Hello all, I just revceived my new SR Black Macbook and so far I'm loving it! I do however have a few minor concerns that I thought I would mention to get some feedback from fellow owners. The first is that I've noticed that when the screen is on but a solid black picture or background is present that I can see an unevenesss on the backlight on the left side of the screen right against the edge. Im not sure how to describe it but its like there are 3 equally spaced areas that have a: < shape of light comming from the side of the screen about 2 cm wide and 2 cm tall. Its not noticable during normal use but i thought it was odd since the right side of the screen is not like this. My second little issue is that I have noticed also on the left side of the display inside as well as in one little area to the right of the keyboard there are a few tiny nicks where the black paint is scratched off. The worst of it is on the display . Its hardly noticable but in the right light you can tell its there. Maby im being a tad picky, but with such a great computer I want to make sure it lasts me for a while. Any ideas? Thanks
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New SR Black Macbook minor issues. Input appreciated!
- Thread starter TheBigS
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Almost sounds like there might have been some object in it one time it was closed, either while you owned it, or maybe at the factory or something. Wouldn't hurt to take it to an Apple store if you have the option and see what they think and see about replacing it, if you just got it then you don't have much on it yet you could lose.
Take It Back!!
My advice as a repair guy: You aren't being picky. Take it in. That isn't a drivers problem with your screen like a lot of other folks - that's a screwed up screen. And chips on the case when you paid a $200 premium to get it is unacceptable. They will most likely just hand you a new BlackBook, so back up your stuff before you take it in.
My advice as a repair guy: You aren't being picky. Take it in. That isn't a drivers problem with your screen like a lot of other folks - that's a screwed up screen. And chips on the case when you paid a $200 premium to get it is unacceptable. They will most likely just hand you a new BlackBook, so back up your stuff before you take it in.
Call Apple directly
At a service center, they will be more likely to try and get parts to fix it (which is a much longer process) than send it off for you. You deserve to get a replacement, period. And you can do that yourself by calling Apple RIGHT NOW if you can't get to the store. They'll send you a box, you pop yours in, and I bet you good money that you'll get a new BlackBook in 3-5 business days, and they may just pop your HD into a new computer. But just in case they don't, be sure to back up. Take advantage of the 90 day phone support and call in.
At a service center, they will be more likely to try and get parts to fix it (which is a much longer process) than send it off for you. You deserve to get a replacement, period. And you can do that yourself by calling Apple RIGHT NOW if you can't get to the store. They'll send you a box, you pop yours in, and I bet you good money that you'll get a new BlackBook in 3-5 business days, and they may just pop your HD into a new computer. But just in case they don't, be sure to back up. Take advantage of the 90 day phone support and call in.
which province do you live in? I'm in Alberta and there is two apple cert dealers here in Edmonton.
Not being too picky with the black paint scratches but the uneven lighting is most likely a driver issue, and thats what they will tell you to so thats not covered under any sort of replacement. If you really want to have the thing rattle around in shipping then be taken apart and have the case replaced Id probably just deal with it. With the amount of finger prints on it im sure by now the little nick on the pain job im guessing is the least of your worries. Black cars need some extra tlc, black books need some extra tlc. Theres always a trade off with style, well almost always. If the paint gets any worse over the course of a year, and if anything else goes wrong, then you can cash in your apple care for a repair send off. Think about the trade off for a second...you send in the apple for a paint chip and get it back with an uneven key board, or a stuck return key or a mouse that just doesnt feel right, then what? Its a connundrum.
Well I took it in to one of the certified apple places in town and explained to them what was wrong. I got it back a few days ago and the repair sheet had on it what i thought it might: Reset PRAM, Reset SMU, tested...ok. Needless to say its no better. I probably should have had a look at it before i left but they had it all packaged up so i didnt till I got home. Having looked around on the internet I can see that my problems with the backlight arn't near as bad as some as its not noticable during normal tasks so I may just have to live with it or take it back or to a different location. They didn't sound like they wanted to replace it when I called apple.
Sorry for the bump but I thought I would update as I need a bit more advice.
