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disappointed with PB purchase today

S

sbb155

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I had everyone's help here, and I finally bought a 15" powerbook...It runs great, I love the software, but I have to say, compared to sxga+ and UXGA and WUXGA PC laptops, the screen is really poor!

Such a LOW resolution screen for such a nice laptop... really an utter disappointment. Thank goodness, I have a desktop computer to work on.

I mean, the screen is OK, but let's face it, Apple has lagged here.

I am busy just making sure everything else works. I am going to burn a dvd, etc.

My PB has a slight "wobble" also. Is that normal?
 
The PB line have lousy screens. I've seen better on the WinTel platform. But that's about the only gripes I have about them. Otherwise, if you use it as a desktop replacement, you can hook up an additional display that can go past 2048x1600 in 32bit color. Dual monitor setup kicks ass on the PBs.

If it wobbles, are you sure it's not the uneven surface? Otherwise, once the PB warms up, it'll sometimes un-wobble itself.
 
Considering you say you had lots of input from MR members before you bought, and there's no secret about the PB screen resolution, I'm not sure I understand your disappointment. As recent threads have discussed, Apple engineers for a narrow range of pixels per inch; this keeps screen elements on different size displays consistent in size. In other words, Apple does this by design. No, the PB does not have the highest resolution display on the market, but it's not because they are trying to be cheap (really). Apple has never been about the spec numbers game; they design for function.

In any case, I'm still at odds as to why you would be surprised.
 
Surprised?
No, I am not surprised that the PBs have an awful screen. rather, I am disappointed in apple for having the poor screen. very disappointed. Thanks goodness the rest of the mac experience is great..and I have a desktop coming my way in the next few months. But, even the most misguided of mac worshipers can acknowledge that the quality of the screen for a 2300$ laptop is utterly dissappointing.
Apple makes up for it with the rest of the package, however.
Samantha
 
sbb155,
I guess most people would disagree with my opinion on this, but still, "awful" is subjective of course ... if you mean something like x-brite, some people don't like how it looks. As for resolution, my 12" PB has a resolution that was last considered awesome sometime last century, but even when I run my desktop monitor on it, I don't feel the need to go resolution-crazy; I usually keep it the same.

I know this all sounds like perfectly tailored "mac-worshiper" drivel, but I do think my screen looks just fine, even compared to other comparably-sized PC laptops I have used.
 
OK. At the end of the day, it's all about expectations. I have a 2+ year old TiBook 1 GHz, and I find the screen to be perfect for my needs. Now, I was coming from a older Fujitsu Windoze laptop, with a smaller, lower res screen, so I suppose I was easy to please.
 
Duff-Man says....I find the screen on my TiBook to be just about perfect as far as the resolution goes. At work I support a couple hundred Wintel laptops, mostly Dell C840's but a few newer HP/Compaq NC8000 and while they have higher resolution I find that for over 90% of the users in the office they just crank it down to a lower rez because they find everything too small (even with large icons and large fonts enabled). Perhaps sometime soon (?) there will be some truth to this BTP option of higher res screens which will make eveyone happy.....oh yeah!
 
I got my new Rev D 15" the other day and I think the screen is great. However, I did get 128MB of VRAM so maybe that explains it. My PB screen blows away my Desktop PC's screen - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400. I had a look at the screen savers on the PB and the quality really surprised me. DVDs on my PB are much higher quality than on my TV as well. I haven't tried any games on it though - im not a gamer.

That's my $0.02 anyway. Maybe the 128MB VRAM is the way to go!
 
sbb155 said:
My PB has a slight "wobble" also. Is that normal?
Click to expand...

My 12" has a very slight wobble on some surfaces, but not on others. Since it doesn't wobble more than it wobbles, I assume that when it wobbles it means the surface itself is not flat, but who knows. It spends most of its time in an iCurve, in which it does not wobble.

