Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

definitely NO!!!

i've just bought one of the junk i5 machines where'e no flickering anymore (but the ongoing issue with sata bug).
so in my old c2d mbp is the UNUSED original hhd with a fresh system (10.6.3) and flickering is still there.

it's unbelievable that apple only brings out nothing more than junk stuff for a horrible price!

apple only *****, nothing more.
ah sorry, the iphone and the minis are the only thing that is working properly, all other stuff is junk!

"No" to which question - to put 500 drive in or they would not point to a new drive? I am not sure about junk, I do like the apple's software design and I am used to final cut and logic.

sorry

i mean, it doesn't make any difference which drive you use, original or any other.
i've still got the flickering with any drive and a new installed system.

<Edited by Host>

Ok, it has been over a month of testing. I have a late 2008 15" unibody, the original. Bought it at techno-tax-time (end of year). It has the dual mode NVIDIA GeForce 9400M / NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GT video card setup.

I can definitively say that the video card, when put into low speed battery conservation mode does all the blinking. The blinking / flashing gets significantly worse when the CPU is loaded and the processor heats he box up. At points it is blinking every 3 seconds on average. (think Chief Inspector Dreyfus' eye twitch when Inspector Clouseau is around).

When I take the video card into battery-pig-higher-performance mode, the blinking goes away (or is it just so fast we cannot see it?).

So basically the 15" unibody is stuck with being an extreme battery pig, lucky to get 1.5 hours out of a full charge, because of a factory defect…. you MUST use the high performance battery hogging option on the GeForce card or you must deal with blinking / flashing.

I wonder how many people who order Macs for their organizations have read this litany… or have a Macinflash like I do… Maybe you? Definitely me…

wow, unbelievable.
and you don't won't your money back???

for me there's no difference on which mode the card is.
and luckily i get these flickering in random times around 5 minutes.
but this is completely unnecessary cause for around 2000 bugs i think, i can expect a working machine!!!!

on monday i'll call care support to get case number for the mbp c2d, the new i5 one and my macpro.
it's enough!

Cerniuk - You have describe exactly what so many are experiencing. Because most of my work is done while on AC power the blinking is not a problem. But once I need to use the MacBook Pro on battery, I'm either cut to 1-hour of usage with the 9600 or subjected to blinking with the 9400.

Both NVIDIA and Apple should be responding to this component failure.

Scott Aronian wrote:
Both NVIDIA and Apple should be responding to this component failure.

have u seen when this thread started?
this unbelievable and apple new tactic is ignoring, cause they've got so much new in the pipe....

The odd part about this, is that the press or even the bloggers that hate Apple has not mentioned this issue. Usually a large number of bloggers latch on to a real hardware defect from Apple and pound the net to embarrass Apple. Yet this has not happened. Perhaps we are just a small group of users with this issue. Only a few hundred out of millions must mean "not worth the trouble" from Apples play book.

take a look at the i5 hangs up thread, same ignorance there.
i've started posting these issues to german blogs yesterday.

and it doesn't matter if we're a small or big group, we all have paid more than enough for this crap

I thought it was odd months ago, when this problem first started to gain attention, that technology news sites were not reporting on this. Now I believe it is because the problem with the MacBook Pro (MB470LL/A (2.4), MB471LL/A (2.53), MC026LL/A (2.66 GHz)) are being confused with a similar problem which effected the previous MacBook Pro's (MB133LL/A (2.4 GHz), MB134LL/A (2.5 GHz)). The earlier models problem was addressed by both Apple and NVIDIA, so many believe we are talking about the same issue.

Here's a follow up (first post on page 48) on my second visit at the Apple Store:

*The Genius told me that they got a internal note saying that repairing physical parts of the laptop doesn't solve the issue.* So basically, I was told to go back home and live with it. Maybe Apple will fix it in the next OS update. If they can't then they don't know what they'll do. What an answer! Poor Genius, that's what he was told to say by Apple.

So I'm calling them Monday and asking for either a refund or a new computer. But it's about time they stop ignoring us! So if everybody can call to ask for a refund I'm sure we can have an impact. Also I left a feedback on their product, here's the link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Anyways, next step is a legal letter to make them take their responsibilities seriously.

They should stop putting all their Smartness in their Smart Phones!

*To sum it all, there's nothing else we can do but insist on a refund or a new computer. We tried it all.*

Keep posting your experiences it helps everybody.

Jashby wrote:
*The Genius told me that they got a internal note saying that repairing physical parts of the laptop doesn't solve the issue.* So basically, I was told to go back home and live with it. Maybe Apple will fix it in the next OS update. If they can't then they don't know what they'll do. What an answer! Poor Genius, that's what he was told to say by Apple.

haha, genius!
students who switched from dell half a year ago...
same at care support...

So I'm calling them Monday and asking for either a refund or a new computer.

oh yeah, maybe the better i5 ones?
here we go with the next issue, which ***** a lot more for me:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2407560&start=0&tstart=0

But it's about time they stop ignoring us! So if everybody can call to ask for a refund I'm sure we can have an impact. Also I left a feedback on their product, here's the link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

thanks, good idea!
i've also send a mail to steve....

Anyways, next step is a legal letter to make them take their responsibilities seriously.

They should stop putting all their Smartness in their Smart Phones!

absolutely right and also in their shareholders too

*To sum it all, there's nothing else we can do but insist on a refund or a new computer. We tried it all.*

Keep posting your experiences it helps everybody.

RIGHT!!!

Strange - I did notice blinking on original Hitachi HDD 250, but once in an hour or so. I put WD 500 back in and it started right away, I see blinking like you guys do, quite often.

I do agree that we have to keep pushing. I have left the feedback. I wonder though if Steve reads these e-mails, I doubt it very much.

If you bought your mac with a credit card be sure to check your card's benefits. Some credit cards will double the length of the original manufacturer's warranty. This will allow you to repair it under the credit card's extended warranty after your AppleCare has expired. Citibank Diamond Rewards provides this benefit.

A logic board replacement is $300+, and following a second replacement the flickering has abated for three weeks.

"Some credit cards will double the length of the original manufacturer's warranty"

What's the point? They don't repair it. If Apple says to wait then your credit card company won't do a thing.

I can't believe they let customers down so quickly. It's a late 2008 model. One year and a half...