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UPDATED: Uni MBP dust under screen, battery life 3hrs, snow on external :(

drewsof07

drewsof07

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 30, 2006
2,019
466
Ohio
So I got my unibody back in late October shortly after the update and all was dandy, I was as happy as could be. I lucked out (personal opinion) with the 9C84 screen that has very little blacklight bleed, a battery cover that's firm and stays in place, no scratches or other surface defects I've heard about.

Worst issue first: Within the last month, I have experienced a significant drop in battery life. I can only squeeze out about 3.5hr with the brightness down all the way and BT/Wifi off, only running word or powerpoint. I use the "better battery life" setting (9400m) and have calibrated it more than once within the last week. Cycle count: 19 Max Charge: 4616 mAh

I've also noticed there are a couple specks of dust between the glass and LCD screen. These were not present when I first got the computer, perhaps they were on the edge and knocked loose in my bookbag? Either way they are very annoying over my documents.

Lastly, it seems that my screen hinges are very loose. Whenever I move my computer onto my desk from elsewhere, the screen always falls backward. Also, I am completely unable to use it if sitting in a straightback chair with the computer on my knees, as it again... falls backwards.

Also, I'm having trouble with snow on my external display whenever the computer sleeps on its own and I try to wake it.

Where do you guys think I should go from here? My nearest store is 2 hours away. I think the dust & hinge issue would be difficult to show over the phone (email perhaps?). I'm becoming increasingly frustrated though...

Thanks :)
 
Whats going on?

I'm a new Mac user and I'm currently waiting to get my hands on my 17 unibody MBP. What concerns me is the dust under the screen. I have a Fujitsu T2010 Tablet PC and it gets dust under there all the time!!! It's normal and I've come to live with it, but the only way I can get the dust out is to remove the LCD cover and wipe the dust off, I do this every 6 months or so. If the new MBP has dust under it, I don't think that LCD "glass" cover comes off very nice if at all. I love macs but damn, dust under the screen. I'm willing to pay a premium for my 17" MBP it shouldn't come with dust under the screen or I shouldn't have to break it open and wipe dust off every few weeks. I would do it (if possible), but it would suck BALLS.
 
i've looked into this, and from what i can tell, there is Lots of adhesive involved. I don't plan to go there and know it's not worth the risk of nulling my applecare.
 
My hinges have always been loose, I thought that was just the way they were made. And I get the same 3.5 hours of battery, again I thought that was standard. No dust under my screen though.
Let me know how it works out for you though, good luck.
 
So does anyone think I should pursue an Applecare claim on any of those items? If so, has anyone had luck getting their screen replaced for dust? I'm sure they will argue with me that the hinges are "within technical specifications"... If you've ever had warping or other case abnormalities, you know that whole speech :rolleyes:

Outside of a battery problem last year, I've never had any of the other issues before. Most of my problems in the past have been logic board related and not as "trivial" as dust under the screen.
I opened my computer this morning to find that the dust had migrated to another part of the screen. It appears as it is free-floating inside there... UGH!:mad: What makes it worse is that it was not there when the computer arrived to me.

Edit: I also forgot to mention in the OP that my external display shows snow, like your old analog tv set when the computer sleeps, then wakes again. Very annoying in clamshell mode!!
 
Are you sure it's definitely under the screen and not just smeared on the glass? Get some water and use your cleaning cloth and rub it firmly. I'd be surprised if dust is able to freely move about at all - or is there a gap between the glass and glossy display?

3 hours battery life isn't bad either! I'll get an hour and a half to two hours if I'm using the 9600M and brightness up full. Brightness half way down on the 9400M I can get up to 3.5 - 4 hours, though I've never measured it accurately because I'll end up watching a YouTube video or something.

As for the loose hinges - how loose is it? If I pick up my MacBook Pro and tilt it vertically, the screen moves. On a flat surface (or at an angle not greater than 30 degrees) the screen is sturdy. The display is quite heavy because of the glass covering, compared to the previous gen.

The only issue I'd be concerned with is the dust - everything else is pretty much normal..
 
No, its definitely under the screen. I've used a flashlight and gotten down close, it's under the glass. I hoped it was just on top, but was sorely disappointed.

It's very loose to me, when I close the lid to about 45 degrees, it falls on its own and snaps shut.

