Just got off the phone with the Asia Pacific exec and she said unfortunately nothing can be done to resolve the issues that are present with the screen.
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Nothing can be done for grainy screen
- Thread starter iW00t
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Oh yes, both sides of the story alright.
But if you get a bad one, don't forget what I just said.
But if you get a bad one, don't forget what I just said.
Man that really sucks. Best thing to do i suppose is before you buy it, take it out of the box and turn it on. Whats the best way to check for grain?
There is none.
But the thing I am wondering about is if her engineers happen to have a unit that is affected. What she told me is that the screens take 30 minutes to warm up and reach their full capability, which wasn't exactly what I contacted her originally about.
I will run down to another shop and do yet another side by side comparison.
Who, with what reliability, and from what company, was this? How likely is it that some individual, random customer gets some kind of "insider information" about a problem product? Unless you have a "cousin Todd" who just happens to be head of R&D of the company making the LCD panels, this seems unlikely .....
Ditto!
iBorg
Janine Beach
Executive Relations Specialist
P +61 2 9641 8035 I E jbeach@asia.apple.com
To shut people up who thinks I am otherwise making up the whole tale, you can even call Steve and ask him about case #71400812... that is if you have a personal line with Steve.
So what, Apple sold you a faulty notebook and are refusing to refund it or fix it? That's terrible! Is this 'grainy display' a known issue?
Technically speaking it is not faulty, because the grain is an inherent property of the display.
is the grain part of the screen covering? as in the plastic or whatever that you directly touch when you touch the screen? or within the pixels itself? or is it an issue with the video card?
iWoot - I doubt that she is "the Asia Pacific exec". Her title "Executive Relations Specialist", suggests a position well below an executive level. The specialist title is usually a somewhat entry level position.
Hmm, indeed you are right, the order of the words her job title is reversed!
But still, she's ultimately the highest person I can reach from Australia, and pretty much by every other Australian mac user too. If you google her name she seems like pretty much the top dog that others who emailed Steve got.
However high her job is within Apple is not relevant. I have contacted Steve before regarding a poor experience in one of the service centres in Asia by a family member and she was also the one who received a forwarded copy of the mail, and ultimately got the issues ironed out. So unless you can give me a name of someone who has higher authority, her job title is basically a moot point. The odds are she is one of the pool of "executives" who reads Steve's emails
But still, she's ultimately the highest person I can reach from Australia, and pretty much by every other Australian mac user too. If you google her name she seems like pretty much the top dog that others who emailed Steve got.
However high her job is within Apple is not relevant. I have contacted Steve before regarding a poor experience in one of the service centres in Asia by a family member and she was also the one who received a forwarded copy of the mail, and ultimately got the issues ironed out. So unless you can give me a name of someone who has higher authority, her job title is basically a moot point. The odds are she is one of the pool of "executives" who reads Steve's emails
It doesn't seem to be a video card issue. From what some other MR members' experiences the issue does get improved when they replace the screen. Guess at some point I may just "fix" it myself by selling this one on eBay and buying one from the later batches.
iWOOt - no other names that I know of.
An interesting observation - my 15" C2D 15" MBP lcd has no issues - and it is not an issue of my "not seeing it" - it is not there.
That said - I really put my two 20" ACDs under the eye and they did exhibit some very mild "grain" - nothing to bother me as you really have to look for it. For all intensive purposes it is invisible when working on photographs in CS2.
For all of the heat on this issue it really does come down to a simple decision for each of us: dump OS X and go to a PC portable, accept the screens as serving your needs, go through a couple of exchanges trying to get one that is "primo", or invest large amounts of time and emotional capital obsessing over the issue.
The major issue that Apple needs to sort out with its' vendors is CONSISTENT quality - TQM. The hit or miss nature of the product quality appears to be driving its' share of the "heat" in the threads. My MBP lcd is great - some are not - consistent quality is lacking.
edit - one other thing - there are some threads complaining about - IMO - absurd little details like a 1 or 2mm difference in a seam somewhere. Everyone has the right to complain about their experience with a product. On the flip side, some people are so demanding / nit picky that few if any companies could afford to satisfy them.
An interesting observation - my 15" C2D 15" MBP lcd has no issues - and it is not an issue of my "not seeing it" - it is not there.
That said - I really put my two 20" ACDs under the eye and they did exhibit some very mild "grain" - nothing to bother me as you really have to look for it. For all intensive purposes it is invisible when working on photographs in CS2.
For all of the heat on this issue it really does come down to a simple decision for each of us: dump OS X and go to a PC portable, accept the screens as serving your needs, go through a couple of exchanges trying to get one that is "primo", or invest large amounts of time and emotional capital obsessing over the issue.
The major issue that Apple needs to sort out with its' vendors is CONSISTENT quality - TQM. The hit or miss nature of the product quality appears to be driving its' share of the "heat" in the threads. My MBP lcd is great - some are not - consistent quality is lacking.
edit - one other thing - there are some threads complaining about - IMO - absurd little details like a 1 or 2mm difference in a seam somewhere. Everyone has the right to complain about their experience with a product. On the flip side, some people are so demanding / nit picky that few if any companies could afford to satisfy them.
