Q: MacBook Pro Retina display burn-in?

Sorry, but that's not the correct answer. This thread is about bashing Apple, and their awful customer service, athpapa. Saying anything positive about Apple will be promptly countered with an appropriately negative comment, and you'll then realize that you've been duped into thinking you are a satisfied customer.

*Anyone that doesn't like my comment can pound sand.....

FrankB1191 wrote:

 

Sorry, but that's not the correct answer. This thread is about bashing Apple, and their awful customer service, athpapa. Saying anything positive about Apple will be promptly countered with an appropriately negative comment, and you'll then realize that you've been duped into thinking you are a satisfied customer.

 

*Anyone that doesn't like my comment can pound sand.....

Well, when I bought my 2012 15" Retina MacBook Pro I spent a lot of time checking its colour to make sure it wasn't yellow or green or pink as I've seen on iPhones and iPads. Then my display developed white spots and I got it replaced assuming that I would get back the same display but without white spots. Instead, I've got this ****-yellow Samsung display that cannot be calibrated to look normal. So Apple sold me a display that I did not agree to buy and they refuse to take it back.

Of course I am not a satisfied customer, I bought such an expensive laptop and appeared to have silly screen problems. Otherwise, I will not read that forum discussion. I just wanted to state my personal experience and that if someone has problems with the support of the company, he/she can try in a different store because in my situation, the guys at the store were aware of that problems and indicated the respect and professionalism required from any company regarding its customers. I can blame Apple for that annoying screen problems but in my situation, I can not be a liar regarding how my laptop problem was treated.

I knew it. It only took one or two comments before you became an unhappy customer again...LOL! I can't stand blue tinted screens, and have looked at dozens of them lined up. The important thing is that the store you went to treated you well, and that your display is a functioning Retina model. There are plenty of posters who have had their Samsung screens calibrated to their liking, so maybe that would make you a satisfied customer again. ;)

Just wanted to come and say.... I have had my MBP-R since February 2013

For about 3 months I had no image retention/ghosting issues. Then it started and got progressively worse.

I did the grid test and it retained the image for about 2.5 mins. I ran the terminal command and sure enough I had an LG.

I made an Appointment with the genius bar. They took me in earlier than my appointment (YAY!!!!), and ran their own test. Basically the same grid test I did online. They leave the grid on the screen for 4 mins, then make the screen all black for 60 seconds. Then the screen goes gray again and they get a pass/fail button. If they can still see the grid after 60 seconds it "Fails"

Let me state.... I am a major Apple "Fan" and always praise them and have bought every model iPhone they have made except version 1, and every iPad too... as well as 4 Macbook Pro's and an Air and a Mini in the past 3 years. I love Apple.... but I have issue with this test because:

1. Setting the screen to full black is not really "Reality" of how a normal user would use the computer. If I go from Facebook to Photoshop.... I do not want to see the "FB" icon shining through somebodies forehead... and I dont want to make my screen black for 1 minute to prevent that from happening.

2. Once the "All black" screen is done it goes to a shade of gray that is too light which disguises the effect of the ghosting. (You cant see the ghosting at all if the screen is all white because all white is basically cranking up the brightness on every pixel, so lighter colors obviously mask the issues more then a true neutral 50/50 gray)

3. 60 seconds is an eternity.... If I am editing pictures, waiting even more than 3-5 seconds is annoying... it should disappear instantly. Especially if I am editing images with the client next to me watching.... My retention went for 2-3 mins before fading.... but I can totally understand a person being upset if their retention went anywhere from 5 seconds to 59 seconds and being told "its within spec".  As a photographer that is not Acceptable....especially for a Machine of this price... and even more so because previous highend screens do not have this issue... nor do other Retina devices such as iPad or iPhone.

Ultimately my screen got replaced and I was only at the Genius bar for 10 minutes for the whole process. They fixed it on site and it was ready for pick up the next day less than 24 hours later. I checked the new screen, and it is a Samsung.  They did a very good job and were very friendly. A++++

BTW they replace the entire Top Lid. They do not take it apart and put new screen in.

For Color Sensitive people. I turned it on in the store just to make sure it "Worked". I could tell right away that I had gotten a Samsung replacement because the screen color was a bit "Warm"... (the LG screens tend to be "Cool" out of the box.

Once I got it home I confirmed that it was an Samsung using the terminal command. I calibrated the screen and the "Warm" tone has gone and it is perfectly neutral.  I actually think this screen looks a bit better over all.

Hope this helps someone else.

MartyF81 wrote:

 

Once I got it home I confirmed that it was an Samsung using the terminal command. I calibrated the screen and the "Warm" tone has gone and it is perfectly neutral.  I actually think this screen looks a bit better over all.

How did you calibrate it?

I used a i1Display Pro kit, but a Munki, or Sypder Pro would do the trick as well.  Mac OS-X also has a built in color calibration software but you have to "eyeball" it yourself.

MartyF81 Wrote:

"Once I got it home I confirmed that it was an Samsung using the terminal command. I calibrated the screen and the "Warm" tone has gone and it is perfectly neutral.  I actually think this screen looks a bit better over all.

Hope this helps someone else."

Excellent post, Marty. I understand that this happens, and spoke to one of the people at the Apple store before buying my rMBP a couple of months ago. He said they see it once in a while, but that it wasn't so much of an issue. I have 10 months left on the included warranty, and might pay the extra $175 to get two years of protection. Should I happen to need a new display, I will be certain to have it calibrated to my liking. Thanks again for the info, Marty.

