It's the screen. But, in saying that, it's generally a problem with all of Apple's new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. My early 2009 15" has the exact same problem, there's also several threads about it here.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Color accuracy/saturation way off on new 13" MBP
- Thread starter klover
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's the screen. But, in saying that, it's generally a problem with all of Apple's new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. My early 2009 15" has the exact same problem, there's also several threads about it here.
I have the VERY late 2008 Unibody 15" MacBook Pro, and the leaves are some kind of neon, like a tennis ball. However, my screen was fine for all other applications and various tortures I put it through, but the picture still is messed up. I have played all of the major PC games out there, and run TONS of Photoshop files on my computer, but none of them have ever shown me an odd problem.
Here's something that could be of interest. I opened the DigitalColor Meter application that comes with OS X and noticed each letter in the link I tested has multiple shades of blue. I wonder if the larger color gamut we have is allowing us to see these shades that other-wise went unnoticed. Since the font is so small it all blurs together and no longer looks pure blue.
Some examples:
Center of the text is all blue
The selection near the edges has some red which will give blue a purple tint since red and blue makes purple.
Does anyone with an external monitor or an older Mac see the same if you try using the DigitalColor Meter? If you choose to try please use google news for consistency.
On a side note, this is still blue on my screen
Grabbed from an internet search...
Some examples:
Center of the text is all blue
The selection near the edges has some red which will give blue a purple tint since red and blue makes purple.
Does anyone with an external monitor or an older Mac see the same if you try using the DigitalColor Meter? If you choose to try please use google news for consistency.
On a side note, this is still blue on my screen
Grabbed from an internet search...
Well the free option would be to carefully do SuperCal profiles until you get them right. I suppose if you were careful and a little bit lucky you could get them pretty close.
The real way to do it is to buy a colorimeter. Entry level models are about $70 i think. This is the only way to really get them to match closely without a lot of hassle and time. But, if you don't need to get them to match exactly, there is no real reason for you to spend the money. Just calibrate using SuperCal and be done with it. If you're never comparing things to real life then you'll never really notice that your screens color is accurate. I bought one because I do digital photography and occasionally print things out. I wanted to make sure what I did on the screen would match what I got back from the printer. And it does. One could argue I saved money by not getting back prints that were badly colored and didn't match what I expected, and thus saved myself from having to re-order the prints.
You could try to BS around with downloading others' profiles, and hoping that they happen to match up but this is really wild guessing and you'd be better served to just calibrate on your own using Supercal.
Unless there's something I am not aware of, the colorimeter option is the only real way to do it. Welcome to the world of color management.
Ruahrc
Here's something that could be of interest. I opened the DigitalColor Meter application that comes with OS X and noticed each letter in the link I tested has multiple shades of blue. I wonder if the larger color gamut we have is allowing us to see these shades that other-wise went unnoticed. Since the font is so small it all blurs together and no longer looks pure blue.
Some examples:
Center of the text is all blue
The selection near the edges has some red which will give blue a purple tint since red and blue makes purple.
Does anyone with an external monitor or an older Mac see the same if you try using the DigitalColor Meter? If you choose to try please use google news for consistency.
On a side note, this is still blue on my screen
Grabbed from an internet search...
This sounds about right. Having a high color gamut lets you see more of the spectrum of color that is displayed. I have a 9C9E 13" and the BSOD looks blue to me, and I also have the "purple when scrolling" text on the web. I think it is more of a refresh rate problem than anything.
Here's something that could be of interest. I opened the DigitalColor Meter application that comes with OS X and noticed each letter in the link I tested has multiple shades of blue. I wonder if the larger color gamut we have is allowing us to see these shades that other-wise went unnoticed. Since the font is so small it all blurs together and no longer looks pure blue.
Some examples:
Center of the text is all blue
The selection near the edges has some red which will give blue a purple tint since red and blue makes purple.
Does anyone with an external monitor or an older Mac see the same if you try using the DigitalColor Meter? If you choose to try please use google news for consistency.
On a side note, this is still blue on my screen
Grabbed from an internet search...
The blues in your pictures look really, really heavy to me.
spaceboots06,
By really heavy do you mean they show up blue with no color cast or that it appears very saturated?
After some rest and more testing I feel my screen is fine. With better backlighting and newer panel everything stands out more. That said, I'm probably just noticing things I haven't before. This is a good thing!
By really heavy do you mean they show up blue with no color cast or that it appears very saturated?
After some rest and more testing I feel my screen is fine. With better backlighting and newer panel everything stands out more. That said, I'm probably just noticing things I haven't before. This is a good thing!
spaceboots06,
By really heavy do you mean they show up blue with no color cast or that it appears very saturated?
After some rest and more testing I feel my screen is fine. With better backlighting and newer panel everything stands out more. That said, I'm probably just noticing things I haven't before. This is a good thing!