Also, is your disappointment with the screen purely a post-purchase phenomenon, or perhaps you perused the PowerBook's poor picture power prior to pickup?
 
mcgarry said:
Also, is your disappointment with the screen purely a post-purchase phenomenon, or perhaps you perused the PowerBook's poor picture power prior to pickup?
Click to expand...
Nice alliteration!
 
take it back and buy a powermac if it's so awful. quit crying about it and find a solution that works for you.

i love my 15" powerbook. and most everyone else does too.

tekmoe
 
"take it back and buy a powermac if it's so awful. quit crying about it and find a solution that works for you.

i love my 15" powerbook. and most everyone else does too.

tekmoe"



I am sure that there is some testosterone induced arrogance, not to mention cult-like mac worship here, but anybody could opbjectively tell you that for the price, the screen is really a major downside, the resolution is really a "last generation" type of resolution for a 15" widescreen.

Maybe if objectively, we (as a mac community) looked at these issues and communicated with apple (i.e. demanded better), then maybe we would get even BETTER products. I mean, come on, look at the specs of the screen. Just look at them... UGH.. Again, thank goodness the rest of the package is good enough. Barely good enough (no G5), but still it is good enough.
 
dude. seriously. it really sounds like you are not happy. go get you a powermac g5. it will solve your problems.
 
What you're ignoring is that while the PowerBook screens don't have the world's best resolutions, the overall quality of the displays is very high. That means taking into account contrast ratios, brightness, response time...as far as I know, Apple uses high-end Samsung LCDs in their PowerBooks.

A friend of mine has a Dell laptop with a 1600x1200 resolution (or something close to that) and he marvelled at my Powerbook's monitor despite its by-some-standards paltry 1280x854 rez because it *looks so damn good*.
 
sbb155 said:
Maybe if objectively, we (as a mac community) looked at these issues and communicated with apple (i.e. demanded better), then maybe we would get even BETTER products. I mean, come on, look at the specs of the screen. Just look at them... UGH.. Again, thank goodness the rest of the package is good enough. Barely good enough (no G5), but still it is good enough.
Click to expand...

if the pb had a higher res it would mean smaller pixels. i wouldn't buy a pb with smaller pixels. so, please apple leave the res like it is until you have a resolution independent GUI.

as for brightness and quality i'm happy. i wouldn't know any notebook for less than $2500 with a better screen. but of course i haven't seen them all.

so i'm not sure that you are representative for the whole mac community on this one.....
 
I think each display could be kicked up another notch (15" at 1440x...) that wouldn't make things too small. I do wish they were brighter also, all of these PCs with x-brite or whatever they call it are pissing me off. It may reflect more but damn it looks good.
 
sbb155 said:
I am sure that there is some testosterone induced arrogance, not to mention cult-like mac worship here, but anybody could opbjectively tell you that for the price, the screen is really a major downside, the resolution is really a "last generation" type of resolution for a 15" widescreen.

Maybe if objectively, we (as a mac community) looked at these issues and communicated with apple (i.e. demanded better), then maybe we would get even BETTER products. I mean, come on, look at the specs of the screen. Just look at them... UGH.. Again, thank goodness the rest of the package is good enough. Barely good enough (no G5), but still it is good enough.
Click to expand...

i can't really comment on the 15" PB screen since i don't own one but just in general interest, why did you buy a PB when the screen is so terrible and the rest is only 'barely good enough'?

why not go with a windows notebook?
 
this to me is kind of an interesting topic because i'm primarily a laptop user, i prefer them. But this issue of PC's have better offerings kinda gets to me. In reality i don't see a G5 Laptop this year, and to be honest its ok with me, i'd rather it be done right. but what bothers me, is that i know apple can put out a better powerbook than they have now, g5 aside. thats kinda the issue here.

i'm kinda in the market right now, i'm using a 12 ibook, but i want to get a powerbook, and scrap the ibook, although logically i should just go desktop, and keep the ibook thil the powerbook gets where it needs to be. The problem is..... who knows when that will happen.
 
mashinhead said:
this to me is kind of an interesting topic because i'm primarily a laptop user, i prefer them. But this issue of PC's have better offerings kinda gets to me. In reality i don't see a G5 Laptop this year, and to be honest its ok with me, i'd rather it be done right. but what bothers me, is that i know apple can put out a better powerbook than they have now, g5 aside. thats kinda the issue here.

i'm kinda in the market right now, i'm using a 12 ibook, but i want to get a powerbook, and scrap the ibook, although logically i should just go desktop, and keep the ibook thil the powerbook gets where it needs to be. The problem is..... who knows when that will happen.
Click to expand...

