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Does your November 2018 MacBook Pro have a flickering problem?

  • Vega 20, yes

    Votes: 42 54.5%
  • Vega 20, no

    Votes: 33 42.9%
  • Vega 16, yes

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Vega 16, no

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    77

bmp5000

macrumors member
Jan 1, 2019
32
11
I never had flickering on my external monitor. What I tried after my HD monitor was to use another display that could only scale to 720p. Then I lowered the resolution on my laptop to try to match the display. I can't remember what I lowered it to, but it was somewhere around 1280X720, and yes, after all of this I still got flickering on the laptop.
 

tho-do

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2017
2
0
This thread made me insecure about a decision. I wanted to order a new 15‘ MBP tonight with i7 (2,6), 32 GB and Vega 20. Now I am thinking if I should prefer the 560x over the Vega? What would you do?
 

Sephiroth0

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
34
10
If you need the GPU performance and you are not changing the scaling (or just having patiance unitl Apple fixes the issue by a macOS update) I suggest to go for Vega. I wouldn't sacrifice higher performance and better thermals only due to a software bug.
 
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bmp5000

macrumors member
Jan 1, 2019
32
11
If you need the GPU performance and you are not changing the scaling (or just having patiance unitl Apple fixes the issue by a macOS update) I suggest to go for Vega. I wouldn't sacrifice higher performance and better thermals only due to a software bug.

It's not a "software bug". It's an issue with the GPU. No way I'd buy the Vega units right now. I had two and both had the screen flicker.
 

Sephiroth0

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
34
10
It's not a "software bug". It's an issue with the GPU. No way I'd buy the Vega units right now. I had two and both had the screen flicker.

As mentioned before - I had exactly the same issue with my Mac Pro 2013 when installing high sierra. On standard scaling setting it was fine but as soon as I've changed to another scaling the flickering started. After the next update the issue was gone. Also before installing high sierra I've never experienced issues on my Mac Pro using sierra or older macOSs. Same happens now with the MBP - the issue started with Mojave from a certain version on. You can swap your hardware 1000 times - as long as you are using the same macOS version the issue persists. Your experience with swapping devices and remaining issue is exactly the indication that it's a SW resp. driver issue, not hardware. In the end it't up to you guys - this is just my experience and opinion (as el. engineer having many years experience in HW development).
 
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Ploki

macrumors 601
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
It's not a "software bug". It's an issue with the GPU. No way I'd buy the Vega units right now. I had two and both had the screen flicker.
the 560X also had it, mine... they said it was Software. And then refunded me after 2 months. :D
 

lnikj

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2012
63
36
If this is not fixed in software then you or I will have grounds for a replacement or there will need to be a recall.

At the moment my screen is even, my audio problems are largely fixed in the latest beta and I have never had a KP so I assume that I have a good copy.

Not going to kick up a fuss just yet about a screen mode that I don't use.

-----------------------

Famous last words: I just phoned Apple. The problem is hardware.
 
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my_mac_flickers_wtf_apple

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2019
22
2
So after 5 days of setting my MBP screen to native resolution I had zero screen flickers outside of a couple I noticed in chrome (I know some users are having some issues with chrome flickering as well independent of VEGA).

Again my monitors' 1080P (didn't change res) never flickered and still haven't.

Anyone else input?
 

Farfooz

macrumors member
Jan 20, 2009
91
11
So after 5 days of setting my MBP screen to native resolution I had zero screen flickers outside of a couple I noticed in chrome (I know some users are having some issues with chrome flickering as well independent of VEGA).

Again my monitors' 1080P (didn't change res) never flickered and still haven't.

Anyone else input?
Can confirm, have had 0 flickers over past couple weeks on native resolution or external displays in comparison to before on a scaled resolution. This absolutely means it is a software issue since it did not occur prior to 10.14.2
 

lnikj

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2012
63
36
Can confirm, have had 0 flickers over past couple weeks on native resolution or external displays in comparison to before on a scaled resolution. This absolutely means it is a software issue since it did not occur prior to 10.14.2

Are you saying it did NOT occur before 10.14.2 on medium resolution ?

Are you saying that it does NOT occur now on medium resolution ?

Because of my eyesight I needed to run medium resolution and it was definitely occurring there in 10.14.2, 10.14.3 beta 4 and after an Apple tech on the phone had me install the latest firmware.

He said it was a hardware fault and that I should return it (which I did).
 

my_mac_flickers_wtf_apple

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2019
22
2
Can confirm, have had 0 flickers over past couple weeks on native resolution or external displays in comparison to before on a scaled resolution. This absolutely means it is a software issue since it did not occur prior to 10.14.2

Hey Farfooz,

Funnily enough right after I posted that I got the dreaded flicker on my mac screen at native res (my monitor is fine) while playing music via iTunes.

I seem to get it a lot a lot less at native res and almost never get it when I'm using the laptop without another monitor hooked up - perhaps thats why we get a 50/50 split? I'm guessing a decent amount of people use it in clamshell/alone without a monitor.

Gonna play around with it in 10.14.3 and see what happens - Apple gave me another week or so to do an exchange.
[doublepost=1548235039][/doublepost]
10.14.3 is out today. Anyone notice any improvement after updating?

Did your flickers occur when the mac was attached to the monitor?
 

Farfooz

macrumors member
Jan 20, 2009
91
11
Are you saying it did NOT occur before 10.14.2 on medium resolution ?

Are you saying that it does NOT occur now on medium resolution ?

Because of my eyesight I needed to run medium resolution and it was definitely occurring there in 10.14.2, 10.14.3 beta 4 and after an Apple tech on the phone had me install the latest firmware.

