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BWhaler

macrumors 68040
Jan 8, 2003
3,789
6,249
Keyboard and Trackpad are very smooth! the only problem (and it's very big) is the screen is very uneven. In the lower right hand corner there is a hot spot and all throughout the screen there are streaks of unevenness...so I will be taking this in for repair in the next week or two (once they get parts in) to get the screen replaced.

This is such a bummer.

Is Steve still running Apple? Hasn't he noticed that Apple's professional laptop screens are now the absolute worst on the market.

I have a last gen 17" PB, the generation where this problem started. I sent it to Apple, but it was returned because it's within spec.

I tool it the genius bar, and the guy out of the gate said it had to be wrong because it looked like crap.

Then we went and compared it to other 17" in the store, and the screen was the same.

The Genius said he would replace it, but odds are nothing would change.

He was embarrassed at the obvious poor quality.

When is Apple going to get their act together on the quality front? Do they not care anymore?

Anyway, I have the new 17" MBP waiting for me when I get back from traveling in a few days. It's so sad that I am going to be epically pissed off after spending $2,700 and all because this new level of crappy quality is now "within spec" at Apple.

I guess this is how Apple plans on selling computers cheaper and keeping high margins.
 

glhiii

macrumors 6502
Nov 4, 2006
287
142
17" Screen

I also have the last generation 17" Powerbook (with the high def screen). The only thing about the screen that's a bit off-putting is that the viewing angle is narrow, so you never see the whole screen at the same brightness. On the other hand, the lighting is very even, it's pretty bright, and the colors are excellent (in my opinion). I'd be interested in knowing exactly how this screen is inferior to other 17" notebooks. One thing I like is that the screen will go down quite far, unlike the 17" MBP's, whose widest opening angle is considerably less. From the pictures of the newest 17", it looks as if that's still the case.
 

atomicfuze

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2006
14
0
Poulsbo WA
I took my 17" 1.33Ghz Powerbook down to an Apple Store in the Seattle area yesterday. I knew they wouldn't have a 17" MBP C2D but I did set it next to a 15" MBP C2D and the 15" MBP was at least twice as bright. The same unevenly lit screen issue was still there but I'm pleased with the brightness upgrade.
 

eddietr

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2006
807
0
Virginia
I think people have different expectations. After two days with this 17", I love it. I didn't transfer everything from the 15, so today at work I used the 15 again. And then I came home and switched back to the 17 and I was like "Wow."

I do have screen unevenness when the screen is cold (when I first wake it up or when I first turned it on). But it gets better over the next 10-15 minutes. Brightness is not an issue for me, I turned the brightness down from the default on this just as I did with the 15 to where I like it.

The 17 is obviously a great improvement in real estate. And for me the glossy is an upgrade from the matte. I'm glad I went that direction.

The only downside is that the weight is more noticeable than I thought it would be. But the size doesn't bother me too much. It's not as huge as I expected. Definitely smaller than my sager 9890 of course!

And being able to run RHEL and OS X with quite a few apps open in 3GB is snappy!

Just some thoughts from someone who isn't unhappy.
 

keigo

macrumors regular
Nov 6, 2006
247
7
I have spoke to a friend (whom he also own a MBP) doing LCD and asked him why apple LCD screen has uneven brightness and what he told me is the problem is not the LCD. The LCD is fine.

The problem lie in the circult supply, voltage. Cause this is 1 big key things that will affect all LCD. And for MBP case it is complex cause the power supply come from the motherboard and it is almost beyond repair unless apple come out with a new motherboard that able to provide constant power supply to the LCD.

But on another hand he told me this issue become something good cause end up due to this lower power supply your LCD last longer. Cause the higher the power supply to your LCD, yes it will be brighter but the more brighter it is the shorter the life span to the LCD.

Thus I hope everyone should be happy with this cause you will know that your LCD will last rahter then spoil easily.
 

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
I have spoke to a friend (whom he also own a MBP) doing LCD and asked him why apple LCD screen has uneven brightness and what he told me is the problem is not the LCD. The LCD is fine.

The problem lie in the circult supply, voltage. Cause this is 1 big key things that will affect all LCD. And for MBP case it is complex cause the power supply come from the motherboard and it is almost beyond repair unless apple come out with a new motherboard that able to provide constant power supply to the LCD.

But on another hand he told me this issue become something good cause end up due to this lower power supply your LCD last longer. Cause the higher the power supply to your LCD, yes it will be brighter but the more brighter it is the shorter the life span to the LCD.

Thus I hope everyone should be happy with this cause you will know that your LCD will last rahter then spoil easily.

What do you mean by "LCD will last longer". LCDs generally do not break down over time. They're either good from the get go or they suck.
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
After how long, 10, 15 years? My point is that the LCD is one of the least likely components to go bad before your laptop becomes obsolete.

Think it's more total hours, but I agree - I've upgraded before I've seen any real degradation. The difference between my older machines and newer has been improvements in screen technology, not so much a dimmer tube [on the old one]. I'd bet my 667mHz TiBook's screen is dimmer than new, though. ;) But, they can fail just like anything else. A total black out can happen. They can just "go", or the high-voltage power supply dies.
 

keigo

macrumors regular
Nov 6, 2006
247
7
Think it's more total hours, but I agree - I've upgraded before I've seen any real degradation. The difference between my older machines and newer has been improvements in screen technology, not so much a dimmer tube [on the old one]. I'd bet my 667mHz TiBook's screen is dimmer than new, though. ;) But, they can fail just like anything else. A total black out can happen. They can just "go", or the high-voltage power supply dies.

Or do you prefer running your laptop for 1.5~2.5 hrs like those normal windows laptop do for an even brightness LCD.

As some say how long it can last.. LCD is base on the number of hours of usage.. so let say you have your LCD on 24/7 how long you think it will last if supply with high power and very bright screen I think within month the whole LCD will just black out.

I think part of the reason is also due to power consummation. thus to have a longer battery life something have to reduce..
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
I think part of the reason is also due to power consummation. thus to have a longer battery life something have to reduce..

It's also the reason portable displays only have a single lamp. I wonder how many "un-evenness" posts are a result of the normal gradient these (typing on PBG4 17") displays have.

I always dim my display manually if I leave the machine rendering for hours at a time. Yeah, I might not keep it long enough benefit from the life expectancy, but it doesn't hurt.

Hoping I can do my own eval. on the 17" C2D MBP in the next few days...
 
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