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Firmware to brighten 17 uniMBP on the way

M

macrumorsmick

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2008
6
0
I went into Apple store today to check out 17 uniMBP.

The guy next to me was doing the same thing. I told him I had read it was dimmer than my wife's 15 uniMBP. As we talked, we began to compare them in the store. We both agreed the new 17 was darker. It seems to also be bluer.

One of the sales guys came up, and he was surprised by our observation. However, I have gotten to know the guy who sold me my wife's computer. So I also spoke to him. He said he saw a memo sent from Apple corporate today that states a firmware update will go out next week to correct this issue. He has always be a very frank no BS kind of guy so I am inclined to believe him.

So, hopefully, a brighter 17 inch uniMBP screen is in our future. :)
I sure hope he is right. I love the brightness of my wife's 15.

Mick
 
macrumorsmick said:
I went into Apple store today to check out 17 uniMBP.

The guy next to me was doing the same thing. I told him I had read it was dimmer than my wife's 15 uniMBP. As we talked, we began to compare them in the store. We both agreed the new 17 was darker. It seems to also be bluer.

One of the sales guys came up, and he was surprised by our observation. However, I have gotten to know the guy who sold me my wife's computer. So I also spoke to him. He said he saw a memo sent from Apple corporate today that states a firmware update will go out next week to correct this issue. He has always be a very frank no BS kind of guy so I am inclined to believe him.

So, hopefully, a brighter 17 inch uniMBP screen is in our future. :)
I sure hope he is right. I love the brightness of my wife's 15.

Mick
Click to expand...

I can confirm this is the case but i cant say how, however i've mentioned it on a few other threads here.
 
kastenbrust said:
I can confirm this is the case but i cant say how, however i've mentioned it on a few other threads here.
Click to expand...

This is an odd thing, really. I can't imagine Apple puts a governor on the display brightness...but maybe they do. What I do know is that when the new 15" MBPs came out, from talking to the folks at the Apple Store, they said customers were much more concerned about how "wicked bright" the displays were vs. the reflections from the glare of the glass screen....almost in a complainy way...
 
DHagan4755 said:
This is an odd thing, really. I can't imagine Apple puts a governor on the display brightness...but maybe they do. What I do know is that when the new 15" MBPs came out, from talking to the folks at the Apple Store, they said customers were much more concerned about how "wicked bright" the displays were vs. the reflections from the glare of the glass screen....almost in a complainy way...
Click to expand...

Wicked bright? :p wtf?!?! :p A lot of people complained to Apple about the Unibody 15" being too bright, so they set the firmware brightness setting on the 17" when on maximum to be about 2 levels below the 15"

God knows why people complained, its a simple case of pressing one button to make it dimmer.
 
kastenbrust said:
Wicked bright?
Click to expand...
Hey, I'm from Boston. Things here are wicked pissah.

Yeah it sounded to me like the store folks received a lot of complaints that the screens were too bright...after all I think Apple had to have them at maximum brightness to overcome some of the glare from the store lighting.

I know that on my new 17" MacBook Pro, the headphone jack can be cranked up deafeningly loud, so I know that Apple has put governors on sound before so it's entirely possible they have done the same to screen brightness.
 
Also, on the same note, why not release a firmware that corrects the blacks on the screen as well for the MacBook?
 
kabunaru said:
Also, on the same note, why not release a firmware that corrects the blacks on the screen as well for the MacBook?
Click to expand...

Huh? If I understand you correctly, I don't think that's possible. It's limitation of the display. The display used in the MacBook has much lower viewing angles and color gamut than the MacBook Pros. It's nothing a firmware update could correct.
 
macrumorsmick said:
So, hopefully, a brighter 17 inch uniMBP screen is in our future. :)
Click to expand...

