My Retina Display has stain damage, HELP!!!

I had the same issues with my MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch Early 2015 model.

Made a call to Apple Care, explained my situation and they told me to go to the Apple Store.

Made an appointment with the Apple Store and my screen got replaced the same day!

Brought it in around 11.30am and at 6.30pm they phoned me I could pick the MBPr up.

This was all under warranty and thus free of charge.

FYI:

Dutch (Netherlands) Apple Store in The Hague (Den Haag).

those are keyboard key marks from finger oils transferred to the screen.

Thats 200% as clear as day.

something has like eaten away a part of the screen.

Yes, acid on your fingers (and oils) transferred to the keys, THEN to the display when closed.

but somehow my retina display got some weird clear-ish stain damage

No.........thats stripped AR coating FROM the screen, not ON THE SCREEN.

Youre thinking its something THERE, when its something MISSING

I am worried that windex or alcohol will excacerbae the problem,

Dont dare use that, that will ruin your screen.

if water and microfiber arent working,

They wont work, because your hand oils and acids have stripped the AR coating off part of the screen. Keep cleaner hands when using your Mac.

Some people have naturally VERY HIGH acidic skin excretions, you may have this issue.

😊

so, if its that clear that my finger oils have stripped away the AR coating from the screen (what is AR, btw?) what do I do to fix this... if I am not torying to remove a smudge and am instead dealing with something missing, as you said, what can be done to remove the appearance of the spots? its really really really annoying!

You cant fix it, its the display assy. You either live with it or have the display removed and replaced. However it will occur again immediately if you are one of those rare people that excretes very acidic skin oils.

There is nothing to REMOVE, what your looking at is what is MISSING. Its been removed already

I used to fix computers for years, and have years of experience in an optical shop messing around with AR coatings. skin acids and oils strip the antiglare crystaline coatings.

whats left is the glass substrate and screen reflecting back normally as bare glass does.

If you look closely at your picture, you can see its a mirror image of your keys, and negative image of your trackpad.

Ive seen this before many times. 9 times out of 10 its someone that has very acidic skin excretions left on the palm rests and keys that transfers to the screen, which THEN strips off the AR coating.

You can also EASILY see there are more oils / spots near the top edge of either side of the trackpad where your palm rest and excrete the oils and acids.

See that purplish tint on your display?? Thats the AR (some call it anti-glare) coating.

You can stop this by using a very very thin piece of felt (VERY THIN) paper or plastic between the screen and keyboard.

bradymott wrote:

so are you saying that the damage is permanent? as in, there is nothing short of replacing the screen that will fix this problem?

Yes, There is nobody that can recoat a glass display while attached to the display assembly.

That coating is applied in a vacuum chamber , you cant "recoat" it, and if you could, which you cant, it would look horrible and not stick.

You can only apply said coating on NEW sterile displays in a vacuum chamber.

You can only see that damage on your display if its in a well lit room / outdoors......., in a dark room I dare say I bet you cant see the 'damage' at all.

I have a very similar problem. I was told at the genius bar that the damage was caused by excessive pressure, and they refused to fix it under warranty, because it is not a manufacturing issue. I wasn't taking any special precautions (hard case, screen protector) and carry my MBPr in a neoprene case in my backpack with the other stuff. I wouldn't call the amout of pressure it was exposed to excessive, it's an aluminum body after all. Replacing the screen is ~1/2 - 1/3 of the price of a new machine...

I have the exact same problem. It started a few weeks ago out of nowhere and now gets worse and worse.

My MBPr is still under AppleCare, so I made a Genius Bar appointment yesterday. I spent an hor there and talked tp three different people -- no luck. Best offer they made was to pay half, so about EUR 300 would remain for me. Totally unacceptable.

The worst part of the experience was how they were not willing to see any correlation between the pattern and the shape of the aluminium body. One of the three people I talked to got actually so obnoxious that another manager stepped in and took his place. Still no outcome -- they insist this problem has never been seen before and that it can only be my fault, period.

I am not going to accept this. This is the poorest experience Apple ever gave me.

I have the same problem on a MBR 13". See the screenshot (literally). My colleauge had the same on a MBR 15", a lot worse.

Although I agree with PlotinusVeritas' explanation why this happens, I don't agree that it is only user problem. It is clearly a product design problem, too.

My MBR is no longer under warranty. I am posting this to provide evidence for those who bring their MBR with same symptoms to Apple Care and hear the personnel yelling them "Your are a weirdo!".

After using my MacBook outdoors on a hot sunny day the screen started to show some lines (cracks) on the black borders.

I tried to clean the screen with a moist microfiber cloth as is described in the guide.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3226

That didn't work. Instead it got worse. I also noticed some spots on the rest of the screen.

The screen is being repaired under warranty. I think it is a production problem.

It isn't normal that a screen looses it's coating after beeing exosed to the sun.

I Asked the service center and they hadn't seen this problem before.

I Have the same Problem.

I send my MPR 13" Early/2013 to Service ands Apple's return to me, as no Warranty for these problem.

A "Cosmetic Problem", was said the support, not a fabrication Problem.

I Posting to maybe a Apple made a recall of this Displays.

Same problem here, always used it with clean hands, most of the time using external keyboard and mouse. Apple told me too this was the result of excessive pressure. Something I can't imagine my machine has been exposed to..

If someone manages to convince Apple this problem is real, let me know!

I have had my MBP for just over a year now and am experiencing the same problem and its only getting worse! This past summer (july), i noticed the stains around the permitter of my monitor. The thing is, i rarely type on the keyboard, i use an external monitor, external keyboard and mouse. I went out and bought a keyboard cover before the stains in the middle started to appear...it did no good and as you can see is starting to spread from the center as well. Needless to say its VERY frustrating. I have not gone in to apple yet, as i fear its a waste of my time and will just be told that its not under warranty.

Hi Bradymott et all

15" Retina MBP Late 2013 - purchased April 2014.

Same problem here. I am on my 5th MBP (over several years) using the same hands and never had this before. I always encase a new Apple product before I even turn it on.

I first noticed the rainbow discolouration around the edge after about 4 weeks. Unfortunately, I was mid move to another country and didn't have time to let my mac go away for assessment. I am now an hours flight, from the nearest Apple repair shop but having read the comments above, as soon as I am back in the ME, I will take it in.

I've included a photo too. It started with the outside edge and I thought I was seeing a glue line or something behind the screen. Last month the centre started going patchy and now, even if I accidentally brush a finger nail across the screen, I get dreadful scratch marks.

The photo looks as if I have been really heavy handed with it but I am extremely careful with my expensive work tool; I dont let anyone else touch it and always clean according to Apples instructions.

I wish Apple would respond - its would appear to be more than an handful of machines suffering this problem.

I just bought this screen cleaner from Apple Online store and noticed that there was a smudge after I cleaned my Macbook screen. I found out the problem by searching and it took me to this thread. Should I ask Apple for a replacement screen? I am still under warranty.

if its only the display then you can make it in to a desk top computer go and buy another display and connect it to the macbook then you will have a desk top computer but you will need a new keyboard and mouse ,its gonna work like this ,without you macbook display