[justinf77]

I have just recently discovered that my week 48 15" AlBook has a slightly dimmer right side of the screen. The problem is not noticeable at all at full brightness, but returns even at one notch down.

I am sending this in for repair, and should get it back within a week. I am curious though how widespread this problem is. Has anybody else noticed uneven backlighting on their 15" PowerBook? Other than this, my machine is perfect, so I do hope Apple does not screw it up.

Thanks for answering!

[SpaceRockness]

Mine has a slight uneven brightness but it's only noticable at the lowest setting(1-2 dots) on the right half. I'm going to hold off on AppleCare until it gets worse enough that a call is needed

[Squozen]

Mine has started going downhill (15" AlBook), but it's suffering from the white spot problem as well so I hope to kill two birds with one stone sometime around early February.

[gomariners]

got mine in oct. No white spots then but noticed the uneven brightness in Nov. White spots appeared this Dec. I can't tell, but I feel like the screen isn't as bright as when I first got it. Am I imagining this?

[Orion27]

Definitely brighter on the right side of the screen. When viewing web pages I find if there is a thumbnail on the lower left side of the page, if I drag the page to the center, the image is noticeablly brighter and crispier.. I originally thought itwas the ange I was viewing at but I have realized that is now not the case.
I have calibrated my screen to 2.2 gamma for PC screens and native white balance and it has mitigated the unbalanced effect. Biding my time to see if other problems arise before having Apple look at the display.

[justinf77]

Oh wow, I really hope this is not another white spot type of issue. I should get my PowerBook back by the end of the week (hopefully).

It would be a real bummer to have the uneven backlighting return after repair, but this happened to several people on Apple Discussions.

So far, by the looks of the poll, the numbers do not look too good...

[CatOne]

Originally posted by justinf77:
I have just recently discovered that my week 48 15" AlBook has a slightly dimmer right side of the screen. The problem is not noticeable at all at full brightness, but returns even at one notch down.

I am sending this in for repair, and should get it back within a week. I am curious though how widespread this problem is. Has anybody else noticed uneven backlighting on their 15" PowerBook? Other than this, my machine is perfect, so I do hope Apple does not screw it up.

Thanks for answering!

Note, there is no backlight in the laptops. The screens are filled with gas, and there needs to be an even distance in there to ensure a uniform fill of gas -- if there isn't then "pinched" areas will be darker. Note at the bottom of the screen there are usually a couple bright and dark spots -- this is normal and it's the way the technology works -- it's not a problem.

Pinch the screen and watch it ripple -- again note there is NO actual tube backlight in the laptops, it's glowing gas. This is what's responsible for uneven brightness, and if you want 100% perfect brightness you need to buy a cinema display or something that actually uses a real backlight.

[justinf77]

I do not necessarily want perfectly even illumination. But I have had several portable computers, and none of them exhibited this strange problem, including the iBook I am currently using. It is quite annoying to look at a screen that is dimmer over the whole right side, and it hurts my eyes over time.

[hadocon]

Originally posted by CatOne:
Note, there is no backlight in the laptops. The screens are filled with gas, and there needs to be an even distance in there to ensure a uniform fill of gas -- if there isn't then "pinched" areas will be darker. Note at the bottom of the screen there are usually a couple bright and dark spots -- this is normal and it's the way the technology works -- it's not a problem.

Pinch the screen and watch it ripple -- again note there is NO actual tube backlight in the laptops, it's glowing gas. This is what's responsible for uneven brightness, and if you want 100% perfect brightness you need to buy a cinema display or something that actually uses a real backlight.

Obviously you have not seen the poor quality of the AL 15" screens. I have one with uneven lighting and I can prove how bad it looks. See the pic


Click for Larger Pic

[sktrdie]

what the hell...no

[naderby]

Originally posted by hadocon:
Obviously you have not seen the poor quality of the AL 15" screens. I have one with uneven lighting and I can prove how bad it looks. See the pic


Click for Larger Pic

How dreadful! That would really upset me.

I almost reluctently now declare my new PB15 to have a perfect screen. At least at the moment, its only a week old.

