My 15" Unibody MacBook Pro (late 2008, 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 320Gb disk, OS X 10.6.2) has an intermittent problem where the top of the screen flashes black, for less than a second, but is very noticeable and distracting when it happens. The amount of the screen that blacks out varies, but is usually (approx.) the top 25%, sometimes the top half, and occasionally the whole screen. I'm nearly always using the 9400M graphics chipset ("Better battery life" option), which is when I notice it, the few times I use the 9600M GT ("Higher performance" option) I have not seen it happen.
Hours of searching online reveals dozens of reports of this problem, but no official information from Apple about it. The suggested fixes of resetting the PRAM (boot with Cmd+Alt+P+R held down) and resetting the SMC (remove power, battery, hold power key for 5 seconds) have not worked for me.
It is now happening more often, but it's been a problem since I bought it, both before and after upgrading to Snow Leopard (which - given the lack of official info - I remember being eager to get since I thought it might help).
I've finally caught it on camera, at 0:04.
Edit: For snapshots of the relevant frames, see:
http://jtrotman.tripod.com/mbpro.html
Edit #2: After completing four repairs under warranty for this problem, Apple replaced my laptop with a brand new 2010 model. If your MacBook Pro has this problem check out
http://discussions.info.apple.com/thr...
for lots of background information, and good advice on getting it fixed.