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Was poised to order a MBP13", but...

D

deanshu

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 7, 2008
73
0
Okay, so I was poised to order a new MBP 13" after hearing they updated the screen to have a 60% greater gamut. (I had previously returned my unibody Macbook last December after not being able to live with the low quality screen; I had loved everything else but it was that intolerable.) The longer battery life of the newer model seemed appealing as well.

However, several things are making me re-think my decision. First of all, I'm hearing stuff about throttled SATA speeds. This has me a little worried, as though I'm going to be getting the base model with the hard drive, I was planning on upgrading in the future to a SSD. Do you guys think this is a hardware issue or a software issue? How big of an issue is it?

Also, another thing that has got me a little bit worried (okay, a LOT worried) is about a display where the blues seem like purple and whatnot. Apparently it "looks like when you turn up that one artificial option in the nVidia control panel", as one forumer stated. What alarms me even more is the fact that someone said they contacted Apple support and they said that it was supposed to look like that and that's what 60% greater color gamut was supposed to look like. What are your thoughts? Do some notebooks have a normal screen while others have that "unnaturally vivid" screen?

One last thing - I'm most likely boarding a flight to Taiwan in the beginning of July, and I want to be able to have a laptop to carry over there (since I'll be there for a month and I need a computer with a nice display to edit pictures on, as I'm pretty heavy into photography). When Apple announced the new laptops, I naturally thought, "what luck!" and was planning on making the purchase. What are YOUR thoughts about how fast these issues can be fixed? If I buy in June off of, say, eBay, and it turns out the computer has defects such as stated above or other defect(s), can I have the unit repaired by Apple once I return from the trip (mid August) if a fix is out by then?

What would be my course of action if this is what happens (basically tl;dr version of the paragraph directly above):
Buy from eBay
Land a Macbook Pro with a bad screen and/or throttled SATA
Live with the defects and take the computer to Taiwan for a month
Come back, find out Apple has issued a fix

I obviously can't return it to the eBay seller, but how would Apple take care of the problem?

Thank you so much for reading that massive wall of text and I look forward to seeing what you guys think about it.
 
There's already a mountain sized amount of threads on this, please try to stick to using those, rather than creating another thread on the same topic.
 
Schtumple said:
There's already a mountain sized amount of threads on this, please try to stick to using those, rather than creating another thread on the same topic.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, if you read my thread you would realize that there are other unrelated questions I mentioned.
 
deanshu said:
Okay, so I was poised to order a new MBP 13" after hearing they updated the screen to have a 60% greater gamut. (I had previously returned my unibody Macbook last December after not being able to live with the low quality screen; I had loved everything else but it was that intolerable.) The longer battery life of the newer model seemed appealing as well.

However, several things are making me re-think my decision. First of all, I'm hearing stuff about throttled SATA speeds. This has me a little worried, as though I'm going to be getting the base model with the hard drive, I was planning on upgrading in the future to a SSD. Do you guys think this is a hardware issue or a software issue? How big of an issue is it?

Also, another thing that has got me a little bit worried (okay, a LOT worried) is about a display where the blues seem like purple and whatnot. Apparently it "looks like when you turn up that one artificial option in the nVidia control panel", as one forumer stated. What alarms me even more is the fact that someone said they contacted Apple support and they said that it was supposed to look like that and that's what 60% greater color gamut was supposed to look like. What are your thoughts? Do some notebooks have a normal screen while others have that "unnaturally vivid" screen?

One last thing - I'm most likely boarding a flight to Taiwan in the beginning of July, and I want to be able to have a laptop to carry over there (since I'll be there for a month and I need a computer with a nice display to edit pictures on, as I'm pretty heavy into photography). When Apple announced the new laptops, I naturally thought, "what luck!" and was planning on making the purchase. What are YOUR thoughts about how fast these issues can be fixed? If I buy in June off of, say, eBay, and it turns out the computer has defects such as stated above or other defect(s), can I have the unit repaired by Apple once I return from the trip (mid August) if a fix is out by then?

What would be my course of action if this is what happens (basically tl;dr version of the paragraph directly above):
Buy from eBay
Land a Macbook Pro with a bad screen and/or throttled SATA
Live with the defects and take the computer to Taiwan for a month
Come back, find out Apple has issued a fix

I obviously can't return it to the eBay seller, but how would Apple take care of the problem?

Thank you so much for reading that massive wall of text and I look forward to seeing what you guys think about it.
Click to expand...

I have one of the messed up screens. You do NOT want to be using one of these with Photoshop. Someone on the other side of the internet would think you're color blind if they look at some of your work on a normal screen.

Perhaps you should go to an Apple Store and open it in front of them and give it a run instead of buying it online because that could turn into a hassle.

