SR MBP LED LCD yellowish and gradients issue

[jjahshik32]

i'm telling you guys man the 17" high res glossy is superb! I brought it next to my cousins led and I think even if the 15" led didnt have this yellow tint that going back would be a huge downgrade =)

it cant compare to the 1920x1200 resolution and its pretty much the same brightness and looks so clean!!

 

[amitface]

On June 10th I ordered a 2.4 MBP matte display with a 7200 hard drive. A few weeks lately I received a computer with a very obvious yellow tint at the bottom of the screen. I sent it back to Apple for a repair, only for have it to return with a new screen in the same condition.

I then decided that dealing with a custom machine would be too much of a hassle, and that I'd just buy a stock MBP from the store, and upgrade the hard drive at some point in the future. So I returned the repaired MBP and bought a stock 2.4 matte from the store. It had a yellow tint, although it wasn't as bad my first machine. And then I returned that one, only to get another one with the same problem.

I have a friend who thought his screen didn't have the yellow tint, but once we compared computers in person he saw it on his own screen, although he wasn't annoyed by it.

After going through one repair and two replacements, I am very frustrated and tired of dealing with Apple. I would really LOVE to have a new MBP, but if I'm spending 2500+ on a new computer I don't see why I should have to settle for yellow on the bottom of the screen. I wonder if people who think they don't have the yellow really do have it but just don't notice it or care.

Hmm, I'm a bit confused about what to do. Although I love the mac operating system, I'm very seriously considering just returning this computer and getting a thinkpad.

I hear you, man. I'm on my third MBP. Though it's the best one yet, it still has the yellow tint and it's unacceptable.

I called AppleCare and he wants me to send it in for a repair, and I am not comfortable sending a brand new computer in for repair, so I'll ask for a replacement. Quite frankly, after three defective (or are they?) screens, I am not expecting the fourth to be any different. I am expecting the fourth one to be just as bad. I feel like the people who say they have perfect screens just don't notice the yellow.

 

[techmonkey]

I feel like the people who say they have perfect screens just don't notice the yellow.

Or some people are seeing things.

 

[jjahshik32]

Oh yea there is a yellow tint just probably 75-80% of people just doesnt care and think its within spec. But as for us we know its not within spec when a previous gen hardware (the ccfl backlighting) have even coloring all around. There's gotta be something wrong with this and i'm 100% sure that just give it a few months and it'll be fixed silently because of course just like the previous problems that the 15" had such as the horizontal lines that these problems will be kept silent and just fixed when the 17" led models come out and about the same time the 15" will be fixed as well. So if your holding out either buy the 17" high res. now or just wait for the 17" led to come out or wait a few months and check out the newer 15" led i'm sure the problem will be fixed with many of the complaints they receive. Why else would apple keep releasing the macbook pro 15" software update 1.0 for "screen problems addressed specifically for led models only" and now this efi firmware. I'm just guessing that their just trying out some fixes on the beta 15" sr mbp rev. a's. *never buy rev. a's* Only thing good I found out about rev. a's are the mac pro's they are excellent =D

oh and I think in a couple-few months apple might move to change the way they produce and put together their backlighting and fix this yellowing problem. Currently its used by using a white led with a yellow phosphor and maybe they'll make their move to the all white led instead (hopefully). Why else do you think that the new dell m1330 that has the led backlighting does not have this yellow tint problem, it sure as hell is not a software problem because I loaded windows vista/xp on the 15" sr led and still shows yellowing toward the bottom and its just the way the backlighting is put together. I'm guessing dell uses a different method to putting the led backlighting together or the company that supplies the led backlighting uses the other all white led only method and apple has chose the cheaper route by using the blue led with yellow phosphor for cheap cost effective way.

I'm very disappointed in apple. Ever since the move to intel I noticed that their parts are not the best in the world anymore and while most of the hardware is very good and nice on the macbook pro's they seem to incorporate some cheap parts such as the backlighting for profits. I love apple but I can say forsure that they have become a very greedy company and even with iphone's they made it locked and a 5 year deal with at&t one of the worst companies ever for phone service, especially cell phone service just so they can squeeze every extra money that they can and I'm sure at&t paid them alot of dues for that contract and that ridiculous 2 yr. mandatory contract.

Another thing is that the same time I had the 15" sr led mbp, I saw my younger brother which is not an apple fan, use his 1st gen dell e1705 with duo core and even his lcd monitor the non wuxga looked better than my mbp that cost 2500+ with even lighting with no problems with colors and that made my decision about returning it. Even my brother who is not picky at all and has a beat up and dirtied dell even noticed the yellowness on my mbp (lg screen 4th exchanged) and I was surprised he was using my laptop for a few min and after his eyes focused and was on google search he said " wow the screen is bright but why is it yellowish on the bottom compared to the top". That made my decision.

