March 7, 2006 7:50 AM PST

MacBook Pro (#11): Audio distortion; whining noises; screen flickering; more

by CNET staff

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Audio distortion We continue to cover an issue of poor sound quality from the MacBook Pro, particularly with regard to distortion being generated by the right speaker.

Users continue to report the issue (which apparently does not affect our in-house MacBook Pros). Some readers are noting specific examples of media where the distortion is noticeable.

One reader writes:

"The problem is not always obvious. I cannot hear it when listening to music. It is by far most apparent on Male speech such as podcasts or Steve Jobs Keynote. It almost sounds like the DVD drive is resonating. Please try the following with your MacBook Pros.

"Turn the volume all the way up. Launch this CNET video of Steve Jobs presenting the new Mac mini. Turn the volume control on the video playback window to 100%. Listen to part of the keynote and I bet you will hear the distortion."

Another reader adds:

"I have realized that the speakers in my MacBook Pro are worthless. The right speaker is horribly distorted. This distortion is most apparent at higher volumes when a male voice is speaking or music with bass is playing."

Whining noises A problem we have been experiencing in house is a distinct and irritating high-pitched noise being emitted by the MacBook Pro.

In some cases, whining sounds of this nature are related to the tied to screen brightness and caused by defective inverter boards. This was a common problem with the PowerBook G3 "Lombard" models, and the sound could sometimes be affected (or eliminated totally) by gently flexing the inverter board.

The problem can generally be eliminated by turning screen brightness to the maximum level, though in-house we found that doing so resulted in emission of a different, yet equally annoying high-pitched noise.

Screen distortion/flickering Another issue we've noted in-house that has been corroborated by other readers is a faint flickering of the screen's backlight, usually when brightness is turned below a certain level.

One reader writes:

"I realized that the backlight on my screen flickers when my screen dimmed down below 4 bars. If I turn my iSight Camera on, the flickering stops for a while, but eventually returns. This is not apparent when the brightness is turned up."

Another reader reports an issue with more serious distortion for which we are seeking verification.

Mark Goble writes:

"I have had my MacBook Pro for 4 days and have had a screen problem twice. After being on for at least 3 hours the entire screen gets vertical pink/red lines across it. It appears that the 'red' in RGB has sifted on pixel right. The only way to fix the problem is to reboot and it goes away."

Amazon artificially delaying some MacBook Pro orders It appears that Amazon.com is artificially delaying some MacBook Pro orders for an inexplicable reason.

MacFixIt reader Mark Hebert writes:

"I ordered my MacBook Pro 1.83GHz from Amazon on January 28th and my ship date is currently April 3rd. I contacted Amazon about the delay, pointing out that Apple began shipping 2 weeks ago and here was their reply:

"'I'm sorry for any misunderstanding regarding this item. Although we do have your copy of 'Apple MacBook Pro Notebook 15.4' MA463LL/A" on hand, we can't ship it to you until its official release date, March 20, 2006. Many manufacturers, publishers, and record labels restrict retailers from selling or shipping their products until the official release date. But in some cases manufacturers will sell them before the official release date."

"While this seems plausible, I'm curious as to why Apple would want to delay these shipments to their customers. I can't find an email address on Apple's site to even raise the issue with them, but I thought that MacFixit readers would be interested in this information and that you might even have some insight into the situation."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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