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japanime

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 27, 2006
2,916
4,844
Japan
I recently purchased two MBAs for my company. One is a 2011 11-inch, the other a 2012 11-inch.

They are running side-by-side in our office, and are connected via HDMI to identical Mitsubishi external monitors.

The monitor connected to the 2011 model looks great — the contrast, colors and everything seem perfect.

The monitor connected to the 2012 model looks terrible — washed out colors, brightness and contrast levels that seem "flat." Also, sometimes when awaking from sleep, the external screen is completely blown out — practically white (even though the desktop "picture" that we use is a solid dark gray color).

At first, I figured it was the external monitors (or perhaps the HDMI cables). So, I swapped monitors and cables between the two MBAs.

Same result.

Has anyone here noticed the same thing between the video output of a 2011 model vs the 2012? Or do I have a bad 2012 on my hands?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 

Skoopman

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2011
318
2
Is this an issue just with HDMI output? I haven't noticed anything on the 2012 11" using a mini display port to DVI adaptor.

No problems here either, it seems to be a HDMI issue. The thing is, HDMI was not developed for monitor use, but for media content.
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
No problems here either, it seems to be a HDMI issue. The thing is, HDMI was not developed for monitor use, but for media content.

Displayport was really the standard developed for use as a computer display, but obviously HDMI has a lot of popularity at the lower end of desktop displays. I was somewhat surprised when it appeared on the rMBP. Apple doesn't typically offer redundant port types.
 
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