[s4iscool]

thats the exact same kind of dimness I had. Get it replaced you will feel so much better when looking at the screen

[Orion27]

My symptoms exactly. Is this an LCD defect or lid construction defect?

[bmhome1]

I guess the company selling all those backlight bulbs for laptops doesn't realize there aren't any actually.

http://www.jkllamps.com/laptop.html

[CatOne]

Originally posted by bmhome1:
I guess the company selling all those backlight bulbs for laptops doesn't realize there aren't any actually.

http://www.jkllamps.com/laptop.html

All I can say is, I know the #1 guy at Apple w.r.t. Cinema Displays. He tells me there are not backlights in the Powerbooks.

Show me the backlight for a PowerBook on that site.

[bmhome1]

My Pismo's bulb is #BF20292. It costs $20. Contact them, tell your model and they will give you the replacement number.

There isn't a laptop made that doesn't use a fluorescent bulb illuminating the LCD screen. Not as sexy as "gas," but that's life.

[tooki]

Originally posted by CatOne:
Note, there is no backlight in the laptops. The screens are filled with gas, and there needs to be an even distance in there to ensure a uniform fill of gas -- if there isn't then "pinched" areas will be darker. Note at the bottom of the screen there are usually a couple bright and dark spots -- this is normal and it's the way the technology works -- it's not a problem.

Pinch the screen and watch it ripple -- again note there is NO actual tube backlight in the laptops, it's glowing gas. This is what's responsible for uneven brightness, and if you want 100% perfect brightness you need to buy a cinema display or something that actually uses a real backlight.

I guess nobody told the folks at Apple about this, cuz my 15" AlBook's box mentions that: "The backlight lamp in this product contains mercury. Dispose of properly." [my emphasis]

You know what mercury vapor is used in? Fluorescent tubes.

This "filled with gas" theory of yours is nonsense. The unevenness in backlighting is due to the light spreader -- it takes the light from the 1-3 backlight tubes (I don't know how many the PowerBook screens use) and spreads it across the screen. Sometimes I guess they're not made or attached correctly and you get weirdness.

The ripples are a normal effect of pressure on an LCD panel -- the liquid crystals (yes, it is a liquid goo substance) get squished out of the microscopic grooves they sit in and change color (you can do this even on a simple calculator display).

See: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm

The only kind of displays I know of that are filled with gas are plasma displays -- plasma is the word for electrically charged gas (well, it's more complex than that, but for these purposes that simplification will suffice).

CRTs are vacuums, LEDs are solid-state.

Note also that the iPod's display is not lit with a fluorescent tube, it's lit like most cellphone displays -- with LEDs.

tooki

[spotze23]

my powerbook has got exactly the same uneven illumination on the right side. when it gets hot it becomes dark in the middle, too.

i have to send it in because of the whitespots. hope they will fix both problems.

[bmhome1]

There's one fluorescent bulb at the screen's bottom in all the laptop LCD's I'm aware of. The light is spread to the rest of the screen by simple silver reflective material, either coated plastic...or cardboard silver. It really low-tech actually, you can envision easily the dark spot causes.

The uneven lighting is most likely due to poor and/or sloppy adhesion of the reflector behind the screen.

In old LCD's the screen gets dark spots and bands at the screen's bottom. That's the fluorescent bulb aging and typical uneven dark areas develop, exactly like 4 and 8 foot tubes do as they get old.

My three year old Pismo's screen is still VERY even, although the dreaded pink screen (due to aging bulb, again) has started.

In a brand new LCD it is simply appalling poor quality control. Don't stand for it!

[naderby]

Must be a very thin tube!

[tooki]

The light spreader is not mirrory -- if it were, you'd see a reflection of the tube, rather than nice white diffusion. In fact, it's actually cloudy white plastic -- clearly visible if you disassemble an Apple laptop display, since there's a hole in the back for the glowing Apple logo.

The tube is indeed very, very thin, barely thicker than a pencil lead.

tooki

[(",)PB12]

I have the same problem too, just took the poll. =) But its not too annoying at the moment to render technical service since i've heard stories that it might come back with more problems. So far mine doesn't have any white spots and i'm doing what ever i can to keep it that way.

