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How bad are the displays on this 13-inch?

I just got one today. It isn't horrible, but nowhere near as nice as a MacBook Pro. Of course I haven't used it at night yet and I'm sure I'll be able to tell more once the sun goes down. One thing I can tell sitting at my desk right now is that there doesn't appear to be a perfect angle. At one angle the dock looks great but the top of the screen washed out. If I tilt it so the top of the screen looks good the dock looks washed out. I think I've found the spot now where it seems to be more uniform but it isn't perfect.

Once I watch a movie on it I'll have a better idea about black levels but honestly I won't watch movies or game on it except when I'm on a trip which is only a few times a year. Mainly I'll just be using it for e-mail and web surfing and for that I think it is great.

On the other hand I definitely think for the price this is the nicest notebook of this size I've ever used. It build quality blows away the old plastic book. I mean it is a small MacBook Pro. It would just be icing on the cake if Apple drops the price within 30 days so I can get cash back from Amazon with their 30 day price protection.
 
In my opinion, all MacBook screens have been terrible, which includes this current generation. Others love them. Go to an Apple Store and form your own opinion.
 
The macbook screens are terrible.

Previous gen even more.

The problem is like another poster mentioned, is that you can't even get an angle that is uniform throughout the screen. Small degree shifts in your angle will result in the dock being washed out or the top of the screen being a little washed out. Disgusting, and unacceptable from Apple IMHO for the price you are paying.

By the 5th day, I couldn't stand it.

The glare isn't a problem, and it does have great brightness, but it's the horrible screen. I would pay 300 dollars for the Macbook Air screen in the macbook.

Anyways, I returned it and will buy the 1.86/128ssd soon. The display is like night and day in comparison to the macbook.

The brightness is great, glare isn't that much of a problem, but the CONTRAST and viewing angles is some of the worst I have ever seen in a modern laptop.
 
Primejimbo said:
I didn't mind mine and I liked it, but when I re-calibrated it, WOW what a difference!!
Click to expand...

sorry but you can't calibrate a higher contrast ratio or better viewing angles.

It's in your head.

Calibration only makes what you GOT more accurate. It won't "create" colors or improve viewing angles. I don't know why some of you mention calibration as the "fix"

I am just bitter that they didn't do more with the screen.

we need a Macbook Pro 13 inch. good screen, mba or mbp type quality, and firewire 800, with intel 2.4, 2 gig ram, illuminated keyboard, all for 1699, 1599 for students.

I'd jump all over it.

To be honest, if this is your first mac and you're not use to nice displays, sony vaio's or higherend mbp/mba, then go for it. You probably won't notice the things that irk people who have been spoiled by quality NEC displays and laptop displays for a while. :)
 
EnderTW said:
sorry but you can't calibrate a higher contrast ratio or better viewing angles.

It's in your head.

Calibration only makes what you GOT more accurate. It won't "create" colors or improve viewing angles. I don't know why some of you mention calibration as the "fix"

I am just bitter that they didn't do more with the screen.

we need a Macbook Pro 13 inch. good screen, mba or mbp type quality, and firewire 800, with intel 2.4, 2 gig ram, illuminated keyboard, all for 1699, 1599 for students.

I'd jump all over it.

To be honest, if this is your first mac and you're not use to nice displays, sony vaio's or higherend mbp/mba, then go for it. You probably won't notice the things that irk people who have been spoiled by quality NEC displays and laptop displays for a while. :)
Click to expand...
Did I say I for better viewing angles? No I didn't. I did it for the colors and it's looks better, and easier on my eyes.
This isn't my 1st mac either, I had a whitebook and I like this screen a lot better.
 
powerbook911 said:
However, all the talk of screen problems worry me. How bad are the displays? Does anyone find it livable? It will just be my portable, not main computer.
Click to expand...

Many of us find the displays livable, otherwise we wouldn't have kept our Macbooks. Ask yourself these questions:

Do I know what a color gamut is?
Do I know the difference between 6 bit versus 8 bit color?
Do I know what a TN panel is versus a IPS or PVA?
Do I know what color inversion due to viewing angle is?
Do I know how to accurately calibrate a display for professional color work?

If you answered NO to most of those questions the display will be perfect for you. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
 
tubbymac said:
Many of us find the displays livable, otherwise we wouldn't have kept our Macbooks. Ask yourself these questions:

Do I know what a color gamut is?
Do I know the difference between 6 bit versus 8 bit color?
Do I know what a TN panel is versus a IPS or PVA?
Do I know what color inversion due to viewing angle is?
Do I know how to accurately calibrate a display for professional color work?

