2011 MacBook Pro screens inferior

[MrRobotto]

Sorry for the sensational title, but it's a fact.

I just got my new 15" MacBook Pro, with high-res antiglare screen, and it looks like crap. The screen is dull overall, with a warm yellowish tint. Hell it reminds me of the CCFL displays Apple used to use before LED came along. I compared it to my 17" 2010 MBP (antiglare) for reference, and the difference is night and day. The 17 has crisp whites, clean greys, and punchy colours.

It seems the problem is fairly widespread too, with some rumblings on the Apple forums. My guess is there are a lot of machines out there with the problem, but those who aren't doing colour-critical work may not notice. If you've owned a 2010 model though, you'll notice for sure as it a big step down in brightness and clarity. It's baffling because apparently the new MacBook Pros are using exactly the same LCD panels as last gen.

I'm really hoping my replacement doesn't have the same problem, if so I don't have many options

Has anyone else experienced the same issue with the new models?

 

[darkeartg]

Good luck on the next one, mine for one looks brilliant. My friend and I was doing homework and he commented on how my screen was so much nicer than his top of the line gaming acer.

 

[daneoni]

17" screens are always superior to 15" ones. Also you must not have owned a Late 08/Early 09 MBP because those were what you call inferior/crap screens. The current screens (same as the one used in the last rev) are the best screens to ship on the MBPs for a while. The only screen better is the MacBook Air's.

 

[washburn]

Give it sometime, when I got my 13" MPB 2011 (SB) out of the box I thought the colors were washed out and cold then after a day or two it began to look awesome, its perfect now the colors are warm and saturated...

 

[SPEEDwithJJ]

I cannot comment on the quality of the 2011 MBP screens. However, having played around with a few 2011 MBP demo sets, I cannot help but noticed that the new screens seemed to be dimmer than the previous 2010 MBP screens. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me?

 

[iZero]

I cannot comment on the quality of the 2011 MBP screens. However, having played around with a few 2011 MBP demo sets, I cannot help but noticed that the new screens seemed to be dimmer than the previous 2010 MBP screens. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me?

They might be playing tricks on you Or it may have been the setting you/they were in. The 2011 and 2010 use the same screen. I don't have an AG display on my 2011, so I can't comment on that for the OP, but my glossy is gorgeous as the 2010 glossy I had, just as deep and beautiful. I am sure the AG's are just as good as before too, but perhaps the OP got hold of a lemon, or something needs adjusted. But as always, with investments this large, if you're unhappy with it for ANY reason, take it in or return it That's one reason Apple has that system in place

 

[Waragainstsleep]

I'm perfectly happy with the glossy display on my late 08 MBP too. Nothing wrong with it at all. Though I notice it does flicker a little when it auto-dims. Do the newer ones do that?

 

[iZero]

I'm perfectly happy with the glossy display on my late 08 MBP too. Nothing wrong with it at all. Though I notice it does flicker a little when it auto-dims. Do the newer ones do that?

Can't say that I've ever seen mine flicker

 

[mrwonkers]

They might be playing tricks on you Or it may have been the setting you/they were in. The 2011 and 2010 use the same screen. I don't have an AG display on my 2011, so I can't comment on that for the OP, but my glossy is gorgeous as the 2010 glossy I had, just as deep and beautiful. I am sure the AG's are just as good as before too, but perhaps the OP got hold of a lemon, or something needs adjusted. But as always, with investments this large, if you're unhappy with it for ANY reason, take it in or return it That's one reason Apple has that system in place

I owned a 2010 MacBook Pro and now a 2011 MacBook Pro, though they may use the same panels the 2011 version is definately nowhere near as bright as the 2010. I suspect that to accomodate the extra power used by the processors in the 2011 models they have made some sacrifices elsewhere. It was the first thing I noticed when working with my 2011 model. Now people can say blah thats a load of crap, but the reality of the situation is there is a distinct difference in brightness when comparing the two revisions of MBP. My 2010 I would run typically at half brightness my 2011 I run at 3/4 brightness. Having said that all though, I love the 2011 version it is a speed demon.

