Un-smooth color gradient in macbook pro display

[teazen]

I'm a new mac user, and had used the macbook pro 2.4G with LED backlight for one more month. I find the color gradient is not smooth in secondary primary color to primary color. Please check the upload PNG files. In those patterns you will find many vertical lines. Those will make you see some images with contour or noise by Macbook Pro. I have double check many other PC notebooks. They don't have this issue. It is hard to believe the high-end notebook has such kind of color performance. The color performance is too poor to use the "Pro" title. I feel so disappointed to spend a huge amount of money on the Macbook pro( Poor?).

[MarcBook]

Hi, I have the exact same model as you and it does have the gradient issue. I think when I ran Windows on this laptop it didn't have such bad colour transition, so I've got a feeling it may be a problem in the Mac OS graphics driver and its dithering process. I may be wrong, though.

My previous MacBook Pro (Core Duo early model with matte LCD) doesn't have the problem. It appears to be only these LED-lit Santa Rosa models.

The bottom-line is that built-in laptop displays aren't very good with colour depth. If you want accurate and high-quality colour (24-bit), use a pro-standard external LCD, like the Apple Cinema Displays.

I did think that the MacBook 'Pro' should have a better screen, however.

[creator2456]

They appear fairly smooth on my 2.16 Rev A CD 17' MBP. There is only one spot in each image where the gradient 'jumps', but that is expected from a notebook screen.

[sukanas]

im currently on a 400 dollar dell laptop w/ ati integrated graphics and its pretty smooth......

im guessing its the graphics driver like the previuos poster mentioned?

[MarcBook]

I've got a feeling that the colour profile (the standard one called 'Color LCD') isn't good for the particular display I have. It's a glossy Samsung, if that makes any difference.

I'm now using the sRGB colour profile (which is best for photo and colour work anyway in most cases) and the gradient issue appears to be gone. I have the Aurora default Leopard desktop wallpaper currently and I see no colour banding. It was awful before.

Oh, and interestingly, I had to select the sRGB profile and then change the desktop again to the Aurora before the picture changed. I think when you change profile it's best to restart Mac OS because everything will start up configured with the newly selected profile (wallpaper, Preview, Safari etc.).

Once you get used to the new profile it should all be good. At first it may seem a little pale and blue (for sRGB anyway), but that's because you're used to the standard profile, which is actually far too washed out and yellow-tinted. With a better profile like the widely accepted sRGB format, you're seeing much more realistic colours.

I hope this helps!

[MowingDevil]

Originally Posted by MarcBook

Hi, I have the exact same model as you and it does have the gradient issue.

Do all the latest MBPs have this issue?

[spring]

Originally Posted by MowingDevil

Do all the latest MBPs have this issue?

I have a MBP 2.2 with LED screen and I just checked it now with your attached pictures and I also notice the vertical lines.

[thespyglass]

Originally Posted by spring

I have a MBP 2.2 with LED screen and I just checked it now with your attached pictures and I also notice the vertical lines.

But the vertical lines are actually part of the attached pictures, because they're captured from screen, right? To check for gradient problems you'd have to open/create a gradient file, I think.

I'm only mentioning this because I'm a prospective MBP-owner who likes using Photoshop so I'm interested to see how common this issue is

[Firefly2002]

Originally Posted by thespyglass

But the vertical lines are actually part of the attached pictures, because they're captured from screen, right? To check for gradient problems you'd have to open/create a gradient file, I think.

I'm only mentioning this because I'm a prospective MBP-owner who likes using Photoshop so I'm interested to see how common this issue is

Of course they're not part of the attached pictures.

The screen captures are taken from the frame buffer, which has no problems, and presents the data as zeros and ones, quite unaffected by the (18-bit, poorly dithered) quality of the screen.

On a 19" CRT in millions of colors, I see not one single vertical line. At any viewing angle :P

It's an issue with the screen.... or more specifically, the dithering algorithm Apple chose. I don't believe the old PowerBooks used the same algorithm (they used a better one) and so this wouldn't be an issue for them.

These aren't true 24-bit color screens, they're 18-bit color (6-bit R G and B)

[creator2456]

Originally Posted by Firefly2002

Of course they're not part of the attached pictures.

<snip>

On a 19" CRT in millions of colors, I see not one single vertical line. At any viewing angle :P

<snip>

Just hooked up to my 17" Trinitron and it is as smooth as a babies bottom.

[thespyglass]

Originally Posted by Firefly2002

Of course they're not part of the attached pictures.

The screen captures are taken from the frame buffer, which has no problems, and presents the data as zeros and ones, quite unaffected by the (18-bit, poorly dithered) quality of the screen.

On a 19" CRT in millions of colors, I see not one single vertical line. At any viewing angle :P

Haha, okay, thank you! I was clearly being a bit slow! And wow, does my laptop ever need replacing then