Screen Burn In

You can only see it when the screen is displaying dark colors, but it appears to be a white ghost.

It simply sounds like light coming through the Apple logo on the front side of the case; I've seen it happen. The next time you see it, simply cover the Apple logo with your hand and see if the ghost goes away. I bet it will.

I just posted basically the exact same thing last night! And I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, MacBook Pro, 13", etc. etc.

I was definitely not as good at describing it as you though, but a ghost/screen burn in would be quite an accurate description.

What does yours look like? Mine's in the shape of the edge of a half-circle kinda.

At first, I thought it was just the light shining through the Apple logo too, but covering it up, it doesn't change anything...

but covering it up, it doesn't change anything...

What did you cover the logo with?

Have you looked at the screen in a dark room?

The only thing that I can think of describing it as looking like is the head of some kind of animal with antlers sticking straight out of its head...

That's kind of what the Apple logo can look like on the LCD screen with light behind the screen. Do you still see the 'image' in a dark room? This should be easy to check.

Example of light coming though the Apple logo....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzqXcu2JnbA

Yes, that's the way it looks on my old 12" PowerBook G4, but on my new 15" MacBook Pro the Apple image is FAR MORE diffuse and indistinct (I just checked).

Same issue, my discoloration/burn-in looks like the bottom half of a circle with a horizontal line across the top, sort of like an "upside down" sunset, more noticeable on a dark background, I'm out of warranty, but I am going to take it to apple. Will post what they tell me.

I went to the Apple Store in Montreal today, showed them the screen. They are replacing the screen (have to bring it back in after they order the part). It is under warranty.

Hope that helps everyone else!

jpmny wrote:
Same issue, my discoloration/burn-in looks like the bottom half of a circle with a horizontal line across the top, sort of like an "upside down" sunset, more noticeable on a dark background...

Thank you all for describing the exact same 'ghost in the machine' I see when my screen's locking/unlocking, both before and after the Authenticate window. Whatever the odd, crayon-like stick shape is, it's definitely not the logo shining through.

Oddly, this just started in the last week. My laptop is early 2008; 15". I got it used from a pal this past summer and it's been terrific. Until now.

FWIW, I use Apple's Cosmos (planets) screen saver on my MBP, ditto on my ancient work-horse iMac lamp. The latter's screen is ghost-free.

Any news as to what's going on?

For what it's worth... LCD displays don't get burn-in. Burn in can only happen with tube displays (CRTs). It occurs in those when an image is constantly displayed in the same location. Over time, the stream of electrons charging the surface on the back of the tube can "burn" the image into the display. LCD displays function in a completely different way and are not susceptible to burn-in. "Screen savers" are pretty much just for security on LCDs... they don't actually sever any "saver" function.

Thanks and yep, I think those of us describing this ghostly oddity are up to speed on the CRT burn-in problem. But I still think "burn in" is a really good word to describe essentially the same effect we're seeing --

The +exact same+ unknown, unmoving, simplistic 'image' apparently burned dead-center into our displays, permanently visible in medium-dark to dark backgrounds of any color: images; windows, dark page backgrounds, etc.

Because this screen snafu/phenom is difficult to describe, let alone picture, I finally got a so-so photo of it. (The ghost in the machine does not show up in screenshots, which strikes me as significant but I don't know why.)

Anyway, here's the URL to one of the worst photos I've ever taken, of the same apparition on my MBP that "jpmny" described up-thread on their MBP as, "the bottom half of a circle with a horizontal line across the top, sort of like an "upside down" sunset":

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anngarretson/

Thoughts?

It sounds like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_persistence