I realise that the uneven illumination is rather obscure if you have a dark coloured desktop image. Works for me. Hope this helps =)

[(",)PB12]

Re-calibrating the display has helped in my case. give it a try it might work for you too.

[Jeff Jones]

My AlBook shows the same loss of illumination on the right side as justinf77's and hadocon's. And now that other people are mentioning it: The display DID get darker over time. To some degree this is normal, but the AlBook's screen went about 10-15 percent darker within weeks. And that is NOT normal.

I was so glad that I was not affected by the "white spot" issue, but together with the uneven illumination (there is also a slight bend in the keyboard) the 'Book is going in for a repair. I don't think I have to put up with those things in an above 2500 Euro notebook...

It's a huge disappointment. I really thought this time a first-generation model would be O.K. because of the rather long time of development - just to be proven wrong. I really wanted one and also really wanted to support Apple... A big let-down. That was the first and last time I bought a first-generation model.

Stupid me, I should have known better...

[cleanzero]

Hi.
I also got uneven illumination and it affects the left side which is slightly dimmer than the right one (on my first screen it was the opposite) What's surprising is that on my pbook the uneveness seems to follow a regular pattern in the sense that if i put a grey (128,128,128) background i can clearly observe that there are 3 rectangular zones starting from the left that appear gradually lighter. The leftmost anf rightmost zone have exactly the same dimension (i.e. the leftmost covers all the screen vertically and extends horizontally from the beginning of the screen for say 6/7 cm). However i also seem to have a bright shadow at the lowright corner.

[cleanzero]

Originally posted by cleanzero:
Hi.
I also got uneven illumination and it affects the left side which is slightly dimmer than the right one (on my first screen it was the opposite) What's surprising is that on my pbook the uneveness seems to follow a regular pattern in the sense that if i put a grey (128,128,128) background i can clearly observe that there are 3 rectangular zones starting from the left that appear gradually lighter. The leftmost anf rightmost zone have exactly the same dimension (i.e. the leftmost covers all the screen vertically and extends horizontally from the beginning of the screen for say 6/7 cm). However i also seem to have a bright shadow at the lowright corner.

Incredible! Believe it or not the right side has begun darkening with the shadow starting from the low corner showing up again.....Now it looks almost similar to the first screen and the one that was showed on this forum (but not so bad YET).

[paolo 3-O]

Add me to the list.
second screen on second machine developing dark area lower right. Also darkened left hand side from bottom to top.
Having repaired (again) later this week. Will post on results.

I love my powerbook.

[carney]

Gads. I thought I waited long enough too. My 1.24GHz AlPB exhibited this darkening on the lower right too (there's a political joke in there somewhere, fill in your own). This is my second PB and I commute with it. It sits in a neoprene case inside a slightly larger bicycle pannier and bounces merrily over about three miles of potholes, brick pavers, and speed bumps each way. My old TiPB survived nearly three years of this ( and is still going strong). Anyway, I noticed when I got to the office that I had this goofy dark splotch. Being a good engineer, I ignored it, packed my machine up at night and went home, hoping for the best. When I reopened the machine at home and it came out of sleep mode, it looked fine!

So, does your PB just need a good bouncy ride now and then?

Really, what gives here? Can any of the adults here who know that the display is, in fact, illuminated by fluorescent source and that light is delivered via a diffuser say definitely that it is one bulb and not multiple bulbs? If it is multiple bulbs, it looks like one (on the right, again insert your own political joke here) might be out.

I suspect that it is just one bulb, in which case my best guess would be that the diffuser is in multiple sections. If one section is cockeyed, it might result in the observed behavior: inefficient coupling into the right-hand section resulting in odd shadows. It would also explain why my ride home "fixed" it. It would also be consistent with the observation made by cleanzero.

No one complained of this with the ols TiPB. I bet I know why. There was only one screen size when the Ti came out and I bet Apple ordered the diffusers with the raised apple logo made as single piece units. Setting up the equipment to make that little raised Apple costs $$. I bet the diffusers for all three Al sizes are pieced together so as to allow the maufacturer to set up just once to make the raised apple. Penny wise, pound foolish.