I'm sure the glossy one has no grains. This is probly because the grains are the coating and not actually grains at all. I admit they are slightly annoying, but I wouldn't call this an issue.
It's like saying that the metal on the MBP gets cold when you have the computer off. Well yeah, metal tends to do that, and the display is made to look like it does.
It's like saying that the metal on the MBP gets cold when you have the computer off. Well yeah, metal tends to do that, and the display is made to look like it does.
I think you got that spot on.
Incidentally my boss also purchased a 2.33ghz C2D MBP recently and his screen is much better, so I know it is not an issue that is "not there" for my machine, but after all these chasing around numerous people, I am getting pretty sick and tired of it all.
Guess in the future I will not buy anything unless I have seen it in stores first, and always buy refurbished from now on to alleviate some of that "P.O." feeling when the machine has issues. While the issue won't go away with refurbs, at least it is much much cheaper than retail, hence much easier to suck the issue up in view on the lower price.
I think you got that spot on.
Incidentally my boss also purchased a 2.33ghz C2D MBP recently and his screen is much better, so I know it is not an issue that is "not there" for my machine, but after all these chasing around numerous people, I am getting pretty sick and tired of it all.
Guess in the future I will not buy anything unless I have seen it in stores first, and always buy refurbished from now on to alleviate some of that "P.O." feeling when the machine has issues. While the issue won't go away with refurbs, at least it is much much cheaper than retail, hence much easier to suck the issue up in view of the lower price.
What grain?
If it isn't all rolling hills, it's livestock. Moo.
Since you bought agriculture into the picture, guess what's America's most lucrative cash crop? Not grain.
This thread is really going up in smoke now!!!
edit - maybe some of you are blowing smoke (just don't inhale)
Trust me, the glossy isn't immune to it, I just got my Macbook Pro 15" 2.33ghz Glossy display 2 days ago, and there is obvious grain in the screen, looks like some sort of poorly implemented antiglare coating between the glossy part and the picture, its ok when you dont move things around in screen, but as soon as I start processng photos, or I look up at the dell 24" lcd attached to it, I start to notice the problem. I was going to give apple a call but after reading this thread, got a feeling I will only be wasting my time. I mean I cant fault the Macbook Pro in any other way apart from the screen issues, I even have dark little corners on the bottom of the screen, but at least I have no dead pixels
, but then neither does my dell 24" LCD
Trust me, the glossy isn't immune to it, I just got my Macbook Pro 15" 2.33ghz Glossy display 2 days ago, and there is obvious grain in the screen, looks like some sort of poorly implemented antiglare coating between the glossy part and the picture, its ok when you dont move things around in screen, but as soon as I start processng photos, or I look up at the dell 24" lcd attached to it, I start to notice the problem. I was going to give apple a call but after reading this thread, got a feeling I will only be wasting my time. I mean I cant fault the Macbook Pro in any other way apart from the screen issues, I even have dark little corners on the bottom of the screen, but at least I have no dead pixels
that is very, very strange. I hope at some point they can fix the screens of people who really find it to be a problem. I figure in a couple of years, the screen will probably be dim and whatnot, so I'll just change it myself for a high res one and change the backlights too. I'll be sure to get one with no grain lol
Considering the cost of Applecare (roughly AU$500+) what will probably happen is I'd sell it and buy a new machine towards the end of next year to keep my machine under warranty. But after this experience I'd definitely wait till the product is out in the shops first and take a look at it before buying, rather than ordering it on announcement day.
Overall the whole experience has been quite a dampener.
Trust me, the glossy isn't immune to it, I just got my Macbook Pro 15" 2.33ghz Glossy display 2 days ago, and there is obvious grain in the screen, looks like some sort of poorly implemented antiglare coating between the glossy part and the picture, its ok when you dont move things around in screen, but as soon as I start processng photos, or I look up at the dell 24" lcd attached to it, I start to notice the problem. I was going to give apple a call but after reading this thread, got a feeling I will only be wasting my time. I mean I cant fault the Macbook Pro in any other way apart from the screen issues, I even have dark little corners on the bottom of the screen, but at least I have no dead pixels
If it affects you, you can give it a go. PDE I believe got a free upgrade to a 17" after he called. It just seems like all of us non-USians always get the short end of the stick when it comes to service.
That seems to be the general consensus from a lot of the owners posting, but I thought the other issue was that the viewing angle of your screen combined with the grain made it so horrible.
So if Apple also says that grain is normal and won't help you there, can you not pursue on the grounds that your screen is faulty because of the really limited angles?
I forget the forum member who did this, but they took photos of the MB screen vs the MBP screen at various angles, and it really highlighted the difference between the two models.. You said that your instructions MBP screen was a lot better than yours at various angles. If you took pics like that one member did, it should be pretty apparent to Ms. Beach that something is really wrong with your MBP.
Yeah, unfortunately, it does.