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Text display - Macbook Pro 15" Post-WWDC

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RobrtC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
6
0
Has anyone experienced unclear, not sharp text, on a new MBP unibody? It feels like the text display is just 'not right'. My display is 9CA3. It uses the 9600m card.

I used a 17" MBP with 1920x1200 resolution for 2 years, daily, with no complaints.

After working for 1 day on the laptop my left eye is painful and both eyes are much more tired than normal.

On the other hand, images and movies are clear and the colors are very impressive. But, how good is it to watch a movie when the eyes are too tired?

I'm thinking to go back to the Apple store. Thoughts?
 
K

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
Probably because you are used to having such a high resolution display (high PPI count) where as the 15" MBP is nowhere near that.

Plus, OS X renders fonts more softly..
 
F

Ferris23

macrumors 68020
Sep 24, 2007
2,231
0
Yup. maybe a text setting. I just exchanged the 13.3 new MBP for the previous 15" MBP with 9600.

On the 13.3 with the new screen the text was fuzzy...kind of off, maybe a little blurry.

Instantly when I booted up the previous 15" the text was razor sharp. Possibly a setting in preferences, I was going to look into it when I had the 13, until I decided to return it.
 
R

RobrtC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
6
0
Kilamite said:
Plus, OS X renders fonts more softly..
Click to expand...

True, I am aware of this, as I used the 17" MBP for 2 years, and like the soft fonts. And it's not like it is clearly unclear - just a little noticeable - but I have a feeling my eyes are working harder to read the text.
 
K

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
RobrtC said:
True, I am aware of this, as I used the 17" MBP for 2 years, and like the soft fonts. And it's not like it is clearly unclear - just a little noticeable - but I have a feeling my eyes are working harder to read the text.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. it's the huge difference in the PPI (Pixels Per Inch).
 
R

RobrtC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
6
0
Also, I noticed that today I am working in a darker room and not next to a window, using Medium Alias as my font preference - and I notice my eyes do feel better.

Overall I do think the new uMBP is a little better than the 17" MBP it replaces. If I get the text display sharp then I'll be very happy.

I just hope that I don't need to work in a cave for my eyes to feel good...
 
J

Jottle

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2003
402
5
RobrtC said:
Also, I noticed that today I am working in a darker room and not next to a window, using Medium Alias as my font preference - and I notice my eyes do feel better.

Overall I do think the new uMBP is a little better than the 17" MBP it replaces. If I get the text display sharp then I'll be very happy.

I just hope that I don't need to work in a cave for my eyes to feel good...
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. For some reason my new unibody 15'' seems to have blurrier text, and I'm actually coming from an October 2008 15'' unibody as well! Perhaps the increased saturation of the blacks on the new screen renders more pixels visible around the edges and makes it blurrier. For me it can't be the resolution difference because both my 15'' unibody's had the same resolution. It's probably fine, but it does seem to be blurrier. Perhaps a calibration would help :) Wait for people to put out good calibration profiles for the 9CA3 screens.
 
J

Jottle

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2003
402
5
RobrtC said:
Has anyone experienced unclear, not sharp text, on a new MBP unibody? It feels like the text display is just 'not right'. My display is 9CA3. It uses the 9600m card.

I used a 17" MBP with 1920x1200 resolution for 2 years, daily, with no complaints.

After working for 1 day on the laptop my left eye is painful and both eyes are much more tired than normal.

On the other hand, images and movies are clear and the colors are very impressive. But, how good is it to watch a movie when the eyes are too tired?

I'm thinking to go back to the Apple store. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

did you look at the other macbook pro's on display? If they are sharper than yours with the same screen, then perhaps we both have bad displays? It's unlikely that this is a software issue, as there's not sharpness setting in Mac OS outside of turning off font smoothing (which looks god awful).
 
R

RobrtC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
6
0
I called AppleCare today and they suggested I calibrate my display. It feels that the text is a little better since then, although still not that crisp on black text. Maybe I haven't ever experience black text POPPING on a white screen and this is what it looks like?

I'm trying it out for another day and we'll see....
 
J

Jottle

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2003
402
5
I went into the apple store today to look at the other 15'' mbp's on display. Honestly, in all that fluorescent lighting, it's hard to tell how blurry other ones are. They all seemed to look like mine (9CA3 screen). The text just looks blurry regardless of the text smoothing settings. I think this is normal since they all seemed the same. However, here at home with no light sources around me, my macbook pro still looks blurrier. i'm probably crazy like most people on this forum :). But to end this once and for all, I'm going to the apple store with my mbp on Tuesday. If it looks just like the others, I'll settle and say that it's just the nature of the resolution of the screen. It does sort of hurt my eeys though.
 
R

RobrtC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
6
0
It's all about the reflection / glare.

The first day I sat next to a window, and about 3 meters behind me another window - basically a wall of windows. Eye strain was there and my left eye was hurting at end of day.

Next day - worked in a cave where had some light coming in at a 90 degree angle - nothing behind me. Eye strain - next to none.

Also, I calibrated the screen using the default calibrate setting. Text seemed to sharpen up a bit. Still lacking the crisp quality I came to expect in my MBP 17 matte. But, it's workable.

Thoughts - location, location, location. I'm nervous though - since I work as a consultant and move around to different customers - will they think I'm weird if I decline the desk next to the window?
 
J

Jottle

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2003
402
5
RobrtC said:
It's all about the reflection / glare.

The first day I sat next to a window, and about 3 meters behind me another window - basically a wall of windows. Eye strain was there and my left eye was hurting at end of day.

Next day - worked in a cave where had some light coming in at a 90 degree angle - nothing behind me. Eye strain - next to none.

Also, I calibrated the screen using the default calibrate setting. Text seemed to sharpen up a bit. Still lacking the crisp quality I came to expect in my MBP 17 matte. But, it's workable.

Thoughts - location, location, location. I'm nervous though - since I work as a consultant and move around to different customers - will they think I'm weird if I decline the desk next to the window?
Click to expand...

I'm coming from a previous generation unibody 15'', so glare is not the issue for me. You'll never get the sharpness you got from your 17'', this is true. I imagine that for me it's all in my head. 1440x900 is just not that sharp. I can get used to it, but then again, I also need glasses ;)
 
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