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15" MBP 2016 Screen Uniformity (White Point)

S

SpecG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2014
10
4
Is anyone noticing a slight variation in screen tint on their 2016 15" MBPs?

I am noticing a slightly bluer white on the left quarter and right third of the screen. It appears to go from a bluer white to a warmer white peaking just left of center (where there are hints of yellow) then back to a cooler white. It does appear less pronounced at differing viewing angles, but the left quarter is definitely the coolest section of my screen, and second from left quarter the warmest.

It's something I could live with, but now I've noticed it it's bothering me. For example, if you go to Google News homepage full screen, the images and the first few words of the headline appear to have a bluer background, with a much warmer white section in the second quarter of the screen. Reading text full screen takes me through 3 different white points.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive to it, I returned a previous generation pro because the screen uniformity was really bad. This is nowhere near as extreme but definitely noticeable to me and I'm thinking I'll return this one or at least review Apple Store floor models for screen uniformity. Curious if anyone is seeing anything similar? I tried taking a photo but it didn't really convey the white point differences I'm seeing in person. Thanks all.

For what it's worth, screen manufacturer is 610, model is A030 with a manufacture date code of D21FB300.
 
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Hi SpecG,

I've noticed this too. I'm wondering if this is normal for this panel. The bottom third on mine appears more dusty looking, as in the white gradiates more toward a reddish brown. It’s subtle but noticeable. I’m not sure the average person would notice? Or care?
[doublepost=1479763313][/doublepost]I take that back. On full brightness it's more pink to the bottom.
 
Mine seems overall quite uniform in tint. Maybe some brightness non-uniformity, but that's really difficult to perfect. I'd say overall it's much better than I had anticipated.

To be fair here, it's very hard to make a completely uniform display. My 27" PA-series NEC monitor isn't close to uniform in brightness or color and NEC specifically has an advanced feature built-in to compensate for this non-uniformity. It does a very good job, but even after calibration the display is not perfect.

If it bugs you enough I'd say try for an exchange, but finding a flawless display is a very difficult task no matter how good the manufacturer is.
 
I just returned a 15" 2016 MBP for an uneven screen this morning. It was blue on approx 1/3 of the right hand side. I used it for 5 days to see if it would change or I would get used to it but that didn't happen. I compared it to my 2012 rMBP this morning and the older model has a much more even screen so I made the decision to try another one. Of course no one in the store could see it and it was hard even for me to see it under the bright store lights, but they agreed to an exchange. I was told they were all like this and I wouldn't get a perfect screen. The new one is not perfect and is slightly bluish on the about 1/4 of the screen on the left, but overall better. I think most likely I will keep this one. Just setting it up now.
 
bevsb2 said:
Of course no one in the store could see it and it was hard even for me to see it under the bright store lights, but they agreed to an exchange.
Click to expand...

That's typical of store lighting, which are often brighter than typical working conditions. Highly reflective displays are even more susceptible to this.
 
That would be a problem for me. I use my system for photography and need to be able to have an accurate white point throughout the display.
 
There's also a weird greenish blue off angle color too

IMG_0096.JPG

IMG_0097.JPG
 
Looks like it's warm to cool from left to right, the off angle tint is probably on all of them to a degree, you get that on iPhones and iPads too, more noticeable the bigger the screen.
 
I posted in another thread, but all the display models I saw had some significant unevenness. Apple Store lighting is weird, so who know what is't really like.

I had the screen replaced on my 2015 15" for uneven backlighting... just another reason to hang out to it as long as I can!
 
jerryk said:
That would be a problem for me. I use my system for photography and need to be able to have an accurate white point throughout the display.
Click to expand...

Apple has used different white points for different displays throughout the years. For the most part you're best off using a decent profiling device and profiling with white point set to native, unless you absolutely need to match a particular workflow. We are however at a point where you can usually get close enough with a somewhat generic display like this. That certainly wasn't the case a decade ago.

DHagan4755 said:
There's also a weird greenish blue off angle color too
Click to expand...

Part of that could be differences in white point color temperature. Displays have varied a bit in this regard between generations.
 
DHagan4755 said:
There's also a weird greenish blue off angle color too

View attachment 673951

View attachment 673950
Click to expand...

