigbeestje]

VERY fragile screen

I have had my retina for 5 months now and already have a hole in the bezel of the screen and a dent in the screen itself. I do not know where the dent comes from but it's super frustrating. Like a couple of dead pixels.

The hole in the bezel was from unwrapping a USB cable and it accidentally hit the bezel of the screen.

Also have a dent in the alu topcase don't know what happened there.

ALSO the alu body creaks when I pick up the laptop or apply a little bit of pressure.

I'm super carefull with it, but still managed to make it look like a 3 year old thing.

 

[pierre29177]

so fragile

My retina display is broken after only one month. it's so fragile that nearly nothing can touch the screen. Mine broke because my pen touch it a bit too hardly...800 dollars to change the screen...

 

[Mac.User]

My whole company has been using retina machines, 15in and 13in, over 75 users. NONE have had a broken screen.

Well one did, but it fell down in the Emergencry stairs during a firedrill.

 

[MA-86]

Yes, I agree, retina displays are way too fragile. Normal MBPs have this additional glass layer on top of LCD panel and it makes it extremely durable, it might add 100 grams of additional weight and 1mm of thickness to the body, but I rather have a strong display that can not be dented in like some cheap plastic and broken by the smallest amount of impact than have the thinnest possible chassis.
I wonder why couldnt they use gorilla glass on their rMBPs? Gorilla glass works so well on iOS devices after all!
I personally would stay away from the 2012-2013 gen rMBPs and hope that next gen is sorted out properly, way too many technical problems with current gen...

 

[pierre29177]

fragile screen

i didn't mention i had a macbook pro non retina for three years and never had problems with the screen. i just bought the retina one because it has an ssd and it's a bit lighter. i regret it now.
At the store they told me they have four retina display broken everyday and two old macbook pro display every week. So it means retina display are twelve time more fragile than the normal one.
Pierre
*sorry for my bad english

 

[Macmanmac626256]

They are very fragile

My MacBook retina broke from a relatively heavy object dropped on the lid when it was closed. The screen had large spiderwebs, but only the LCD was broken, cost around 300 to repair!!! The retina display has NO protection on the screen side and a thin piece of aluminium on the other. It shouldn't have broken, I bet any old MacBook could've taken x2 the force to break. It may look nice but if your MacBook could be pressed on on either side of the screen it will break- DO NOT try it because it WILL BREAK and you'll have to pay a fortune, even it you don't believe me. It is a wonderful and beautiful machine, fine in normal circumstances, but if you've got a child which could possible hit the screen then u might wanna look elsewhere. I know people r saying it is fine but I would much rather have a thin plastic or even ideally gorilla glass on the screen. Considering the computer is so expensive it should have a strong gorilla glass screen. It may have more glare but I'd rather have a screen that works than a shattered one with glare.
Overall it's you're choice, the MacBook retina is fine machine, it will be fine in a backpack but if you're working in industrial areas or gonna be bashing a bag then I'd carry something strong and not flexible to put against its lid when in the bag.
Thanks