Sounds good. At last we can now put this to rest. I love my new MBP 13" screen and I love the MBP overall. I can finally watch movies HD or SD without thinking my screen could be a lot better.
And with the looming SATA issue, the colour accuracy issue is one issue we'd love to put to rest.
spaceboots06,
By really heavy do you mean they show up blue with no color cast or that it appears very saturated?
After some rest and more testing I feel my screen is fine. With better backlighting and newer panel everything stands out more. That said, I'm probably just noticing things I haven't before. This is a good thing!
Yes, I myself am starting to like the colors a little more. Just a little more though. The wallpapers look nice...
I have a 9C9E which has problems displaying blue- all items which are supposed to be blue have a purplish tint. Anyway, I have called the Apple Online Store, and they have agreed to replace my unit. I hope the next unit won't have the same problems.
On a side note, I dropped by one of the resellers today. Although they did not have the new MacBook Pros on display, all their Macs there could display blue correctly. Heres a sampling of the units which I surveyed.
9C85 MacBook Pro Unibody Gen 1 (2.4 Ghz/ 2 GB DDR3/ 250 GB)
9C96 iMac 24 inch (real beautiful screen)
9C89 MacBook Unibody (2.0 Ghz, 2 GB DDR3) <- I prefer the screen on this to my new MBP 13 as even this screen can display blue accurately.
On a side note, I dropped by one of the resellers today. Although they did not have the new MacBook Pros on display, all their Macs there could display blue correctly. Heres a sampling of the units which I surveyed.
9C85 MacBook Pro Unibody Gen 1 (2.4 Ghz/ 2 GB DDR3/ 250 GB)
9C96 iMac 24 inch (real beautiful screen)
9C89 MacBook Unibody (2.0 Ghz, 2 GB DDR3) <- I prefer the screen on this to my new MBP 13 as even this screen can display blue accurately.
Ah, more cheap screen/panel issues with the pricey MacBooks...
It is getting rather re-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-tetive!
Came here to see if... correction, what the issues were with the new MacBooks. SATA, battery not keeping up and the biggest peeve of them all, screen lottery, again. Guess I won't bother with one this time around, I guess.
Too bad, like(d) OS X but the hardware, uh-uh.
It is getting rather re-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-tetive!
Came here to see if... correction, what the issues were with the new MacBooks. SATA, battery not keeping up and the biggest peeve of them all, screen lottery, again. Guess I won't bother with one this time around, I guess.
Too bad, like(d) OS X but the hardware, uh-uh.
Ah, more cheap screen/panel issues with the pricey MacBooks...
It is getting rather re-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-tetive!
Came here to see if... correction, what the issues were with the new MacBooks. SATA, battery not keeping up and the biggest peeve of them all, screen lottery, again. Guess I won't bother with one this time around, I guess.
Too bad, like(d) OS X but the hardware, uh-uh.
very helpful, jackass.
Ah, more cheap screen/panel issues with the pricey MacBooks...
It is getting rather re-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-tetive!
Came here to see if... correction, what the issues were with the new MacBooks. SATA, battery not keeping up and the biggest peeve of them all, screen lottery, again. Guess I won't bother with one this time around, I guess.
Too bad, like(d) OS X but the hardware, uh-uh.
Go look at the screens before you decide. All the new screens are amazing, and there is no lottery. A very tiny percentage of people are having trouble with their screens, and most are happy after simply re-calibrating them.
The SATA issue might be a deal breaker for some, but the screen surely isnt.
I have the 9C9E screen and have decided to return it to the Apple store. Last night I was comparing my 13"MBP to my Black MB and realized the yellows in my MBP were kind of neon-ish almost greenish. I used Colombia's flag as a reference. Being a big Spoon Honda fan, I compared various pictures of the yellow Spoon Integra on both laptops and the black macbook displayed that rich, almost orangey yellow that Spoon paints the cars with. The mbp looked like a pale , greenish yellow to me.
Later on I'm heading to the Apple store and I'm going to check all the macbook pros. If mine is the only one with this issue I'm exchanging it.
Is there anyone here who does not have this color issue? Can you post your panel id?
Later on I'm heading to the Apple store and I'm going to check all the macbook pros. If mine is the only one with this issue I'm exchanging it.
Is there anyone here who does not have this color issue? Can you post your panel id?
And that was equally helpful?
Seriously though people, he has a right to his opinion, if he doesn't like these macbooks he's allowed to voice it. But as far as the screen lottery goes, there are always some errors in manufacturing, it's just not perfect. Either way, I can't wait to get my 13" MBP, it will be a lot better than my iBook g4!!!
I'm a photographer, so used to staring at nice & calibrated screens, and just got a uMBP 13" yesterday ... and after calibration, it's really rather good. The calibration isn't perfect - the graph shows that it's never going to show greys properly, but looking at recent shots that i know well, it's surprisingly good (surprising because of the graph from the calibration software (i1)) ... I just thought it would be good to post incase someone was thinking that the screens weren't all that good.
cheers