Speak for yourself. I took two 15" unibodies back because of their light bleed-riddled screens.
Now I have a perfect 17" with no bleed and perfectly strong brightness levels. I don't care if it is capable of being pushed to a notch brighter or less bright than the 15" – all I care about is that it is a perfect match for the very bright Apple LED display it is paired with, which it is. The 15" units I had did not come nearly as close as the 17" to matching the 24" LED display's quality of image.
I haven't yet used the top two brightness levels of the 17" indoors or out and doubt I ever will. This is a total non-issue, created by wafflers who are apparently doing a test for those non-existent people who plan to use a 17" and 15" side by side without ever adjusting the brightness controls of either. Utter drivel.
 
kabunaru said:
Also, on the same note, why not release a firmware that corrects the blacks on the screen as well for the MacBook?
Click to expand...

You don't know much about computers, do you?

How could they physically replace all the low quality screens from the thousands of sold Unibody Macbooks?
 
macrumorsmick said:
I went into Apple store today to check out 17 uniMBP.

The guy next to me was doing the same thing. I told him I had read it was dimmer than my wife's 15 uniMBP. As we talked, we began to compare them in the store. We both agreed the new 17 was darker. It seems to also be bluer.

One of the sales guys came up, and he was surprised by our observation. However, I have gotten to know the guy who sold me my wife's computer. So I also spoke to him. He said he saw a memo sent from Apple corporate today that states a firmware update will go out next week to correct this issue. He has always be a very frank no BS kind of guy so I am inclined to believe him.

So, hopefully, a brighter 17 inch uniMBP screen is in our future. :)
I sure hope he is right. I love the brightness of my wife's 15.

Mick
Click to expand...

I smell BS. Even the last gen 15" vs. 17" the 17" mbp was a notch dimmer even with both having led backlighting.

I didnt find the 17" mbp that much dimmer than the 15" in the previous gen but it was definitely dimmer but it wasnt bad in any way. The 17" hi res was still deeper in colors, sharper and overall the better screen.

I think sometimes brighter isnt better.
 
You may be right

jjahshik32 said:
I smell BS. Even the last gen 15" vs. 17" the 17" mbp was a notch dimmer even with both having led backlighting.

I didnt find the 17" mbp that much dimmer than the 15" in the previous gen but it was definitely dimmer but it wasnt bad in any way. The 17" hi res was still deeper in colors, sharper and overall the better screen.

I think sometimes brighter isnt better.
Click to expand...

It might be BS, but the Apple store guy who told me has always seemed to be a straight shooter. He said it in a very matter of fact way like "oh yea we know about that issue all ready and a fix is on the way."

Is brighter better? Maybe not, but I like the option to crank up the brightness if I need it to counteract glare. I may not need the power most the time, but it is nice to have available in case I do need it. If you like it dimmer, then couldn't you just turn it down?;)
 
macrumorsmick said:
It might be BS, but the Apple store guy who told me has always seemed to be a straight shooter. He said it in a very matter of fact way like "oh yea we know about that issue all ready and a fix is on the way."

Is brighter better? Maybe not, but I like the option to crank up the brightness if I need it to counteract glare. I may not need the power most the time, but it is nice to have available in case I do need it. If you like it dimmer, then couldn't you just turn it down?;)
Click to expand...

I guess I'm just skeptical since I never really trust what an apple employee tells me especially with rumors. I know he's a great guy and all but who knows what rumors he might have heard.

Anyway, this is a very first I've ever heard about a firmware update just to get a higher backlighting. I thought this wasnt even possible to begin with and that certain specifications to the backlighting level would already be physically limited.

I guess the only way to know is that we would just have to wait and see.
 
I noticed this evening in the downtown SF Apple Store, the display model of the 17-inch unibody seemed to have an incorrect installation of the OS on it:

1) the Energy Saver preference was an old-fashioned "light bulb' icon, not the "flourescent" icon normally found for the newest MacBook Pro's;

2) the function keys for the keyboard lighting didn't work at all (a little circle-slash showed up on the screen where you'd normally see the "level" indication displayed)

Next to the 15-inch, that display 17-inch definitely looked dimmer (and bluer) when set to maximum brightness.

