Q: 24" LED Display with 2011 15" MPB

Spot on Humanfly,

I just want a clear answer, yet I know I won't get one from Apple, alas.

It's not in their corporate culture to admit to some failures and shortcomings.

Even with MobileMe (aka the Great .Mac Debacle), it's only internally that sparks flew. Tantrums were thrown. I recall an email about references to slow and inconsistent services in months to come, but I don't recall anything like an apology, nor an explanation.

Unfortunately, this attitude will eventually be taking its toll on legions of loyal fans.

When in doubt, just exercise your rights as a customer by using whatever legal suppot you have. That's it.

Humanfly, I hear you.   I agree 7 months is long -- especially for being under apple care.  I just read the terms and condition of Apple Care to see if I saw anything which would guarantee a resolution and saw none.  Instead I saw the liability being limited to the cost of the Apple Care so at a minimum you can get credit for the Apple care and apply that accordingly.

I admit I would be disheartened at 7 months.  Still not angry as life is not about finding resolution through anger, but definitely disheartened.

Hi everybody,

My case has found its solution with the replacement of my 24" ACD by a 27" ACD.

Precisely, my 24" ACD (Fev 2010) was under AppleCare.

The first problems came immediately after purchase with a MBP 15" late 2009 (previous generation) : blackouts from times to times. I told this to AppleCare (March 2010), and we left it that way, because it was not too annoying. One year later, I've bought a new 2011 MBP 13" i7 and a new MBP 15". The problems have become much more important: very frequent blackouts, screen splits, etc... impossible to work with. Apple tech decided to change the LCD panel: the result was worse. So, after some tests, discussions, analysis of my case (15 month with à problematic display) , I received a new 27" ACD this summer.

I'm very happy: the new ACD works fine - absolutely no problem.

I think that the 24" ACD had, for some of them, a manufaturing defect, and that a software solution has no chance to work.

I hope that my case will help.

How did you get them to exchange your Monitor?

It probably won't make a difference but I just filed a complaint at www.consumeraffairs.com.

I couldn't agree more with you Humanfly. 7 months is definately too long. Why pay premium price or even bother purchasing AppleCare? Apple has been dragging their feet way too long now. Yes, who is going to compensate me for the hours lost when I had to redo my work, wait in the Apple Store to talk to some incompetent "Genius" who was denying that there is a problem in the first place or be on hold with AppleCare to hear the same message over and over again.

I am glad you were able to resolve your problems the way you did. However, I do have to agree with Humanfly. Not everyone wants to upgrade their monitor. We have waited long enough for a fix. Like him/her I just want my 24 inch screen to work like it is supposed to work. How a company treats their customers says a lot about corporate culture. Apple has about $80 billion cash on hand. I don't think exchanging even $.5 million faulty ACDs would make any dent to their wallet. In my opnion a company's way of dealing with complaints (dragging their feet, denial) is a sign that Apple's demise is just around the corner. Apple has become too big too fast. They don't care about their loyal fans anymore. Why should they? They have all these 12 year old kids running around with their iPhones, iPods and iPads. Anyhow, I respect your opinion. I just don't agree with it completely. I for myself, decided to switch my iPhone (and yes, I have antenna issues) out for an Android phone as soon as my AT&T contract expires.

I agree with the others that say they just want their 24" ACD to work.  I bought the 24" because it fit my work space at home.  I prefer to keep the 24". That said, the longer this goes on, I think that if Apple can't provide the fix to the 24" they should be honest and communicate that with the folks in this thread that are affected and offer upgrades to 27".  7 months is a bit ridiculous.

I've been offered $200 off a new Thunderbolt 27" Cinema Display from Apple. And I do a large amount of business with an authorized Apple location (not an Apple Store), who gives GREAT prices for used Mac items ... the bad news is, they're not too eager to buy my 24" with it's current limitations.  This whole issue is SO out of character for Apple!

Executive relations was such a waste of time.  Apple had me try a beta for the display, it decreased it but not eliminated it.  So I was offered earlier on $200 off each display.  If didn't own one I'd think that would be great.  However, I don't have an extra $1,600 plus tax laying around.  Executive relations is an executive waste of time. My rep kept going off what the engineer said and wouldn't solve ANY of my issues other than saying go talk to a genius, of which I always run circles around and end up waiting another hour because they are always running late. 

She told me that they needed to run a diagnostic on the display.  Well, how to you check a display for being faulty under incompatibility when the display has no issues except when plugged into a thunderbolt.  It's going to pass every time.  I'm simply going to take this a different direction with apple.  I've cancelled the $1,800 Mac mini because I'm not giving them any more money till this gets resolved.  Rather I'll simply give other customers an idea of what to expect. 

Apple, diligently trying to be the next Microsoft. 

An Apple executive relations manager offered me a "prototype" version of a firmware fix for the thunderbolt port. I had to sign an NDA to get it. My 17 MBP is my only machine, so I decided not to "test" a "prototype" for them.

Today, I read that someone installed the patch and hadn’t success with it.

Now I live with my 24" Cinema Display’s black outs until any officially tested fix comes out.

I suppose these three scenarios could / could not happen:

1. Apple releases a fix (I learned, the prototype doesn’t work) some day.....

2. Apple refunds the faulty display or / and thunderbolt equipped MBP (sure ;-))

3. Apple let’s this run until people loose their interest in getting the issue solved

P.S: Normally, I’m a fanatic Mac-evangelist...

Hey, so you can add me to the list
I just purchased a 24" Apple Cinema Display 3 days ago. I have a 2011 thunderbolt Macbook Pro, running lion 10.7.1. I never even knew about this problem, I assumed that the latest MBP would work with an Apple screen thats only 2-3 years old...

My problem does not seem as bad as some of yours, each time I plug my ACD into my MBP, it will flick once, after about 5 minutes and then it will be useable again. I have only had it 3 days, but so far thats it. I count myself lucky to not have it more survere like some of you guys.

Im sure Apple is working hard on a fix, and Im sure they will fix it properly. Although it would be good if they could give a bit more info in the fix, I understand some of you have had the problem for 6-7 months now, which is a long time...

@jwhitehead333

I came across this same thread the same way you did. 

After reading the threads and spending a few hours on the phone with tech support plus a visit to the local Apple Store, I returned the 24" ACD within the 14 day return period. 

That was months ago.  Unless you want to become extremely frustrated with Apple, return it now.  You can buy another one if this thread shows that there's a real fix.  Careful reading of the (long) thread will show that some people have started with infrequent display problems but had them become more frequent. 

Apple support kept telling me that a fix was imminent -- as if it would be released in hours or days.  Don't believe it unti this thread confirms that a real fix. 

From Costco, I bought a Dell 24" Full HD Widescreen LED Monitor HDMI, DVI, VGA Anti-glare, Slim Bezel, Tilt Adjustable - Item# 586298 for much less money than the ACD.  It is not as nice of a display in terms of image and text quality, but it has worked well in an office environment.

@MJCMJC

Thanks for that information, but i purchased mine second hand off ebay, for less then half the RRP. So i have no option to bring it back, but becuse i got it so cheap, i am happy to wait till apple brings a fix, if they dont, i will sell it to someone that can use it in a couple of week or months.

I guess I just have to hope my problem does not get more frequent. Thanks for your advice.

Has anyone installed the new EFI firmware version 2.1 for the MBA with Thunderbolt in conjunction with the ACD 24" and/or 27" yet?

I was wondering if that fixes the issue. As soon as I get home, I'll try that.