 

[adrian1480]

My AG is just fine, brah. There will always be duds. Just return and ****. It's not like a simple exchange would be difficult.

 

[iZero]

I owned a 2010 MacBook Pro and now a 2011 MacBook Pro, though they may use the same panels the 2011 version is definately nowhere near as bright as the 2010. I suspect that to accomodate the extra power used by the processors in the 2011 models they have made some sacrifices elsewhere. It was the first thing I noticed when working with my 2011 model. Now people can say blah thats a load of crap, but the reality of the situation is there is a distinct difference in brightness when comparing the two revisions of MBP. My 2010 I would run typically at half brightness my 2011 I run at 3/4 brightness. Having said that all though, I love the 2011 version it is a speed demon.

Won't say that's a load of crap, if that's the case for yours, that's the case Might want to get that one checked then :/ Side by side right now, my 2010 (passed down to our daughter) and my 2011 at max brightness are 100% the same...

Edit: And checking as I go down the scale, until the last two lowest marks, they are 100% the same, on the last two, the 2011 is a bit dimmer, so I guess in a sense that's true for mine too, but I never use the lowest two marks, so it's irrelevant for me personally

 

[finchwizard]

Won't say that's a load of crap, if that's the case for yours, that's the case Might want to get that one checked then :/ Side by side right now, my 2010 and 2011 at max brightness are 100% the same...

Love my AG screen. Absolutely beautiful.

As soon as I pulled it out of the box the person who had just bought a 13" the day before went "Ooooo, that's nice"

 

[mrwonkers]

Won't say that's a load of crap, if that's the case for yours, that's the case Might want to get that one checked then :/ Side by side right now, my 2010 (passed down to our daughter) and my 2011 at max brightness are 100% the same...

Edit: And checking as I go down the scale, until the last two lowest marks, they are 100% the same, on the last two, the 2011 is a bit dimmer, so I guess in a sense that's true for mine too, but I never use the lowest two marks, so it's irrelevant for me personally

I went through I 2011 glossy standard res 15", 1 2011 High Res Glossy 15" and finally 1 2011 High Res Antiglare 15", they were all from different production batches and all exhibited less brightness than any 2010 versions I have owned or used for work. It fairly irelevant for me also in that both 2010 and 2011 MBP's have more than enough brightness to get the job done - I do photographic and video work primarily. But there is a definate difference in brightness between 2010 and 2011 models, anybody who tells you any different is likely an egomaniacal fanboy tool...

 

[iZero]

I went through I 2011 glossy standard res 15", 1 2011 High Res Glossy 15" and finally 1 2011 High Res Antiglare 15", they were all from different production batches and all exhibited less brightness than any 2010 versions I have owned or used for work. It fairly irelevant for me also in that both 2010 and 2011 MBP's have more than enough brightness to get the job done - I do photographic and video work primarily. But there is a definate difference in brightness between 2010 and 2011 models, anybody who tells you any different is likely an egomaniacal fanboy tool...

Nice shot at me and the others not experiencing that 'Preciate it kiddo. Will post some photos shortly then

 

[mrwonkers]

Nice shot at me and the others not experiencing that 'Preciate it kiddo. Will post some photos shortly then

Not meant to be a "shot" at anyone just stating what I have encountered, the comment about "tools" only pertains to those who deep down thats what they are..... The screens are not inferior in any way as the op's title suggests they are just not as bright, not much of a price to pay considering the performance that these 2011 MBP's are capable of. Finally a semi desktop replacement that weighs only 2.5 kgs......drools like fanboy tool

 

[iZero]

