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Filed under: Macbook Pro

MacBook Pro: Inconsistent backlight, hissing LCD [Updated x3]

I'm almost done with my answer-your-questions MacBook Pro review. But before I post that, I thought it was appropriate to inform you of what appear to be Rev. A glitches in most MacBook Pro models I've tested:

The bottom of the LCD is noticeably brighter than the rest of the display, with a translucent white stripe (no affiliation to the band) stretching from one end to the other. Also, at the back of the bottom of the display (near the vent area) there seems to be a high-pitched hissing noise, presumably (?) emanating from the LCD (as the sound is consistent from one end of the lid to the other).

Everyone I spoke with who bought one of these new laptops also has these problems, and so did all the MacBook Pros at my local Apple Store.

Reader input time: If you have one of these suckers, are you experiencing the same LCD-inconsistency/hissy noise problems?

Click on to see a semi-poor quality image of the problem.

Update: Reader Paul makes an interesting observation: The high-pitched hissing noise, despite the consistent volume around the edge of the machine, seems to be coming from under the keyboard. And when the hard drive spins up to perform a task, it stops. I'm still testing this, but if the observation is apt then that would mean the noise is hard drive-related, and not the LCD as originally thought.

Update 2: OK, this just gets more thrilling: A hardware guru tells me that the hard drive is in the front-left of the machine, not the back by the noise, which means this is probably not a hard drive issue and could very well be the fan. Or the GPU. Or the CPU. Or even the speakers. Anyone else with any technical insights?

Update 3: Well, for me (and probably for most of you, too), the noise problem is the processor: I installed Apple's CHUD tools (located on the included OS X disk with the Xcode installer) and found in the new Processor preference pane that when I disabled the Core Duo's second core, the high-pitched hissing noise went away. A troubling problem, for sure, but if the noise is really that bad for you, you could always enable the Processor menu item and just turn off the second core when you don't need it.

Continue readingMacBook Pro: Inconsistent backlight, hissing LCD [Updated x3]

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