Well hello again.  Here I am back in this forum after well over a year of participation.  Long time forum members may recall that I had an early LG display with burn-in and I eventually, 7 months or so into my rMBP ownership, had it replaced, with very good and easy customer service at my local Apple Store.  I got a Samsung and thought I was all clear.  But three months later my Samsung display developed a cluster of stuck green pixels.  Once again the local Apple Store gave very good customer service and replaced the display without any questions beyond seeing the dead pixel cluster in-store.  Once again I got a Samsung display and once again thought I was home-free.

Well now here I am three months later and now THIS Samsung display has just developed its own cluster of dead pixels.  They are somewhat less obvious than in the previous case, but they are there.  I am now beyond my original 1 year warranty period and I didn't buy the three year AppleCare extension (this is my first Macintosh computer and I had never needed warranty service on any of my previously owned PC notebooks so I just assumed the extra warranty would not be needed on the Mac either).  I don't know what, if anything, Apple will do for me now.  I am out of warranty but I feel like I have been given a series of defective parts that just strung me out to beyond my warranty period.  I'll take the laptop into the Apple Store and see what happens.  I fear the worst though.

I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to dead pixels - I just hate them, my eye is always drawn to them and I will always consider dead pixels to be a serious flaw.  I actually would much rather have my original burn-in LG panel if it would have stayed dead-pixel-free than these Samsung dead pixel panels.  And the fact that dead pixels have appeared for both of my Samsung panels within three months of use makes me very worried to think about how many more dead pixels will appear over time.

bjiibj wrote:

 

 

And the fact that dead pixels have appeared for both of my Samsung panels within three months of use makes me very worried to think about how many more dead pixels will appear over time.

I've also experienced the dead pixels. But mine were white and not green. And mine only showed up several months after purchase. First one cluster appeared and then a second cluster appeared. So yeah, you can expect them to grow and spread. Mine did. But I don't know if it was an LG or a Samsung display because I didn't check. The frustrating thing about this problem is that it's not something you can check for in the first 14 days after purchase. You kind of have to have faith that Apple sold you a quality product but as we've seen with the image retention problem it could go bad long after your opportunity to return the product and buy a Windows machine instead that "just works."

Well I've had some more time to examine my new "dead pixels" with the help of a digital camera allowing me to zoom in on the flaw and take pictures and I'm now convinced that I don't actually have dead pixels.  What I have is a very, very tiny - approximately 3 pixel wide by 2 pixel high (measured with the display in 2880x1800 mode and thus using native pixels) - scratch in the LCD surface.  I can tell because the flaw when examined close up is kind of "rainbow colored" at every pixel instead of being a single color, and also it just kind of looks like a scratch, and finally, I can actually "feel it" with a fingernail slid lightly over the area.

I expect this could be caused by having a small bit of grit on the laptop's palm rest area and then applying pressure to the back of the display.  This could have happened as I was travelling recently and had the laptop in my backpack, which may have put some pressure onto the laptop.

The moral of the story is that these displays are FRAGILE and you really need to baby your rMBP if you want to avoid small scratches in the display.

I won't be taking it to the Apple Store as it's clearly a user caused issue.  I do feel that the fragility of the screen is in some sense a design flaw; but it was an intentional design decision by Apple to achieve a thinner and brighter screen and I knew that going in.  I guess it's just my fault for treating this laptop the same as others I have owned, rather than babying it as apparently is necessary to avoid problems.

I've actually seen other reports of "exploding pixels" where a hole is left in the screen from an apparant pixel explosion.  If your scratch is perfectly aligned with the pixels, you may want to look into that.  Might not have been user error.

Merch Visoiu wrote:

 

"I've got this ****-yellow Samsung display that cannot be calibrated to look normal. "

I'm starting to think that this "yellow" issue is, at least in many cases, a bit over-blown.

There have been some photography professionals on this thread that have commented that, in general, although many people find them more pleasing to the eye, most LCD panels are too cool, too blue, and "reality" is actually more on the yellow-side by comparison.

I re-calibrated my display tonight with my Spyder 4 Pro, but reset the display to the default calibration settings beforehand. I was startled by the difference, especially when I toggled the 2 calibration files back and forth after the calibration process was complete. The default color profile was far more blue than the calibrated profile and the calibrated profile was noticeably more yellow. So, perhaps the reason you can't calibrate it to look "normal" (i.e. less yellow) is because it already is normal.

Color is a very subjective thing. Have you ever argued with someone over whether a color is blue or green? You know, a color that's on the edge of the spectral transition between the two? Often, when the color in question is compared with an obviously green color right beside it, it will look blue. However, if that same color is compared to an obviously blue color, it will look green. It's all relative, and if your eyes, or rather your brain, get's used to looking at a screen that you think is accurate, but actually isn't, you may not appreciate accurate colors when you see them.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

Canuck1970 wrote:

 

So, perhaps the reason you can't calibrate it to look "normal" (i.e. less yellow) is because it already is normal.

 

 

I don't have a colour calibrator so I haven't tried that. But if you take two Macs, one "yellow" and one "blue," and you set both of them to 6500K in the Color Calibrator Assistant, should they look the same?

Merch Visoiu wrote:

 

Canuck1970 wrote:

 

So, perhaps the reason you can't calibrate it to look "normal" (i.e. less yellow) is because it already is normal.

 

 

I don't have a colour calibrator so I haven't tried that. But if you take two Macs, one "yellow" and one "blue," and you set both of them to 6500K in the Color Calibrator Assistant, should they look the same?

I orginally calibrated it with the assistant, and then I bought the Spyder 4 Pro. The difference between my calibration and the S4P was pretty noticeable. I just don't think my eyes and Mac OSX's calibration utility quite cut it.