If this wild speculation is correct, I'd be tickled. One more way bicycling saves the world (or at least my PB, at least till tomorrow's ride in)!

[carney]

Did I really type 1.24GHz? Why yes I did. Special model built just for me... Credit that and a bunch of other typos to it being nearly three in the morning. Yes, I know there's a preview option, I'm not smart enough to use it.

And an edit button.. There's an edit button that works perfectly well that I used to add this paragraph. I could go edit the above message, but then this one would really make no sense. Not that it does anyway.

Goodnight.

[CrackedButter]

You know i bet some of you havn't got a problem such as this.

If i open appleworks and strech it across the screen, there does seem an uneveness to it. But thats because my face is 12" away from the screen, and if i move my head to the right side of the screen the left side is now faded moreso than the right side.

Ever thought some of you could be sitting to close to the screen to realise that you are not looking at the pixels full on straight in front of you?

You won't get this effect with a 12" PB but as the screens get bigger it is noticable, i came from a 12" iBook.

Now if i move 3 foot away from the screen everything is normal.

I don't doubt some screens are bad but i don't think 22 laptops have a bad screen.

[carney]

I don't think the poll results are surprising. It's a self-selecting group and so it's impossible to put the numbers into any meaningful perspective with the group of all ALPB owners. I would not have searched for "uneven display" unless I had noticed the problem. Sorta like saying it's weird how many sick people show up in the emergency room.

My screen looked just like the post by hadocon BTW. However, it remains "fixed" since the bumpy ride home. Really folks, get out for a ride, it's good for you, good for your PB!

[hadocon]

Originally posted by carney:
My screen looked just like the post by hadocon BTW. However, it remains "fixed" since the bumpy ride home. Really folks, get out for a ride, it's good for you, good for your PB!

I take mine for bumpy walks to school everyday unprotected in my backpack. I tried doing the OpenFirmware reset thing, and to my surprize it seemed a little better. but like the instructions said, it is not a permanent fix. It went dark again shortly after.

Make no mistake about it. I am taking this in to be repaired. I called them, and I have a year to do it (I did not get Applecare... yet).

[professorp]

Hello all -

I have to say I'm more than a little spooked by this illumination issue. I've been updating my Macs every 3-4 years since 89, always doing my homework in terms of what / when to buy. Now I have a 400 Mhz TiBook, and I'm deliriously happy with it, but it seems now is the time to move up in the world, before the PB G5's come along and make the sale price on my current model totally ridiculous.

I bought this one in the face of a few reports of optical drive / fan problems, but never had a problem myself. What I want now is the 15" AlBook (though I have to say I think the TiBooks look better) , and at first I was prepared to take my chances with display illumination, but increasingly it looks to me like the problem is NOT solved, with issues even in replacement screens.

So what I'd like to know is, how many of you experiencing the illumination problem bought your 'books after December 1st? Should I wait another six months and see what gives at the MWs?

Thanks,

I.

[carney]

Mine was post Dec. 1.

Machine Model: PowerBook5,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.71f1
Serial Number: V73500HDNRX

[Rain]

Add me to this list. My 3 months old 12" PB is dimmer on the left side than the right, even at maximum brightness. At first I thought it was the lighting, or my eyes, or the angle which I was viewing the screen, but unfortunately it is non of the above.

Looks like I'm gonna have to suffer with this till the end of this semester (I can't afford to send it in right now) until I can send it in for repairs. *sigh*

On the brighter (pfft, pun definitely not intended) side, at least I know I'm not the only one with this problem.

[DarksideHalo]

My timeline of pain:

2003/12
- 04 = ordered a 15" 1.25GHz AlBook from MacConnection
- 28 = dimness appears
- 29 = sent in for repair
2004/01
- 05 = returned from repair, Part #646-0205, Samsung WS
- 07 = dimness returned
- 08 = calling Apple Customer Service and asking, "WTF?"

