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Mauri

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
7
0
I'd just like ask if anyone has any confirmation/information or first-hand experience if apple upgraded the screen on 15" MBP as well? And what was the actual upgrade; did they put in newer panel (other than TN) or was it some other smaller upgrade?

I'm a bit worried about this since I got my new UMBP a week ago (a week before the line refresh) :(. I like my expresscard slot instead of the new SD slot (I know I will be using CF and possibly esata adapters on it), so in that way I'm glad of my current version.

But what bugs me a little is that if the newer version has better screen (and minor annoyance that the newer version has the option to upgrade to 8GB of memory, I'm not sure when the 4GB will be the limiting factor though)

Any information about the screen upgrade is appreciated, thanks.
 
Yes new screen, but how much better no one knows yet. Im going to the apple store tomorrow and hopefully they have some 15.4's out with the new screen, but I do not have a current MBP so i dont know which one would be better haha
 
Not sure about the screen but you can go order 8gm from crucial. Its cheaper then apple.

Do the "first gen" unibody MacBook Pro's (pre June 2009 refresh) models support 8GB as well? I remember reading somewhere that the limit was 6GB on those.
 
No they did not change the screen to the 15" MBP, according to someone working for Apple posting on Notebookreview.com

Only the 13" got changed.

If you have 9C85 you're lucky in my opinion.
 
No they did not change the screen to the 15" MBP, according to someone working for Apple posting on Notebookreview.com

Only the 13" got changed.

If you have 9C85 you're lucky in my opinion.

9C85 is the one that I have. Thanks for the information :)

I do alot of photoshopping on this machine, so knowing that the panel is the same and I still have the expresscard -slot I don't regret that I got it only week before the release.

edit:grammar.
 
@ Mauri, But if you only got your MBP one week ago, you may be entitled to a change, if you would wish so. I've heard this from several people...

But on the other hand you may get a display that isn't as good imo.

Hi how do I check whether I have 9C85? Cheers

In the calibrated display info look for number 13.

PS. some people prefer the other screen though...
 
In the keynote he only says that the 13 inch is getting the same 60% gamma display - meaning its the same introduced in the Macbook Pros last october... so I doubt the displays in the 15 inch are any different... ;)
 
@ Mauri, But if you only got your MBP one week ago, you may be entitled to a change, if you would wish so. I've heard this from several people...

But on the other hand you may get a display that isn't as good imo.

I was thinking of that, but this is basically my corporate/work machine so I think it might get just too complicated. and I actually have use for the expresscard slot (which the new one doesn't have) so I'll gladly stick with this one now that I know that the display is as good as the new one.

Thanks everyone for the help:)
 
The official press release says this:

The perfect balance of performance and portability, the 15-inch MacBook Pro now features a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut and 4GB of RAM across the line at an entry price $300 less than before.

It seems that they intentionally say the 15" screen was updated. I guess we need some first hand verification of what, if any, material difference there is in the new 15" screen. Hopefully someone can do a side by side compare.
 
The official press release says this:



It seems that they intentionally say the 15" screen was updated. I guess we need some first hand verification of what, if any, material difference there is in the new 15" screen. Hopefully someone can do a side by side compare.

If I remember correctly there was someone in other thread saying that his new (upgraded model) 15" MBP has a 9CA3 model display. But I don't have deeper knowledge about which models are better than the others.
 
I think that the 15" screen is the same screen. Still an excellent screen and one of the best out there, but sleazy marketing on Apple's part. They clearly indicate that the screen should be better on the new 15" macbook pros.
 
I just got the new macbook pro 15".
My screen model is 9CA3.

I don't know who made it.

It is as good as the last gen unibody macbook pros. I honestly see no increase in color gamut. It's not obvious to me. In my opinion, this is of the same quality as the last gen and now the 13" macbook pros.

I only got the new macbook pro because of battery life.
 
I just got the new macbook pro 15".
My screen model is 9CA3.

I don't know who made it.

