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Moshe1010

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2010
874
99
Well, I received my 256GB 8GB Air from B&H and it has a LG screen. Before I even checked if it was LG, I knew right away I'd be wanting a better screen. I'm pretty sure my two year old Air had a better display.

Decided I'd return it for a retina Pro. Only problem, which is entirely my fault for not reading the return policy first is that now I can't return it to B&H since "the packaging has been opened"

Probably just have to sell it first, instead of returning...

Did you get the i7 version?
 

bizack

macrumors 6502a
Apr 21, 2009
611
399
This thread is full of misinformation. First AU Optronics produces displays for Samsung and LG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AU_Optronics

They were the first manufacturer to mass produce TFT-LCD panels.

I have an AU Optronics display on my 2012 MacBook Air. It's ridiculously crisp.
 

asting

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2012
378
3
I opened my new 13" BTO i5/8gb/128gb air and it had a samsung screen and toshiba ssd. I'm pleased because reading this thread is something I wouldn't be able to unsee.

Even before checking i decided it looked decent and was here to stay regardless of brand.
 

Jobsian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
853
98
This thread is full of misinformation. First AU Optronics produces displays for Samsung and LG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AU_Optronics

They were the first manufacturer to mass produce TFT-LCD panels.

I have an AU Optronics display on my 2012 MacBook Air. It's ridiculously crisp.

Interesting news, another spanner in the works! Just a coupe of q's:
1) Bearing in mind there's a separate code for AUO screens, are there 3 distinct panels?
2) I see you say it's ridiculously crisp, but are Samsung panels then even more ridiculously crisp? I ask because of posts like this:


One of the 11" on display at my local apple store was the AUO, and it definitely looked the most washed out of all the models. I instantly could tell a huge difference.

Thanks!
 

theSeb

macrumors 604
Aug 10, 2010
7,466
1,893
none
Interesting news, another spanner in the works! Just a coupe of q's:
1) Bearing in mind there's a separate code for AUO screens, are there 3 distinct panels?
2) I see you say it's ridiculously crisp, but are Samsung panels then even more ridiculously crisp? I ask because of posts like this:




Thanks!

The only way we can tell for sure is get a bunch of these posters that claim to be able to see the difference and do a double blind test. I am fairly confident what the results will be.
 

NeonBible

macrumors member
Jun 26, 2012
87
1
I've had three different MacBook Air mid 2012 since it got available (two of them was D.O.A., and they both had the same problem: the keyboard). My brother also has a MacBook Air mid 2012. All my MacBook Air mid 2012 was the 13" with 128 SSD. So is my brother's. And completely all of the me and my brother's MacBook had Samsung-panel and Toshiba SSD. So I wonder if all the cheapest BTO 13" mid 2012 come with Samsung-panel and Toshiba-SSD?
 
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mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
This thread is full of misinformation. First AU Optronics produces displays for Samsung and LG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AU_Optronics

They were the first manufacturer to mass produce TFT-LCD panels.

I have an AU Optronics display on my 2012 MacBook Air. It's ridiculously crisp.

have you seen them side by side? it is a massive difference. I would go to the store with your AUO monitor and put it next to a samsung....you will feel foolish.
 

aaron5566

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2012
253
90
I've had three different MacBook Air mid 2012 since it got available (two of them was D.O.A., and they both had the same problem: the keyboard). My brother also has a MacBook Air mid 2012. All my MacBook Air mid 2012 was the 13" with 128 SSD. So is my brother's. And completely all of the me and my brother's MacBook had Samsung-panel and Toshiba SSD. So I wonder if all the cheapest BTO 13" mid 2012 come with Samsung-panel and Toshiba-SSD?

What specs did u and ur brother ordered? The base 13" with 8gb or RAM?
 

NeonBible

macrumors member
Jun 26, 2012
87
1
What specs did u and ur brother ordered? The base 13" with 8gb or RAM?
All my three mid 2012 MacBooks are 13" 128 SSD base, and so is my brother's. Me and my brother have also had four base Macbook Air 13", 128 SSD, and all of them have had Samsung-panel and Toshiba-SSD.
 

kodeman53

macrumors 65816
May 4, 2012
1,091
1
have you seen them side by side? it is a massive difference. I would go to the store with your AUO monitor and put it next to a samsung....you will feel foolish.

It's massive, i tell ya, MASSIVE, FOOL!

mr.-t-01.jpg
 

winterny

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2010
431
237
I just received my 11" MBA 128GB model. The screen is AU Optronics. My old MBA 11" was the 2010 model, with a Samsung screen.

I've calibrated both screens using a HueyPro, and the old Samsung has a much larger gamut, particularly in the greens, yellow's, and orange's.

That said, the old Samsung seems to have more obvious color banding than the new AU Optronics screen.

At this point I need to do some more sampling of photos to see how much the smaller gamut matters, but considering even the "larger" gamut on the Samsung screen is much smaller than even sRGB, it's pretty troubling that the gamut on the AU Optronics is even smaller!
 

winterny

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2010
431
237
After comparing both side-by-side after calibration, I've decided that both are about equally bad for critical photo work. They have slightly different problems, but saying one is better or worse than the other is fairly silly.

