Apple acknowledges graphics glitch with latest notebooks
Apple is investigating problems with its new Penryn-based Intel notebooks that cause flickering and graphics corruption during media playback and web browsing.
The two issues have been widely reported by users of the company's latest 13-inch MacBooks and 15-inch MacBook Pros, both of which began shipping in February.
In particular, users on the Apple discussion forums say (1, 2, 3, 4) that QuickTime playback of video files is routinely marred by flickering or the appearance of "washed out" graphics on their new machines.
"When I am watching the Video Tutorials for any of Apple products my QT flickers dark and light, not to the point where I can't see the video, but to the point where it is annoying," one user wrote.
"Exact same problem here," replied several others.
Meanwhile, the same batch of users are also reporting instances of graphics corruption on their machines when scrolling through Safari webpages or Mail messages -- both of which rely on Apple's Webkit framework.
"My wife has got a current gen Macbook Pro that is exhibiting a very strange behavior," one user wrote in an AppleInsider forum thread on the subject. "When she's on battery power she gets graphical glitches/tearing when scrolling in a browser."
"I have a current generation [MacBook Pro] and I have the same problem," said another. "Also when loading web pages, often with pictures, the content in the active window flickers a lot."
Thus far, it appears the anomalies are the result of a software glitch rather than a flaw within hardware. Several users attempting to diagnose the problem on their own report that the issues became noticeable only after installing the Leopard Graphics update that was released alongside the recent Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update.
One user even went as far as to install a build of the still unreleased Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update -- which is said to include fixes for graphics corruption -- on his system to see if it remedied the issue. Although he claimed the upcoming update fixes the problem, another user performing the same kind of check reported that while 10.5.3 does indeed alleviate some symptoms, it "doesn't completely correct the issue."
Graphics corruption experienced on Apple's new notebook systems.
For its part, Apple over the weekend formally acknowledged the issues for the first time in an email response to one customer.
"Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports," the company said. "Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release."
The two issues have been widely reported by users of the company's latest 13-inch MacBooks and 15-inch MacBook Pros, both of which began shipping in February.
In particular, users on the Apple discussion forums say (1, 2, 3, 4) that QuickTime playback of video files is routinely marred by flickering or the appearance of "washed out" graphics on their new machines.
"When I am watching the Video Tutorials for any of Apple products my QT flickers dark and light, not to the point where I can't see the video, but to the point where it is annoying," one user wrote.
"Exact same problem here," replied several others.
Meanwhile, the same batch of users are also reporting instances of graphics corruption on their machines when scrolling through Safari webpages or Mail messages -- both of which rely on Apple's Webkit framework.
"My wife has got a current gen Macbook Pro that is exhibiting a very strange behavior," one user wrote in an AppleInsider forum thread on the subject. "When she's on battery power she gets graphical glitches/tearing when scrolling in a browser."
"I have a current generation [MacBook Pro] and I have the same problem," said another. "Also when loading web pages, often with pictures, the content in the active window flickers a lot."
Thus far, it appears the anomalies are the result of a software glitch rather than a flaw within hardware. Several users attempting to diagnose the problem on their own report that the issues became noticeable only after installing the Leopard Graphics update that was released alongside the recent Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update.
One user even went as far as to install a build of the still unreleased Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update -- which is said to include fixes for graphics corruption -- on his system to see if it remedied the issue. Although he claimed the upcoming update fixes the problem, another user performing the same kind of check reported that while 10.5.3 does indeed alleviate some symptoms, it "doesn't completely correct the issue."
Graphics corruption experienced on Apple's new notebook systems.
For its part, Apple over the weekend formally acknowledged the issues for the first time in an email response to one customer.
"Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports," the company said. "Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release."
Comments
This is the correct thing to do; it speaks well of Apple to do so.
"For its part, Apple over the weekend formally acknowledged the issues for the first time in an email response to one customer. "
This is the correct thing to do; it speaks well of Apple to do so.
Yes, how noble of Apple.
I have the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT.
It should be fixed soon enough, but to be honest 2 months since the first report is rather appalling.
"For its part, Apple over the weekend formally acknowledged the issues for the first time in an email response to one customer. "
This is the correct thing to do; it speaks well of Apple to do so.
It would speak far better of them if they did more thorough product testing so these things never ended up being a pita to consumers. I abhor the way they remove threads from the discussion forums that they find embarrassing.
If I quit Safari and relaunch it, no problems what so ever.