I agree... I also prefer laptops, but geez, sometimes I wonder... if you look at the number of industry changes though, you can sometimes see if an update could occur. I think there are a lot of great pieces for a significant Powerbook update in the next 6-8 months.
 
I've had my share of laptops and have worked with dozens more and I have to admit, Apple has the nicest LCD in the 15" Powerbook (see sig for specs) compared to any of the other laptops I've used. Ever.

Yes, then even includes your sacred X-Brite (I know that's improper notation, but whatever) screens.

I can certainly appreciate the higher resolution on the PC side of things, but let's face it -- you're falling victim to the classic "Mac vs PC" debate all over again. You simply can not compare a Mac to a PC in any direct manner. They're completely different systems that stem from completely different paradigms. Any direct technical comparison, especially on something like LCD resolution, is simultaneously arrogant and ignorant.

And no, I'm not a Mac fanboy. I was Windows-only until the 1GHz 12" Powerbook was released and I've been a Powerbook user since. I have a PC development workstation here at the house I use PCs at work. I would definitely consider myself to be unbiased as far as OS packages are concerned.

I think my biggest appreciation for the Powerbook screen is largely due to the fact that it *does* have a lower resolution. It's high enough for me to work with two documents side-by-side in good scale but is "low-res" enough that I can sit several feet from the screen and still read it comfortably.

The same appeal applies to my new Dell 2005FPW LCD, which has a relatively proprotionate resolution to the Powerbook:

D'oh. I'm not rambling and have competely forgotten my point. Time to submit, then.
 
sheesh, someone was disappointed and they get their head bit off! come on folks! now a higher res would be okay with Tiger, because of the resolution independent interface. as far as with Panther, i think not. If you want a higher res screen, which i think we are in line to see this year (year of HD) then dont worry about it, because when it comes time to sell your current PB and upgrade, you will get plenty of cash back. Im glad to see you were honest in your post, and chose not to use a one-sided argument. regards.
 
Just my two cents,

The screen is exactly why I didn't buy the PB and am in the process of opting for an iMac, once my PC sells and maybe I'll wait for the update. I have a WXGA screen on my PC now and it is amazing...the PB's seemed dull and lacked life to me. And I'm going to buy an iBook for my portable needs (I don't care about the screen on the road) rathern than buying an external display.
 
mariahlullaby said:
Just my two cents,

The screen is exactly why I didn't buy the PB and am in the process of opting for an iMac
Click to expand...

You're comparing a laptop to a desktop? Umm, there's no alternative to the PowerBook, unless you step down to the iBooks. Nothing on the PC side offers anything close to the elegance, style and power of the PBs. The screen is alright, it could be improved a little, but otherwise Apple makes the best laptops in the world.
 
I'm comparing the PB to my laptop.

I have a PC laptop with a GREAT screen but I want to make la switch, so I'm getting a desktop (iMac) because of the excellent screen. The PB just doesn't compare to PC laptop screens.
 
dferrara said:
I agree... I also prefer laptops, but geez, sometimes I wonder... if you look at the number of industry changes though, you can sometimes see if an update could occur. I think there are a lot of great pieces for a significant Powerbook update in the next 6-8 months.
Click to expand...

Yeah i think there will be another update this year, but not a G5. My moneys on MWSF 06 for that. The issue is if i get one now (a PB), do i sell it on the next revision. I kinda want something i can have for a couple years without upgrading it. Its not there now





cyanide said:
now a higher res would be okay with Tiger, because of the resolution independent interface. as far as with Panther, i think not.
Click to expand...


True, but if Tigers coming out in 4 mos., the PB will probably be in the same place. And if apple knows where they're going they should design their line to go there too, i think at least....whats the point of digressive technologies in a progessive company and industry.
 
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