SlashGear Japan
Apple don’t seem to be able to catch a break with their displays recently, perhaps as a result of being on the cutting edge of NVIDIA’s latest GPU technology. Latest to cause Cupertino headaches is the 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro, which according to some owners will demonstrate green and purple banding and visual artifacts when using the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M.
As the tales go, a reboot will fix the problem temporarily – not much use if you’re in the midst of a heavy duty video editing session – but is no lasting solution. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, which also sits inside the MBP for less graphic-intensive applications, is seemingly unaffected.
It’s been speculated that the problem is heat-related, and some users do confirm that it appears to get worse with prolonged use. Apple are yet to comment on the issue. There’s a 17-inch MacBook Pro scheduled to arrive at SlashGear HQ this morning, and you can bet we’ll be sitting with our eyes an inch or two from the screen to see if the same green and purple banding appears.
Update: It’s looking more like heat is the problem, with the MBP fans not speeding up in high-temperature situations
[via Engadget]
3 Responses to “17-inch MacBook Pro NVIDIA 9600M graphics glitches?”
Skycrapper March 6, 2009
Previously it’s the Air’s hinge problem, now this? Whew, Apple . . . maybe your QC staff need a raise, eh?
+1Chris Davies March 6, 2009
Sad but true, Skycrapper. Though it’s possible that this could be NVIDIA’s issue, not so much Apple’s, if it’s something wrong with the GeForce 9600M chipset. Of course, that’s little comfort to those who have spent big bucks on a new MBP and find it faulty.
-1used2b2020 March 22, 2009
Have you read the post by “bophed” from “Louisianaa” on 3/7/09 at 8:23PM? (follow thread in “some owners” above) He says he forced the fans on to 5,000rpm all the time and still got the artifacts when he tortured the MBP with graphics apps. Could it be that heat is only PART of the problem, or a bigger problem than fan rpm not being controlled correctly? There is a hint here that a band-aid fix by Apple to merely turn up the fan rpm with software/firmware may NOT be enough to solve the problem.
Neutral