Q: MacBook Pro Retina display burn-in?

Well I have been debating upgrading my computer. TWO reasons really...I currently have TWO MacBook Pro's. One is a 13" Mid 2010 Core 2 Duo and the other is a 17" i5. I use the 13" for school only and my 17" for everything else. As the semester just recently started I found that my backpack has been heavier than ever before and I thought to myself....a lighter laptop would be awesome right about now. Secondly...it'd probably be just better to dump both my 13" & 17" and go to a single laptop to use for everything.

After much debating and consideration I thought that the Air answered most of my solutions (ie: lightweight, upgrade over my current 13", and probably a slight upgrade over my 17")...of course then I'd be to a 13" screen ALL the time. For school I love it, but when I'm using it elsewhere I love having the 17" and not sure a 13" would suffice. Furthermore...in comparing the 13" air fully upgraded I was looking around $2300 versus $3200 on the 15" retina. Sure it's $900 but it's a completely different computer...far better processor, 16gb ram instead of 8, and it's just about as thin as the air (at it's max thickness point). The Air solves my weight issue by about 1.5 lbs...and the 15" retina weighs slighly less than my current 13" MBP...so this is basically a wash.

I had decided I was going to do the Retina...but then I came across all these forums and people ****** about the display with IR issues and apparently some other issues. So needless to say I have decided that I will just sit back and wait until another MBPR comes out OR I can be absolutely confident that if I buy one the so called "issues" have been resolved. I completely feel the pain of everyone on here feverishly upset over such a pricey purchase and feeling like you've lost all hope on any resolution. That just bites. I've been an Apple fan for awhile but these new MBPR problems have me absolutely discouraged.

I've ruled out the AIR because I want a 15" if I am going to do 1 computer for both uses. Considering that the MBPR is competing with the Air in terms of weight and trying to get a little more "Air" like I highly doubt they will release a 15" air..it just seems contradictory to the MBPR.

Well in the mean time I'll just have to wait it out and use my computers as they are. I did however speak to a business rep at the apple store and he said that he would personally return my laptop for a full refund within 3 weeks (because I said 14 days was too short) ... I said that'd be great but can you put it in writing for me and he said he was not able to do that but gave me his word. Well...we USED to live in a country where someone's word actually meant something, and while I WANT and DO believe that he would return it in 3 weeks for a full refund I can not be guaranteed that he will quit or get fired or hit by a bus either...so no writing means no deal for me.

So basically I am NOT buying a MBPR because of the fear of being in the same boat so many posters on this and other forums are...it sure sounds odd but I feel I'm best to wait this thing out.

I hope everyone gets a good resolution here!

Guys when you get the chance please do the Cold LID test on the machine.  I need to know if I am the only one that can slow/stop the IR with having an Ice Cold LID.

This is a defect no matter what anyone say's because I can clearly stop it from happening if the Screen display isn't heating up.  As I said before it has something to do with an image/signal component.  If I can prove my point then all this garbage about it being within specs or software/firmware issues will be thrown out the window.

Just received my 1st replacement... it's a samsung!

they replace your LID or whole machine ?

The whole machine (I was within the 14 days)

bjiibj wrote:

 

Were you outside of the 14 day window?  And they still accepted your rMBP for refund?

 

If so, please let me know who you wrote to and how you got this outcome.  I would like to know how to reproduce this should I need to.  Thanks!

Yes, I was outside the 14 days, but in fact my rMBP was found faulty the first time after 17 days, so I'd just missed the deadline. After that it was repaired two times and the three displays were all faulty LGs.

<Edited By Host>

krnorth wrote:

 

Well I have been debating upgrading my computer. TWO reasons really...I currently have TWO MacBook Pro's. One is a 13" Mid 2010 Core 2 Duo and the other is a 17" i5. I use the 13" for school only and my 17" for everything else. As the semester just recently started I found that my backpack has been heavier than ever before and I thought to myself....a lighter laptop would be awesome right about now. Secondly...it'd probably be just better to dump both my 13" & 17" and go to a single laptop to use for everything.