That's a pretty bad white point warm to cool gradient in my opinion. Your difference in white point in similar to mine, though mine goes from blue-white-blue instead of white-blue. If I'm reading a site such as reddit where the text is on the far left of the screen, text actually has a smudged ink look to it. Anything in the center is ok as that's where the 'good' section of my screen is, even though that has hints of yellow (especially noticeable if I've been reading more on the cooler side of my screen).

Looks like your previous generation is very uniform. I had a 2010 with the hi-res matte screen and it was perfect. My 12 inch MacBook is perfect. Understand that no screen is 100% but I'm finding this distracting, and difficult to accept on a $3k machine. I lowered my white point to 6k and it helped a little (you might want to try that), but there is still a visible gradient. I think this one is going back.
 
SpecG said:
Understand that no screen is 100% but I'm finding this distracting, and difficult to accept on a $3k machine. I lowered my white point to 6k and it helped a little (you might want to try that), but there is still a visible gradient. I think this one is going back.
Click to expand...

I think you should try another one. I found the screen on my first 15" very distracting, but while the replacement isn't perfect with a cool (slightly bluish) tint on the left going to white on the rest of the screen, I am using it with no problem. I find it really hard to evaluate any of the screens at the store as they are all at the brightest setting and under bright lights so don't know if there are any really great screens for this model. At least there is no yellow on my screen - that I can't live with. :)
 
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Purchased yesterday(base model 15" w/ TB) 11/21/2016 in the store. This morning I noticed on a webpage with a white background that the left half of my screen was slightly warmer/pinkish.

I went to the Genius Bar today and had it confirmed by two employees and they gave me an exchange. Now I'm sitting here with the new MBP, looking at a white page I think I can see the same issue but less noticeable.

Not sure what to do next, might just return for a full refund.
 
every dam apple screen has the horrible problem un even brightness and colour I'm sick of it, if my £3000 new Mac has it I'm gonna go mad
 
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The screen to me would be one of the more compelling reasons to move up to a 2016, if its not up to your standards, i'd definitely return it. ANY 2016 is a pretty penny, custom or not, 13" or 15" but especially the 15"

you get into the deep end of pricing quick
 
It would be interesting to know if anyone with the 13-inch model has this issue too? I'm assuming yes but I haven't had the opportunity to check one out.
[doublepost=1479869845][/doublepost]Maybe I'm fortunate, but I have NOT seen this issue with my iPhones over the years. Granted, it's a much smaller screen! I deal with a LOT of iPads & I have not seen this issue on them either. I don't think I've seen it on the MacBook Air or new MacBook either come to think of it. This seems to be a persistent issue that MacBook Pros have had over the years going all the way back to 2006. And it's annoying as hell.
 
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DHagan4755 said:
It would be interesting to know if anyone with the 13-inch model has this issue too? I'm assuming yes but I haven't had the opportunity to check one out.
[doublepost=1479869845][/doublepost]Maybe I'm fortunate, but I have NOT seen this issue with my iPhones over the years. Granted, it's a much smaller screen! I deal with a LOT of iPads & I have not seen this issue on them either. I don't think I've seen it on the MacBook Air or new MacBook either come to think of it. This seems to be a persistent issue that MacBook Pros have had over the years going all the way back to 2006. And it's annoying as hell.
Click to expand...
I think it's really just luck of the draw. I went through 3 iPhone 6S before I found a somewhat good screen. My iPad Air 2 had a terrible screen that I chose to live with until I sold it. My iPad Pro 9.7" was quite good, kept the first one, and now my 15" MBP has a near flawless screen. At least I lucked out on the most expensive item.
 
I have a 13" nTB and if I was massively picky it is slightly darker/pink on one side but not enough to exchange, it's always a lottery and some see the uneven display and some seem to be able to filter it out or not notice.

I bet some could look at another's 'perfect screen' and think it's bad, people's perception can be different.

It is annoying as hell though!
 
In all the Retina display devices I've had, I've never had or seen a perfectly uniform display in both backlight and tint. Each one always displayed a 'characteristic'. In my experience that was either yellow stains, blue to white/yellow colour shifts, dark patches or pink to green colour shifts (this is a slightly warped polariser in the screen apparently). There is no perfect screen out there. If you're unlucky enough to be able to see these characteristics, its about finding a screen that you can live with.

Take my 15" TB MBP for example. The screen is uniformly lit (yay!) and has no Pink>Green or Blue>Yellow colour shifts (yay!). The native White Point is much warmer than my 2014 13" rMBP but I have addressed that in System Preferences by making the screen temperature a little cooler.

