[Paul Huang]

I may have found the definitive answer to the screen problem. Although many people don't see it, those in the creative industry can see it from a mile (uh, maybe ten feet) away.

This has been a major controversy since the day it came out. Argue no further. The following will expose the problem.

1. Tilt the screen back to the lowest possible point and the horizontal lines will become more pronounced.

2. Launch photoshop and go to color picker (double-click on either the foreground or background color swatch on the tool palette. Move the color slector circle around and you will see that the supposedly smooth gradient will show a drastic drop-off in color/density. We'll call that banding (from left to right).

3. Use the gradient tool and draw from left to right (or any direction). You will see that as the hue or value approach or goes beyond mid-tone, there is a drastic fall off.

4. The strange thing is, when you hook up an external monitor (I use a DVI connection to a Cinema display) and drag the faulty display to the external monitor, the same problem is being displayed. However, as soon as the _entire_ window is inside the external monitor and you let go, the windows is refreshed and will display properly.

5. By the same token, when I create a gradient on the external monitor and it (certainly) displays faultlessly. But as I drag it to the PowerBook 15.2" (October version, 1440 x 960), it still looks fine. However, as I let go of the windows and the window is refreshed, the banding is visible.

What's the conclusion? It may be a video card fault, not the screen. I have marked the LCD panel with a dot, so if the problem goes away and the dot is still there when I receive the PowerBook back from Apple, then they'd most likely have replaced the video card, not the LCD panel.

[iomatic]

Sigh.

I'm in the creative industry, and I can't see it unless I'm 8 inches away. It's not widespread, and it's not black and white (i.e., either you have it or you don't) my particular PowerBook has it, but it's very limited in appearance. No one can see it on my computer unless they're at least that close on my machine, peers, friends, children and pets.

Try this:
command-option-control-, decrease the screen contrast
command-option-control-. increase the screen contrast

This may change your opinion about whether it's faulty, or just software that can be adjusted.

[Paul Huang]

I am not bitching about it. Apple has agreed to replace the part (whatever it might be). I spoke to someone who agrees with me.

I am not going to try to fool my eyes with your procedure, because I am able to see the problem and I have seen a unit that does not have the problem.

Did you, by chance, notice that **ALL** of the Toyota Sequoia's doors are off by 3/8" on the right side? No one noticed it until I pointed it out to them. Does that make it OK? Absolutely not. Toyota really messed up in the initial tooling process. This is not how the door was hung, but it was how the sheet steel was not folded properly to match the D-pillar.

It's your prerogative to replace a faulty product. One could certainly choose to ignore it.

Originally Posted by iomatic

Sigh.

I'm in the creative industry, and I can't see it unless I'm 8 inches away. It's not widespread, and it's not black and white (i.e., either you have it or you don't) my particular PowerBook has it, but it's very limited in appearance. No one can see it on my computer unless they're at least that close on my machine, peers, friends, children and pets.

Try this:
command-option-control-, decrease the screen contrast
command-option-control-. increase the screen contrast

This may change your opinion about whether it's faulty, or just software that can be adjusted.

[hickey]

Originally Posted by Paul Huang

Did you, by chance, notice that **ALL** of the Toyota Sequoia's doors are off by 3/8" on the right side? No one noticed it until I pointed it out to them.

no one on earth noticed it? But now that you've seen it, the rest of the population can also??

[iomatic]

Dude. I just said I can see it, and everyone else can see it, on my particular PowerBook you have to be inches away. You can't see it otherwise.

I agree it's defective if it's as noticeable as you say. Whatever. I was simply pointing out that yes, it's apparent, but there are degrees of this, and this has been discussed here ad nauseam.

Who would own a truck in Southern California anyway?

(ducks)

[Paul Huang]

The screen has been replaced. The part number is 646-0324. I knew something was funny since day one. The color is also different because of the odd/even number rows of pixels being different. This is critical for designer and photographers. I had to wait one extra day because the part wasn't available. Otherwise, the turn around time was just 36 hours.