Geeky girl strikes out at Genius Bar

I wrote about my experience getting a Rev. B (the second update to the model, for those of you uninitiated in Apple geek speak) MacBook Air last November. I promptly declared it perfect, and frankly, overlooked an issue that has become more glaring the more I use it: gray lines on the display. MacNN wrote about this issue in December and there has been much discussion on the MacRumors.com forum dedicated to the MacBook Air about it. So, I finally decided to take it into an Apple store to see if anything could be done about it. I’ll be honest – the only viable solution in my head was a replacement, and if a screen replacement was going to be offered, I was going to decline. I have horrible luck with these sorts of things and I envisioned it coming back to me with multiple dings and scratches and even more prominent gray lines on the screen. No, thank you.

A bit tricky to see here, but the damn things are there! Grrr!

(Photo courtesy of Macrumors.com)

I traipse happily into my local Apple store Friday afternoon just in time for my appointment. Unfortunately, the Genius I get is absolutely unsympathetic to my plight, claiming to barely seen the lines, thinking that they could actually be part of the screen’s anti-glare coating, though he retracted this when I pointed out it has a glossy screen and they’re not visible when the screen is off. He was completely immune to my geek girl charm, even though I was wearing my Nerds 4 Ever shirt and my stylish-yet-serious glasses (they’re Versace, biotch!). I must be losing my touch.

He offered to replace the screen, which would take 3 to 5 days. I begged off since, a.) I can’t do with my Mac for that long at this time (or for any amount of time, as sad as that sounds), and b.) as I mentioned, I’m not letting anyone manhandle my beloved MacBook Air. So, I’ll live with the lines. They don’t bother me too much unless I’m thinking about it and they’re not an issue at all when I have it connected to my 20″ Cinema Display, which I use as my main display, of course.

At any rate, it does appear to be a widespread issue – it’s noted in a couple of discussion threads at the Apple Support forums here and here, on a ZDNet review of the MacBook Air here, and in the aforementioned MacRumors forums here. Now, I’m not the kind of girl who goes to start petitions and picket lines when I’m riled up about something, but I have half a mind to add my support to others experiencing this issue to get Apple to address it. I’ve never seen these lines on any of the previous Mac portables I’ve used (multiple MacBooks and PowerBooks over the years) and I don’t think they’re normal. What bothers me most is that I paid $2,500 for this computer, and while I don’t expect perfection in every unit that comes off of a production line, I don’t expect to see a widespread issue like this manifest itself. I’ve read of some folks who open up their new Macs while they’re still at the store to check it over before they leave with it. I think I’m going to start doing that the next time I get a new Mac…

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Geeky girl strikes out at Genius Bar

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