I have the same problem (as the original post). I’m a Windows switcher (or I was a Windows switcher). I bought a late 2008/early 2009 15” 2.66GHz Macbook Pro a few weeks ago. As soon as I started using it I noticed the shimmering but figured that it was just because I was hypersensitive because it was a new machine, system, and had a glossy screen. I assumed that I would just get used to it.
As soon as I started using the Mac (in the evenings – I use a Windows box at work) I started waking up feeling very strained, tired and heavy around the eyes. But I didn’t connect the new computer with the symptoms. After about a week, as I started to use the Macbook more, I realised that I was getting motion sickness/nausea like symptoms when using it.
At this stage I started doing a bit of research (i.e. I googled ‘Macbook Pro flicker’ and similar terms) which brought me to threads like this one. I assumed at first that there had to be some way to resolve the problem by calibration, a setting change, or a software or firmware update. During this time I persisted with the Macbook because I loved pretty much everything else about it (particularly OS X and the trackpad). I also called Apple support. The support guy was very professional and polite but I don’t think he really understood the issue (could have been a cultural thing – I am in New Zealand, but I suspect he wasn’t). He suggested that I take it to the local distributor support centre and they could replace the screen. I called the local support centre and they suggested that I bring it in, but it would be 4-5 working days before they looked at it as they had a bit of a backlog.
Based on what I had read I turned up the brightness to try to reduce the flicker/shimmer. I then started having intense headaches (situated right behind the eyes). When I finally quit using the Macbook the headache didn’t completely subside for 4 days and was so bad on the first day that I had to leave work halfway through the day (I work in software development so most of my day is spent gazing at a screen).
I tried the Macbook again for 15 minutes one night this last week and started feeling it immediately. And when I woke the next day I had the same strained, tired and heavy feel around the eyes.
So now I think I’m just going to have to go and ask for (demand) my money back. I’m pretty disappointed. It took me a long time to finally decide to switch to Mac. I still can’t quite believe that Apple have released something so badly flawed. Obviously not everyone is susceptible to the flicker but I would have thought a significant percentage of the population must be. I find two things particularly disappointing….
Firstly Apple would have done extensive testing of the product before releasing it. At least some of their engineers/testers would have had similar symptoms. There was no doubt some high-level discussion about the problem. “Do we ship the product knowing that for some people it’s going to be unusable?” And obviously they decided that the benefits (nice looking screen, lower battery consumption) outweighed the costs (completely unusable for some people). Personally I think that’s a pretty cynical decision.
Secondly, despite the fact that there is a lot of discussion about this issue online, including in Apple’s own forums, there is no acknowledgement from Apple that this is a problem for some people. If the problem had only just been uncovered I could understand the lack of comment, but the problem seems to have existed for some time now (ever since they introduced LED backlighting). I appreciate that Apple’s secrecy adds some mystique and builds up anticipation prior to product launches, but post release it just seems like arrogance.
So in summary - very disappointed.