Seriously, I was worried about a recurrance. I've posted my laments on Apple's Discussions ("Uneven Illumination; Help me w/ facts, cause.") and on the MacRumors forums ("powerbook 15 uneven screen backlighting"), and learned from the pain of others.

With a failure two days after a repair, and that failure being exactly the same as before, I feel this is definately a more important customer service/relations issue than it is a technical problem.

Some recent and upcomming class-action lawsuits agree with me.

[KP*]

I got mine in late September, and white spots appeared three weeks later. So far I can't see any signs of a more general unevenness, but I'll be keeping an eye out.

[Orion27]

My The AL15 has the uneven illumination problem as I've posted here before. Upon initial boot,sometimes my screen looks fine.
I use the book pretty heavily during the day but if it goes to sleep, upon wakening, the screen anomaly is most apparent. It doesn't matter how long the screen is active after that, the dimness is persistant even at the highest illumination setting.. If I reboot, I seem to recapture a more even screen tone. I need my book for work, so it's impossible at the moment to have it repaired. I can manage with the workaround and I'm content to wait for the problem to be recognized and happy campers posting in this thread.

[DarksideHalo]

Well now I'm baffled. After a full day of usage, the uneven illumination recurred. Right side drastically dimmer than left. Put it to sleep, same problem.

However, I left it sitting on my desk overnight. It went to sleep after almost an hour, and was asleep for 5-6 hours.

I woke it up this morning; still dimmer on the right half. Then it got gradually better as it warmed up, which it did before. But now, I can't see a difference at all, at any level of Brightness!

The difference between this time and last: I hardly ever put my PowerBook to sleep when it's just sitting on my desk. Normally, it stays up and running all night, but the display dims at 7.5 min and turns off at 15 min.

I'm not giving up, but I have to study this thing a bit longer before I send it into Apple. And I definately need to see the problem while I'm calling them. I have no doubt it will pop up again.

[jindrich]

i'm MAAAD with apple.

bought my 1.25 in mid november and had 1 white spot and 3 bad pixels. after 1 month another 3 white spots appeared and the right side become darker.

send it for repair (actually left it at my local apple reseller who ordered a new screen). after 15 days of waiting, i take my powerbook home with a new screen.

the new screen has the left side darker this time.

I WANT MY MONEY BACK. this is not worth 3,000 euros. I dont want to send my machine every month for repair and stay 15 days without computer periodically.

tomorrow apple customer care will hear me. Can you cancel a VISA payment?

[Neilwhit]

Add me to the list. I just got my 15" Al 1.25 PB AFTER the big hold to supposedly fix the screen white spot issues in December. Had to wait 3 extra weeks to get it. Worked fine until just a couple days ago when I noticed that the screen has become very dim in the rignt lower quarter. Dramatic difference from what it was, and it happended fairly quickly.

I have a 20" LCD as my main monitor, so it is easy to notice the dimming of the notebook's screen.

VERY dissapointing, especially considering the wait we went through to get what were to have been fixed 15" units. Had a couple TiBooks before that (and still have them in use) and never had this kind of problem, although our Pismo that is still being used does have the dimmer screen with the pink experience.

[DarksideHalo]

I called AppleCare today, and had a good experience. It was surprising... unfortunately, that makes it sad. But we'll focus on the good here.

The first Tech I spoke with was obviously running off his script. Fine, whatever; I have no problem with that until protocol becomes a hinderance.

I jumped through the hoops of shutting down, then resetting the PMU (Shift+Control+Option+Power for 2 sec) and PRAM (Option+Command+P+R; let the startup chime sound twice). Obviously, no effect.

Then he said that since I have third-party RAM, I'd have to remove it myself or at a service center. At which point I thanked him and ended the call. No further progress possible there.

I called back immediately, and got a Technician who actually seemed to care.

One thing Tech #1 said: after repair, machines are put through a 24 hour hardware test. I explained to Tech #2 that this machine was my livelyhood, and I was concerned I'd send it to be serviced just like before (maybe having just the screen replaced), only to have it returned to me still broken; even after their intensive testing. That got his attention.

