Q: MacBook Pro Retina display burn-in?

I got a 13" rMBP a week ago and just noticed this happening. I found an Apple support document that says this is "normal" on IPS screens, but I have another Mac and 2 LED cinema displays that do not exhibit this behavior. Trying to decide if I should return the machine or if they're all going to be like this.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5455

Wow. A lot of people here trying to decide whether keeping their machines is an option, if getting a Samsung replacement is a possibility, etc. After having gone through this several times with Apple and finally returning everything for a full refund I will say the following.

I once heard an interviewer ask Bill Gates if he ever felt guilty about making billions of dollars by selling a piece of software on a disk that cost cents to produce. He replied that he did not because in our society people have the right to spend whatever amount of money they want on an item if they find that they are getting adequate value for that amount of money. Otherwise they have the option to purchase something else or keep their money. No one forces us to buy anything.

So what all that means is if you purchase a MBP that has a screen which is less bright than the previous generation of products, has image retention or anything that makes it inferior by anyone else's standards you still have the right to enjoy it and use it and feel that you are getting your money's worth. My only question there is what is going to happen to all of you if Apple revises this product with a screen that is better than the present offering or to those of you who are happy they have units with Samsung displays only to have to have one of those replaced... when there are no more Samsung units to be had?

It is your hard earned cash folks. Don't let a corporation hold you hostage because their product is cool to own. Get good value for your money. You'll hate yourself less for it ;) Don't accept an inferior product because it is being marketed as the best. The only way Apple will address this is if it hurts their bottom line.

pnewcomb wrote:

 

"Just to speak up and challenge the assumption that all LG screens are getting worse over time and all will eventually fail. That's my current experience."

 

You've had it for a week. When people say it's getting worse over time, I think what they mean is a few months.

Image retention and damage to the screen is temperature dependent.  If the ambient temperature or the computer/display itself was not as hot as when you originally tested it then it will be less likely to show.  But it does get worse over time.  And in many cases this is only over a period of a couple weeks or less (mine took 10 days from perfect display to obvious image retention).

Today I went to Birmingham Bullring store (UK) and I was talking to a guy who was responsible for selling the rMBP. I told him that I have purchased the 15" rMBP and because of the Image retention I returned it after 1 hour of using it. He told me that he has heard of it... we did the test on their laptops there. They had restricted the user from having access to the command terminal so that people cannot check the LCD build. He used his own username and password still we couldn't get the brand of the screen. But we took the test and they had the problem on all 2 of the 15 inches and 6 13 inches. so we can easily know that all of them were LG. Then I asked him have you seen anybody asking for screen replacement, he said only a couple came and they had dead pixels. Then I showed him this forum and I asked him to see if apple is going to fix this problem or not? he said if it is widespread, they will never talk about it and they might fix it in their future products in the next upcoming months or at the worst case for the next year when the new one comes out!

cs22ms wrote:

 

So someone else (lots of people actually) posted Apple's support article.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5455

"If you see a persistent image on your screen, you can use the screen saver to eliminate it" or in this case, why not use a screensaver enhanced by whatever was just on your screen?!?!?!

Does anyone have direct contact with any of Apple's Executive Relation people from problems w/ their machines?? They really should see this picture if possible. This blantantly rules out their solution and shows that this is an isolated issue with the rMBPs with LG displays.

In other news, still looking if anyone has a 13" rMBP with a Samsung display. So far, everyone's posts (including my experience at multiple apple stores) shows IR on all LG screens (15") and all of the 13" screens (which we don't know if there's anything but LG).

so i got my samsung 661 7171 par number display on the retina 15" and it has no retention its a little brighter the colors are the same i think BUT i has mura or light bleeding like you guys call it, a yellowish spot about an inch on the left side.. and you can see it clear when a black image is all over the screen... shame apple... really sad

"But we took the test and they had the problem on all 2 of the 15 inches and 6 13 inches. so we can easily know that all of them were LG."

Well, I've just cancelled my order for a 13" rMBP and will try for a 15" instead to see if I can get a Samsung display.  If all the 13" models suffer from IR then I'll have none of it.

well for what it's worth I've had mine for 8 days now. It has minimal IR but based on the heavy weight of anecdotal evidence here that the problem gets worse with time, and based on Apples stance on the problem, I've decided I'm not prepared to run the gauntlet with this. Its not worth losing the peace of mind and for £2000 you are paying 'perfection' prices. I'm also getting a lot of audio break up and safari redraw bugs. Goodbye bleeding edge.

