Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Decrease in color depth; Intel HD v 330M (bug/feature?)

J

Jof

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 2, 2008
124
0
To me, it strongly appears there are less colors rendered through the Intel HD than the 330M. Like the difference between 16bit and 24bit.

Anyone else have this? If you haven't already noticed it, and yours is the same, this will annoy you. Sorry.

On the plus side, I don't need bitninja's widget to tell me which mode it's in now :p

[[[[CLARIFICATION: It's "like" the difference between 16 and 24bit. It's definitely NOT 16bit though... I'm just using that phrasing for dramatic effect; it's actually quite subtle. Maybe the difference between 24bit and 32bit. Who knows. It's lame though, whatever it is]]]]
 
Multi_Color_Gradient.Paint.NET.001.png


View that on Intel and if you see banding then yes, its 16 bit. If not, its all in your head.
 
Cali3350 said:
View that on Intel and if you see banding then yes, its 16 bit. If not, its all in your head.
Click to expand...

Absolutely 100% shows banding when using Intel HD only; as clear as day. Ha! How weird is that?
 
Oh, no. I don't have one yet but it's in the mail. Does this mean even things like web page graphics are going to look crappy on intel only?
 
Wow, if what you guys are saying is true, this is ridiculous!

No banding on my ACD or my MBP 5,1 display (running the 9600m GT; should try it with the 9400m). But I'm too lazy to log out. :p
 
What the f...

They better bring out an update for that really soon.
 
Here, this is a much better image. You should notice SIGNIFICANT quality difference between 32 and 16 bit.

Let us know.

500x350.aspx
 
mac2x said:
Wow, if what you guys are saying is true, this is ridiculous!

No banding on my ACD or my MBP 5,1 display (running the 9600m GT; should try it with the 9400m). But I'm too lazy to log out. :p
Click to expand...

Indeed, it is ridiculous.

FYI I am currently viewing this on my 5,1 (the 6,2 is to my right) and it has no such problems in either 9600GT nor 9400M; this is a problem unique to the new MBPs AFAIK.
 
I did some further testing on my (older) hardware. If I turn the colors from millions to thousands, I see noticeable banding not only in that picture, but also on all the windows and even in the 'shadow' that's around the frontmost window in OS X. That would be another thing to look for.

[edit] Thanks for running that test, Jof!
 
Cali3350 said:
Here, this is a much better image. You should notice SIGNIFICANT quality difference between 32 and 16 bit.

Let us know.
Click to expand...

Not so clear. It's most clear on the colored image above, and the Finder grey bar.
 
mac2x said:
I did some further testing on my (older) hardware. If I turn the colors from millions to thousands, I see noticeable banding not only in that picture, but also on all the windows and even in the 'shadow' that's around the frontmost window in OS X. That would be another thing to look for.

[edit] Thanks for running that test, Jof!
Click to expand...

NP.

The banding I see it nowhere near as bad as the "Thousands" mode. As I say, it's more like the difference between 16 and 24bit.
 
Jof, you can also look at the Graphics/Displays area of System Profiler:

Left is millions; right is thousands.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 5.png
    Picture 5.png
    29.5 KB · Views: 1,611
  • Picture 6.png
    Picture 6.png
    29.4 KB · Views: 1,579
mac2x said:
Jof, you can also look at the Graphics/Displays area of System Profiler:
Click to expand...

Yes, I already looked at that. The Intel HD claims to be 32bit. That is absolutely not the case for me; definitely lower.

(Conversely, the 330M doesn't declare color depth, FYI)

[Edit: Fail moment; of course the 330M doesn't show a color depth... its "display" is actually the Intel HD]
 
Jof said:
Yes, I already looked at that. The Intel HD claims to be 32bit. That is absolutely not the case for me. It's 16bit-like.

(Conversely, the 330M doesn't declare color depth, FYI)

[Edit: Timmeh moment; of course the 330M doesn't show a color depth... its "display" is actually the Intel HD]
Click to expand...

This is crazy...well let's wait and see if anyone else notices the issue. Might be that the intel thing is defective, because 16 bit color = obsolete I'd think. :eek:
 
mac2x said:
This is crazy...well let's wait and see if anyone else notices the issue. Might be that the intel thing is defective, because 16 bit color = obsolete I'd think. :eek:
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, it's much more subtle than that; you'd hardly notice at first. But it definitely isn't full 32-bit. That's fo sho!
 
Where is the color difference in the Vista image? On my system (PowerMac with a 2005 graphics card), I can see banding in the spectrum image at thousands and none at millions, but the Vista image looks about the same either way.

Window shadows are definitely softer at millions, but I'm not seeing banding.
 
splitpea said:
Where is the color difference in the Vista image? On my system (PowerMac with a 2005 graphics card), I can see banding in the spectrum image at thousands and none at millions, but the Vista image looks about the same either way.

Window shadows are definitely softer at millions, but I'm not seeing banding.
Click to expand...

Me neither. Hence my comment above. The banding caused by the Intel HD chip is really most visible in the Finder bar.

And if it wasn't clear, this is an issue with 2010 MBPs not 2005 PowerMacs.
 
tekmoe said:
Well I'll be damned. That's not good.
Click to expand...

You see it too? Cos I was thinking I was crazy for a minute.

(PS, red tint on hi-res is really annoying me. I think I'll get over it though)
 
Jof said:
And if it wasn't clear, this is an issue with 2010 MBPs not 2005 PowerMacs.
Click to expand...

That was clear, but it sounded like it was being described as merely a color depth issue, which is something any of us can simulate using the Display prefs. Seemed worth a peek to me since I'm waiting for a MBP at the moment.

I'm assuming my video card is no better than the integrated graphics (maybe an incorrect assumption) and wondering how much of the visibility of the banding can be attributed to the color depth of the video card, how much to panel quality, and how much to sub-part processing...
 
I tested the vista image on a *nix and windows system and there was a huge difference. Literally changed the entire image. Not sure why you guys wouldn't be seeing that at thousands of colors.
 
splitpea said:
That was clear, but it sounded like it was being described as merely a color depth issue, which is something any of us can simulate using the Display prefs. Seemed worth a peek to me since I'm waiting for a MBP at the moment.

I'm assuming my video card is no better than the integrated graphics (maybe an incorrect assumption) and wondering how much of the visibility of the banding can be attributed to the color depth of the video card, how much to panel quality, and how much to sub-part processing...
Click to expand...

Gotcha. But yeah, FWIW I also "simulated" it... but with my 5,1 running 10.5 (which allows color depth switching).

So in conclusion; damn weird. You can watch it happen as the 330M turns off and on (eg by watching a Finder winder as you open and close apps).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back