 

After much debating and consideration I thought that the Air answered most of my solutions (ie: lightweight, upgrade over my current 13", and probably a slight upgrade over my 17")...of course then I'd be to a 13" screen ALL the time. For school I love it, but when I'm using it elsewhere I love having the 17" and not sure a 13" would suffice. Furthermore...in comparing the 13" air fully upgraded I was looking around $2300 versus $3200 on the 15" retina. Sure it's $900 but it's a completely different computer...far better processor, 16gb ram instead of 8, and it's just about as thin as the air (at it's max thickness point). The Air solves my weight issue by about 1.5 lbs...and the 15" retina weighs slighly less than my current 13" MBP...so this is basically a wash.

 

I had decided I was going to do the Retina...but then I came across all these forums and people ****** about the display with IR issues and apparently some other issues. So needless to say I have decided that I will just sit back and wait until another MBPR comes out OR I can be absolutely confident that if I buy one the so called "issues" have been resolved. I completely feel the pain of everyone on here feverishly upset over such a pricey purchase and feeling like you've lost all hope on any resolution. That just bites. I've been an Apple fan for awhile but these new MBPR problems have me absolutely discouraged.

 

I've ruled out the AIR because I want a 15" if I am going to do 1 computer for both uses. Considering that the MBPR is competing with the Air in terms of weight and trying to get a little more "Air" like I highly doubt they will release a 15" air..it just seems contradictory to the MBPR.

 

Well in the mean time I'll just have to wait it out and use my computers as they are. I did however speak to a business rep at the apple store and he said that he would personally return my laptop for a full refund within 3 weeks (because I said 14 days was too short) ... I said that'd be great but can you put it in writing for me and he said he was not able to do that but gave me his word. Well...we USED to live in a country where someone's word actually meant something, and while I WANT and DO believe that he would return it in 3 weeks for a full refund I can not be guaranteed that he will quit or get fired or hit by a bus either...so no writing means no deal for me.

 

So basically I am NOT buying a MBPR because of the fear of being in the same boat so many posters on this and other forums are...it sure sounds odd but I feel I'm best to wait this thing out.

 

I hope everyone gets a good resolution here!

I totally 100% feel exactly the way you do about this.  After returning my first LG rMBP, and having been a long time apple user without any problems, my confidence was shaken.  I really want to go out and start the samsung screen roulette game, but now even hearing about different screen colour hues on the samsungs, and a few cases of dead pixels, it just has me a little bit worried about the overall level of quality with whole thing.  It's $2300!!  That's a pretty big deal for a student such as myself, when I could (not saying I want too) buy a $800 laptop that would probably work just fine.  Another thing I'm curious about is if these sorts of problems happen with other brands of laptops as well.  I'm sure they do, but it would be great to know the scale of those problems vs the scale of this problem.  I'm really in need of a new computer because my 2006 old white, cracked, and beat up macbook is really showing its age.  But it's still running, and if these sorts of problems are showing up within a few days or in my case hours, I don't really want to find out what else is poorly manufactured three or four years down the road.  Sitting in a tough spot right now.

Hey guys, I have some good news to share. Ive just returned from my local apple store (Milton Keynes, UK) and have purchased a base model retina macbook pro.

I managed to get a samsung screen!!

So basically i ran the terminal command on two of the display models that were next to each other one was a samsung and one was a LG, so i set up the IR test on both units, and changed the background to the solid dark grey on both and left a web browser open for two minutes and called an assistant over to help me purchase one. Im unsure as to whether they were aware of the issue before hand, but demostrated the problem, and the LG had crazy bad IR i was able to read all the text left from the browers on the grey screen, while the samsung was completley IR free.

I then went on to say now you can see the problem, i would like to buy one but obviously i only want a samsung. He then said that there is no way to find out what display it has until i buy one and run the terminal command. However they will allow me to purchase one and do the check and if its not the right one i can do an exchange on the spot, and they will allow me to do this up to 3 times. I was very happy hearing that as it increases my chances on finding a samsung. So off we go and pay for one, and a couple of minutes later a chap comes along with the first rMBP, i boot it up do the check and hey presto i have a samsung on the first attempt. Obviously i was extatic at this and left a happy chappy.

Sorry to go on a bit on this but to summarise there are 2 points to take from this to help people out in their samsung lottery game. 1st is that samsungs are clearly still being produced and are available in stores and 2nd is that they WILL allow you to open up to 3 units to check, albeit you have to purchase one first.

I hope this helps, good luck to you all.