As far as the SSD issue I don't think there's a problem. You didn't talk about what you did on the computer itself besides heavy photography stuff and as far as that goes I can see absolutely no problems.

This has been stated a million times but the MBP 13" is amazing especially for the price. Just make sure you get a good screen.
 
spaceboots06 said:
I have one of the messed up screens. You do NOT want to be using one of these with Photoshop. Someone on the other side of the internet would think you're color blind if they look at some of your work on a normal screen.

Perhaps you should go to an Apple Store and open it in front of them and give it a run instead of buying it online because that could turn into a hassle.

As far as the SSD issue I don't think there's a problem. You didn't talk about what you did on the computer itself besides heavy photography stuff and as far as that goes I can see absolutely no problems.

This has been stated a million times but the MBP 13" is amazing especially for the price. Just make sure you get a good screen.
Click to expand...

My main concern was whether Apple or not considered the flawed screens "normal". I'm sure Apple support is excellent, and if the screen was considered defective, they wouldn't hesitate to replace it.

Here's a scenario I'm considering: Me buying the 13"MBP from either eBay or MacConnection, and ending up with a bad screen.

Could I take that MBP to the local Apple Retail store and get it replaced, even though Apple didn't sell it to me directly?

Thanks for the really helpful information thus far!
 
entatlrg said:
Photography, traveling, you're looking for a good high quality notebook ...

GO buy the 13" MBP right away and enjoy it !!!
Click to expand...

I can honestly appreciate what you're trying to say, but screen quality is of utmost importance to me (considering the fact that I'm highly involved in graphic design and photography). In fact, as I mentioned in the original post, I returned the Macbook unibody I got last December due to the sub-screen.

I was hoping for a change, but more and more people are complaining about a screen that swaps purple for blue - for someone who's doing the sort of work I'm doing, it's extremely serious.
 
Schtumple said:
All of which could've been asked in other pre-existing threads.
Click to expand...

Yea but when a thread gets to long (yea it's possible) they become unusable. I rather like smaller threads like this, faster flow of information. Meaning I can access the information I'm looking for, faster. So just lay off would you? It's a forum, just ignore the thread if you think it's redundant. I can't stand forum NAZIS.
 
PolySciSurfer said:
Yea but when a thread gets to long (yea it's possible) they become unusable. I rather like smaller threads like this, faster flow of information. Meaning I can access the information I'm looking for, faster. So just lay off would you? It's a forum, just ignore the thread if you think it's redundant. I can't stand forum NAZIS.
Click to expand...

Co-sign (a little bit).


This thread is helpful to me, considering the OP asked all the questions I wanted to ask.

+1 for that. :)
 
PolySciSurfer said:
Yea but when a thread gets to long (yea it's possible) they become unusable. I rather like smaller threads like this, faster flow of information. Meaning I can access the information I'm looking for, faster. So just lay off would you? It's a forum, just ignore the thread if you think it's redundant. I can't stand forum NAZIS.
Click to expand...

ecstasy said:
Co-sign (a little bit).


This thread is helpful to me, considering the OP asked all the questions I wanted to ask.

+1 for that. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the support guys, really appreciate it.

But can anyone answer my question of whether or not Apple will service or replace a product I bought off of eBay or MacConnection? Apple's retail price is significantly more expensive than other vendors, and for some of those other vendors, I don't have to pay tax as well.
 
Schtumple said:
There's already a mountain sized amount of threads on this, please try to stick to using those, rather than creating another thread on the same topic.
Click to expand...

Noone asked you to click on it and then waste more time replying with a stupid post. I'm so tired of these 'advice giving' responses.

Why do you give a **** if there's 1 or 100 threads on the same topic anyway? If people want to start a new thread and other people want to respond - that's their prerogative and none of your business!

Sorry - this has become a sore point with me. Too many junior 'moderators wanna be' around here ther days. Ask away! (I don't really have an answer to your question but support your right to ask it :) :) )

eV
 
As long as your computer comes with Applecare, they will service it. To be safe you might want to buy from an authorized reseller.

There is an Apple store in Taiwan too if you can get to it. You can also get English phone support in Asia, so if you have a problem you might not need to wait til you get back to fix it.
 
eVolcre said:
Noone asked you to click on it and then waste more time replying with a stupid post. I'm so tired of these 'advice giving' responses.

Why do you give a **** if there's 1 or 100 threads on the same topic anyway? If people want to start a new thread and other people want to respond - that's their prerogative and none of your business!

Sorry - this has become a sore point with me. Too many junior 'moderators wanna be' around here ther days. Ask away! (I don't really have an answer to your question but support your right to ask it :) :) )

eV
Click to expand...