So I took the macbook back in and showed them clearly what was wrong with the lcd and politely told them that I would like it fixed. So a week went by and today I went to pick it up. The man there told me that they did manage to see what I was complaining about and that they replaced the lcd and now it should be working fine. So I took it home and fired it up and sure enough the backlight is now working fine. Also the scratches in the screen that were there before are now completely gone as I guess they replaced the whole display. Where my problem comes is unfortunately I think I have received a downgrade in displays. I did not check which model the old one was however I noticed colors looked a bit funny on this one and there was a bit of fuzzyness in the background picture and in general gradients. After a bit of research I found I have the Model 00009C5E as the #13 says in the system prefs in color calibration. I have found that there are others complaining that this panel does not display millions of colors near as well as the older models or some other models and that it is a far cheaper and poorer panel. This sort of bothers me in that while now it is technically working fine there is a definate lack in color quality when compared to my crt. Also I could swear the viewing angle is considerably less vertically on the new one as colors seem to get darker from bottom to top much easier. Also the lid does seem to bind a tiny bit when opening and the bar across the bottom of the display where macbook is printed is a bit looser than i think it was before which is likely do to the removing of the old panel
Anyhow, im not sure what to do at this point. Im sure the repair center doesnt want to see me again however I still can't say that I feel my 1700 bucks was well spent. Other than these issues its a wonderful machine but I would think a person could expect it to be without problems.
So I took the macbook back in and showed them clearly what was wrong with the lcd and politely told them that I would like it fixed. So a week went by and today I went to pick it up. The man there told me that they did manage to see what I was complaining about and that they replaced the lcd and now it should be working fine. So I took it home and fired it up and sure enough the backlight is now working fine. Also the scratches in the screen that were there before are now completely gone as I guess they replaced the whole display. Where my problem comes is unfortunately I think I have received a downgrade in displays. I did not check which model the old one was however I noticed colors looked a bit funny on this one and there was a bit of fuzzyness in the background picture and in general gradients. After a bit of research I found I have the Model 00009C5E as the #13 says in the system prefs in color calibration. I have found that there are others complaining that this panel does not display millions of colors near as well as the older models or some other models and that it is a far cheaper and poorer panel. This sort of bothers me in that while now it is technically working fine there is a definate lack in color quality when compared to my crt. Also I could swear the viewing angle is considerably less vertically on the new one as colors seem to get darker from bottom to top much easier. Also the lid does seem to bind a tiny bit when opening and the bar across the bottom of the display where macbook is printed is a bit looser than i think it was before which is likely do to the removing of the old panel
Anyhow, im not sure what to do at this point. Im sure the repair center doesnt want to see me again however I still can't say that I feel my 1700 bucks was well spent. Other than these issues its a wonderful machine but I would think a person could expect it to be without problems.
It probably is one of the better ones before, the one I had before this one was better dispite the backlight not working right. But as if I havnt had enough problems, I go to turn it on last night and the backlight died on me. Ive tried a bunch of stuff and I cant seem to get it to come back on. If i turn it all the way down then go back up it flickers once but thats it. Possibly the inverter board? I really wanted to like this laptop but I must say unfortunately it has been nothing but trouble and I think im going to call about returning it. I wonder if I can talk them into the 2 week deal. Ive had it for about 3 and a bit weeks but 11 days of that has been spent in repair twice so I would say Ive barely owned it 2 weeks. I love my G5, unfortunately I don't see the same build quality being used here.
That's what I have. If I get back far enough from the screen in a straight-on view, it looks fairly uniform. If I lean in, the viewing angle is too much for the screen's corners. It helps to have long arms.
Ya I think the viewing angle was worse on this new one but it was the dithering in the color spectrum that really bothered me, looked like it was running 256 or thousands of colors. If you read up on the news about the suit filed against apple for poor quality displays that dont do 24 bit and millions properly you get an idea of what i mean. But the new displays of that one model are definately less quality than the older ones or other models. I looked at a friends macbook that is about a year old and the display is beautiful. Unforunately none of that matters now that the backlight is shot on mine. So hopefully apple will cooperate with me on the phone and I can get my money back. I think if I can I will see what happens at macworld 2008 maby buy back in then. I love apple but im a little disappointed in this one case. We'll see how it goes.
Possibly, if you go now and set your monitory to 256 colors thats an exaggerated version of what the problem looks like. Not that the display isn't working right but it is a poor quality panel.
Im hoping the new rumored ultraportables have a nice good quality LED screen. Im using it primarily for university so I don't need a lot of power but mainly portable computing so if they will give me a refund nicely I would look into that.
Soo, I gave apple a call. At first they did not like the sound of me wanting to return the macbook but after a few transfers and much time on hold I managed to get a case number from a polite lady. She then put me on hold to transfer back to another department. That was also unfortunately the time at which the call center closed although no one informed me of that so after an hr on hold I tried calling on a separate line and heard the closed message. So ill have to try back tomorrow and continue. I'll keep everyone posted.
So after a few more hours on the phone they settled on replacing it and will send me labels for shipping and send the new one when they receive the one I have. I told them which display I didn't want and they will send me one of the better ones if at all possible.