Class-action lawsuit filed over LG displays in Retina MBPs
updated 07:51 pm EDT, Thu March 14, 2013
Problems with ghosting, burn-in on some Retina displays
A Retina MacBook Pro owner is launching a class-action lawsuit alleging that Apple has not acknowledged, fixed or warned users that displays in the Retina unit made by LG (one of two primary suppliers) have problems with "ghosting," retaining an after-image for a time. Beau Hodges has filed suit in California, complaining that users have no way of knowing until after purchase whether they have an LG display version and that "none of Apple's ... representations disclose that it [has RMBPs] with different levels of performance and quality."
While a video supporting the claims of inferior performance on an LG display has been produced (seen below), the plaintiff has not yet been required to produce evidence that all LG displays exhibited the problem, or that Apple has not taken action to address the issue. Other users have reported issues, and a support thread for the LG display problem has received a high number of views and responses, but customers who have complained to Apple about the issue report that the company is exchanging any defective units for new ones.
It is possible that the LG displays were initially used in the earliest releases of the Retina MacBook Pro and later runs were replaced with the Samsung version of the display, which is claimed to not have the ghosting or burn-in issue. Apple "must know" about the differences between the two versions, the suit says, "because it has spent a considerable amount of time testing the products during research and development, and has been inundated with complaints from customers" about the LG displays. Some users with Samsung-made displays also report some graphics issues, but it is unclear if these are related to the ghosting problem.
Apple has addressed graphics issues in Retina MacBook Pros through software and firmware updates, up to and including today's release of OS X 10.8.3 and a special SMC firmware update specifically for Retina MBP models. Apple may have also resolved the problems in the latest updated versions of the products, which were unveiled last month.