Hi guys,

I bought my 15" Retina MacBook Pro last week and unfortunately it came with the LG panel (model 661-6529) with quite bad image retention. I went into my local Apple Store (Covent Garden, London, UK) today around 1pm and showed them the issue, specifically asking for a Samsung panel, model number 661-7171, as a replacement. The Genius told me the replacements are "like for like replacements" and that they had no way of checking the manufacturer. However, once she put in the request for a 15" Retina Display replacement, the part number 661-7171 did actually show up on the internal system app that was running on her iPad. 661-6529 was not an option (LG), so I guess Apple is doing all screen replacements with Samsung screens now. Fast forward 4 hours: I get an eMail saying my product is ready for pick up, so I went back to pick the MBP up and did a 10 min. test: No image retention! I can also confirm the Terminal command stating it's a Samsung display (LSN). So there you go: no need to play the lottery, just get the screen replaced with a Samsung!

If I could return my rMBP and get a full refund plus my AppleCare refund, I would do just that. My rMBP had an LG screen. Really awful IR. I got a replacement screen - Samsung - but there's a very noticable tinting issue in the bottom 1/3rd of the screen. The IR thing happened 2 months after purchase, so couldn't exercise my 14 day no-questions-asked refund. I am exploring what my options are at the moment. Atleast the Applecare rep calls me regularly from Singapore and follows up as promised.

Fellow customers, it is time to vote with your wallet. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SETTLE FOR SUB-STANDARD PRODUCTS. The Retina display is the salient selling point for the rMBP. Why should you settle for even the slightest defect? We are purchasing top end products here, with the promise of quality and performance.

a) If your purchase is within 14 days, get a refund and wait for the next generation. Buy it only after a couple of months have passed. In technology, early adopter customers are the scapegoats. QA is not as it used to be.

b) If you purchase is not refundable anymore, DO NOT SETTLE for shoddy products. If Apple offers a full refund at any point, take it.

c) If Apple refuses to offer a return, keep playing the display lottery game. Be polite, but be persistent. At some point, the resellers and stores and service providers will HAVE to justify their work orders.

d) And if you are thinking of buying the rMBP (any model), just DON'T. Save your money until Apple starts to TEST their products properly before dumping them on the public. Wait it out.

NOTHING SPEAKS MORE THAN THE RISING NUMBER OF REFUNDS.

I wish there were lemon laws for computers the same as what exist for cars. Funny, an Apple turning into a Lemon!

Honestly I do not see how you can avoid playing the lottery, you can only be "lucky" in two ways:

- You get a perfect samsung from start

- You get from the beginning a LG with so bad retention that you are "outside spec", so you get an immediate replacement with a Samsung

in the other cases, if you are over the 14 days return period you are basically screwed. If you have a LG without IR or "acceptable" IR you know it will probably appear later and/or get worse over time. When? maybe outside the warranty period? who knows. Also Apple can change the meaning of "within spec" as they want. In the absence of an official statement nothing guarantees that apple will replace your screen in the future, nor that samsung replacements will be available at that point. LG is their main provider by a wide margin so there will not be Samsung replacements for everyone. In fact the recent release of the retina 13 with the same LG screens clearly indicates that Apple has assumed this is "normal behaviour" for this line of product and expects most of the people will not see the problem at least within the warranty period, so in the meantime they just do silent "damage contention" with the samsung replacements.  Even those having "perfect samsungs" now may be screwed in the future if they get mura or dead pixels and no more samsung displays are available when they ask for a replacement.

In top of this, even if you can live with the image retention probably in one/two year timeframe new models without the problem will be out, so it will be difficult to convince someone to buy your mac "featuring" image retention. With 0 resale value  this may be the worst investment ever.

Do I want to buy a pretty Apple 2200+ euro lottery ticket? No, thanks.

can somebody do the graphics update that was released today and tell us what happens after the update? is the sluggishness gone and does it make any difference on the ghosting?

Updated an hour ago and didn't notice any difference. Definitely did not make the image retention problem any better.

"Image retention and damage to the screen is temperature dependent. "

If that's the case then in the summer I'm screwed with an LG display! I live in TX and will be using it outside quite a bit.

No screen is perfect with these retina's. My first macbook pro 15'' with retina display had IR problems and they happily exchanged me with a new one which had a samsung display. Now I noticed there is some *minor* backlight bleeding around the corners, but there is no way I'm returning it and risking getting another LG screen.