Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

redman042

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 13, 2008
3,063
1,657
This article is a really great read, and not just to find out how good the screen is:

http://gizmodo.com/5894445/the-best-tablet-display-guess-who

I learned:

  1. The display backlight is twice as bright and consumes twice the power of the iPad 2. You don't see the added brightness because the dense pixels suck up the light. The backlight accounts for about half of the total power demand of the device!
  2. Battery life is HIGHLY dependent on screen brightness setting, more so than the iPad 2. They measured 11 hrs at 50% brightness, and less than 6 hrs at max brightness.
  3. So TURN DOWN YOUR BRIGHTNESS if you want to conserve battery, or are trying to charge and use it at the same time. I'm thinking people's varied brightness settings have something to do with the wildly varying stories of battery and charging performance being discussed here.
  4. The retina display's saturation, color gamut, and color accuracy are good enough that the display is very close to being "reference quality" (like what a TV studio would use). That is WAY better than the iPad 2 or most other displays, and as far as I know unheard of in a tablet. Bodes well for pro photographers and videographers.
  5. DisplayMate believes the case and glass are lighter to offset the near doubling of battery. I think this means this likely has Gorilla Glass 2 in it (thinner glass).

Moral of the story: Closely manage your screen brightness to maximize battery.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.