Sorry another last thing is that I remember the powerbooks, man they were of higher quality in my opinion. Maybe apple had better pricing and got the g3 and g4 chipsets cheaper from either motorola or ibm and so they could include higher grade lcd panels and other parts and now since intel has many other customers and their pricings are a bit higher than the usual for apple, that this made apple turn to cheaper parts for the laptops as to the powerbooks too meet the standard quo or even higher.

 

[techmonkey]

*never buy rev. a's* Only thing good I found out about rev. a's are the mac pro's they are excellent =D

LOL, these are not Rev A MBPs. Sure the LED screen is different, but the system itself is not. If you consider this a Rev A, then there are never any Rev B, C, etc.

 

[jjahshik32]

LOL and if you believe that you DONT have this problem try this. make sure you open a all black color background in the total darkness and try this tilt your mbp so you can see the edge of the top bezel where the isight cam is and see the light leaking out? It is white, and try to look at the bottom the same way at the edge where the word "macbook pro" is see the light leakage just tilt your screen so you can see the light leakage all monitors have some sort of light leakage especially in the dark with an all black screen. I can tell you 100% that leakage on the bottom will be a yellowish toned color light compared as to the white/bluish on the top. And there you have it apple has used the cheaper blue led with the yellow phosphor on the bottom. So its basically use the most expensive ccfl backlighting could offer or use the cheapest led parts and crappier backlighting offered because the 15" just came out a bit too early. Notice how other companies are just now announced the same size led backlit screens. Just wait until they iron it out!!

These are considered rev. a with a newer graphics card and a totally different chipset and motherboard, click on the top corner blue apple and click about this mac and then on the bottom "more info." Notice how it saids under, model identifier "macbook pro 3,1. 3rd gen 1st rev. rev a~ And yes I have bought the rev. a mbp 17" as well for the new motherboard and gpu that the 15" has but has the ccfl backlighting that it always had and in the past 17" always never exhibited any real problems, could it be that the problems were ironed out as much due to it being for the absolute professionals?

Thank You i'm done now.. lol too many glass of wine...=+++_)

 

[aliquis-]

Or some people are seeing things.

Well, the people who says "Oh, I see the yellow tint!" and "When I look from the sides I see it" really are...

Thought some people says it's yellow on the bottom 1/3 even if you look straight forward so I guess one have to belive them.

 

[hexonxonx]

Well, the people who says "Oh, I see the yellow tint!" and "When I look from the sides I see it" really are...

Thought some people says it's yellow on the bottom 1/3 even if you look straight forward so I guess one have to belive them.

I get that slight yellow hue when I view my screen at an angle from the left or right or stand up and look down at it. It's no big deal, I don't use my MBP at any of those angles. Straight on, the screen looks good.

 

[jjahshik32]

well most people here are talking about the yellow tint towards the bottom is looking directly straight on and NOT from the side or any angle. Honestly if I viewed the mbp from the side angles and it looked like absolute ***** I couldnt care less because I use the laptop from looking straight on. And looking straight on which 99.99999% of the time yes there is a yellowish tint towards the bottom as to the top half.

 

[amitface]

After having three MBPs with the yellow tint, and talking to Apple Care, the support guy who kept in touch with me said he heard back from Apple Engineering and they think they can fix it. While I'm not counting on it, I'm going to give it a shot. Hurts, though, sending a week old computer in for repair

 

[Streitzguy]

After having three MBPs with the yellow tint, and talking to Apple Care, the support guy who kept in touch with me said he heard back from Apple Engineering and they think they can fix it. While I'm not counting on it, I'm going to give it a shot. Hurts, though, sending a week old computer in for repair

Be careful with that. After I had mine "repaired" Apple told me that I couldn't return/replace my computer. I had to call Apple numerous times and finally I got a nice person who was sympathetic with my situation.

 

[jjahshik32]

has anyone recently received a new mbp 15" led manufactured in july that checked for the yellow hue on the bottom??

 

[Burnsey]

Today I went to Staples, and they had a 15inch SR MBP on display. So I tested for all the problems people are having and I have got to say I would never trade my C2D 09C60 display for the LED one. First off I was expecting the backlighting to be more even than my display (which I consider pretty bad but better than most 9C60s Ive seen) but it was just as bad, it was darker towards the bottom and around the sides and brighter towards the center. There was slight backlight bleeding as well, at the bottom, but nothing compared to my display. I tested for the yellow banding and I found it to be pretty obvious with a white/light gray background. The bottom of the screen had a slight yellow to it (could see that becoming annoying really fast). Then I tested for the flicker/shimmer and boy was that annoying. Under full brightness it was not noticeable, but one notch below that (on a solid grey background) and I could see distinct "waves" moving up and down. I wouldn't say it was flickering (more like shimmering) but there was definitely something wrong, and it was the worst towards the upper right corner. The brightness I would say was the same as my display, viewing angles were definitely worse though, and much worse than the macbook on display. At an angle the colors become very yellow and at an even greater angle they would wash out completely, leaving black, this did not happen with the macbook or my own MBP display.