I find it ironic that you're complaining about me complaining... :p

And it irks me to see forum spy filled with a multitude of different threads all on the same topic, it's like the days of the "only one of my iPhone speakers works", or "Black or white macbook", it's all the same questions, just nobody wants to search.

Anyway, mini rant over, unsubscribing from thread, enjoy the same responses over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.
 
deanshu said:
I can honestly appreciate what you're trying to say, but screen quality is of utmost importance to me (considering the fact that I'm highly involved in graphic design and photography).
Click to expand...

If it's that critical, you might want to pick up a non-unibody MBP that's often available on Apple's refurbished site. Better displays, including a matte option.
 
If you are really serious about photography, you need to calibrate your screen using a hardware calibrator, not adjusting it by eye. I have a new MBP with the 9CBD screen and it looks beautiful after calibration with my ColorEyes Display Pro HW & SW. This is probably the best, most sophisticated calibration solution available, and is $300 for a bundle with the software and the Spyder 3 colorimeter (sw license is good for 3 computers). In my experience it gives results far better than other solutions. The gamut is wider with the LED backlights, and certain colors WILL look slightly different than folks are used to seeing with low cost FL panels.

If you are a serious photographer, buy the calibration package and be done with it
 
I think people are kind of misunderstanding me. I'm not saying ALL Macbook displays are flawed and Apple isn't admitting it; I'm saying that SOME of the displays are flawed (more specifically, ones with a 9C9F screen) and how I would go about replacing it if I had an issue.

Thanks
 
Dude. Seriously. Get it together. You want a MBP. Go buy one. If the screen sucks, to it back to Apple and show them. Now that the 13" is part of the Pro line of laptops, you can tell them you are getting the Pro because you are looking for a professional grade machine. Professional means a good display for graphics work.

By waiting, all you are doing is missing out on using a superb machine.
 
deanshu said:
I can honestly appreciate what you're trying to say, but screen quality is of utmost importance to me (considering the fact that I'm highly involved in graphic design and photography). In fact, as I mentioned in the original post, I returned the Macbook unibody I got last December due to the sub-screen.

I was hoping for a change, but more and more people are complaining about a screen that swaps purple for blue - for someone who's doing the sort of work I'm doing, it's extremely serious.
Click to expand...

You're freaking out over nothing. Most poeple who post on forums are those with issues. There is a larger proportion of people who have received their 13 MBP with no issues and are enjoying the heck out of them right now. Don't read these forums and think that 80% of the new MBPs have bad screens. Order from apple directly so if there are issues there is some recourse. I would order the computer and just think positive!
 
CalMin said:
Dude. Seriously. Get it together. You want a MBP. Go buy one. If the screen sucks, to it back to Apple and show them. Now that the 13" is part of the Pro line of laptops, you can tell them you are getting the Pro because you are looking for a professional grade machine. Professional means a good display for graphics work.

By waiting, all you are doing is missing out on using a superb machine.
Click to expand...

It was what I was about to do, but I'm trying to approach this situation with some caution after my last fiasco with the unibody Macbook screen issue in December.

Tallest Skil said:
No sane person who requires color accuracy is going to be using a laptop screen, anyway. They'll plug a laptop into an external H-IPS display, but using the built-in screen? Hmm.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty certain I won't have space in my suitcase to pack a IPS/non TN display, so I'm trying to make-do with a 60% higher gamut display.

8theapple said:
You're freaking out over nothing. Most poeple who post on forums are those with issues. There is a larger proportion of people who have received their 13 MBP with no issues and are enjoying the heck out of them right now. Don't read these forums and think that 80% of the new MBPs have bad screens. Order from apple directly so if there are issues there is some recourse. I would order the computer and just think positive!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement.
 
Hmm, some interesting info about returns. Apparently when you buy a product from Apple's online store you can't return it at a brick and mortar Apple store, only online... how inconvenient.

* You are chatting with Rachel R, an Apple Expert

*

Hi, my name is Rachel R. Welcome to Apple!
*

Rachel R: Good afternoon.
*

Rachel R: Would you like some assistance with your shopping?
*

You: Hi Rachel
*

You: I was wondering, I'm hearing things about a Macbook Pro 13" display having "neon like" colors as well as a throttled SATA speed
*

You: If I purchase a MBP 13" and an iPod touch 8GB using the back to school promotion
*

You: and the MBP 13" turns out to carry those issues mentioned above,
*

You: can I take the MBP to a nearby Apple store for an exchange?
*

Rachel R: If you purchase it here online, it must be returned online.
*

You: Thanks for the info, and one more quick question
*

You: If I buy from an authorized dealer such as MacConnection, and it turns out to have an issue, would I get it serviced at an Apple Store or would I send it back to MacConnection?
*

Rachel R: You would call our AppleCare Department and they would handle, as it is under warranty.
*

You: Great, thanks for the information!
 
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