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So last night I was playing Portal 2 in a rather dark room, and the combination of the dark colors in my screen with the darkness of the room allowed me to see quite a few "dead spots" in the backlight of my screen. I've attached an Illustrator recreation of what the spots look like.

Dead Spot Image http://www.thoughtspacedesigns.com/images/deadspots.png

These spots don't seem to react to pressure on the screen at all, which would lead me to believe they've been there since I bought the thing, and weren't caused by pressure (just shooting in the dark though). They really aren't all that noticeable, and again it took me til this point to even see a problem. I can't even see them in daylight conditions. Regardless, the fact that I dumped over a grand on this computer and it's still under warranty makes me want to have this fixed.

So two questions stem from this:

1) Is this a common issue with the unibody MBPs? Is it a known issue with this model year or a certain make?

2) Will this issue be recognized and covered by Apple under the standard one year manufacturer warranty?

Thanks in advance for any help!

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  • I would expect patterns like that to be due to imperfect polarization of the light sources that are arrayed around the LCD to back light the panel. Without comparing it with several other Macs in the same lighting condition, it will be hard to ascertain if yours is within the normal variation or just like all the rest or if your panel somehow might be different and a swap would remedy your observations.
    – bmike ♦
    Sep 3, 2013 at 17:38
  • I think I'm just going to contact Apple and have them look at it. Thanks for your input!
    – Thought Space Designs
    Sep 3, 2013 at 19:39

1 Answer 1

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1) I haven't seen many reports of flat spots like this over the past few refreshes of the MacBook Pro so I wouldn't consider it a widespread or known issue. Only Apple will know for sure, and if it is then they would likely consider a Repair Extension Program (REP) to handle repairs for these symptoms outside of the 1 year warranty. Only time will tell.

2) I would expect Apple to cover this so long as theres no signs of damage or trauma to the MacBook Pro. AppleCare provides an extended warranty for failures and defects that are not a result of accidental damage. Ultimately it depends on the human being you end up dealing with but if I were you I wouldn't expect much pushback on having it repaired.

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  • Alright thanks for the info. I haven't actually purchased AppleCare for this MBP yet as I was under the impression that it had the same terms as the original MFTR warranty, but just extended the original warranty by three years. Is this correct? Will not having AppleCare screw me over? I was also under the impression that I could purchase AppleCare up to a year from the MBPs purchase date. Is this correct? Should I be running out to get AppleCare right now? I was trying to ride it out since the book is only max 2 months old so I could get four years of warranty total.
    – Thought Space Designs
    Sep 3, 2013 at 17:25
  • @ThoughtSpaceDesigns You're correct in that AppleCare has the same terms as the original warranty however it only adds two additional years of coverage, making the total coverage period 3 years from the date of purchase for the Mac.
    – Mr Rabbit
    Sep 3, 2013 at 18:49
  • Ok. So I'll give them a call. Thanks for the answer!
    – Thought Space Designs
    Sep 3, 2013 at 19:39

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