It is as good as the last gen unibody macbook pros. I honestly see no increase in color gamut. It's not obvious to me. In my opinion, this is of the same quality as the last gen and now the 13" macbook pros.

I only got the new macbook pro because of battery life.

Download switchresX, launch it in system preferences and then export the DDC
file -- there will a model number at the end of the DDC page and we can find out more from there.
 
Download switchresX, launch it in system preferences and then export the DDC
file -- there will a model number at the end of the DDC page and we can find out more from there.

Here is the file. This is the LG screen that was used in the past, no?
That's my guess.



DDC block report generated by SwitchResX version 3.8.7 for display
Color LCD


-----------------------------------------------------
------------------- RAW DATA ------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
-----------------------------------------------------
0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 06 10 A3 9C 00 00 00 00
1 | 00 13 01 03 80 21 15 78 0A F5 95 A3 55 4F 9C 26
2 | 0F 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
3 | 01 01 01 01 01 01 AB 22 A0 A0 50 84 1A 30 30 20
4 | 36 00 4B CF 10 00 00 18 00 00 00 01 00 06 10 30
5 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 20 00 00 00 FE 00 4C
6 | 50 31 35 34 57 50 34 2D 54 4C 41 31 00 00 00 FE
7 | 00 43 6F 6C 6F 72 20 4C 43 44 0A 20 20 20 00 00

-----------------------------------------------------
< 00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 0610A39C 00000000 00130103 80211578 0AF595A3 554F9C26 0F505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101AB22 A0A05084 1A303020 36004BCF 10000018 00000001 00061030 00000000 00000000 0A200000 00FE004C 50313534 5750342D 544C4131 000000FE 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 >

-----------------------------------------------------
Valid EDID block: checksum passed

-----------------------------------------------------
------------------- MAIN EDID BLOCK -----------------
-----------------------------------------------------

EDID Version........1.3
Manufacturer........APP
Product Code........41884 (A39C) (9CA3)
Serial Number.......00000000

Manufactured........Week 0 of year 2009
Max H Size..........33 cm
Max V Size..........21 cm
Gamma...............2.20

Display Supported Features:
---------------------------


Display type:
-------------
RGB 4:4:4 & YCrCb 4:4:4 Color Encoding Formats
Display is non continuous frequency
Default color space is not sRGB standard
Preferred timing mode includes Native Pixel Format


Input signal & sync:
--------------------
Digital Input
Color Bit Depth is undefined
Digital Interface is not defined


Color info:
-----------
Red x = 0.640 Green x = 0.310 Blue x = 0.150 White x = 0.313
Red y = 0.335 Green y = 0.610 Blue y = 0.060 White y = 0.329

Established Timings:
--------------------

Manufacturer Reserved Timings:
------------------------------

Standard Timing Identification:
-------------------------------

Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1440 x 900 @ 59.901Hz
Pixel Clock............. 88.75 MHz Non-Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 1440 pixels 900 lines
Front Porch............. 48 pixels 3 lines
Sync Width.............. 32 pixels 6 lines
Back Porch.............. 80 pixels 17 lines
Blanking................ 160 pixels 26 lines
Total................... 1600 pixels 926 lines
Scan Rate............... 55.469 kHz 59.901 Hz

Image Size.............. 331 mm 207 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines

Sync: Digital separate with
* Negative vertical polarity
* Negative horizontal polarity

Descriptor #1 is Manufacturer specific data (not interpreted here)

Descriptor #2 is ASCII data:
LP154WP4-TLA1

Descriptor #3 is ASCII data:
Color LCD
 
It is definitely made by LG. As to whether it is the same, well we need someone with an LG macbook pro from the previous gen to run the switchresX application and post their findings.
 
Now that I look at it longer, the colors do pop more. I am tempted to say that it is not due to the glass/glossy thing. It reminds me somewhat of the Sony Z series laptops in that the colors really pop but they are not as overly dramatic as the Sony Z's colors.
 
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