What I have noticed is the tint of the screen changes at different vertical viewing angles. With the screen facing you head on, the top & bottom of the screen is slightly browner/duller than the middle of the screen. If I tilt the screen towards me the top of the screen is brighter and whiter and the bottom is browner and duller. If I tilt the screen back, the bottom is brighter and whiter but the top is browner and duller. This is in line with one of the comments made earlier in the thread by DHagan4755 about the bottom 3rd of the screen being 'dusty'. That sounds suspiciously like what I'm seeing too.

You can easily see the tint change when scrolling this thread up and down and following a block of text with your eyes. I have no basis for comparison as I've never had a Retina display as large as the 15" before so I'm chalking it down to yet another 'characteristic'.

I've played the display lottery before and as the rest of my laptop is A1 perfect, I'm not going to put myself through that again. Its stressful and futile as there is no perfect display. You could end up with something much worse and be stuck with it. Convincing Genius' in store isn't always easy as these display issues are rarely visible in an Apple Store.

Here's my 2014 13" rMBP compared to my 15"

gSt9cZU.jpg


I think the photo shows the white point differences. On the 15" the top and bottom posts are slightly browner/duller that the post in the middle.
 
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Farsider said:
In all the Retina display devices I've had, I've never had or seen a perfectly uniform display in both backlight and tint. Each one always displayed a 'characteristic'. In my experience that was either yellow stains, blue to white/yellow colour shifts, dark patches or pink to green colour shifts (this is a slightly warped polariser in the screen apparently). There is no perfect screen out there. If you're unlucky enough to be able to see these characteristics, its about finding a screen that you can live with.

Take my 15" TB MBP for example. The screen is uniformly lit (yay!) and has no Pink>Green or Blue>Yellow colour shifts (yay!). The native White Point is much warmer than my 2014 13" rMBP but I have addressed that in System Preferences by making the screen temperature a little cooler.

What I have noticed is the tint of the screen changes at different vertical viewing angles. With the screen facing you head on, the top & bottom of the screen is slightly browner/duller than the middle of the screen. If I tilt the screen towards me the top of the screen is brighter and whiter and the bottom is browner and duller. If I tilt the screen back, the bottom is brighter and whiter but the top is browner and duller. This is in line with one of the comments made earlier in the thread by DHagan4755 about the bottom 3rd of the screen being 'dusty'. That sounds suspiciously like what I'm seeing too.

You can easily see the tint change when scrolling this thread up and down and following a block of text with your eyes. I have no basis for comparison as I've never had a Retina display as large as the 15" before so I'm chalking it down to yet another 'characteristic'.

I've played the display lottery before and as the rest of my laptop is A1 perfect, I'm not going to put myself through that again. Its stressful and futile as there is no perfect display. You could end up with something much worse and be stuck with it. Convincing Genius' in store isn't always easy as these display issues are rarely visible in an Apple Store.

Here's my 2014 13" rMBP compared to my 15"

gSt9cZU.jpg


I think the photo shows the white point differences. On the 15" the top and bottom posts are slightly browner/duller that the post in the middle.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, it's a total lottery. My first 15" w/ TB had a very bad pinkish tint on the left and 2 people at the Apple Store agreed instantly. I was able to get that exchanged.

The replacement is significantly better but now that I'm actively looking for it, I can see a slight warmer tint on the left again.

At this point I'm going to stick it out for another week(I have 13 days left to return) to see if I can get used to it, if not I'm going back to my 15" MBPr(mid-2015) - which has a perfect screen.
 
Philosophical question, would you guys prefer a non-uniform tint with no temporary IR,

or a uniform screen with temporary IR?
 
nwsugoi said:
At this point I'm going to stick it out for another week(I have 13 days left to return) to see if I can get used to it, if not I'm going back to my 15" MBPr(mid-2015) - which has a perfect screen.
Click to expand...

You should fall under the extended return period for the holidays. I think you have until January to return
 
Update: I just picked up my 3rd 15" MBP w/ TB from the Apple Store. I explained the situation to them(this was my 2nd time there in two days for the same problem so they knew what was going on) and they were totally cool with another exchange. This time they let me open it in store to check the screen.

So 2 out of 3 had the screen issue. Maybe my store has bad stock, not sure. I told them to contact me if they need more details about the issue.
 
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