Wondering if perhaps incorrect OS configuration might be affecting the brightness on the display models? I definitely noted that (compared to the 15-inch unibody I exchanged for the 17) a clean install of the OS on the 17-inch from its OS disk results in a fair number of newer .kext files (both date and version) as compared to what I had on the 15...
 
jmark said:
I noticed this evening in the downtown SF Apple Store, the display model of the 17-inch unibody seemed to have an incorrect installation of the OS on it:

1) the Energy Saver preference was an old-fashioned "light bulb' icon, not the "flourescent" icon normally found for the newest MacBook Pro's;

2) the function keys for the keyboard lighting didn't work at all (a little circle-slash showed up on the screen where you'd normally see the "level" indication displayed)

Next to the 15-inch, that display 17-inch definitely looked dimmer (and bluer) when set to maximum brightness.

Wondering if perhaps incorrect OS configuration might be affecting the brightness on the display models? I definitely noted that (compared to the 15-inch unibody I exchanged for the 17) a clean install of the OS on the 17-inch from its OS disk results in a fair number of newer .kext files (both date and version) as compared to what I had on the 15...
Click to expand...

The keyboard lighting only works when the room is dim enough.
 
Really they want to make it brighter? my 17 is already burning my retinas at full brightness. I keep it around 75-80%
 
Quu said:
Really they want to make it brighter? my 17 is already burning my retinas at full brightness. I keep it around 75-80%
Click to expand...

Exactly. The screen on mine is the finest I've ever seen on a laptop and as bright as I could possibly want. I'm sure 99.9% of others are the same.
As of this moment, over 500 people have read this misleading thread and have been given the false impression that the 17" screen is "dim".
Ridiculous.
 
jmark said:
I noticed this evening in the downtown SF Apple Store, the display model of the 17-inch unibody seemed to have an incorrect installation of the OS on it....
....a clean install of the OS on the 17-inch from its OS disk results in a fair number of newer .kext files (both date and version) as compared to what I had on the 15...
Click to expand...

Did your clean install result in any differences to the pre-installed 17" software, or the OS you observed on the 17" at the store?

I'd expect all to be the same.
 
Sir Cecil said:
Did your clean install result in any differences to the pre-installed 17" software, or the OS you observed on the 17" at the store?

I'd expect all to be the same.
Click to expand...

I didn't check the versions of the .kext files at the store.

I was comparing the versions I have from my previous 15-inch Unibody (still have that installation backed up onto an external drive here) and the new 17-inch.

Just thought it was interesting, because (before exchanging it for the 17) the 15 had all the most recent Software Updates applied...
 
I bet the store guys cloned the computer with the image from the 15" unibodys thinking that they would work on the 17...nay nay...

I read someone on the Apple Discussion forums swapped their drive from their 15" into their 17" complaining of a dim screen. It was until he re-installed the system software that he got the correct brightness.
 
That is good to here

Sir Cecil said:
Exactly. The screen on mine is the finest I've ever seen on a laptop and as bright as I could possibly want. I'm sure 99.9% of others are the same.
As of this moment, over 500 people have read this misleading thread and have been given the false impression that the 17" screen is "dim".
Ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I certainly did not mean to mislead anybody.

I am just offering the observation that the 17 is obviously darker than the 15. I think most would agree. I also simply relayed a comment made by an Apple employee that said the corporation had decided to release an update to make the 17 brighter. This would imply Apple thinks it is an issue.

In the brightly lit Apple store, the 17 looks a little dull/dark, but I am glad to here you think it does look very bright in a darker environment. The adequacy of the brightness levels is hard to judge in the bright lighting of the store. :)

I will admit we do not typical crank up my wife's 15 all the way because that is too bright in our home environment.:)

Mick
 
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