Fortunately, I use this machine mostly as a dumb terminal for Safari, Terminal.app, and Mail.app. Photo editing is generally done on another system with a much wider gamut.

Attached is the calibration profile for a 2012 MB Air 11" with AU Optronics screen if anyone would like it.
 

Attachments

  • 2012-mbair11-auoptronics-hueyPro.zip
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oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
Have just received my Mid-2012 Macbook Air 13", 2.0Ghz i7/8Gb RAM/256GBSSD

Looks like my display is a Samsung - output of the specified command says "LTH133BT01A03"

Also seem to have a Samsung SSD - System Information says: "APPLE SSD SM256E"

AFAIK this is a good thing, right?
 

Moshe1010

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2010
874
99
Have just received my Mid-2012 Macbook Air 13", 2.0Ghz i7/8Gb RAM/256GBSSD

Looks like my display is a Samsung - output of the specified command says "LTH133BT01A03"

Also seem to have a Samsung SSD - System Information says: "APPLE SSD SM256E"

AFAIK this is a good thing, right?

Where did you buy it?
 

Joedesi

macrumors newbie
Jun 16, 2012
17
0
Model no. on BTO 11/i5/8/128 B116XW05 V6

Believe this is an AUP panel. Looks good to me but this is my first Air. Will pop into the Apple store and compare with other screens.
 

Jobsian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
853
98
After comparing both side-by-side after calibration, I've decided that both are about equally bad for critical photo work. They have slightly different problems, but saying one is better or worse than the other is fairly silly.

Fortunately, I use this machine mostly as a dumb terminal for Safari, Terminal.app, and Mail.app. Photo editing is generally done on another system with a much wider gamut.

Attached is the calibration profile for a 2012 MB Air 11" with AU Optronics screen if anyone would like it.
Ahh, someone who sounds professional, good to hear. I'd like to ask what you think of claims people have made that they immediately notice a 'washed out' appearance? Any validity to it?

And thanks for the profile. In your first post you used terminology I'm not familiar with so I trust it's good!
 

winterny

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2010
431
237
Ahh, someone who sounds professional, good to hear. I'd like to ask what you think of claims people have made that they immediately notice a 'washed out' appearance? Any validity to it?

And thanks for the profile. In your first post you used terminology I'm not familiar with so I trust it's good!

Comparing my AU Optronics (2012) screen to the Samsung (2010) screen, the Samsung looks more "washed out", even though it has a higher gamut. The contrast seems to be a bit better on the AUO screen.

At this point, I'm assuming that some of the screens have better or worse contrast than others from all manufacturers, but the gamut is probably always best on Samsung. I probably got a "bad" samsung on my old macbook air, and a "good" AUO on the new one.

As far as I'm concerned, given the poor gamut on all MacBook Air's, the contrast is far more important for the types of usage typical for this machine (web browsing, email reading, etc). For critical photo editing, just forget about it.

If your screen looks washed out, and it bothers you, I'd suggest complaining at the Apple Store until they make it right... It shouldn't be hard to find an example of a screen with good contrast on display and put yours side by side.
 

iMojito

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2012
10
0
Model no. on BTO 11/i5/8/128 B116XW05 V6

Believe this is an AUP panel. Looks good to me but this is my first Air. Will pop into the Apple store and compare with other screens.

I ordered same config, received exact same panel
 

iMojito

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2012
10
0
Comparing my AU Optronics (2012) screen to the Samsung (2010) screen, the Samsung looks more "washed out", even though it has a higher gamut. The contrast seems to be a bit better on the AUO screen.

At this point, I'm assuming that some of the screens have better or worse contrast than others from all manufacturers, but the gamut is probably always best on Samsung. I probably got a "bad" samsung on my old macbook air, and a "good" AUO on the new one.

As far as I'm concerned, given the poor gamut on all MacBook Air's, the contrast is far more important for the types of usage typical for this machine (web browsing, email reading, etc). For critical photo editing, just forget about it.

If your screen looks washed out, and it bothers you, I'd suggest complaining at the Apple Store until they make it right... It shouldn't be hard to find an example of a screen with good contrast on display and put yours side by side.

Could you post your panel ID numbers? I tried your color profile and made my screen look yellowish.

I placed side by side my MBA 11 with AU Optronics panel with a 11,6" Sony Vaio TT with mate screen. Like the MBA warmer color feeling, but every other aspect feels better in the Sony.

Green gradients looks awful in the MBA, red is not as red as it should be, orange is not as orange as it should be, blue is not as blue as it should be, and so. Pics looks worse. Text looks worse. Both same resolution, the Vaio screen looks more defined. I was expecting colors "popped up" in my screen.

I noticed top and bottom bleed in MBA, the Vaio is right in my own eyes

I'm not a expert, but something is wrong with screens in MBAs. I'm returning mine.
 
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