MBP 17 Display issues/gloss

[knifegun]

17" DISPLAY ISSUES

So I am having my third MBP 17" sent to me because of uneven lighting (bottom corners are brighter than the rest of the display/color is uneven).

I have been google'ing for other experiences. While I have seen other people having the same issue, there are also a lot of people who seem to be happy with it. I have gone to two Apple stores and noticed the same issues on all 17" MBP. So what gives? Is this a bad production run limited to CA? Or are people OK with it or not noticing? It is more obvious when you have a dark single color desktop background.

17" GLOSSY SCREEN

Anyone have it? Are there any lighting issues with it? I am undecided whether I should try the glossy screen for my third replacement. I don't want glare but if colors appear much better, I could be swayed.

 

[iHeartTheApple]

17" DISPLAY ISSUES

So I am having my third MBP 17" sent to me because of uneven lighting (bottom corners are brighter than the rest of the display/color is uneven).

I have been google'ing for other experiences. While I have seen other people having the same issue, there are also a lot of people who seem to be happy with it. I have gone to two Apple stores and noticed the same issues on all 17" MBP. So what gives? Is this a bad production run limited to CA? Or are people OK with it or not noticing? It is more obvious when you have a dark single color desktop background.

17" GLOSSY SCREEN

Anyone have it? Are there any lighting issues with it? I am undecided whether I should try the glossy screen for my third replacement. I don't want glare but if colors appear much better, I could be swayed.

I've seen a few 17"ers in my local Apple Stores that have screen brightness issues, too. When I asked if this was a bad production run, my friendly Apple salesman told me:

"No it just happens randomly. There have only been screen/heat/whine issues on 5% of *ALL* MacBook Pros."

5%?! WTF...Ok, so I then ask if he or the store has received any returns or general complaints with regard to the quality of the MBPs...He answers:

"Eh, we hear some stuff. But, I'll tell you honestly, all mac users are whiny b*tches, so it's no surprise."

Way to push a sale, genius. I don't mind if you have an opinion about us "mac users"...we can be whiny, yes. But don't sit there for a second and tell me that after having spent $2800 on *anything* that I shouldn't be p*ssed because of a lack of quality control. I left after that one...

RE: The glossy 17...I think there are a few MR people who have ordered theirs already. We should hear from them soon. I'm interested in hearing their impressions, as well. FWIW, the same "friendly" apple salesman told me that they were going to be getting glossy versions of the 15" and 17" MBPs for display purposes...eventually.

 

[knifegun]

The Apple sales people can be quite clueless. Since they work there (and probably are no in the market for a MBP), they don't really understand the disappointment that sets in when you purchase a 3000 machine (after taxes) that has issues.

I showed my 17" to the Genius people and they did notice the lighting issues. They walked over to the display 17" and stated that it was probably normal since the other 17" had the same issue.

Hopefully, someone will have more insight into the 17" display problems.

 

[vgoklani]

I think they are made that way, and yes it sucks, but the brightness is not uniform and yes, there is a glow at the bottom....i have also been through three MBPs, and they all exhibit this problem (and others too!)...you will need to get a desktop if you want a uniform screen, that's just the way it is....you may want to hold off on any purchases, as the release of the merom (64bit) will be huge.

 

[knifegun]

I am coming to that conclusion. The 15" look a lot better which is a shame. The real estate of the 17" is great.

One thing is that with the gloss finish, the bright spots will be even more obvious. So I can't imagine that they would produce the gloss screens with this same issue.

 

[remowilliams]

I do see what people are talking about on my MBP17, but only ever at the grey boot screen (and only really so in the first couple of seconds before warmup) and if I set my desktop background to a solid lighter color. Otherwise I never see it, and am never bothered by it. And I'm a picky SOB with tech gadgets

I just sort of chalked it up to the fact that the screen is so big and that the viewing angle isn't as great as say my desktop LCD - and because of that, if I move my head around and look at it from different angles I can make any corner appear "dark" in the above circumstances.

 

[AJ Muni]

I was in an apple store 2 days ago and I mentioned it to one of the workers there. She told me that it seems that all of their 17's MBP are having the same issue. It does suck. You should just get a refund, buy a maxed out MB, and then buy the dell 2007fpw.

