Colored vertical lines on PB 17" display

Interesting, where do you get you information regarding the longevity of Compaq and Apple computers?

You are lucky with your Compaq. Many don't last more than a year.

Don't confuse it with an Apple. 😉

My Compaq lasts 7 years now. The same applies for the Compaq of my uncle. We all know you are great Apple fan, but you should also stay to the truth.

Apples quality isn't as good as you always want to belive us. At least it's not better than the products of HP, Sony, Dell or other big companies. Even though it's not worse.

Bloody heck, for the longest time, I thought I'd be a lucky one. For over a month, I had just one purple line down the near-middle of my screen.
It wasn't that bad; I'm an editor, and I just changed the windows around so that my view of the video/timeline wouldn't be affected.

Well, over the last 2 days, 2 new lines have developed.
It is now impossible to arrange the windows without having the lines interfere with both the video and the timeline, without having the video be tiny.

This is ridiculous.
I've already called Apple and made a claim, but the way in which the person handled it, I don't think they did it seriously. I'm calling again tomorrow. Hopefull something will come of it.

I'm on the verge of winning a contest that could have over $10,000 of my money going to Apple (Mac Pro). I'm not sure I can, though. I'm not sure I can bring myself to go through this again.
I bought Applecare, and while it's in their right, it's also BS that I dropped it one time over a year ago, showed it to them at the store, they said it wouldn't be a problem, and now they can't fix the screen under Applecare because of the dent.
Maybe if I just unbend the dent.


Apple is great, for the most part, but they NEED to recognize this problem. I want to buy a MacBook Pro, too, but I'd rather have a Dell than another Apple laptop, unless they can do something about it.

I'm having the same problem. Started with one line about 2 months ago now I'm up to 6. I realize that this is not Apple's fault necessarily its the display manufacturers, but they need to fix this problem.

Dell has already issued a recall of their 17" Inspirons that were made during this time (possibly the same LCD panel) and Apple needs to do the same. Its embarrassing for a premium computer company like Apple to lag behind on this issue while the budget company Dell has already done the right thing.

Its embarrassing for a premium computer company like
Apple to lag behind on this issue while the budget
company Dell has already done the right thing.

That's putting it mildly considering the Inspirons cost a third of the price we paid for our "PROFESSIONAL" laptops. I could purchase a new Dell laptop for the price of the repairs to my PowerBook. Even if the Dell only lasted another 1.5 years I wouldn't feel screwed because "you get what you pay" -- except for our situation with Apple.


PBG4 17" (1440x900) 1.67GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9) XServe G5 Dual 2.3GHz (Mac OS X Server 10.4.9)

We're having this issue too. When we check online, the Support site tells us our computer's two months too old for warranty repair. This is crazy, though, I've never known the company to deny a problem like this.

I noticed a vertical blue line on my 17" PB today (15 months old, serial number W85) and thought I'd check it out on this site. I was amazed to find that there are so many people with the same problem. It's obviously a manufacturing problem with this particular batch and 'stink' is absolutely the right word for Apple's failure to do anything about it.

Another line just appeared today - it's getting difficult to use this computer. Help!!

I encounter exact the same problem after 2 years. I basically loose a display line per week.
As this now is a case of hundreds of users and I am still an Apple fan, what is the reaction of Apple - do they want to support a sound customer base with an workable solution or people to switch to Sony....

Apple folks, you can't ignore this problem, offer a simple cost effective solution.

We pay premium prices and we expect professional quality.

J. Schaper
VP SAP Research, SAP AG

Powerbook G4 17" Serial number starts with W851 Mac OS X (10.4.10) 2 years old

yes....i think it's a manufacturing defect. I had my first line on november last year. I thougt it was only a dead pixel. I'm in Singapore, and it cost me about Sin$1,000 (US$660) if I want to change the screen. I didn't want to.at least that time i can still use it. but, now (after 8 months) it's almost unusable. I got so many lines and worst...bars. now I have white bar on the left. black bar on the right, blurry bars in between. so now, my viewing are is less than 12", I even envy those who has a 12"powerbook, because they have a better viewing area than me.

<edited by host>

I can personally vouch for the stinking quality of this M9869 batch of 17" displays. Let me summarise:

Toward end of 1st year: Vertical Pink Lines (or call it Visible Panty Lines, if you will)
Resolution: Covered by first-year warranty, rejected 3 replacement displays as a result of DEAD PIXELS.

End of 2nd year: Blue Vertical Lines
Resolution: Replaced under APP, rejected as monitor had a defective antenna that limited my wireless connectivity to just 2 metres.

3 months ago: Rattling Left Fan
Resolution: Logic Board and internal heatsink replaced under APP. Beeping, morse-code and smudged key keyboard replaced on request.

So as you can see, the cost of these replacements and rejects would very well have bought me a new G4, or MBP.

Message was edited by: Host

Hear hear!!!

Why do you shout to your fellow Mac users? If you really want Apple to hear you then talk to Apple.

Hi all,

Bummer. I was hoping to read about how rare this was and that Apple was fixing this.

I have a PowerBook G4 17" Serial W85.....

Last week a single line appeared on the screen. Hmm, I thought, no biggie. I've had this for a couple years and at this rate in 10 more I'll need a new one. Ha ha.

Now 3 lines. Trouble looming.

When I return to the US I will register a complaint for whatever good that does. And I have been a staunch Apple customer the last few years. I now own:

PowerBook G4 17"
20" iMac G5
24" iMac intel
Ipod original - 2
Ipod shuffles - 3
Ipod video
various Apple networking products

I can't say this will end my loyalty to Apple but it doesn't help if they don't consider this a manufacturing defect.

Thing is I bought in the US and this computer now resides in Thailand. I really don't want to have to haul it back to the US if they are just going to charge me to fix it. I can pay for that here.






G5 and G4 notebook

I do not know why my message of 2 days ago was not posted. Dell are recalling all 17" laptops with an identical problem. The screens which were made in China are faulty. Vern