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Colonel Panic · Feb 21, 2008, 12:06 AM

I have a MacBook 2.2 Core 2 Duo that seems to have an odd display problem in that it would appear to not be applying gradients.

There was a post on Apple's boards suggesting what I believe to be a similar issue (see below).

Fresh install didn't help. Any ideas? Are there any 3100 settings that can be adjusted?

Here was the item I found posted on Apple's boards:

"The display on my Macbook 13" seems to be of very substandard quality (the standard being set by any other laptop I have used, and even a friends Macbook of the same model).

Basically, any area of the screen that is lightly colored has a pattern of light gray dots on it. The dots seem to follow a 45 degree pattern and cover the entire screen. At times you have to look closely to see them, at other times they are glaringly...annoying.

In addition, the display creates color gradients very poorly. A dropshadow on a window or the toolbar for instance, is of very poor quality. The color gradient in a dropshadow is not "smooth" at all. It just switches from one shade of gray to another until it stops abruptly.

What I have done so far:

Confirmed that my display is indeed set to "millions" of colors
Calibrated my monitor. Both with the built in calibration utility & Supercal"

richwig83 · Mar 1, 2008, 07:37 PM

Yes.... same issue here. Just got a new 2.4 penryn and the display is worse than it was on my old 1st gen macbook with a gma950!!!!!

Its really noticeable on grey colours i.e. all of this forum

seanc · Mar 1, 2008, 08:37 PM

Can you take a picture of the issue? A screenshot won't show it.

I don't think I have this issue with my X3100, the issue I have is that if you boot into Windows and then out with an external monitor attached, on the reboot, the internal LCD will flicker like crazy, just flashing really fast.

richwig83 · Mar 1, 2008, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Can you take a picture of the issue? A screenshot won't show it.

I don't think I have this issue with my X3100, the issue I have is that if you boot into Windows and then out with an external monitor attached, on the reboot, the internal LCD will flicker like crazy, just flashing really fast.

Take a trip here Apple Store - U.K. - Welcome to Apple Store

on the left hand side where it says "New to the Store" there is a gradient under the text! On mine there are around about 13 visible bands that stop around abouts where it says guitar hero 3!!!

This is bull_ _ _ _ the display sucks big style!!

edit: Heres an example (excuse the poor iphone photo!)

seanc · Mar 1, 2008, 08:51 PM

That's awful, is it still the same at 90 degrees?
I can see something similar if I tilt my screen right back on the MacBook and the LCD on another computer, I assume it has to do with the image compression.

richwig83 · Mar 1, 2008, 08:59 PM

No its not image compression its either the X3100 drivers are as much good as a chocolate teapot or the displays are terrible quality... im going with the latter.

Its not as bad at 90degs, but the banding is still visible.... I've just about had it with mac hardware! Ok they designed a great OS but who ever is left to manufacture the hardware needs to take a seat in 'Old Sparky'

Also just for the record, the screen on my iPhone is way way better than the one on my macbook!!! NO banding at all!

mduell · Mar 1, 2008, 11:28 PM

I can't see how it would be the X3100 drivers... they drive 18 and 24 bit panels just fine. Probably the bottom of the barrel TN panels they're using.

richwig83 · Mar 2, 2008, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

I can't see how it would be the X3100 drivers... they drive 18 and 24 bit panels just fine. Probably the bottom of the barrel TN panels they're using.

Thats my fear!!! If they are using poo poo lcd's then i guess there is no point in trying to get it sorted out?? Or is it worth an angry trip to the crapple shop?

Apple hardware is the pits!

Colonel Panic · Mar 2, 2008, 11:11 AM

I think they are just crap displays. I don't think it is a driver issue.

Two easiest ways to see it: 1) Drop shadows don't look like shadows, but rather you can see the individual pixels in increasingly less dense clusters as you get near the edge (there are pixel "fingers" that shoot out with increasingly large gaps between them. 2) The transparent menu over a gray field, say the Safari "File" menu opened over the safari toolbar, shows up pretty "sparkly" and pixelated as opposed to a smooth transparency effect.

I don't know if apple deliberately downed the quality to get cheaper displays, if it was a bad batch, or what, but the display it is a truly crappy piece of hardware on an otherwise great machine.

seanc · Mar 2, 2008, 11:13 AM

I would suspect and hope it's more of a bad batch of displays rather than Apple downgrading their displays.

Colonel Panic · Mar 2, 2008, 11:16 AM

Could be, but mine is a Merom that came with 10.5.0 installed, and if people with brand new Penryns have them as well, well then that's a pretty long stretch for a vendor issue.

richwig83 · Mar 2, 2008, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by seanc

I would suspect and hope it's more of a bad batch of displays rather than Apple downgrading their displays.

hmmm for some reason i doubt that its a bad batch!!! Its just apple cutting corners to increase there profit margin!

