Are the Rev. B MBA display nice? Better than Rev. a?

[jjahshik32]

I'm curious as I've owned the rev. a MBA last year and I remember its display was very nice. Very vivid, crisp and clean.

Can the same be said about the Rev. B MBA? I've read some places that said the new MBA's screen is not as good as the Rev. A's but it is better than the unibody macbooks.

Also I'm very concerned about the line issue, is that really common? Or has apple fixed this issue?

 

[jjahshik32]

Man not even one response, I didn't know that the rev. B's were that bad.

 

[dubhe]

Ok, I'll reply
The screen is very good, crisp, bright, blacks are black etc and it is much much better than my wife's unibody MB.
But, a lot (if not all to some extent) of Rev.B MBAs have the thin line issue. It isn't as bad as it sounds and I would still have this screen over the MB. Now, as for comparison to Rev.A I don't really have a lot of experience, but all of the Rev.A's I have seen (only a few) have not had lines. Why would change the screen? There may be other reasons.
In summary, lines - probably, great screen - definitely.

 

[navanod]

Ok, I'll reply
The screen is very good, crisp, bright, blacks are black etc and it is much much better than my wife's unibody MB.
But, a lot (if not all to some extent) of Rev.B MBAs have the thin line issue. It isn't as bad as it sounds and I would still have this screen over the MB. Now, as for comparison to Rev.A I don't really have a lot of experience, but all of the Rev.A's I have seen (only a few) have not had lines. Why would change the screen? There may be other reasons.
In summary, lines - probably, great screen - definitely.

Huh... My Rev. A has no lines... Screen is perfect!
You have me worried now though. I'm in the process of selling my MBA 1.1 and was planning on upgrading to either a MB or MBA 2.1. The MBP is too big for my needs and the MB screen quality worries me... Then there is the MBA line issue! Ahhh what to do!

 

[dubhe]

Huh... My Rev. A has no lines... Screen is perfect!
You have me worried now though. I'm in the process of selling my MBA 1.1 and was planning on upgrading to either a MB or MBA 2.1. The MBP is too big for my needs and the MB screen quality worries me... Then there is the MBA line issue! Ahhh what to do!

I had a similar dilemma, why buy a product you know is likely to have a 'defect', when I purchased I was so pleased with the machine, but the line issue bugged me, more because I didn't know if it actually bothered me or not. I returned my original a few days later and got another, same lines. I then thought hard about whether it affected what I wanted the machine for, and it didn't, it doesn't affect me at all and nobody looking at my screen has noticed until I pointed it out.

My wife and friends have MBs and my screen is far superior despite the lines.

If Rev.C has fixed it I will probably upgrade, but I wouldn't let this stop you buying a Rev.B, I would give it a try, you can always return it within 14 days

 

[Scottsdale]

My rev B MBA, and the seven MBAs owned by friends and colleagues are ALL perfect and beautiful. I read about line issue and looked at seven others to make sure lines weren't there. All of them were perfect.

I had an original MBA, and the display was amazing. However, it had so many other problems it was unusable. So I was very cautious before buying the revised MBA. I have been amazed and pleased by EVERY aspect of my rev B MBA. I highly recommend the rev B MBA; it is a great machine.

I have a unibody MB. The display on it is terrible. It is terrible from an angle, and blacks look like dark grayish purple. The rev B MBA looks great at an angle and blacks are like a black hole!

I have seen the lines on ONE rev B MBA in an Apple Store. It was being returned. It had been dropped. The lines were very faint but clearly there. Worse yet was terrible uneven backlighting.

If you want a rev B MBA, buy it without thinking the display will have faults. The vast majority are beautiful. But do look at it and ensure it is perfect before you leave the store.

Have fun with your rev B MBA. They are incredible!

 

[stoconnell]

At first, I thought my Air didn't suffer from the "line issue", but now I have come to believe that it does exhibit them. It seems to be more noticeable under certain conditions (webpages with white background -- eg. the macrumors forum -- different lighting conditions, etc), and it almost feels more like it's an optical illusion from the natural screen pixellation, which might be why most pictures don't display it.

Having said all that, it doesn't bother me enough (at least not yet) to want to deal with going through the exchange roulette and potentially getting one that is worse or has other issues.

 

[mhnajjar]

Only the 9C8F screen models on the revB are better than the revA screens.

The other two that are available on revBs suffer from the thin lines!

I was able to get one of these screens after a long battle and many suffering incidents with jerks at the Apple store

 

[nph]

I was also lucky while ordering from Amazon and got the same beautiful display, 9C8F!
Have seen a lot of 9C90 displays with varying but all having the line issue. Same with 9C9A although they generally have seemed better but not perfect.

I suggest you order or buy from a place with a good return policy like Amazon in case you don't like the screen. I have ordered and returned several computers from them without any hitch and I don't hesitate to recommend Amazon to anyone!

If you get a good screen then the MBA rev B is a dream!

Amazon is always my first place to order if they have it. Only look elsewhere if they don't stock it themselves.

 

[mhnajjar]

That is true, go with Amazon. They have lower prices and BETTER return policy than Apple.

Apple, will always bitch about the lines being part of the norm!!!
Amazon would take it back without a hassle.

 

[Scottsdale]

That is true, go with Amazon. They have lower prices and BETTER return policy than Apple.

Apple, will always bitch about the lines being part of the norm!!!
Amazon would take it back without a hassle.

That is good to know. One would think the safest way is to go to Apple. Read from several sources now that Amazon is way to go for easy return and no restock fees. Sad really, that Apple would give anyone trouble if there are lines on the display.

I think I know so many really nice rev B displays because six of the seven I know of are 1.86 with SSD. The other was a custom build 1.6 with SSD. Many have mentioned that Apple is using the inferior displays on the 1.6 with HDD. So Apple wants its bigger deals to be problem free... it's a theory anyways.

I have seen many really great displays on the rev B MBAs, so my experience has been positive, but others have been pretty frustrated with the lines. I have to assume, from what I have seen, that the problem isn't as wide spread as some may have us believe. We all know that complainers post more heavily than those pleased, which may account for level of complaints posted here on Mac Rumors.

 

[briand05]

I have a white Macbook and I believe I have this line issue too.

 

[iann1982]

Those lines on the macbook look far worse than on my Rev B air.

I can see them on my Air, but they're so faint that unless I'm trying to find them I can't see them - I suspect had I not have read about it on here I'd never even have noticed, that macbook looks really quite severe.

Just to reply to the thread started, yes the MBA display is lovely, blindingly bright, crisp colours, dark blacks, good viewing angle etc. I had a whitebook before and the difference was big, even my fiance noticed and she still disputes she can't tell the difference between a DVD and Blu-Ray on a 40" 1080p bravia..

 

[O. Frabjous-Dey]

My recent refurb Rev A has thin lines, too. Not nearly as bad as the MacBook photo above, though.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

My refurb RevA has no lines.

 

[tubbymac]

I have a white Macbook and I believe I have this line issue too.

Yikes your screen has it really bad. What does Applecare say about it? Will they fix it for you?

 

[briand05]

Yikes your screen has it really bad. What does Applecare say about it? Will they fix it for you?

I haven't inquired about it yet, I'm debating if I should, but judging by the reactions on here it appears that I probably should look into it. It's not as bad viewed from a normal angle but still definitely visible. I didn't really think about it that much until I compared it with the screen of my other laptop the other night.

 

[mhnajjar]

Apple might acknowledge the lines in few years just like the cracks on the white MBs