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Macbook Air 2012 - LG vs Samsung LCD

H

hsmith26

macrumors newbie
Jul 6, 2012
3
0
Jobsian said:
Aaaaand I feel relieved again, thanks guys!

Good to hear 2 accounts of this as someone earlier in the thread said the opposite, ie that the LG is noticeably better than the AUO.

Just out of interest, if any of you (or anyone else) had the AUO panel, would you be pursuing an MBA with a Samsung instead as many here with the LG panels seem to be doing?
Click to expand...

I took a chance after asking one of the guys who was more knowledgeable at the Apple Store closest to me and asked him if he knew anything about the panels.

He took 5 11" Airs out of the packaging and 4 were LG and one was the AUO. Considering all of the display models were LG I took the chance hoping AUO wasn't worse than the LG panel.

Once I got it home under normal lighting I was very pleased and compared it to my sisters 13" AIr with a Samsung panel and in my opinion the colors are sharper as well as brighter and clearer on my AUO panel but it could just be subjective although it is MUCH better than the LG panel, at least with the standard LG profile.
 
M

macbook123

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2006
1,869
85
Went to the local Apple store today in part to see for myself if there are significant differences between the different panels, and was surprised to find that 10/10 Air's on display had LTH panels. Aren't most of the panels people here end up with LG's?

Anyway, I'm curious what the actual fraction of Samsung panels is (in part because I'm considering getting one myself), so started this poll:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1400411/

Hope that's OK. I'm not trying to compete with this thread here, just trying to get some stats going.
 
Z

zenfloater

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2012
25
9
Quite the difference

So, for the past 3 weeks or so I've been battling the LG vs Samsung display issues with Apple and have jumped through hoops in order to get what I paid for.

I guess my eyes are just calibrated to a Samsung display from my previous MBAs and I would not accept any less. When I ordered my MBA, (i5, 256, 8G) it's display seemed different, not as bright. After reading here about the differences, I contacted Apple, after which I had to speak with a multitude of people:

1. Applecare
2. Sales Specialist Team Member
3. Customer Service
4. Apple Store Genius Bar rep

Finally, I got the Sales rep to accept sending me a replacement which I hoped was a "good" one. I wasn't too sure about getting the right one so I used my wifes apple ID and order another MBA, same config with the Education discount (you can only have one order of an item with the Education discount on an apple ID).

I booted up the replacement and sped through the setup .... LG display. I kind of knew it from the moment I booted it up ... no go and my wife was pretty bummed about it for me.

Then the day after arrived the MBA I ordered using her account, I booted it up and immediately my wife said, this is a good one. The two MBAs were sitting right next to each other and you could see the difference in the brightness and sharpness. She was right and I finally hit the jackpot.

So, off the inital two MBAs go ... back to Apple for a return. Happy camper and glad I finally got this sorted out.

FYI .. not sure if it matters, the "good" MBA came from a factory addressed to someone in California .. and then to me.

The "bad" ones were shipped directly to me without a stop in CA.

Just an FYI ...
 
H

Haust

Cancelled
Sep 3, 2011
262
332
Returned my 13/8/256 MBA with the LG display today. The Apple store employee asked why. I explained the whole business with the varying quality of the displays. Another Apple employee, a manager, overhead my conversation and was very curious about this, so I obliged and did the Pink Lotus Flower experiment, as well as the text demonstration. Both of them were amazed at the difference between the displays. Both of them fully agreed with me that the Samsung display was superior in term of image quality and text quality.

Just ordered another MBA. If I don't get the Samsung display, it will go back as well, and I will be done with it.

----------
zenfloater said:
Education discount.
Click to expand...
So, are you saying that you got a Samsung display using the education discount? I'm curious, because I'm purchasing mine this way as well, and I wondered if Apple might be shipping the LG displays to get back the loss on the discount. That is, I wonder if the the cost of the LG display is less the Samsung. I wonder if one has a better chance to get the Samsung if they pay full price?

I'm giving it one more chance then I'm done.
 
M

macbook123

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2006
1,869
85
Haust said:
Returned my 13/8/256 MBA with the LG display today. The Apple store employee asked why. I explained the whole business with the varying quality of the displays. Another Apple employee, a manager, overhead my conversation and was very curious about this, so I obliged and did the Pink Lotus Flower experiment, as well as the text demonstration. Both of them were amazed at the difference between the displays. Both of them fully agreed with me that the Samsung display was superior in term of image quality and text quality.

