Apple MacBooks Suffer Video Playback Problems

Apple is reportedly working on a fix for a video playback problem in its consumer and professional notebook lines that shipped in February with Intel's latest mobile processor.

Early buyers of the MacBook and MacBook Pro reported distortion in playing video through Apple's QuickTime player. Apple refreshed the notebooks two months ago with Penryn processors, which are faster than previous generation chips.

Apple was not immediately available for comment Tuesday, but a posting on an Apple support forum indicated that the company had acknowledged the problem.

"Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports. Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release."

The problem came to light on the forum when early customers of the notebooks reported "flickering" during video playback. Home consumer site MacFixIt, reported Tuesday that fixes for the problem would be in Mac OS X 10.5.3, the next version of the Mac operating system. The bug appears to be in the current version 10.5.2 that shipped in February, according to MacFixIt.

Apple's notebook business is a key growth area for the company, particular if demand for iPods eventually weakens, as expected by some financial analysts. Apple, however, claims the market for portable media players is not saturated and expects growth to continue. In January, Apple reported the highest revenue and earnings in its history.

The updated MacBook and MacBook Pro each came in three variations. Prices started at $1,099 for the MacBook and $2,499 for the MacBook Pro.