And 3 hours really?? That is on the lowest brightness setting with no bluetooth or wifi. Only running word and powerpoint in my class that is ~4hr long...
 
drewsof07 said:
No, its definitely under the screen. I've used a flashlight and gotten down close, it's under the glass. I hoped it was just on top, but was sorely disappointed.

It's very loose to me, when I close the lid to about 45 degrees, it falls on its own and snaps shut.

And 3 hours really?? That is on the lowest brightness setting with no bluetooth or wifi. Only running word and powerpoint in my class that is ~4hr long...
Click to expand...

Ok, well you should get the dust checked. But why on earth would you use your Mac at a 45 degree angle? Mine snaps shut too, as does every other Unibody MacBook. They couldn't make the hinges any tighter otherwise you'd have trouble moving the display when MBP is sat flat.

3 hours on the 9400M?

The only issue really is the dust - and if it is definitely under the display then you have something to go with. Contact Apple and explain the situation, say it affects your work. Don't mention the loose hinges or battery life though..
 
yeah... just 3 hours is all I get on the 9400m on the 9600 it's more like <2hr. I can squeeze 3.5 out if I sleep the display when I'm not using it... That isn't normal or even functional for me, but my full charge of 4616 is normal. I am definitely going to mention it because that is my major complaint as I can't even turn it on to see the dust after 3hr ;) ha

I've been using my Powerbook lately and getting 5+ hours out of the new battery I got through the exchange. Just another reason to keep it around I suppose :)
 
Ah - well that doesn't sound too good I suppose. Let us know how you get on.
 
Have you called Apple Care about the dust? See what they have to say...I'm interested in what they have to say about the matter. If it's happening on the 15" MBP it's defiantly happening on the new 17".
 
vvti said:
I believe you are correct, as I have read about this in a few reviews. So it appears that it's a normal characteristic on the present models.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I doubt I'll convince them it's an issue. I tested several of the floor models at my nearest store last month and they had varying levels of "tension." Most were much firmer than mine though. Guess I'll pursue the dust issue as my major complaint and battery as a secondary.

I'm planning to call either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday, I'll update this post when I get some answers. Stay tuned :)
 
I had dust under the screen problem on my SR MBP 17" last year. I searched the internet and found that it was a known issue. Apple exchanged a new screen for me. I am disappointed to hear that even for the new Uni MBP, the problem remains.
 
drewsof07 said:
Yeah, I doubt I'll convince them it's an issue. I tested several of the floor models at my nearest store last month and they had varying levels of "tension." Most were much firmer than mine though. Guess I'll pursue the dust issue as my major complaint and battery as a secondary.

I'm planning to call either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday, I'll update this post when I get some answers. Stay tuned :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, no puns but if you want Apple to get your drift make sure and tell them ONE story rather than 2 different ones like you've told us so far.
In your OP you state that you can squeeze 3.5 hours with the brightness turned down with no BT or Wifi while running Powerpoint and Word.
In Post number 10 you state that you managed to get 3.5 hours with the display sleeping with no BT or Wifi and not running any apps.
Which is the right story? Are you exaggerating a bit?
 
HLdan said:
Yeah, no puns but if you want Apple to get your drift make sure and tell them ONE story rather than 2 different ones like you've told us so far.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that, guess I mushed some of my data together. I did two separate tests, one in class and the other at home. But just for the record, we'll stick with the following data from my class:
3h10mins with brightness all the way down, fans at 2krpm, word + ppt, no wifi/bluetooth and I have my display set to sleep after 3 minutes of inactivity.
At 3:10:xx into my class, I looked down to see my display black and needed to type something so I tried to wake it up but was already too late :(
 
drewsof07 said:
Sorry about that, guess I mushed some of my data together. I did two separate tests, one in class and the other at home. But just for the record, we'll stick with the following data from my class:
3h10mins with brightness all the way down, fans at 2krpm, word + ppt, no wifi/bluetooth and I have my display set to sleep after 3 minutes of inactivity.
At 3:10:xx into my class, I looked down to see my display black and needed to type something so I tried to wake it up but was already too late :(
Click to expand...

Oh, okay, it's all good, thanks for not getting offended by my post, I was just trying to figure out where we are going here.

I hate to ask this but are you having these battery issues under OS X or are you running Windows and having these issues? Windows generally eats the battery a lot in Bootcamp. If it's OS X you are running then have Apple look at it, although it doesn't sound too bad.
 