After been completely converted to apple hardware and software 18 months ago... im not almost convinced I would never ever buy another mac again!!!

Ohh well... i guess it will be back to winblows.... at least ill be able to choose what hardware I have!!!

seanc · Mar 2, 2008, 12:11 PM

Well I have a refurbed late 2007 (bought early 2008) with an X3100 and I'm not having any banding issues. It came with 10.5.0, its been through 10.5.1 and now 10.5.2 and the graphics update, the only issue I have is severe flickering after rebooting from Windows with an external monitor attached.

Have you guys tested things in Windows?

There is the other option of me being blind to it or not noticing it.

I'd suggest you take it down to an Apple store to be looked at or give them a call.

richwig83 · Mar 2, 2008, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Well I have a refurbed late 2007 (bought early 2008) with an X3100 and I'm not having any banding issues. It came with 10.5.0, its been through 10.5.1 and now 10.5.2 and the graphics update, the only issue I have is severe flickering after rebooting from Windows with an external monitor attached.

Have you guys tested things in Windows?

There is the other option of me being blind to it or not noticing it.

I'd suggest you take it down to an Apple store to be looked at or give them a call.

Would it be possible for you to go to the apple site and take a photo of the gradient that i posted above please, slightly shooting upwards like i did!

Thanks in advance!

ibook_steve · Mar 2, 2008, 03:08 PM

OK, hold on. Chill out here. To quote an old SNL sketch, "Simmah Don Nah!"

;-)

If you change the number of colors back and forth from millions to thousands, does the problem persist? Try the same thing but with changing the resolution as well. If the banding still occurs in all cases (and doesn't show up in a screen grab as seen earlier), then yes, there would seem to be an issue with the panel.

richwig83, if you really want to go back to the cheap plastic-y universe of a Windows machine, fine. We're not going to stop you. But this is an obvious problem that can be fixed, and I'm sure Apple would fix it for you. It most likely is a bad batch of displays. Apple doesn't play games like you think they do in your post. Be polite. Be nice. Call Apple or go to an Apple store. They'll fix it.

Steve

richwig83 · Mar 2, 2008, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

OK, hold on. Chill out here. To quote an old SNL sketch, "Simmah Don Nah!"

;-)

If you change the number of colors back and forth from millions to thousands, does the problem persist? Try the same thing but with changing the resolution as well. If the banding still occurs in all cases (and doesn't show up in a screen grab as seen earlier), then yes, there would seem to be an issue with the panel.

richwig83, if you really want to go back to the cheap plastic-y universe of a Windows machine, fine. We're not going to stop you. But this is an obvious problem that can be fixed, and I'm sure Apple would fix it for you. It most likely is a bad batch of displays. Apple doesn't play games like you think they do in your post. Be polite. Be nice. Call Apple or go to an Apple store. They'll fix it.

Steve

Yeah my apologies for the ranting but ive had so many hardware issues with my macbook its getting silly, which to be fair to apple have all been fixed, only for other problems to occur a few month after!!

In leopard on my macbook i can't select any less than millions of colours! The options are:-
Millions
256 Colours (greyed out)

mduell · Mar 2, 2008, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Apple doesn't play games like you think they do in your post. Be polite. Be nice.

Be nice if that were true; if it was, I'd be posting from an MBAir instead of my Dell.

richwig83 · Mar 2, 2008, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Be nice if that were true; if it was, I'd be posting from an MBAir instead of my Dell.

ibook_steve · Mar 2, 2008, 10:49 PM

What happened to your MBA?

Steve

mduell · Mar 3, 2008, 03:20 PM

Persistent progressive failure after 4-6 hours of use, AppleCare deemed it DoA, took it to an Apple Store to swap it and they balked because the part numbers didn't match* despite having the exact same hardware/software configuration in stock. Talked to three different managers, none were willing to override the trivial difference.

* Mine was a 1.6/HDD upgraded to 1.8/SSD, while what they had was a stock 1.8/SSD model.

markponcelet · Mar 4, 2008, 03:12 PM

You know, you could temporarily install a copy of windows XP under bootcamp. That'll get you a different driver and allow you to compare gradients between them. Same hardware, different OS and software.

You wouldn't even need to activate Windows. Just install it, jump over to internet explorer, and look at a web page (this forum)? that quickly causes the problem.

The whitepoints would be different between Windows and Mac OS, but who knows? Maybe that would help you chase down the problem.

Just a thought.