Uneven illumination

My PowerBook returned from Apple Repair with a new display clamshell and thankfully no more white spots. However, I do notice the uneven illumination, particularly on the right side of the screen and in the bottom corners. Other than that and one small cluster of pixels that appears slightly brighter only against a white background, my screen looks great.

I suspect that the uneven illumination issue falls within Apple's acceptable parameters, so I'm not going to pursue a "fix." Apple Care has told me that LCD technology isn't perfect and certain anomallies are to be expected.

My PowerBook has already been in for repair twice. I think I can live with the bit of unevenness. I've never worked with an LCD screen prior to this PowerBook, so perhaps I'm overly used to CRTs.

I've had my 15" PB for a little over two weeks now and I'm still happy to say, no white spots at all! I do however note that very subtle difference in brightness across the screen, with the right third of the screen being a little darker. Not much, but it's there.

I make my living off this thing, but 90% of the time I use a Samsung 19" monitor as my main workspace with the PB sitting next to it displaying my Mail and any other secondary stuff I might have open. I don't do color graphic work, so for me this isn't an issue, I guess.

I usually have the PB screen dimmed down a bit, and I find that when I take it on the road I can brighten it all the way up and the shadowing is minimal. This may be the sort of thing you have to put up with to get that great wide screen in the first place.

On balance, I love this thing. The white spot people have my sympathy, but I do know other people who've had these a lot longer than I have with no white spots at all, so it's not universal. I never asked anyone about the shadowing till I saw the thread here this morning.

I bought my 15" PB in Sept from the Apple Online Store. I have had no white spots or other problems.

Then on Sat, when I woke the powerbook from sleep, the right 2/3s of the screen was significantly darker than the left side. If I would drag a blank text page you could really notice the difference. The menu bar was also significantly darker on the right.

I called Apple and the support person had me shut down, jap the pram once and then immediately reset the vram. (hold down: option, apple, o key, f key - when you get to a white scren type reset-nvram, return, type reset-all, return)
The powerbook restarted and the right side was lighter than before.
He had me do this whole process 3 times. Each time the right side lightened up.

The left side is still lighter than the right but it is not as drastic a difference as before. He told me I could do this a few more times if I wanted.

I am going to see if I can live with this for a little while longer to avoid sending in my powerbook for repair.

Yeah, what is going on with Apples screen on this Powerbook. They are really hurting their customer base here. Im upset Apple is not responsible enough to come and say that 5% of their powerbooks are flawed, or 10% or 60%. Whatever. But they never will. Why? An employee who is a friend of mine works in the apple store in Pa, USA. He said if Apple admits there is a problem in even .5% not a single soul would buy the powerbook. He is correct. They will never admit or apologize this because it would be detrimental to their year ends sales.

Apple: this is BS. Tell us at least you will fix it if their IS! a problem. On another forum in the display section they stated a quote from an APPLE reply to this probelm that you cant caryy the PB in a bag.

ARE YOU SERIOUS! Oh my God. Who would have thought of carrying a portable computer in a bag? Imagine that? A non portable, portable computer!

Apple fess up and tell us what is going on. Please.!

Robert,
Did you send your powerbook in for repair? How long did it take?

Thanks

Adding another data point:

I too have uneven illumination on my PB (ordered Sept 20th, delivered Oct 10th). The left hand side of the screen is significantly brighter than the centre/right part, although this 'shadow' does disappear when the display is set to full brightness.

::sigh::

I'm moving to Japan in a months' time, so I guess I'll put up with it for now. I've got AppleCare, so if needs be I can harangue Apple Japan about it.

I have a curiosity... someone can do me a foto of this problem on the screen...

thanks

My PB was with Apple for a week and just arrived back yesterday morning. The new screen's illumination is evenly distributed but now I have a couple of stuck pixels that I didn't have before. They're not bad though, only viewable on a particular type of blue screen.

I bought my computer on November 16, and just started noticing uneven illumination yesterday, with the left 1/3 of the screen slightly brighter than the right. I recalibrated the display (available under system preferences, choose expert) and now it's perfect. Hopefully this helps. I'll repost if my display worsens.

Here is an update on my uneven illumination.
It was worse today and so I called Apple and they are sending a box for me to send it in for repair. I really hate to do that since I have a home business and the powerbook is my only computer.
The interesting thing is that tonight my screen looks perfect. There is no uneven illumination. I have been using it since late afternoon on a project and it has "warmed up". The weather has turned colder here with our house being colder. I would hate to think that the temperature would have that much affect on the illumination of the screen.

Phill, send it back. I had the same problem and my reseller DOA'd the machine as soon as he saw it.
You might want to check on availability before you do - the three week wait for my replacement was excruciating. The replacement machine was a noticably better build, though.
Fingers crossed they fix it.

I'm having the same issue with uneven illumination on my 15" AlPB. Frankly, I hate sending my machine back to any manufacturer since it never is the same as when you sent it - i.e., the service department always seems to damage or alter another part of the laptop...like some users have mentioned in this thread.

My question to everyone is: has anyone (who's purchased their PB from Apple Retailer Store or Apple Online Store) gone to an Apple Retail Store and asked them to simply replace their PB with a new one? I'm thinking of demanding this since the whole 'sending in for repair' process doesn't seem all that successful.

Thanks.

Apple will usually only let you exchange the machine if it is within the first 10 days. FWIW, my PB came back in fine shape from having the LCD replaced for this problem.

Ah, thanks for the info. By the way, how long did you have to wait before they returned your PB?

My PowerBook was gone for 6 days while they replaced the LCD.