Just ordered another MBA. If I don't get the Samsung display, it will go back as well, and I will be done with it
Click to expand...

Wow, pretty impressive story. I can't believe that Apple gets away with this without being called out by Anandtech or another tech site.
 
H

Haust

Cancelled
Sep 3, 2011
262
332
macbook123 said:
Wow, pretty impressive story. I can't believe that Apple gets away with this without being called out by Anandtech or another tech site.
Click to expand...
Indeed! I complimented them on their interest in my story. It was an open and shut case. Usually, it's difficult to discuss these kinds of problems with electronic store employees.

To me this whole issue is completely unacceptable. I can only hope that Apple gets back enough LG MBAs that they think more about the consistency of the product and not do this sort of thing anymore.
 
M

macbook123

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2006
1,869
85
Haust said:
Indeed! I complimented them on their interest in my story. It was an open and shut case. Usually, it's difficult to discuss these kinds of problems with electronic store employees.

To me this whole issue is completely unacceptable. I can only hope that Apple gets back enough LG MBAs that they think more about the consistency of the product and not do this sort of thing anymore.
Click to expand...

Does anybody know Anand's email address? Maybe they're not aware of this and somebody needs to let them know? There's no contact information on anandtech.com. I seem to recall they did test the two panels last year (maybe just for the 11"? I don't recall), and actually the LG came out ahead of the Samsung...
 
H

Haust

Cancelled
Sep 3, 2011
262
332
macbook123 said:
Does anybody know Anand's email address? Maybe they're not aware of this and somebody needs to let them know? There's no contact information on anandtech.com. I seem to recall they did test the two panels last year (maybe just for the 11"? I don't recall), and actually the LG came out ahead of the Samsung...
Click to expand...
Ahead in brightness, I would believe, but that's it. The sub par quality of the LG panel is very obvious when put side by side next to the Samsung. There is no doubt about it, thus this thread exists.
 
JonathanK81

JonathanK81

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2006
594
105
Just got my new 2012 MBA yesterday. Got real lucky! Samsung for both SSD and LCD. I was coming from an LG on my previous MBA. I turned on the new MBA, and immediately could tell a difference in brightness and "pop." I know that's not exactly a technical term, but it simply blew me away. I didn't even need to place both side by side to know which screen was better. (This is my first Samsung LCD on an MBA) I've gone through a few and always got LGs. Did get some Samsung SSDs, but never the LCD till yesterday.

FYI - There is about an 1/2 inch line or scratch on the top lid in the aluminum that is noticeable. I would normally not accept this on a $1500 laptop, BUT as soon as I saw the screen and SSD. I wasn't going to exchange it. Plus no dead pixels either.
 
Last edited:
M

macbook123

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2006
1,869
85
OK, Anandtech's got to test this. Again, I do think they did a test last year including contrast that made the LG look slightly better, but the confidence in this forum suggests that things look different this year. Does anybody know how to reach these guys?
 
M

Mac-86

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2012
7
0
I have both the 2011 Samsung panel and the 2012 LG panel 11" Macbook air.

Putting them side by side you can clearly tell the differences. It feels like it is 1080i on the LG and 1080p on the samsung.:mad:

But it doesn't bother me that much as I don't do a lot of photoshop.
 
Jobsian

Jobsian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
853
98
Ok I'm going to have to go against the current flow of the thread for my own anecdote.

I went to my local Apple store with my AUO panel and there were 2 LG display panels side by side and 2 Samsung panels on the other side of the table.

Now bear in mind that
A) I'm not a professional photographer/video editor and
B) I didn't see the LG and the Samsungs side by side

However, my own experience is that I genuinely could not discern any difference between the AUO and LG, AUO and Samsung. I tried text, I tried the Lotus Flower, I tried running movies paying attention to blacks/whites etc.

I did a lot of text comparisons as I was particularly concerned about the effect of staring at 'washed out' text (as I have to do for my studies). But there was no difference that I could point my finger at and I looked hard.

