The strange thing is that I don't get the impression that Apple is using particularly cheap displays. If you go to each manufacturer's site, these are not the low-end displays. So perhaps it's the LCD manufacturers we have to blame for not producing better quality displays? Sony seems to be able to produce really nice LCDs, but I've also seen some that are terrible with bad light-bleeding and uneven backlight so it varies there too.
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Attention new MBP owners: Please perform this Yellow tint test
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The strange thing is that I don't get the impression that Apple is using particularly cheap displays. If you go to each manufacturer's site, these are not the low-end displays. So perhaps it's the LCD manufacturers we have to blame for not producing better quality displays? Sony seems to be able to produce really nice LCDs, but I've also seen some that are terrible with bad light-bleeding and uneven backlight so it varies there too.
The panels themselves are not to blame. But with the exception of the high-res 17" they are old designs, and over a year is too long to keep using them in the tech world. Combine that with Apple's decision to make the screen as thin as possible and a lack of assembly prowess and you have a recipe for problems.
Just did the test on my 9c81. I don't see any yellowing at all. Beautiful machine.
same for me except i own a 9c83
After receiving my first BTO MacBook Pro from Apple with a dead hard drive, and a replacement unit with a poor 9C80 AUO panel, I threw in the towel and asked for a refund.
Dealing with Apple customer care during the entire process was ok, but their turn around time and red tape left something to be desired. Since it seems the likelihood of receiving a machine that is up to par seems pretty low, I decided to abort the BTO route and order through Amazon.
Well, the new MBP just arrived, and it has a 9C81 screen that looks worse than AUO I just sent back to Apple. *Sigh* I'm having Amazon send out a replacement unit, so hopefully the 4th time's a charm.
Yes, I'm a perfectionist, yet I've been able to come to terms with the fact that nothing is in fact perfect, especially Apple products. More so, just degrees of satisfactory and ok. Yet I have to say, the screens on the 15" MacBook Pros leave a lot to be desired. It seems there's about a 10% chance of getting a nice one.
Dealing with Apple customer care during the entire process was ok, but their turn around time and red tape left something to be desired. Since it seems the likelihood of receiving a machine that is up to par seems pretty low, I decided to abort the BTO route and order through Amazon.
Well, the new MBP just arrived, and it has a 9C81 screen that looks worse than AUO I just sent back to Apple. *Sigh* I'm having Amazon send out a replacement unit, so hopefully the 4th time's a charm.
Yes, I'm a perfectionist, yet I've been able to come to terms with the fact that nothing is in fact perfect, especially Apple products. More so, just degrees of satisfactory and ok. Yet I have to say, the screens on the 15" MacBook Pros leave a lot to be desired. It seems there's about a 10% chance of getting a nice one.
I hear you. I've had two 9c81 and they really were not great - they both had that weird light and darkish line across the bottom, one had a weird very large dark area that could be seen when watching DVDs, one had significant light bleeding in the middle on top that stretched all the way to the bottom of the LCD. Above all, they both had a yellowish tint even when calibrated. There were also shadowy areas at the bottom on one of them.
The latest I got now is an AUO 9c80 and it's quite good actually: no bleeding, crisp whites, slightly better viewing angles with very very little yellowing when viewed from the side compared to the LGs, no strange strips of light at the bottom etc. Still, being a perfectionist too, there are two issues with the display: the lower 1/3 is very slightly dimmer than the upper part and there is a slight shadowy area on the bottom left. Having said that, this is definitely the best display of the three so I think I'm going to keep it rather than continue playing the exchange game. I could end up with a Chimei or badly yellowing samsung....or both if I continue swapping.
I have to stop swapping and just accept that Apple is not capable right now- for whatever reason - of putting first rate displays in their laptops. There's nothing any of us can do to change that right now. If you got a display that is acceptable I'd recommend keeping it. At least if you need to get a 15" machine.
That is really interesting... my AU Optotronics Display is really bad from my point of view. Total yellowish screen (cannot be corrected by calibrating the screen, tried for more than one hour...) and any gradient is really bad.
Could you check how the shadows of any MacOSX window look like when you have a straight white background? Would be interested to hear...
Could you check how the shadows of any MacOSX window look like when you have a straight white background? Would be interested to hear...
I had a chance to compare with my LG before I sent it back and the shadows were about the same. Apple has increased the size and darkness of the shadows in leopard and, to me, it looks pretty ugly. But they look pretty much the same as they did on the LG.
Yellowing is definitely better than the LG. I used to be annoyed all the time with the LG's inability to show whites unless I calibrated to 9300k in which case the lower part became yellow, the upper part was crisp white, but the overall color of the display was much too cool. The AUO display's only problem is that it's slightly darker in the lower 1/3 or 1/5, but I *think* I can live with that for now. I'm not happy about it, but I really don't think Apple has *any* really perfect displays now. I've owned and looked and many - both at the apple store and those belonging to friends - and none of them are perfect or what you'd expect given the price point. I don't know if it's the design that is messing up the displays or if the LCDs themselves are just poor, but this is the reality of the situation now.
Thanks for the info!
I will send back the machine with the AU Opto Display and keep the Chi Mei Display.. it is just better.. red is red with the Chi Mei, with the AU Display it is more a bright orange than a red!
Well, Apple wants to send me ANOTHER replacement, I am just not sure if I wanna do all these checking again :/
I will send back the machine with the AU Opto Display and keep the Chi Mei Display.. it is just better.. red is red with the Chi Mei, with the AU Display it is more a bright orange than a red!
