Users sue Apple over screen quality

By Shaun Nichols on May 23, 2007 10:58 AM
Filed under Hardware

Two disgruntled customers in the US are suing Apple over what they claim to be false advertising in regard to the quality of the company's products.

According to court filings, Fred Greaves and Dave Gatley purchased MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops only to find that the displays fell short of Apple's promises.

The two then filed suit in San Diego, California, claiming that Apple promised a much higher calibre product than it delivered.

The plaintiffs claim that the screens on the MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks do not deliver the quality or capability that Apple promised in its advertisements.

The suit charges that Apple does not provide the "millions of colours" that it advertises, and that the quality of the software that renders and displays the images is inferior to that of Microsoft Windows.

This is a far cry from Apple's claims of a high-end, state-of-the-art machine, according to the plaintiffs.

The pair maintain that Apple uses a technique known as 'dithering' to provide the 'millions of colours' advertised in the machines.

Dithering is the process of placing two different colours of pixels alongside each other to give the illusion that a certain colour is being displayed. This allows for a number of different tones to be displayed with a limited colour palette.

"The reality is that, notwithstanding Apple's misrepresentations and suggestions that its MacBook and MacBook Pro display millions of colours, the displays are only capable of displaying the illusion of millions of colours," the court filing states.

The suit also claimed that the displays are prone to defects and that the graphics engine in Mac OS X is inferior to that of Windows "at all resolution levels".

The amount of money being sought by the plaintiffs was not stated. However, the suit seeks an injunction to prevent Apple making the advertising claims that provoked the suit.

"[Apple's] modus operandi constitutes sharp practice because Apple knows the existence and nature of the defect at issue yet refuses to acknowledge it, let alone recall the laptops and fix the problem," the filing reads.

"Apple apparently hopes that its laptop purchasers will not spend the time, expense and effort to pursue claims on an individual basis and Apple hopes to enrich itself with the money it saves."

Apple did not return a request for comment from www.vnunet.com