He said it was a hardware fault and that I should return it (which I did).

I was NOT getting any display flickers prior to 10.14.2 on the resolution 1440x900 scale (I used the computer for over 3 weeks before updating). After updating to 10.14.2, I began getting flickers on that resolution (1440x900) immediately within 5 minutes of normal use. So yes, it does occur now at that "medium" resolution.

However, once I switched to the "Default 1680x1050" resolution a couple of weeks later, I no longer was getting any flickers at all and have not gotten one since. I use my computer for about 10 hours a day for work in GPU intensive programs such as After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator to the basics such as Mail, Safari, Chrome, Sublime Text and such.

I would also like to note that I do NOT use any external monitors. I am simply stating for the case of the internal display included in the MacBook Pro with no external monitors attached ever. I am not sure how the MacBook Pro handles scaling external monitors (my gut is saying it handles it the same as scaling the internal, which is why it is producing the same flicker as a result of the software bug), but want to clarify that I do not use an external monitor for this laptop and never have.

Hey Farfooz,

Funnily enough right after I posted that I got the dreaded flicker on my mac screen at native res (my monitor is fine) while playing music via iTunes.

I seem to get it a lot a lot less at native res and almost never get it when I'm using the laptop without another monitor hooked up - perhaps thats why we get a 50/50 split? I'm guessing a decent amount of people use it in clamshell/alone without a monitor.

Gonna play around with it in 10.14.3 and see what happens - Apple gave me another week or so to do an exchange.
[doublepost=1548235039][/doublepost]

Did your flickers occur when the mac was attached to the monitor?

I don't use any external monitors unfortunately (nor do I have any at the moment that I could test with), but I was getting it as mentioned earlier in this post reply to Inikj. But I am guessing the software for resolution scaling is affecting them based on your experience, which lines up with everyone else's tale/encounters on this thread! It must be when the computer is doing any resolution scaling to any display, it is going to flicker, which is a software bug, and not a hardware one considering this problem didn't exist until 10.14.2 which I can personally verify as true. I don't imagine the code to be at all different or separate for external display scaling vs internal display scaling, based on what I know and my own experience and how Apple has it configured.

10.14.3 is out today. Anyone notice any improvement after updating?

Waiting a bit before updating to make sure they didn't screw up the default resolution either with software :p
 
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my_mac_flickers_wtf_apple

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2019
22
2
Bump for good measure, is anyone getting this issue only when:

- their MBP is connected to an external monitor but doesn't do it on its own OR/AND
- when their MBP resolution is scaled (non-default)

?
 

pixel888

macrumors newbie
Feb 5, 2008
24
3
Has anyone that experienced the flickering been able to test it with 10.14.3? Would love to know if Apple has been able to fix this with the update.
 

tm0000

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2014
337
9
So, I received my new MBP... I returned the other one that had the screen flickering problem.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mbp-i9-vega-20-screen-flickering-please-read.2160041/

And this one has the same problem! I have updated to 10.14.3. I also tried different display resolutions (which didn't make any difference).

The only thing that DOES stop the flickering is when I UNCHECK "Automated graphics switching"?

The screen only flickers when in full screen mode? I don't know what to do! Updating mojave to 10.14.3 didn't help!

Oh, and I have never used an external display.

I wonder what could be wrong? Should I return this one too? :(
 

my_mac_flickers_wtf_apple

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2019
22
2
So, I received my new MBP... I returned the other one that had the screen flickering problem.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mbp-i9-vega-20-screen-flickering-please-read.2160041/

And this one has the same problem! I have updated to 10.14.3. I also tried different display resolutions (which didn't make any difference).

The only thing that DOES stop the flickering is when I UNCHECK "Automated graphics switching"?

The screen only flickers when in full screen mode? I don't know what to do! Updating mojave to 10.14.3 didn't help!

Oh, and I have never used an external display.

I wonder what could be wrong? Should I return this one too? :(

Do you use your MBP connected to an external display?
And is/are your displays set to non-native?

I got flickers only when connected to my monitor
 

tm0000

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2014
337
9
As I mentioned in my post, I have never connected to an external display and I have seen the same flickering at default resolution and scaled resolutions. (In other words the resolution does not make any difference).

Do you use your MBP connected to an external display?
And is/are your displays set to non-native?

I got flickers only when connected to my monitor
 

my_mac_flickers_wtf_apple

macrumors newbie
Jan 8, 2019
22
2
because the external display enables Vega...
not running external display defaults to UHD630.

Correct but one can still use the V20 when using the MBP alone when using a graphics-intensive app. Or even a very basic app, you have to check your about this mac (or dGPU) to see if your MBP is using the dGPU.

As I mentioned in my post, I have never connected to an external display and I have seen the same flickering at default resolution and scaled resolutions. (In other words the resolution does not make any difference).

Good point, my MBP also flickers (but a lot, a lot less) after 10.14.3 at default res on my MBP screen only. Pretty sure its a software issue seeing how this thing just popped up in the last few weeks (10.14.2)
 

ThisBougieLife

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 21, 2016
3,259
10,662
Northern California
Well that settles it for me. The Vega models are duds. I will hold onto my 2016 model. I hope the 2019 model does not have this issue too.

The significant boost in graphics power was the main reason I wanted to upgrade in the first place, but it’s not worth it if there’s a 50% chance it’ll have a flickering problem.

I guess we now play the T2 crash game and keep waiting for each new macOS update to see if it solves the problem (and inevitably it doesn’t). On to 10.14.4...
 
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dspdoc

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2017
1,954
2,360
This is scaring me. I just ordered a Vega 20 today. Maybe I should cancel it. How widespread is this?
 
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