MacBook Pro/thumbnail distortion/glitch in Photos. No help given.

[Pete Milne]

In November of 2019 I purchased this MacBook Pro:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

Processor 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Memory 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

Graphics Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 1536 MB

Immediately I noticed that Photos had this glitch (video attached) when scrolling through my photo thumbnails. This extended to occasional green flashing when playing movies within the Apple TV app. Naturally, I reached out to Apple right away and after the usual run around of resets and reboots, safe modes, and downloads, nothing has fixed it. They will not replace (exchange) this machine. I have had a running case number since November and still no fix, nor direction to fix it. I am simply told to keep it updated. It as if I am being pushed to getting passed my year warranty. Everything is currently updated, Catalina 10.15.6. Does anyone have ANY suggestions, insight, or help? This is infuriating and I feel trapped and literally ignored by Apple.

I'd greatly appreciate some advice.

 

[robvas]

Have you reinstalled the OS?

 

[Pete Milne]

My initial call in to Apple, they had me reinstall OS. In fact, before this case moved to a senior advisor, they had me reinstall a couple of times (November through January). When the case arrived to a senior, they started remote operating this with me to find the problem. The problem did not duplicate while screen sharing was running, for some reason. The only mild fix is System Preferences>Accesibility>Display> then checking the Reduce Transparency box. That minimizes the glitch to be less frequent, but not completely gone.

 

[PieTunes]

My initial call in to Apple, they had me reinstall OS. In fact, before this case moved to a senior advisor, they had me reinstall a couple of times (November through January). When the case arrived to a senior, they started remote operating this with me to find the problem. The problem did not duplicate while screen sharing was running, for some reason. The only mild fix is System Preferences>Accesibility>Display> then checking the Reduce Transparency box. That minimizes the glitch to be less frequent, but not completely gone.

Definitely an annoying issue! As a troubleshooting step, have you tried connecting an external monitor, and though I'm sure it won't show up on the external display, does it still show up on your MBP's screen while connected? Does the issue still happen when you try different screen resolutions of your MBP?

Just curious, if you immediately noticed the display being that glitchy right out of the box, why did you not return/exchange it?

 

[Pete Milne]

I have not been able to connect a monitor yet. I will note that AirPlay, say on the TV, when it's on and displayed there the issue does not happen. I will try different resolutions too. Thank you for that idea.

Out of the box, the issue was apparent right away as I started loading things to it. On the phone, they literally said to not return it as they themselves didn't know what the problem was. At the time I was in Montana no Apple stores exist anywhere nearby, so I could not march into a store right away to show them. That did not happen until February at an Apple store in North Carolina where they dismissed it and said they could not handle that there. By the time I made it to a few senior advisors they confirmed Apple engineers had now officially heard of this problem with others and were "working towards a solution". COVID-19 hit as these guys recommended someone see it at an Apple store again. Obviously that can't happen right now. They have said many times it would be pointless to send it in because they may not find the problem on their own(?). That would result in them just sending it back and I'm out of a work computer for a few days. "Keep it updated" is all they are telling me right now.

Another note. They have this video and even more screenshots and clips of this problem happening. All of these files were shared with them via GigaFiles.

 

[Grohowiak]

Tell them to send you a box, send it in and get it fixed / get a new one.