Well folks, I just got a top of line rMBP, i.e., the 2.7 GHz one with insane specs (I prefer to call it the 4K $ one, it hurts more and I'm a masochist apparently for liking Apple), from the sane Apple Store. I did not mention any troubles with rMBP and didn't mention that I already have a rMBP.

It's still in the box, I'm typing from my very flawed yellow IR LG IPS display. I am both excited and have apprehension, because it might be another LG...

Let the unboxing begin!

Back in a few minutes.

I had a Samsung screen and about a month after use I have a dead pixel unfortunatley.

     I went to the apple store and they said they would replace the screen. Hope Im not being too picky but perfection should be expected with the price tag of the machine.

I am waiting in anticipation......

I had the same with my Samsung screen.

I have several Macbook Pro's, a powermac g5 and have had my share of issues over the course of time with defects, problems,etc, but I have never seen a community group so focused on the "importance" of a Samsung display versus an LG. 

I have a base MBP Retina with an LG display, End of August Production date(week 35) and have absolutely no dead pixels, no image burn, and the screen looks wonderful.  I admit that initially I had considered doing display musical chairs, but having my machine for two weeks now I have noticed no overheating, no image issues and the screen is absolutely flawless, however I do have a friend who has the same machine with the Samsung and he has several dead pixels and his machine overheats more frequently.  Please note that I am using Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and FCP X on a daily basis and none of the issues reported within this forum are universal, and I stress that it is not universal.

I would say that if you have image burn it may very be attributed to the LG display, but I have heard instances on the Samsung as well, and there is a higher prevalence among first builds, do note that according to Apple Serial information site, they had been making the Retina Display macbook pro's as early as February in roll up to release, and at that same time, LG was having issues with production, especially regarding quality consistency. It is a relatively new technology, so there are always some bugs to be worked out.

I have talked extensively with Apple Technical Support on whether this is an actual issue and it is on early builds, but not on later builds.

I believe this whole line of discussion has gotten out of hand in the severity some are willing to go to state that the problem is assured if you have an LG display instead of a Samsung.  I argue to the contrary(partly) that while this problem most certainly exists, you are not guaranteed to have a problem just because you buy a RMBP with a LG display or a Samsung Display.

Another thing to clear up for people is the question of how many here buy Applecare? Because the same technician made it clear that if there is any issue with the screen at any time they would replace my screen with no problem, do mind I am a business customer, but it should apply across the line. I always buy Applecare and I would say to potential buyers definitely get Applecare if you are buying a RMBP because of the fact that it is not user upgradeable and repairs will be inherently more expensive, plus as an added bonus they now cover the Battery under Applecare with the RMBP(note this inclusion is exclusively Retina MBP, not other systems) because they made the battery impossible to replace.

So for people hesitant for the Retina MBP, I would say that the display make is not a guarantee of failure or crap, image burn or dead pixels, it is possible, but highly unlikely, the store where i bought my machine had only recently had an in stock, which implies that it is selling at a brisk pace and that there are newer builds out there like mine, I would be wary of any machine that still has Lion on it as it implies a early or first build, and as WireD64 says, do the display swap, they have a great 14 day no question return policy. But please calm down on the blame game, I have had horrible experiences with first builds with apple and had great ones as well, but they have always taken care of me and any problems that may arise down the line. 

I love my new machine, I love the ability to watch a movie on my TV in HD while performing design work at the same time with no performance lapse or overheating...I will just attribute it to getting lucky or maybe(Most Likely) they have fixed the issue/ensured that current machines being sold will not come with the same issues

So word out on 9o5mac is that apple is largely ditching Samsung to rely more heavily on LG and CHINESE manufacturers like Sanyo.

You keep billions of US tax dollars overseas and unpaid. Thousands of jobs overseas.

Add to that you now make high end priced goods with increasingly sub standard components. Eat a d apple.

I honestly think that my reasons for buying a apple products are drying up fast. Pretentious and flat out pot kettle black company.

So, 4th. time is a charm for me, today I replaced my fourth RMBP in Best Buy without any problems and : LSN154YL01001 !

What a relief, no more eyes strain looking for any sign of IR (wasn't hard to find on 4) Samsung does look much more sharper and brighter. This time it's a keeper, now I will register with Apple.

Thanks to all of you.