Not meant to be a "shot" at anyone just stating what I have encountered, the comment about "tools" only pertains to those who deep down thats what they are..... The screens are not inferior in any way as the op's title suggests they are just not as bright, not much of a price to pay considering the performance that these 2011 MBP's are capable of. Finally a semi desktop replacement that weighs only 2.5 kgs......drools like fanboy tool

Sorry I took it the wrong way Apologies, honestly, for both that and my kiddo remark

For what it's worth, here's my old (now my daughters, shame to hand it down to a teen, it's now filthy with crumbs all over it, and bogged down with insane amounts of stuff she's put on it ) 2010 with my 2011, both at full brightness and for comparison, with the same wallpapers. 2011 is on the right, even made a pic of the Thunderbolt port and old port on hers, for anyone that might think I'm trying to fool anybody (would love to have the brightness scale showing on screen too if I could get it to stay long enough to snap a shot of it! )

 

[icbreeze]

I think you got a dud one dude

I just got my AG and is beautiful!! In fact it makes my ol' 12" powerbook look like a yellow light.

 

[kfscoll]

I love the HR AG screen on my new 15" MBP -- I think it looks better, both color and contrast-wise, than the LED-backlit screen on my standard-res glossy '09 MBP. But, to be honest, both screens look great. I think it's possible you got a dud.

 

[VTMac]

I went through I 2011 glossy standard res 15", 1 2011 High Res Glossy 15" and finally 1 2011 High Res Antiglare 15", they were all from different production batches and all exhibited less brightness than any 2010 versions I have owned or used for work. It fairly irelevant for me also in that both 2010 and 2011 MBP's have more than enough brightness to get the job done - I do photographic and video work primarily. But there is a definate difference in brightness between 2010 and 2011 models, anybody who tells you any different is likely an egomaniacal fanboy tool...

Hmmm. The Anand review indicated they were identical in all there tests. Including brightness.

Not sure what's going on. I can say just looking at them in the store I thought they were not as bright as my 2009 MBP.

But Anand is usually money, so I'm not sure what to believe at this point.

 

[eagle63]

@iZero
Your side-by-side comparison pictures of the 2 screens look identical to me... What am I missing?

 

[iZero]

@iZero
Your side-by-side comparison pictures of the 2 screens look identical to me... What am I missing?

Nothing... That's exactly my point, that the 2010 and 2011 (at least in my case...) are identical when compared side by side. No loss of brightness, quality, depth, or anything else in the slightest. May not be everyone's experience, but they are indeed identical as far as I can tell and show. Since I happen to have both the 2010 and 2011 version of the 17 inch MBP (both maxed at the time of their orders) I just wanted to show for anyone wondering, that there's no noticeable difference in brightness or quality, so I don't know what's supposed to be inferior about the 2011.

Edit: At least with the glossy displays. Obviously not having both a 2010 and 2011 AG display I can't speak to that, they may well be different.

 

[mrwonkers]

@iZero
Your side-by-side comparison pictures of the 2 screens look identical to me... What am I missing?

Your missing the fact that the screens I was discussing were 15" and not 17" models iZero has pictured.

 

[adztaylor]

Well coming from my extremely inferior late '08 MacBook Aluminium screen I absolutely love the 13" i5 screen. The colours are amazing.

 

[dime21]

The iPad2 and iPhone4 also suffered from this, and apparently it isn't a defect at all - it's simply a bonding agent in the layers of the LCD panel that gives everything the dull yellowish tint. After a few days of normal use, the bonding agent cures or evaporates (or whatever it does) and the dull yellow tint is completely gone.

Give it a few days of display-on usage and report back.

 

[iZero]

Your missing the fact that the screens I was discussing were 15" and not 17" models iZero has pictured.

And I missed that too. *Slaps head* Sorry Just was thinking it was being said the discrepancy in quality existed on all. Misunderstood

Random thought partly related: I'm noticing that the 17" is immune apparently, to virtually every complaint made about the 13" and 15" models... Do they do something particularly different on the 17"?