The default color profile is definitely warmer than mine, it would probably get very tiring staring at a yellowish display all the time, and seeing as I have no idea how to calibrate displays, it would probably be a big hassle for me to change the profile.

anyways that's my experience.

 

[amitface]

Be careful with that. After I had mine "repaired" Apple told me that I couldn't return/replace my computer. I had to call Apple numerous times and finally I got a nice person who was sympathetic with my situation.

I've actually decided to go ahead and get a refund. It took a few calls to get them to let me return my defective item which was replaced three times, but I spoke to a manager and he didn't hesitate. It's too bad my Apple Experience (which lasted a total of one month) had to end like this, but I just didn't have the time or patience to deal with it anymore. I must have picked a bad time to switch.

Good luck to all of you with your computers. Hopefully you get a good one.

 

[powermac_daddy]

I've actually decided to go ahead and get a refund. It took a few calls to get them to let me return my defective item which was replaced three times, but I spoke to a manager and he didn't hesitate. It's too bad my Apple Experience (which lasted a total of one month) had to end like this, but I just didn't have the time or patience to deal with it anymore. I must have picked a bad time to switch.

Good luck to all of you with your computers. Hopefully you get a good one.

My second 15" SR MBP will be here in on Friday. I know this one is going to be just as f__ked up as the first one.

I am ready to call Apple Care anytime and I am going to make a reservation at the Genius Bar very soon.

 

[pandayoghurt]

returned my second 15" yesterday and asked for a refund. Waiting till apple resolves this problem and actually supply people with a screen with no colour differentiation from the top to the bottom. Also don't want to receive a repackaged faulty machine just because they have ltd stock.

 

[Alloye]

Just to be clear, there are good 15.4" SR MBP displays out there that don't suffer from yellow tint at the bottom. I know. I have one. I've examined it very carefully. I've had other people examine it. The white at the top is the same as the white at the bottom. It's a 9C67 LG matte.

 

[jellz]

yeah i dont get the yellowish tint at the bottom...only from side angles.

 

[techmonkey]

Just to be clear, there are good 15.4" SR MBP displays out there that don't suffer from yellow tint at the bottom. I know. I have one. I've examined it very carefully. I've had other people examine it. The white at the top is the same as the white at the bottom. It's a 9C67 LG matte.

Ditto here.

 

[Block]

Just to be clear, there are good 15.4" SR MBP displays out there that don't suffer from yellow tint at the bottom. I know. I have one. I've examined it very carefully. I've had other people examine it. The white at the top is the same as the white at the bottom. It's a 9C67 LG matte.

Most of the problems seem to be with the Samsung models.

However, with certain color profiles, you can fool yourself into not seeing it either (for most people anyways).

 

[jonaseriksson]

Just got my first replacement. It too has the yellow tint (and it too is a Samsung). Also, in certain colours/hues I can see vertical lines (static) in the screen, like those pixles are brighter then their neighbours above.

Build week seems to be 28.

I'm like the wife that stays with her abusing husband (Apple) - somewhere beliving that we could still have a functioning relationship.

(Either that, or it's the Stockholm Syndrome someone mentioned in another thread).

 

[Dark Goob]

I'm on my second screen. First one was horrible, had it replaced. Second one (shown above) is worse. Totally uneven along the bottom edge. Significant yellowing.

Apple needs to fix their s&*(!!! This is totally unacceptable. Screw the iPhone!!! If they can't make a computer right they don't need to be making phones!

-=DG=-

 

[techmonkey]

Did you take that picture at an angle??

Also, what program is that download window from? It looks like Firefox, but slightly different.

 

[PDE]

Can you post a picture of the display showing whites instead of the grey?

 

[Dark Goob]

Can you post a picture of the display showing whites instead of the grey?

Here you go: above is a plain white canvas in Photoshop, full-screen. This was taken with a Canon EOS 30D on auto white balance settings. My monitor is calibrated to D50 using Expert Mode. You can clearly see a very uneven bar going across the bottom 1/3 of the screen. But overall it is just very uneven.

Even on the default color profile, it looks the same, don't worry. It's not the profile. But I'll post a pic using the default profile if it will make your brain happy.

PS -- The weird color banding that you see (red/green vertical banding) is not visible during the use of the screen. I suspect it is an artifact caused by the fact that the shutter-speed of the 30D (1/100 sec) is fast enough to capture the refresh rate. But the brightness variations are clearly visible to the human eye.

UPDATE: This is a Samsung screen I have, BTW.

-=DG=-