Q: MacBook Pro Retina display burn-in?

Hi, bought a 15" rmbp back in february and had an LG screen.  Didn't have any problems with it until last month when some light image retention appeared.  After a few weeks it became unbearable.  Called Apple Support, they said they knew about the problem and reffered me to the nearest Apple Store (Pointe-Claire, Qc, Canada).  I came prepared with this thread bookmarked and also made sure my laptop was running hot when I met the genius.  He saw the problem right away and offered me a screen replacement but said he had no control over which screen they would provide. The replacement took less than 24 hours and after running the screen command, I now have a Samsung screen.  The Samsung screen is a little warmer than the LG but still very sharp and looks awesome. This was my experience with the whole situation and I hope they will stop producing the faulty LG screens.

I have an LG display on my 2-week old rMBP.  The only time I encountered burn-in/ghosting was during the first boot-up.  Since then, the dock has consistently been on the bottom of my screen, and I have had no problems at all. ***knock on wood***

It's a very bright screen and the colors are beautiful...let's hope it stays that way for years to come!

After about a year, I had my LG display replaced with a Samsung as well.  Like most people, I've found the display warmer and miss the contrast/color saturation of the LG, so I created this .icc display profile.  I only used my eyes, not a color calibrator, but to me it looks very similar to the LG colors.  If anyone is interested in giving it a try, I posted a dropbox link below.  Good luck!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7112346/Samsung%20Retina%20Display%20Profile .icc

Thanks! I also came from another LG and now I have a Samsumg.

With your profile it's pretty better, thanks a lot. I'll try to get a color calibrator of a friend to see if there is much difference.

Hi Everybody,

This is a really useful post, and i'm glad so many people come together to help out.  I just bought a clearance unopened RMBP from BestBuy, and its the mid 2012 version.  I noticed the IR the first day i shut down in a gray screen, but i didn't see any other image retentions because i dont work in a lot of grey.  After reading this post, i started to look at more gray screens on my MB, and noticed the IR is pretty strong.

I've been reading online about plasma TVs and how they had this issue, but was due to it being brand new, and people broke it in after 200 hours.

Does the same logic apply here?  I'm thinking it may not, since some people see the IR months later.  Could someone chime in?  Thanks much.

No. Two totally different technologies. Image retention is NOT a characteristic of IPS displays not matter what Apple says. I've had several 24" IPS displays from ASUS and Dell; none had any problem with image retention. My rmbp with Samsung display didn't have IR issues either.

The fact that they pin this on the very technology they are touting in the rmbp is embarassing. If you have bad IR take your rmbp to a Genius Bar or return it to Best Buy.

I seem to recall a post by someone who quoted some expert as saying that IR is a consequence of poor production. Simple as that. It's such basic logic to follow regardless. If it's normal, it would be normal for Samsung also. If it's normal, it would be apparent/visible right out of the box, not weeks or months later. So silly.

OK thanks a lot both for your input.  I'm assuming, because i bought this clearance (unopened) from bestbuy with manufacturer's warranty, i should be able to go to Apple to repair/replace.  Again, this is the mid-2012 retina MBP on clearance. 

Sonny

More than likely they will swap with a Samsung screen. I had mine swapped twice. They tend to be a little on the warm side with a yellow tint. If you can, I would return the rmbp and wait for Apple to release the updated models with Haswell.

An update to my mystery why my refurb 2013 rMBP has an SJA1.  It's actually a mid 2012.  I guess the production date of May 2013 was when they got around to doing the refurb on it, not when it was originally manufactured.  I thought I was getting the 2.7 from 2013, but it's actually a 2012 2.7 with 8mb cache, not 6mb.  So far after a few weeks the screen is ok.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

I actually have a 2012 refurb model which has a sandisk ssd, so the refurb definitely did happen later than 2012. The manufacturing date has not been reset in my case to the refurb date.

I have used a LG screen mbp for about a year now and I've noticed the problem since the beginning. But I haven't seen it getting any worse so I'm ok with that so far. Does anyone know if the problem of ghost images gets any worse over a period of time? If yes, I guess I should get mine replaced as well!

I've bought my rMBP having LG screen about 8 months ago when I was in the States. Today working with Photoshop and having BG color set to #666666 (going forward this is the color when you see the ghost effect very clearly), I've noticed that I can see my Xcode running in the background. I saw it so clearly that I could even read the source code. The only problem was that there was a Finder window in between my Photoshop window and the Xcode window. I've performed a test leaving another window opened for 15 minutes and afterwards I could clearly see the window thru any other one having grey background (e.g. a Preview window maximized and having the opened document minimized).

I live in a small European country having no local Apple Store, but I have Apple Care and I travel to Zurich quite often (they have one). I hope I have chance to replace my notebook...

Honestly this is sad that 4k Apple notebook have such kind of problems

@aquasov - It is sad, for you and all the others who have this problem. It seems to be a clear case of a product with a problem, like sometimes happens with cars, etc. -- Maybe they all should be recalled.

But like many other computer companies and others Apple seems to have the idea of 'keep on moving on.' -- They will not fully admit to the problem nor stop to deal with it. Getting out the next generation of products is what counts the most to them.

Apple a company so good, imo, but here they have let us down...and for those who have spent some of the biggest bucks. All warranties and product liability demands should be made, demanded.

Good luck. Those who do demand Apple taking responsibility to 'make right,' what is wrong help us all.

I got an SJA2 display today on a brand new machine.  Used it a little bit and saw slight image retention from the very first day.

absolutely disappointing