Another issue I keep having with Safari is that it freezes and then crashes when I'm on the Apple Store on Apple.com. I've sent dozens of crash alerts to Apple for the last 3 weeks about this. I end up using Firefox to browse the Apple Store now. THAT IS SAD!
It would speak far better of them if they did more thorough product testing so these things never ended up being a pita to consumers. I abhor the way they remove threads from the discussion forums that they find embarrassing.
Love to see your proof that Apple "…remove(s) threads from the discussion forums that they find embarrassing." That is not hearsay, anecdotal incidences or bloggers smoke, but real certified evidence.
P.S. It is not because I haven't seen or found anything to support your claim. It is just difficult for me to accept anything that you have to say about Apple, Mac or Jobs when it is obvious that your comments will be disparaging, as evidence by a previous posting of yours, i.e., "My only suggestion is stop buying Apple products - I have."
Love to see your proof that Apple "?remove(s) threads from the discussion forums that they find embarrassing." That is not hearsay, anecdotal incidences or bloggers smoke, but real certified evidence.
Well a removed thread would be hard to document don't you think? I do agree with him however. Apple will typically do this or lock a thread that is not singing the praises of Apple from on high, or extolling he who must not be named.
One thread that comes to mind had to do with the 5.5 G iPods and the fact that some vids that worked previously no longer did. The threads were not flattering to Apple so they were removed. More thinking differently in action I guess. Think different but keep it to yourself should be the new mantra.
Well a removed thread would be hard to document don't you think? I do agree with him however. Apple will typically do this or lock a thread that is not singing the praises of Apple from on high, or extolling he who must not be named.
One thread that comes to mind had to do with the 5.5 G iPods and the fact that some vids that worked previously no longer did. The threads were not flattering to Apple so they were removed. More thinking differently in action I guess. Think different but keep it to yourself should be the new mantra.
Interesting that nobody has proved it. Just the same guys who repeatedly dis Apple on everything and in some cases, never even owned a Mac.
I get scrolling issues on my PowerMac G5 Dual Core when using Safari. Have since the last updates. If I have multiple (meaning 3-5) tabs open and running in Safari for a few hours, when I try to scroll down the page using the keyboard arrow keys the scroll is choppy and almost unusable.
If I quit Safari and relaunch it, no problems what so ever.
Do you have Flip4Mac installed to watch WMV files? I don't know if the fault lies with Flip4Mac or Safari, but for some reason in Safari 3 (at least on a G4 PowerBook), after I've visited a page that causes the Flip4Mac plug-in to load, I found that Safari performance and responsiveness would slowly degrade to the point of unusability. Even if you close all your Safari windows, the plug-in apparently never unloads and keeps eating up more and more memory and processor. Quiting Safari was the only fix until I disabled the Flip4Mac Safari plugin altogether. Since I've done that the issue never happened again.
Have a bunch of pages open with lots of Flash adds can also degrade performance sigificantly, but I wouldn't think that would impact your G5 as much as it did my G4.
It is just difficult for me to accept anything that you have to say about Apple, Mac or Jobs when it is obvious that your comments will be disparaging...
The converse could be said about you, and your ceaseless Apple cheerleading.
Recently, on my QuickSilver-2002 PowerMac G4 (GeForce 4MX video), I noticed a similar light/dark problem when playing YouTube videos. Every few seconds, the video would dim and then come back, sort of like how a laptop's panel dims when it has been idle for a minute - except that only the video would dim, not the entire screen.
I assumed it was a bug in YouTube's Flash application or in the latest Flash Player plugin, but after reading this article, maybe it's a Mac OS X issue. I guess I'll find out when 10.5.3 comes out.
Love to see your proof that Apple "?remove(s) threads from the discussion forums that they find embarrassing." That is not hearsay, anecdotal incidences or bloggers smoke, but real certified evidence.
Unless someone leaks/steals one of Apple's log files, you're not going to find proof.
The best I can suggest is that you start reading Apple Discussions for a while, especially those topics that appear to be embarrassing to Apple. Eventually, you'll notice that some threads you were reading are no longer available (bookmarks won't work anymore, etc.) even though older threads are available.
I, personally, have had some of my comments deleted, and they were not whining complaints. (They were attempts to help other people's problems, by pointing out some of what I learned about Mac OS after poking through the guts of some system packages.) I don't know what the reason is, but I suspect they see their discussion forum as an extension of their support documentation, and therefore don't want to allow anything that they wouldn't publish in a support page.
I don't think any other explanation makes sense. They certainly don't do anything to stop the flow of information, since the complaints and analyses end up getting posted elsewhere anyway.