HLdan said:
Oh, okay, it's all good, thanks for not getting offended by my post, I was just trying to figure out where we are going here.

I hate to ask this but are you having these battery issues under OS X or are you running Windows and having these issues? Windows generally eats the battery a lot in Bootcamp. If it's OS X you are running then have Apple look at it, although it doesn't sound too bad.
Click to expand...

Nah, I came here for advice. I didn't realize I was being inconsistent, thanks for bringing it to my attention. :) I'd rather have it noticed here among friends than by Apple.

No bootcamp, just OS X and I monitored the temps and fan rpm regularly to be sure that wasn't where I'm losing power.

**Does anyone have the link to specs on Apple's battery testing that they can advertise 5hr? I heard with the unibody introduction the spec now reads "5hr of wireless productivity". I might be able to use this info if I can get a link.
Also, can anyone comment on the external display snow issue??

Thanks :)
 
I too have been disappointed by the battery life. Apple claims, "up to 5 hours of wireless productivity" with claims that they test it by

"The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%"

With the display brightness all the way down and all wireless cards off, we should EASILY be hitting 5 hours just using office applications.
 
Just got off the phone with Applecare, I was on hold forever while the low level tech who had to ask the product specialists for answers.
He relayed the following information to me:

Battery: He said this was the most concerning issue. Because I have calibrated the battery, and the charge cycles & capacity are all within normal limits, "it sounds like it may be a problem with the power controller on the logic board and will probably need to be replaced" which would require an entire logic board replacement.

Screen: Dust under the screen is an issue they haven't heard much about, but if the repair depot sees it as a problem they will replace the entire screen. He also said that there is a chance the snow on my external monitor could be related to a problem with the graphics processor that may be related to the power controller.

Bottom line: He said if they ended up needing to replace the screen, logic board, and battery I would just receive a replacement computer. In that instance, you can probably expect to see it in the Marketplace or on eBay ;)
 
drewsof07 said:
Just got off the phone with Applecare, I was on hold forever while the low level tech who had to ask the product specialists for answers.
He relayed the following information to me:

Battery: He said this was the most concerning issue. Because I have calibrated the battery, and the charge cycles & capacity are all within normal limits, "it sounds like it may be a problem with the power controller on the logic board and will probably need to be replaced" which would require an entire logic board replacement.

Screen: Dust under the screen is an issue they haven't heard much about, but if the repair depot sees it as a problem they will replace the entire screen. He also said that there is a chance the snow on my external monitor could be related to a problem with the graphics processor that may be related to the power controller.

Bottom line: He said if they ended up needing to replace the screen, logic board, and battery I would just receive a replacement computer. In that instance, you can probably expect to see it in the Marketplace or on eBay ;)
Click to expand...

Well it's good that they are going to look at it. I'm going to test my battery again today to see how much time I get with just wifi on and bluetooth off at 50% brightness with pages open along with a few browser windows.

Anyways, you're saying that if Apple gives you a new computer you're going to sell it off?
 
MVApple said:
Anyways, you're saying that if Apple gives you a new computer you're going to sell it off?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I just really don't need a MBP anymore. I would much rather have a MacBook + iMac setup for around the same price as a MBP
 
drewsof07 said:
Yeah, I just really don't need a MBP anymore. I would much rather have a MacBook + iMac setup for around the same price as a MBP
Click to expand...

Ahh I see. Well a MBP 15" base used sells for around 1650 with shipping on ebay. I'm not sure how much more a new one will fetch ya. Definately not enough to buy a macbook+imac unless you go used.

Anyways, I just got done calibrating my battery and I got 4:17 from it. I had my screen at 50% brightness, 5 safari webpages opened (one with 4 tabs, and one single webpage if it makes a difference), and I had two pages in Pages opened. I did very light browsing (mostly reading a long article on a single web page), and I did about two pages of typing in pages and some other typing in a forum discussion board. The computer was set to not sleep, bluetooth was off, and wifi was on the entire time. I didn't give the computer any breaks so the display was on the entire time as well.

Overall, 4 hours and 17 minutes for a 15" notebook in a 5.5lb package isn't too shabby. I think that five hours is achievable under ideal circumstances, but definitely not in typical usage conditions. I considered my use to be "light", I think a moderate work load will get me about 30 minutes less. Not bad but I think the 5 hours quoted from Apple is misleading.
 
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