Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Samsung vs. Toshiba vs. LG

ZBoater

ZBoater

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 2, 2007
8,498
1,325
Sunny Florida
My wife and I bought two MBAs at the same time. Interestingly I had to exchange mine, end we ended up with

One MBA with a LG panel and a Samsung SSD (mine).

One MBA with a Samsung panel and a Toshiba SSD (hers).

Here are the Xbench scores for the SSDs:

Hers.

herlcd.png


herssd.png


Mine.

mylcd.png


myssd.png


Now, these are my first Macs, but I have been in the PC business for 25 years. Tech support, networking, etc. So its not like I am a complete noob. I have been working non-stop on both these machines SIDE by SIDE, literally less than 24 inches from one another, for two days straight. I've loaded BootCamp, Windows 7, Office for Mac, etc. etc. etc. On both of them. And I can tell you right now THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. None that a mere mortal can detect. This whole business of the SSD speed and screen quality is soooooo subjective.

I can understand some people perceive differences while looking at one, what they recall about seeing another the day before or a month ago, and it seems nicer/better/sharper. If anyone can share an objective method of comparing the two screens, I'd be happy to run the tests. As for the SSDs, yes, Xbench SAYS that the Toshiba is slower, and I don't doubt that it is, but if you can't tell the difference, what's the point?

FWIW. YMMV. :cool:
 
Oh but then what will all the anal-retents on here have to dwell on then?
"oh my backlight keyboard on 4 dots isn't as bright as the one in the store, it must be an LG keyboard, not Samsung." "Must return this one as everyone says the other is better................" Come here to learn about upgrades, new products, apps, etc. Then leave or all you will do is start to doubt every part in your beautiful new device and start the ocd stream of returning it 15 times when in reality there is nothing wrong with it. Can't wait for the premier
of Hoarders - MacRumors edition. ;)
 
You should take pictures of the screens to compare them side by side. That way we might be able to finally kill this whole rumor about Samsung Display > LG Display.
 
Here's another one.

Side by side images of a Lion.

As I sit here an try to take these pictures I am just chuckling about how alike these two panels are, and if there are any differences, I am either blind or not OCD enough... :p

P.S. Maybe I switched them this time around. Maybe I didn't. On the first one you may notice the one on the right was not plugged into AC power... :D
 
They both look awesome. Both systems SCREAM they are soooo fast. Boot from power off is 15 seconds (less than 45 for Windows 7, and that is a minor miracle). Videos look great (haven't tried 1080p yet though). Will try VLC with my AVI collection to see how that fares.
 
While I don't care about the SSD I'm very interested in the supposed LG/Samsung panel difference.

I didn't like the screen on my 2010 MBA 13" (9CDF/LP133/LG), and back then the consensus on these forums was that it was the better one.
Still I thought the colors were kinda dull, and in semi dark situations it always felt either too dark or too bright, I could never get the luminosity right.
On top of that when looking at it correctly (from the center basically) the lower corners are already slightly getting dark from the poor angle of vision.
I never liked that screen and actually ended up using my bulky 13"MBP more because of that, with it's useless-dead-weight DVD drive, lower res, and slow+noisy HDD...
Not that I need a perfect screen or anything, but the screen of my MBA was just not comfortable to my eyes.

Now I bought a 2011 MBA (selling the the 2010 in a few days) and to my disappointment I got the same screen... Gah...
So if the Samsung screen happens to be better I might return my MBA hoping to get one... Still got 10 days to make up my mind.
I'll try going to the Apple store again this week to check if they have some Samsung LCD equipped MBAs on display.
 
It's so obvious that there is a difference between the two :rolleyes: you just stink at being OCD

the pixel shading is off by a teeny tiny bit :cool:

Haha just kidding, there is barely any difference from what I can see and I doubt the slightly coloring difference can't be fixed with a little adjustment. At least this put all the weird arguments about washout screens and such into the trash. Now I don't have to twiddle my dumbs wondering what kind of screen I'm getting. Or........................ Maybe you got a bad samsung or a good LG screen :eek:
 
ZBoater said:
My wife and I bought two MBAs at the same time. Interestingly I had to exchange mine, end we ended up with

One MBA with a LG panel and a Samsung SSD (mine).

One MBA with a Samsung panel and a Toshiba SSD (hers).

Here are the Xbench scores for the SSDs:

Hers.

Image

Image

Mine.

Image

Image

Now, these are my first Macs, but I have been in the PC business for 25 years. Tech support, networking, etc. So its not like I am a complete noob. I have been working non-stop on both these machines SIDE by SIDE, literally less than 24 inches from one another, for two days straight. I've loaded BootCamp, Windows 7, Office for Mac, etc. etc. etc. On both of them. And I can tell you right now THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. None that a mere mortal can detect. This whole business of the SSD speed and screen quality is soooooo subjective.

I can understand some people perceive differences while looking at one, what they recall about seeing another the day before or a month ago, and it seems nicer/better/sharper. If anyone can share an objective method of comparing the two screens, I'd be happy to run the tests. As for the SSDs, yes, Xbench SAYS that the Toshiba is slower, and I don't doubt that it is, but if you can't tell the difference, what's the point?

FWIW. YMMV. :cool:
Click to expand...

Make this a Sticky! ;)
 
Thanks for the post. Nothing like a little objective analysis to kill this OCD nit picking.
 
OK tell us which is which.

I think the one on the right looks slightly warmer and the letters look more crisp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back