Well, Apple wants to send me ANOTHER replacement, I am just not sure if I wanna do all these checking again :/
Some of you guys are overreacting. That display looks fine. And a huge majority of posters in this thread: at least your display doesn't look as bad as this:
I'd kill for your display
Some of you guys are overreacting. That display looks fine. And a huge majority of posters in this thread: at least your display doesn't look as bad as this:
[snip]
I'd kill for your display
I should take my pictures down, they just don't do justice to what it display actually looked like while sitting right in front of me. Mine was not nearly as bad as yours, but from off angles, especially top down, the inconsistent backlighting was horrendous. I feel for you though, yours looks terrible.
Why don't you take some pics from it off angle? I'd like to see.
Also the funny thing with my display is that once it warms up (CCFL) it looks fairly even and that dark blotch almost goes away.
I already returned my MBP to Apple. Hopefully they'll refund my CC early next week.
I've been using my AUO 9c80 for a few days now and these are my follow-up thoughts:
- illumination distribution is not bad, but the lower 1/4 or so is slightly dimmer than upper 3/4. This is not an issue under office app work, internet, email etc, but when editing photos, colors look different depending on where they are on the display. hardly ideal, but as we know real editing should be done on a more consisten display anyway. Not happy about it, but what can I do without spending more time with replacements and more bad displays?
- Viewing angles are a little better on this than on my previous two LG 9c81s, both vertically and horizontally
- the LG showed yellow very quickly when viewed from the side. It wasn't a big deal to me since I usually sit in front of the display, but the AUO is much better in this regard. It doesn't really turn yellow and is more like the old LCD technology in how it responds according to viewing angle.
- There is some shadowing at the bottom, but not enough to consistently annoy me (that means not bad at all since I'm sensitive)
- Light bleeding is excellent and minimal. Very slight bleed on top and bottom, but nothing compared to the LG displays I had. Very good actually.
So if I had to rate this display from 1-10, I'd give it a 7 1/2, compared to the LG which I'd have to give a 5 because, as much as I initially thought it was a good display, it suffered from a yellowish tint, yellowish bottom when calibrated properly, severe light bleed on top and a long strip of light at the bottom, and relatively poor viewing angles that were very yellow and unappealing. The AUO, for all its faults, is a much more consistent and pleasant display to work with.
- illumination distribution is not bad, but the lower 1/4 or so is slightly dimmer than upper 3/4. This is not an issue under office app work, internet, email etc, but when editing photos, colors look different depending on where they are on the display. hardly ideal, but as we know real editing should be done on a more consisten display anyway. Not happy about it, but what can I do without spending more time with replacements and more bad displays?
- Viewing angles are a little better on this than on my previous two LG 9c81s, both vertically and horizontally
- the LG showed yellow very quickly when viewed from the side. It wasn't a big deal to me since I usually sit in front of the display, but the AUO is much better in this regard. It doesn't really turn yellow and is more like the old LCD technology in how it responds according to viewing angle.
- There is some shadowing at the bottom, but not enough to consistently annoy me (that means not bad at all since I'm sensitive)
- Light bleeding is excellent and minimal. Very slight bleed on top and bottom, but nothing compared to the LG displays I had. Very good actually.
So if I had to rate this display from 1-10, I'd give it a 7 1/2, compared to the LG which I'd have to give a 5 because, as much as I initially thought it was a good display, it suffered from a yellowish tint, yellowish bottom when calibrated properly, severe light bleed on top and a long strip of light at the bottom, and relatively poor viewing angles that were very yellow and unappealing. The AUO, for all its faults, is a much more consistent and pleasant display to work with.
Some of you guys are overreacting. That display looks fine. And a huge majority of posters in this thread: at least your display doesn't look as bad as this:
[snip]
I'd kill for your display
Are you still within warranty? This is a horrendous display - looks like an LG with that signature bright strip along the bottom. Which model is it? You should really get apple to replace it if you can.
Not fixed. New MBP still yellow.
No. It's not fixed.
I just bought it last week (penryn 2.4), It has the Samsung display panel (9C83). This test pattern clearly shows the bottom of the screen is a bit yellower that the top.
Rich
No. It's not fixed.
I just bought it last week (penryn 2.4), It has the Samsung display panel (9C83). This test pattern clearly shows the bottom of the screen is a bit yellower that the top.
Rich
Here are some pictures of the good viewing angles (for a notebook anyway) of the AUO display - and barely any yellowing from the side either, compared to the LG displays I had which turned yellowish very quickly as you moved to the sides. There's just a little bit of color distortion, but it's perfectly usable for basic stuff. Forgive the poor quality pictures, my DSLR battery is dead so I used the iphone camera.
Attachments
I think most of them have the yellowing from the side, and quite a few have the lower 1/4 yellowing. This AUO is the first one I've seen that doesn't become very yellow at all and also has good viewing angles. The display is a B154PW04 V6 AUO which I think means that it's the 6th revision since there is also a V1 etc. The DDC data reports that it was manufactured week 40 of 2007 which would be in September last year. The other LGs were manufactured in january of 2007, so maybe this means that the technology is maturing and improving. I certainly hope so.
I don't think I've seen an example of the AUO display, but compared to the LG and Samsung displays I've seen in the 15", the new 17" hi-res LCD (at least the LG version) seems to have no yellowing and very little color shift off axis compared to the 15" displays. I really want the 15" size (I've had both the 15" and 17" over the years) but I thinking I may to have settle for the 17" this round. I'm very disappointed in the 15" displays I've seen so far, but the 17" hi-res LED has been very impressive.
No yellowing, but the lower 1/4 or so is slightly dimmer than the upper 3/4. Hope you get a good one this time! It's crazy to have to go through so many.
Just returned my 2 week old 2.4 MBP with 9C81 screen. It had a bright spot on the screen lower left about the size of a quarter. It was an area that was whiter And brighter than the surrounding screen. Genius Bar looked at it and exchanged it immediately. I was lucky and got another 9C81. Screen looks fine. No yellow.