Disappointed with MBA 2013 screen

[cathyy]

Hey guys, I used to have a 2010 MBA and I recently just changed to a 2013 MBA. The difference in the screen quality is shocking! I remember the whites on my old MBA being way whiter, whereas now it simply looks grey. I also remember the screen being brighter as well. Right now I'm using it in cloudy weather and it seems pretty dim to me, and it looks like the screen is only at 3/4 brightness or something.

Anyone else noticed this issue after changing to a 2013 MBA?

 

[NameUndecided]

Have you tried calibrating the screen?

My 11inch 2013 Air is new to me by only about two weeks. I also have a 2009 MBPro and in comparison the screen for the Air was pretty disappointing to me until I realized I could calibrate the screen fairly easily (ha!). Now I'm perfectly happy with it.

System Preferences -- Displays -- Color tab -- Calibrate -- check the "expert" option.

You can save as many custom calibrations as you'd like and cycle through them with the arrow keys. It only took me two calibrations to be happy with it, but even if it takes ten tries I would think it's worthwhile.

 

[chabig]

I would recommend that you calibrate your screen. (System Preferences > Displays > Color). It may help.

 

[cathyy]

Have you tried calibrating the screen?

My 11inch 2013 Air is new to me by only about two weeks. I also have a 2009 MBPro and in comparison the screen for the Air was pretty disappointing to me until I realized I could calibrate the screen fairly easily (ha!). Now I'm perfectly happy with it.

System Preferences -- Displays -- Color tab -- Calibrate -- check the "expert" option.

You can save as many custom calibrations as you'd like and cycle through them with the arrow keys. It only took me two calibrations to be happy with it, but even if it takes ten tries I would think it's worthwhile.

Hmm just calibrated it. Colours changed but overall it still looks pretty dim

 

[july142]

was going to calibrate last night.. but it seemed to complicated and I just cancelled out.... any tips would be appreciated...

 

[stayley]

Look for some pre-calibrated profiles on the web. I couldn't do the calibration well myself. Check what screen you've got in your MBA (LG/Samsung) and google Macbook Air Samsung/LG display profile, or something like that.

The screen on the MBA is awful indeed (even by industry standards dating back a few years), but as far as e.g. whites go, calibration can bring drastic changes. The stock profile made everything yellow for me, now it's reasonably good (almost on par with a 4 year old Asus it replaced... makes me want to throw up just thinking about it).

 

[july142]

looks like I have a LG screen... is this good ?? I read i could just download a lg user profile and update it to my macbook ???

 

[stayley]

Here's some stuff about the Samsung/LG displays madness:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1499786/

My personal experience is that I returned my first MBA, because of it's absolutely disgusting Samsung screen. I'm ok with the LG I have now, it's much better, but the Samsung must have been faulty. I don't think the manufacturer has much to do with the end-user experience in this case, since apparently both can come up with absolutely useless products.


As far as your question goes, yes, you can download a custom colour profile from the internet and use it on your mac. Here is how:

http://theultralinx.com/2013/03/macbook-air-hack-screen.html

But you may want to download a few more profiles and try one that best works with your particular panel. I went through about 20 before I found one that is acceptable.

 

[july142]

Here's some stuff about the Samsung/LG displays madness:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1499786/

My personal experience is that I returned my first MBA, because of it's absolutely disgusting Samsung screen. I'm ok with the LG I have now, it's much better, but the Samsung must have been faulty. I don't think the manufacturer has much to do with the end-user experience in this case, since apparently both can come up with absolutely useless products.


As far as your question goes, yes, you can download a custom colour profile from the internet and use it on your mac. Here is how:

http://theultralinx.com/2013/03/macbook-air-hack-screen.html

But you may want to download a few more profiles and try one that best works with your particular panel. I went through about 20 before I found one that is acceptable.

thank you for info... guess i got lucky, must be a sign to keep it..

 

[stayley]

thank you for info... guess i got lucky, must be a sign to keep it..

Actually, the whole story leading up to the discussion I directed you to was about how Samsung displays are superior to the LG, and the LG being absolutely crap.

It really doesn't matter who made the stupid screen as long as it works as it should (and in fact I'd say neither brand does considering it's 2013, but that's Apple's fault really).