He looked through the detailed notes from the repair, and mumbled (among many other things) something about "board". I asked him, "logic or inverter"? He seemed impress/appreciative that I knew what he was talking about. He said he doubted the logic board, and that it could be the inverter board. Also mentioned that they don't replace individual inverter boards; they'd replace "everything from the [screen] hinge up".

He got a Product Specialist in on the call. Described the problem to him: this recurrance gets worse with a longer duration of use. Because of this, the Specialist speculated that it could be the fault of some overworked video hardware... like the graphics chip... which he said is integrated with the logic board. *sigh*

He wrapped the call putting instructions to the repair techs in the case file to pay special attention to the video hardware during repair; then he issued a dispatch and shipped a box. I have greater expectations for this time through than I did for the first servicing. Hopefully Apple doesn't trample all over my trust again... But expectations and hope is where disapointment comes from. ;-)

[currywrice]

I want to add that my 15" Al PowerBook still has an unevenly lit display after one exchange and one display replacement (first machine exchanged due to unresolved Kernal Panic, also had uneven illumination). That makes my current display the third problematic one.

I believe the "FOAM DIFFUSER" which was used in the repair (my current, third display) is a temporary fix, as my first two displays were on new machines (e.g. straight from factory) and the problem was already visible. My third display didn't show the dimming for about two weeks after it was returned from repair.

- No, it's not due to temperature (indoor it's 59F, 80F with heater on, display is not affected).
-Yes, I've reset the PRAM, PMU (also resets NVRAM), no change. And I believe it's psychological, as one Apple Discussion member stated.

So what's there to do when the 90 days tech support is over (mine's almost over)? Many owners already have gone thru three replacement/repair without a permanent fix. There must be owners in my situation who's out of 90 days tech support...

Any helpful advice?

[(",)PB12]

i think that right now the best thing to do is to just try and ignore the problem if its not too serious ie if it doesn't drastically affect the way you work or impair your vision. Unless you have other serious technical issues that's preventing you from doing work and such try to avoid sending it in for servicing.

And seriously as far as i'm concern i wouldn't risk it to get a lemon when it returns from servicing(heard/seen countless incidents). I have uneven illumination at the right corner but its still not too serious at the moment.

[Orion27]

curryrice:
Buy Apple Care and absolutely stay tuned here. And by the way we're all not suffering mass hallucination, the uneven illumination effect is real, not "pcychological". I'm aboslutely going to haved this issue addressed. And judging from the coments here, Apple is doing what it can at the moment. No one should suffer a badly illuminated screen, "especially" (sic) from Apple.

[justinf77]

Originally posted by Orion27:
curryrice:
Buy Apple Care and absolutely stay tuned here. And by the way we're all not suffering mass hallucination, the uneven illumination effect is real, not "pcychological". I'm aboslutely going to haved this issue addressed. And judging from the coments here, Apple is doing what it can at the moment. No one should suffer a badly illuminated screen, "especially" (sic) from Apple.

I think curryrice meant that the PMU / NVRAM / PRAM "fixes" were psychological, not the actual problem itself.

[currywrice]

Orion27:
Pardon the confusion. Certainly, the problem is real�this is the third troubled display I have, as stated in my posting. I meant to say the resetting of PMU, NVRAM, PRAM did not fix a thing. Owners who said this procedure fixed the uneven illumination are probably over anticipating a positive result, thus "psychological". I've tried that already. My displays has the exact problem like those photos posted in discussions, same location on the screen. Best of luck to all!

[ExtremeSims]

Bought my Powerbook 1.25 three weeks ago. It's already exhibited the uneven illumination and white spots. Stinks, since I just sold my TiBook, and I need a laptop.

[Shaughn]

Anyone have any GOOD news to post on this issue? Anyone have a fix stick for them?

Please let us know if you have.

~S~

[naderby]

Only more bad news, thought my 15Superdrive was perfect but its now showing bottom right darkness and mid lightness.

This is 5weeks after delivery. Interestingly, when on the phone to AppleStoreUK to order, the irish bloke insisted there was a recall and all machines were noe ok. Obviously they aren't.