The coating on a MacBook Pro is similar to the anti-reflection coating you can get on glasses.
Chlorine and heat will affect glasses, I bet the same can be said for these laptop screens.
I have a feeling that with a database of 258 people, you should be able to find out what people are using to clean their screens and damaging them. Cleaning your screen using those bleach wipes is a sure fire way to damage it!
I've never used anything but water and a paper towel to clean my screen, and frankly I resent the fact that you and people like you keep assuming that it's user error. The coating is clearly defective.
There is very clearly a problem with the screen coating on a (in my case) $3500 machine, and Apple needs to be called out on this one. Bravo to the OP for bring this to light.
The problem is that 258 some-odd people, out of the what, several tens of thousands of people who have experienced this issue is not a "clearly" situation.
That's, conservatively, about .1% of owners experiencing a problem, and it is entirely within reason to believe the issue is user-caused, baring some reproducible test case.
How many people do you know with a >2 year old MBP? I would wager a substantial fraction experience this. I personally know several who get this issue wiping their screen only with water and the cleaning cloth it came with, per Apple’s instructions.
... In addition of course to all the ones experiencing this effect after using a tee shirt, tissue, paper towel, or other cloth. The guy you’re responding to definitely shouldn’t be using a paper towel to clean the screen.
Still though, that doesn’t cause a problem with most other Apple laptop/phone/tablet displays, so people who now have scratched up screens didn’t ever expect this could happen, and weren’t trying especially hard to be careful about it. Apple should at the very least do a much better job warning their customers.
We aren't damaging it with clearers or at least I'm not. I've never used a cleaner on my MBP ever. All I've done is use a microfiber cloth, no water, no cleaner.
From the pattern of the issue (http://i.imgur.com/gnAqDqk.jpg) you can see it has absolutely nothing to do with cleaning. In fact, it's mostly the edges of the screen that need to be wiped. The center, where the issue is, rarely if ever needs to be wiped/cleaned. On top of that you can see a pattern from the keyboard under the main issue area.
Someone above mentioned heat. Maybe it's closing an MBP after playing a game. They literally get too hot to touch. You have to make sure you fingers don't touch between the keys or else OUCH!
Checking where the area of issue touches the main body of the MBP it's the area between the touchpad and the keyboard that lines up with the area of the screen with all issue.
I used to get these marks like this on the screen when I jammed laptop into my backpack real tight. screen bends inwards touches keyboard. nothing good can come out of it.
My 1st generation 15" rMBP is getting close to its 3rd year. The original owner bought it in August 2012 and I bought it off him in March 2013. The screen coating is as good as the day I got it. From the onset, I made sure I don't use any solvent- no alcohol or ammonia based window/glass cleaner like Windex. Only water and old, worn, super soft but clean 100% cotton t-shirt (like my 5 year old American Apparel white t-shirt).
I know a lot of people go overboard when cleaning the screen. Either driven by OCD, you tend to clean it too often, putting way too much elbow grease and constant use of solvent. At the other end are those who let their laptops get covered in dirt and grime, thus, when they do decide to clean it, it's easy to do too much because that's the required effort.
What I would do is make sure after each use or every night, give your laptop a light wipe or dusting- eg. using a Swifter duster (use the 360º duster instead of the single-sided as it would minimise accidental scraping). If you don't have an old, soft cotton white t-shirt, use a good light colored micro-fibre cloth. Why white or light colored? To easily detect sand or dirt.
Speaking of heat: It would be interesting to know how many of those affected used their MBPs in clamshell mode.
(My pet theory: Acids and oils left by the user's hands/fingers on the keyboard/case that react with the screen coating when the MBP is closed. Heat from clamshell mode could act as an additional catalyst.)
I am curious about two things with regards to these laptops.
Can the keys come in contact with the screen when closed, not just sitting on the desk but upside down/etc. When closing the laptop to turn it off is heat passively dissipated properly? Metal lids would seem a good way to trap it.
I used baby wipes on my 2006 MacBook and after a few years there were a few minor spots like this, but nothing major. Since then I've been using just a soap based cleaner like iKlear but a generic version without the price tag, on all devices and haven't had any issues.
Be very careful of using baby wipes on sensitive stuff. A lot of them can remove varnish from nails. I was very surprised when I saw this taking in account the intended usage of the wipes.
hmm on second read, I think I meant polish (as in fingernail paint) and not varnish (for wood treatment). Does it also use alcohol? My mother used acetone to remove nail polish from her fingernails from what I remember, that is why I was shocked to see a baby wipe do the same thing.
Chlorine and heat will affect glasses, I bet the same can be said for these laptop screens.
I have a feeling that with a database of 258 people, you should be able to find out what people are using to clean their screens and damaging them. Cleaning your screen using those bleach wipes is a sure fire way to damage it!