Conclusion: To my untrained eye I could tell no difference between AUO and LG/Samsung, none. Generalising that I imagine that for the average user (non-professional, eye not trained to panel calibration) this is a total non-issue. Just my $0.02.
 
A

aaron5566

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2012
253
90
Jonathan360 said:
Just got my new 2012 MBA yesterday. Got real lucky! Samsung for both SSD and LCD. I was coming from an LG on my previous MBA. I turned on the new MBA, and immediately could tell a difference in brightness and "pop." I know that's not exactly a technical term, but it simply blew me away. I didn't even need to place both side by side to know which screen was better. (This is my first Samsung LCD on an MBA) I've gone through a few and always got LGs. Did get some Samsung SSDs, but never the LCD till yesterday.

FYI - There is about an 1/2 inch line or scratch on the top lid in the aluminum that is noticeable. I would normally not accept this on a $1500 laptop, BUT as soon as I saw the screen and SSD. I wasn't going to exchange it. Plus no dead pixels either.
Click to expand...

What specs did u order? Did u upgrade the RAM? Is this a 11 or 13 inch model? If I were in ur position, I'll keep it too.
 
K

kodeman53

macrumors 65816
May 4, 2012
1,091
1
zenfloater said:
I guess my eyes are just calibrated to a Samsung display ...
Click to expand...
That's a new one. Thanks for the laugh.

zenfloater said:
FYI .. not sure if it matters, the "good" MBA came from a factory addressed to someone in California .. and then to me. The "bad" ones were shipped directly to me without a stop in CA.
Click to expand...
What, you think the "bad" panels are removed in CA and replaced with "good" panels on some MBAs? :rolleyes: I didn't think this thread could get any more bizarre but you did it. Congrats.
 
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theSeb

theSeb

macrumors 604
Aug 10, 2010
7,466
1,893
none
macbook123 said:
Wow, pretty impressive story. I can't believe that Apple gets away with this without being called out by Anandtech or another tech site.
Click to expand...

This was mentioned in Anandtech's 2011 MBA review and they will be publishing the 2012 MBA review soon.
 
Last edited:
JonathanK81

JonathanK81

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2006
594
105
aaron5566 said:
What specs did u order? Did u upgrade the RAM? Is this a 11 or 13 inch model? If I were in ur position, I'll keep it too.
Click to expand...

I ordered the high-end 13" MBA. Not the BTO, but the $1499 model with the 256GB SSD and 4GB of RAM.
 
mattopotamus

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
Jobsian said:
Ok I'm going to have to go against the current flow of the thread for my own anecdote.

I went to my local Apple store with my AUO panel and there were 2 LG display panels side by side and 2 Samsung panels on the other side of the table.

Now bear in mind that
A) I'm not a professional photographer/video editor and
B) I didn't see the LG and the Samsungs side by side

However, my own experience is that I genuinely could not discern any difference between the AUO and LG, AUO and Samsung. I tried text, I tried the Lotus Flower, I tried running movies paying attention to blacks/whites etc.

I did a lot of text comparisons as I was particularly concerned about the effect of staring at 'washed out' text (as I have to do for my studies). But there was no difference that I could point my finger at and I looked hard.

Conclusion: To my untrained eye I could tell no difference between AUO and LG/Samsung, none. Generalising that I imagine that for the average user (non-professional, eye not trained to panel calibration) this is a total non-issue. Just my $0.02.
Click to expand...

i honestly think the LG screens come calibrated different. I had one LG that was awful for reading text...got returned b.c of a bad battery. Fired up the new one and it looked much better....i was shocked to see it was still an LG. This is in an 11". I have a 13" with a samsung screen and the LG looks pretty similar. The older LG looked way worse.
 
M

MacBird

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2010
1,300
1,665
rovex said:
Someone got their new Air with the same samsung SSD's found in the Retina pro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMvaIytBXQ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I've yet to see anyone get 400 write speeds for the 2012 Air, makes me wonder whether this is to be the norm for BTO models from here on in.
Click to expand...

I have a Samsung 256 in my BTO 13'' 2012 MBA and if memory serves right, the read and write speeds were above 400 when I ran a test.

I'm quite impressed how fast this little laptop is, it boots in 12 seconds and has no trouble with my external 24'' monitor, either.
 
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