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Staingate?

P

PaulWog

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Original poster
Jun 28, 2011
700
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It seems like their website has about 1700 or so people who have signed up. There's really an extremely limited number of pictures and videos to look at online, relative to how serious the website makes the issue out to be. Were this to be a widespread issue, I would think Apple would do something about it. If this is a small issue (say a 0.01% manufacturing error), I would still think Apple would provide warranty services regardless of the purchase date.

I'm curious about whether this is actually something to worry about.
 
PaulWog said:
That's really not the question. The question is if this is a serious problem. I do not know.
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Apple had been selling retina MacBook Pros since 2012. There is a website with 1700 complaints. How many million other rMBP users do you think there are that either don't have the issue or its so minor that they haven't even noticed it?

It isn't a problem worth worrying about, in my opinion.
 
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Take a look at the Facebook group and the Apple Support forum. I know of three people personally that have this problem.
 
I've seen this before; slimey stuff left over from cleaning the screen with cleaning products. A good buff gets rid of it. Dismiss it, they've done it themselves and can't be bothered cleaning it up; Apple are right to show them the door.
 
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Does anyone know if these "stains" are caused by cleaning the screen? I'm purchasing a MBPr and this is one of the little issues in addition to the UI lag problem that is holding me off. I feel like it's common sense to not use chemicals on the screen like this. Maybe for conventional monitors but definitely not for laptop screens. According to Apple, one should not "[...] use aerosol sprays, solvents, abrasives, or cleaners containing hydrogen peroxide that might damage the finish". I feel like "staingate" is bs but... I don't know who to believe :/

Edit: From what I have seem, the issue is because people are wiping their screens with chemicals or abrasive cloths. Alcohol wipes seem to be a big culprit. I don't know anybody in their right mind who would wipe their screen with alcohol wipes like that. What exactly are these people doing that makes their screens so dirty?
 
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TapticJab said:
Edit: From what I have seem, the issue is because people are wiping their screens with chemicals or abrasive cloths. Alcohol wipes seem to be a big culprit. I don't know anybody in their right mind who would wipe their screen with alcohol wipes like that. What exactly are these people doing that makes their screens so dirty?
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I don't use alcohol wipes but I can understand why other people might. I suspect most would consider bleach to be inappropriate but I see why alcohol wipes might be thought of as innocuous and inert, they can be used on skin and many surfaces without causing harm.
 
I always clean my Early-2013 rMBP's screen with its bundled microfiber cloth. Just spray a small amount of water on it. Didn't note any issue yet.
 
steve23094 said:
I don't use alcohol wipes but I can understand why other people might. I suspect most would consider bleach to be inappropriate but I see why alcohol wipes might be thought of as innocuous and inert, they can be used on skin and many surfaces without causing harm.
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Ah, that makes sense. With the way they are used in general, I can see how that could happen.
 
PaulWog said:
It seems like their website has about 1700 or so people who have signed up. There's really an extremely limited number of pictures and videos to look at online, relative to how serious the website makes the issue out to be. Were this to be a widespread issue, I would think Apple would do something about it. If this is a small issue (say a 0.01% manufacturing error), I would still think Apple would provide warranty services regardless of the purchase date.

I'm curious about whether this is actually something to worry about.
Click to expand...

I would primarily attribute this issue to "user error". You shouldn't use any abrasive materials or common cleaning chemicals on any notebook screen. There was someone mentioning that they had this issue happen due to something they called "sun damage".. don't even get me started.
 
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I'm not surprised that people who hasn't been following this case much attribute this to user error. I did too.

However, if you actually take the time to research a bit more and read the many testimonies online (there's even a video demonstrating the problem -- not sure how legit that is though), it may convince you that this may likely be a product detect. Many people facing the problem claim that they have been taking very very good care of their Macbook and only clean the screen with the provided cloth and distilled water.

Note: what seems to be clear is that this issue only affects the retina Macbooks.
 
Having seen some of the patterns on the website that appear to mirror keyboards and palmrests, I wonder if there's some kind of friction whilst the laptop is closed and in a bag - after a while that could start rubbing off the antireflective coating...
 
I had the same concern and nearly went with a surface pro 3 instead. In the end, I knew I would hate having Windows 8 on my main machine so I went with the retina mac. No problems yet, but it hasn't even been 6 months yet. I'm hoping some of these Applenutswingers are correct and the problem isn't very widespread.
 
don't spray the screen directly just mist a small amount on the microfiber and wipe the screen. fold the microfiber and wipe with the dry side, whats so complicated? lol
 
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great high wolf said:
Having seen some of the patterns on the website that appear to mirror keyboards and palmrests, I wonder if there's some kind of friction whilst the laptop is closed and in a bag - after a while that could start rubbing off the antireflective coating...
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to believe the theory that it's a result of a transfer of sweat/dirt/oil from user's hands onto the trackpad and keyboard which is then transferred to the screen. Something in that sweat/dirt/oil is causing a reaction with the anti-reflective coating on the screen, causing it to weaken/breakdown, which then causes it to come off when people clean the screen.

If it's true, then people should try not to eat while using their system, or at the very least wipe their hands or wash them before touching the keyboard/trackpad.

Same sort of thing that was causing the aluminum in some systems beside the trackpad to become pitted over time.
 
Just use a microfiber cleaning cloth. Don't use chemicals on your screens, ever.

I wanna know what the hell these people used to clean their screens.
 
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duervo said:
I'm inclined to believe the theory that it's a result of a transfer of sweat/dirt/oil from user's hands onto the trackpad and keyboard which is then transferred to the screen. Something in that sweat/dirt/oil is causing a reaction with the anti-reflective coating on the screen, causing it to weaken/breakdown, which then causes it to come off when people clean the screen.

If it's true, then people should try not to eat while using their system, or at the very least wipe their hands or wash them before touching the keyboard/trackpad.

Same sort of thing that was causing the aluminum in some systems beside the trackpad to become pitted over time.
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Tell me about it, my old MacBook Air had HUGE indents in it from resting my hand on it all the time. It's like someone took a scraper and scraped a hole in the sides of the Mac.
 
I recently purchased a 2014 rmbp, and did not clean the screen yet.

Not long ago, I touched by mistake the screen with a finger, in the exact bottom-right corner of the screen, on the black border. Immediately, a trace was clearly visible, and is still is exactly the same after several days. I didn't try using a soft cloth so check if I could make it disappear, as I worry to make it worse. It is not problematic at this point since the surface affected is very small but it made me very wary of cleaning of this screen and possible problems.

I'm using my mbp mostly in clamshell mode so I don't have to clean the screen often, but the day I will have to, I will be literally scared to destroy the screen, or more specifically, it's coating.
 
bobbie424242 said:
I recently purchased a 2014 rmbp, and did not clean the screen yet.

Not long ago, I touched by mistake the screen with a finger, in the exact bottom-right corner of the screen, on the black border. Immediately, a trace was clearly visible, and is still is exactly the same after several days. I didn't try using a soft cloth so check if I could make it disappear, as I worry to make it worse. It is not problematic at this point since the surface affected is very small but it made me very wary of cleaning of this screen and possible problems.

I'm using my mbp mostly in clamshell mode so I don't have to clean the screen often, but the day I will have to, I will be literally scared to destroy the screen, or more specifically, it's coating.
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Of course you'll see traces, that's your fingerprint smeared out over the screen. You're better off just wiping it with a microfiber cleaning cloth than letting it stay on there for a long time.
 
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