 

[eVolcre]

I've seen a few 17"ers in my local Apple Stores that have screen brightness issues, too. When I asked if this was a bad production run, my friendly Apple salesman told me:

"No it just happens randomly. There have only been screen/heat/whine issues on 5% of *ALL* MacBook Pros."

5%?! WTF...Ok, so I then ask if he or the store has received any returns or general complaints with regard to the quality of the MBPs...He answers:

"Eh, we hear some stuff. But, I'll tell you honestly, all mac users are whiny b*tches, so it's no surprise."

Way to push a sale, genius. I don't mind if you have an opinion about us "mac users"...we can be whiny, yes. But don't sit there for a second and tell me that after having spent $2800 on *anything* that I shouldn't be p*ssed because of a lack of quality control. I left after that one...

RE: The glossy 17...I think there are a few MR people who have ordered theirs already. We should hear from them soon. I'm interested in hearing their impressions, as well. FWIW, the same "friendly" apple salesman told me that they were going to be getting glossy versions of the 15" and 17" MBPs for display purposes...eventually.

My machine is on its way. But, to be honest, I hve no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for. The machine I sent back didn't seem to have this unevenness but maybe I wasn't looking for it.

Let me know what I'm supposed to be looking for, I can post my findings here ...

eV

 

[eVolcre]

I do see what people are talking about on my MBP17, but only ever at the grey boot screen (and only really so in the first couple of seconds before warmup) and if I set my desktop background to a solid lighter color. Otherwise I never see it, and am never bothered by it. And I'm a picky SOB with tech gadgets

I just sort of chalked it up to the fact that the screen is so big and that the viewing angle isn't as great as say my desktop LCD - and because of that, if I move my head around and look at it from different angles I can make any corner appear "dark" in the above circumstances.

Interesting point. Hey, this might be a way to check this ... knifegun, put the machine on a flat surface about 5 feet away. If it still appears uneven there is an issue. If it looks OK, it might be that the screen is so damn big that sitting close to it makes certain areas appear dark (?)

eV

 

[knifegun]

If you look at the screen photos on this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=2409859, it shows the uneveness. Some of it is due to the camera but most of it is the actual screen unevenness.

I looked at my screen from 5 feet away and I still say the uneven lighting.

Best way to tell is when you first boot up the machine and the apple logo is displayed with the white-ish/grey-ish background, notice the bottom of the screen is brighter than the rest. Once it boots up, it is harder to see. However, once you notice it, it is hard to forget.

I would be that if this is an issue, it is resolved on the glossy screen for that would aggrevate the problem.

 

[eVolcre]

If you look at the screen photos on this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=2409859, it shows the uneveness. Some of it is due to the camera but most of it is the actual screen unevenness.

I looked at my screen from 5 feet away and I still say the uneven lighting.

Best way to tell is when you first boot up the machine and the apple logo is displayed with the white-ish/grey-ish background, notice the bottom of the screen is brighter than the rest. Once it boots up, it is harder to see. However, once you notice it, it is hard to forget.

I would be that if this is an issue, it is resolved on the glossy screen for that would aggrevate the problem.

OK. that has to be an abberration. There is no way my screen on the MBP 17 looked like that. It was perfectly even. It didn't work but that's a whole different story. LOL. I firmly believe that the bad video card was a random thing .. noone else has reported it.

But yes, if yours looks anything like your picture, there's something wrong. DId you say that you had the same issue on multiple MBP17s?

Man, I hope mine is OK. It gets here on Friday, I leave Sunday evening for Belgium. I have no idea what to do if I have issues. Maybe have them mail me a replacement to Belgium.

eV

 

[knifegun]

Yes, I am on my second 17" MBP and it has the same issue. I also checked other 17" MBPs at the Apple store with the same issue.

I have found other threads that report the same issue but not even a small fraction of the threads I found about the CPU whine threads.

Now the photo makes it look a LOT worse than it really is. I will take a photo of mine when my battery charges up.

I have an RMA for the second 17" MBP. I am going to hold off shipping my current one for a week or so in case this is a manufacturing issue.