I have a 12" Powerbook and when I baught it I compared it to the iBook G4 and that screen seemed to have a better screen, brighter and more contrast. I am now sitting next to my sisters G3 700mhz 12" ibook and her screen is nicer than mine, the colors are a lot richer. Odd, I think at least. Seems the Powerbook should have the better screen considering it's a pro machine and newer.
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iBook screen better than powerbook.
- Thread starter Wano
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Yea, that is pretty weird. When I put my iBook next to my teacher's new powerbook (the 12"), his is much more crisp, and the colors seem clearer. Have you calibrated your display? It's in the Display preferences tab, in the Color section. That's most likely the culprit, as I'm pretty sure the powerbooks are "supposed" to have better screens than the iBooks... But I'm no expert!
The 15-inch PowerBook G4 at our Apple Store has a terrible purplish fuzzy hue to it. The 12-inch and 17-inch look much better. The 14-inch iBook's screen is way to bloated. I say it needs at least a SXGA resolution (1280-by-1024) or better yet a SXGA+ (1400-by-1050) 
from my understanding there are a lot of factors that go into the image quality.
like someone already pointed out, if you have it calibrated differently it may not look as nice. if the one you are viewing is just calibrated better that too might account for it. also, temp can change the quality. if yours was exposed to more sun for a period of time before you put it next to the other one, that can go a long way to messing with things. and lastly, age. they do get more dull as they get older. it sucks, but thats how it works. on the bright side (no pun intended) your eyes cant tell how much better another monitor is so long as they are only looking at yours
who knows, maybe the next gen will be that much better.
like someone already pointed out, if you have it calibrated differently it may not look as nice. if the one you are viewing is just calibrated better that too might account for it. also, temp can change the quality. if yours was exposed to more sun for a period of time before you put it next to the other one, that can go a long way to messing with things. and lastly, age. they do get more dull as they get older. it sucks, but thats how it works. on the bright side (no pun intended) your eyes cant tell how much better another monitor is so long as they are only looking at yours
who knows, maybe the next gen will be that much better.
What the.....
The 12" iBook and PowerBook USE THE SAME LCD PANEL. It is not cost effective for Apple to buy one low grade and one high grade LCD panel from the same manufacturer just so the iBook screen looks like rubbish since you pay less then to the PowerBook.
Apple buys these panels in bulk and its the same panel, I have spoken to an Apple Tech in regards to this and it is indeed true.
Think if you have a defective screen, it would be of added cost for Apple to carry one low and high graded screen.
It is most likely that either one or both iBook and PowerBook have either been or not been calibrated either at the factory or end user, have you even checked the brightness and contrast setting to see if is the same.
If Apple took your advise to buy one low and one high grade screen just to justify cost between the two 12" *Books there would be in trouble.
The 12" iBook and PowerBook USE THE SAME LCD PANEL. It is not cost effective for Apple to buy one low grade and one high grade LCD panel from the same manufacturer just so the iBook screen looks like rubbish since you pay less then to the PowerBook.
Apple buys these panels in bulk and its the same panel, I have spoken to an Apple Tech in regards to this and it is indeed true.
Think if you have a defective screen, it would be of added cost for Apple to carry one low and high graded screen.
It is most likely that either one or both iBook and PowerBook have either been or not been calibrated either at the factory or end user, have you even checked the brightness and contrast setting to see if is the same.
If Apple took your advise to buy one low and one high grade screen just to justify cost between the two 12" *Books there would be in trouble.
It does seem odd that there would be that much variation in screen calibration/quality, but I have seen stranger things....
The screen on my 15" PB is beautiful. Absolutely no complaints, no color cast, very nice detail for the default resolution, as nice as any laptop I have ever seen.
I have a couple that have the UXGA, or WUXGA display that are sharper, but the tradeoff is a screen that's so huge, I can't see anything on it without a magnifying glass.
If the displays are the same physical size and resolution, then they are most likely from the same manufacturer or equivalent. Typically cost forces them to only substitute displays for a reason, such as higher resolution, or some kind of other selling point such as Sony's "x-brite" or Toshiba's "Tru-brite". I may have those backwards.
Usually they will call out differences like that in thier spec or literature and I can't seen anything in the PB stuff that mentions a better screen.
Strange.....
The screen on my 15" PB is beautiful. Absolutely no complaints, no color cast, very nice detail for the default resolution, as nice as any laptop I have ever seen.
I have a couple that have the UXGA, or WUXGA display that are sharper, but the tradeoff is a screen that's so huge, I can't see anything on it without a magnifying glass.
If the displays are the same physical size and resolution, then they are most likely from the same manufacturer or equivalent. Typically cost forces them to only substitute displays for a reason, such as higher resolution, or some kind of other selling point such as Sony's "x-brite" or Toshiba's "Tru-brite". I may have those backwards.
Usually they will call out differences like that in thier spec or literature and I can't seen anything in the PB stuff that mentions a better screen.
Strange.....
I calibrated my monitor on the 12" powerbook, rev c., now the colors actually seem richer. Thanks! I was just comparing the 12" iBooks and Powerbooks with each other, the 15" and 17" have far better screens imo. It really does make sense for them to use the same screen in the 12" inchers, like mentioned. Could energy effeciency in the iBook possibly power the screen a little bit more, giving the impression that it's brighter? Just a thought.