MacBook :: Having A Defective LCD?

Short version:If you have an Early 2009 white Macbook (with the nVidia 9400M integrated video), you may have a defective LCD. I'm collecting serial numbers to establish a pattern of which notebooks have the defective LCD and which are usable. Please post the first 5 characters of your serial number, which model LCD you have, and if you notice lines/pinstriping (see below for how to find out all three of these easily)

Code:
Build Week : LCD Model : Lines present

03 : 9C5F : No
03 : 9C5F : No
04 : 9C5F : No
04 : 9C5F : No
08 : 9C5B : Yes
08 : 9C5B : Yes
11 : 9C5B : Yes
12 : 9C5B : Yes
13 : 9C5B : Yes
13 : 9C5B : Yes
15 : 9C5B : Yes
The fun stuff:
I recently picked up an Early 2009 white Macbook after owning a Late 2006 Macbook for the past two years. The performance has been great, but the LCD is another story.

I noticed faint horizontal lines on the LCD when viewed at a normal 90 degree angle, typically where solid light colors are displayed.

The effect is similar to pinstripes, and appears regardless of color profiling, calibration, OS, application, displaying 2D or 3D graphics modes, full screen video, or if booted from the hard drive or install DVD. Menus are a good example - faint lines where there are none on the Late '06 version, or on two 2007 Macbooks I'd initially checked side by side. If watching videos or playing games, any solid light colored region would exhibit the same issue - sky/clouds are a good example. From past experience, this looked like banding due to poor dithering in the LCD itself.

Example image: These menus should be translucent and uniform. The defective LCDs render the menu with pinstripes and bands.Thinking this was a single bad LCD, I proceeded to check 22 other 2009 white Macbooks on display at Apple stores and other retailers. Approximately half of the notebooks exhibited the exact issue, while others had the same clean display as I'd had on my original system.

Several past threads mention issues with Samsung LCDs - sure enough, this notebook and all that display the pinstriping have a display model of 9C5B (associated with Samsung). The notebooks that had clean displays without the pinstriping have a display model of 9C5F (associated with LG).

After pointing out the pinstriping to the lead genius at a local Apple store, he immediately noticed the issue as well and agreed that it was not normal (he described it as something that would drive him crazy. My sentiments exactly). Out of the 5 white Macbooks on display at the store, 3 had the issue and 2 were usable. After further digging, he discovered that Apple engineering is aware of the issue and states that no hardware should be replaced. As the system was new, he offered to exchange the notebook, with the caveat that if the replacement had the same LCD, they wouldn't be able to exchange the notebook again. The other option given was to pay for upgrading to the Unibody Macbook which doesn't appear to have the same issue (at least, not to the same degree).

Having originally purchased the notebook at Microcenter, I returned to the same store and pointed out the issue to the Microcenter sales rep. Kudos to Microcenter, their support is fantastic - he offered to check several more systems prior to my leaving the store. We proceeded to open and check 3 other Macbooks hoping to find one that was usable - all had the same LCD, and same issue (all from build weeks 12 and 13).

The goal:
Collect as many date codes from serial numbers as possible and determine which weeks shipped with defective LCDs. Personally I would like to increase my chances of exchanging this notebook for one with a usable LCD, and if you're looking to purchase, you may want to avoid particular build weeks. The build week from the serial number is the only identifier that can be checked without opening the box and starting up the system to check the LCD directly.

How to check your serial number/build week and LCD model:Serial#: Launch System Profiler. In "Hardware Overview", pull the first 5 characters of the serial number. For example: W8913 (W8 = Shanghai, 9 = 2009, 13 = Week 13)
LCD model: System Preferences -> Displays -> Color -> Open Profile -> #13 'mmod' -> Model. For example: 00009C5B

How to detect the lines:
The default Leopard wallpaper is great for detecting this issue - set this wallpaper (System Preferences -> Desktop -> Nature -> Aurora). Pull down the Finder menu. If you don't notice anything, tilt the screen back and the lines will be more prominent (but is perfectly visible at standard viewing angles).

Macro shot - if functioning properly, the LCD should display this entire menu without lines. The top half of this image is fine, the lower half has lines running through it. The graphic below this menu has a region of light solid color underneath "Show Original" and "Add to Sidebar": post your system information here so we can get a good idea of which weeks are affected. If your LCD is displaying the same issues, please contact Applecare and open a support case, or work with your local Apple store to see if you can locate a notebook with a usable LCD.

Ultimately, this is unacceptable given the typical quality standards for Apple products if the issue is widespread. Hopefully with enough information we can get some changes made to the replacement policy to recognize this as the defect that it is, rather than something that is "functioning normally".