If you answered NO to most of those questions the display will be perfect for you. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
Click to expand...

Not necisarily. I answered no to most of those questions and I still feel that the mb screens are crap. It doesn't matter if you know the vocabulary, if something looks bad, it looks bad whether you can pinpoint the cause or not.
 
billyjoegibsonx said:
i have the new 13" aluminium macbook, with the glossy screen.

to be honest, its fine for casual use :) it is awfully reflective however, but that can be fixed by adjusting the angle of the screen and brightness :) and obviously isnt too good for serious image editors. the only other thing apart from that is that you can't really fit much on the screen. quite annoying when your trying to watch hd videos especially on quicktime but you just select a lower resolution :) it's okay for dvds and youtube.

apart from that its fine. obviously you'll be wanting a matte screen with lots of room if your a serious user :) thats why you'd be best with a macbook pro :)

i love my macbook, it does me fine, i edit photos, but not very seriously, the glossy effect doesnt bother me when editing anyway !
Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better my self.
 
Palliser said:
what's wrong with the displays??
Click to expand...

Blacks are very washed out on the 13" MB, but very accurate on the 13" Air and 15" Pro.

People will defend it and say that there's no difference but there is. Apple could have easily used the Air screen on these but they intentionally chose to downgrade the screen quality in order to upsell those of us who would've been just fine on the regular Macbook. (And I am one of those that would've been fine with a MB, but the screen is forcing me to pay the $700 extra for the Pro. Having your loyalty exploited is all part of being an Apple user I guess.)
 
urkel said:
Blacks are very washed out on the 13" MB, but very accurate on the 13" Air and 15" Pro.

People will defend it and say that there's no difference but there is. Apple could have easily used the Air screen on these but they intentionally chose to downgrade the screen quality in order to upsell those of us who would've been just fine on the regular Macbook. (And I am one of those that would've been fine with a MB, but the screen is forcing me to pay the $700 extra for the Pro. Having your loyalty exploited is all part of being an Apple user I guess.)
Click to expand...

The blacks on my MB screen are not washed out at all.......but what would i know......
 
cogsinister said:
The blacks on my MB screen are not washed out at all.......but what would i know......
Click to expand...

Like another poster said, ignorance is bliss.

If you aren't use to good quality displays, you wouldn't be able to notice the difference between a bad screen and a good one.

Their is nothing wrong with that. Continue to enjoy your laptop, just don't take a gander at any other ones or else you'll notice the "imperfections".

:)
 
EnderTW said:
Like another poster said, ignorance is bliss.

If you aren't use to good quality displays, you wouldn't be able to notice the difference between a bad screen and a good one.

Their is nothing wrong with that. Continue to enjoy your laptop, just don't take a gander at any other ones or else you'll notice the "imperfections".

:)
Click to expand...

No you dont seem to understand, i dont have a bad screen and i am not ignorant of screens on other laptops........

The blacks are not washed out whatever you say.......
 
My screen is ok for me, so how much more do we have to beat this to death?
We all know the Macbooks screen isn't as good as the Pro and the Air.
Beat_Dead_Horse.jpg
 
cogsinister said:
No you dont seem to understand, i dont have a bad screen and i am not ignorant of screens on other laptops........

The blacks are not washed out whatever you say.......
Click to expand...

If your mb display has great viewing angles and non washed out blacks then you'd be the only one who had a great display which is doubtful. Mb screens are plain and simple, not as good as other displays and are going to appear more washed out than an mba or mbp display. YOU might not think it's washed out but it probably is.
 
Crash1234 said:
If your mb display has great viewing angles and non washed out blacks then you'd be the only one who had a great display which is doubtful. Mb screens are plain and simple, not as good as other displays and are going to appear more washed out than an mba or mbp display. YOU might not think it's washed out but it probably is.
Click to expand...

So everyone on this thread that says there display is great, we are all deluding ourselves because we are not true "pro" users who are ignorant of any other display or evan another computer......
 
cogsinister said:
So everyone on this thread that says there display is great, we are all deluding ourselves because we are not true "pro" users who are ignorant of any other display or evan another computer......
Click to expand...

Heh, no, not what I said. I just think the screen is good for you and you don't notice some of it's bad aspects which is fine. If you like the screen that's wonderful. I would have purchased an mb had I not looked at the screen in the store and saw how bad it was for me. I'm certainly no pro user and I certainly don't know much about displays, but when I look at an mb screen, it looks washed out and looks like it has atrocious viewing angles which I could not live with on a daily basis.
 
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