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mayoke

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 30, 2016
9
0
Ok, so I've searched the forums and can't seem to find any topic that covers this. I'm not sure if I'm going crazy, or if it's an actual problem with my screen, but I've never noticed anything like this on my iPad/iPhone/or even the previous 13' rMBP that I initially bought then returned for the larger 15' model. I bought the computer about a month or so ago. Almost immediately, I noticed that when I'm reading things on a white background (pages, word) I see a fine "mesh" effect over the white screen. This is a new computer, so it's not dirt. I'm also hesitant to blame my eyes, as I bought a 13' rMBP first, found the screen size too small, then exchanged for the larger model. I never noticed any such effect on the 13 inch model. Is there a screen resolution difference between the two? A quick wikipedia search shows that the 13' retina screen actually has a slightly higher dpi than the 15', but I can't believe that my eyes are actually perceiving such a minute difference. It also appears more pronounced/most noticeable in the left lower quadrant of the screen. Should I take this in to be "looked at"? Is this a known issue?
 
this was an issue back in the 2009 era, the fix then was loose cables, and something about a wifi interference issue. With no widespread issues related to this year model, I'd suggest opening a case with apple to have them send you out another.

More importantly, if you can attach a picture, that would help considerably too!

Thanks!
 
So I tried taking a picture, but I quickly realized that taking pictures of any screen leaves you with an over-exaggerated pixellation rainbow effect, which is not what I'm complaining about. The only other post I could find on the internet about this is in an apple forum, with no actual answer in the end. There is however a picture that approximates what I am seeing in the thread: (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7548000?start=0&tstart=0) If you scroll about 2/3 the way down the discussion, there is a picture of a screen that says: Q: Visible "square mesh" on it, and shows the 'effect' I am concerned about in the bottom left part of the picture. Of note, there is a second screen shot with a red square around the picture, but the picture I'm talking about is above this one.
 
It should certainly be bright white, and that's not correct. Again, i'd suggest telling apple you want a new one. Apple prides themselves on the screens, they should have no issues, even less if you take it to a Genius bar.
 
alright... guess I've got a date with the genius bar... *sigh* now I'm kicking myself for not having done this within the first 14 days, but hopefully they're reasonable (especially considering I bought a year and a half old computer at full price just about a month before they released the new ones).

Thanks for the quick replies!
 
For anyone searching for a similar issue, I've come to the conclusion that this is what the 15' display looks like. Checked out a 15' Mac in store and I can see the same thing on it. Depends on the angle of the screen and the proximity of your face to the screen. I usually sit with my head at about the level of the end of the computer, but if I sit further back, or tilt the screen more, I can't see it anymore. Will just have to live with it. Never thought I had particularly sharp eyes...
 
For anyone searching for a similar issue, I've come to the conclusion that this is what the 15' display looks like. Checked out a 15' Mac in store and I can see the same thing on it. Depends on the angle of the screen and the proximity of your face to the screen. I usually sit with my head at about the level of the end of the computer, but if I sit further back, or tilt the screen more, I can't see it anymore. Will just have to live with it. Never thought I had particularly sharp eyes...
So you have your chin on the edge of your MBP?
 
So you have your chin on the edge of your MBP?
No. I'm using the edge of the laptop as a measure of how far away my head is from the screen. My chin is where you'd expect it to be for someone sitting at a desk. This is in contrast to sitting say 40cm away from the screen. I'm just using the edge of the laptop as the horizontal distance away from the screen, not the vertical distance above the desk.
 
I had this issue as well on a 2015 15" that I had for a couple of weeks. I remember staring at the screen and thinking it was odd. The same mesh effect is not visible on my 2015 13" when viewing up close. So it was definitely exclusive to the 15" -- weird.
 
I had this issue as well on a 2015 15" that I had for a couple of weeks. I remember staring at the screen and thinking it was odd. The same mesh effect is not visible on my 2015 13" when viewing up close. So it was definitely exclusive to the 15" -- weird.

I wonder if the dpi of the 15' is just on the cusp of "retina". I looked up the dpi ratings of various Mac screens, and the 15' is one of the worst (arguably because they assume you're siting further away from it, therefore you'd need a lower dpi to fool your eyes). The 13' has a slightly higher dpi rating, so maybe that's why you don't see it on the 13'. I can accept it if it's a universal issue, and not just a problem with my computer. Based on examining one other in-store 15' it looked the same, so I'm going with the 15' only being a pseudo-Retina display :p
 
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