Is the 2010 MBA screen's poor colour gamut a problem?

[jahman]

Hi Folks,

After reading this: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...creen-quality-can-it-finally-replace-the-pro/ I was wondering if any owners felt that the poor colour gamut of the new MBA's screen was a problem.

I do not intend to use the MBA as a primary computer - I have several others including a 27" iMac to use for things like photo editing. Am I likely to feel disappointed by the colour reproduction on the MBA or is it fine, generally, for web browsing, etc.?

Comments from any photographers using the MBA for photo/video editing welcome.

Cheers,

jahman

 

[KnightWRX]

I wouldn't use it for color sensitive work, but for every other tasks under the sun it's perfectly fine. Heck, a black or white display would be fine for any other tasks (well, aside from watching videos of course).

I did notice the blue tinge compared to the my old MacBook, but for coding on dark Terminal windows, not really something that bothers me at all.

 

[mikethebigo]

Hi Folks,

After reading this: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...creen-quality-can-it-finally-replace-the-pro/ I was wondering if any owners felt that the poor colour gamut of the new MBA's screen was a problem.

I do not intend to use the MBA as a primary computer - I have several others including a 27" iMac to use for things like photo editing. Am I likely to feel disappointed by the colour reproduction on the MBA or is it fine, generally, for web browsing, etc.?

Comments from any photographers using the MBA for photo/video editing welcome.

Cheers,

jahman

I actually think the screen looks really nice, and that's coming from a 13 inch MBP. I don't have the eyes for color like professionals do but it sure works well for me. Also, my MBA's screen is brighter than the MBP, despite not needing to crank up the brightness as much due to less reflections.

 

[jahman]

Thanks guys. I'm sure it'll be fine for my needs but there would certainly appear to be room for improvement.

Cheers,

jahman

 

[bcaslis]

Hi Folks,

After reading this: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...creen-quality-can-it-finally-replace-the-pro/ I was wondering if any owners felt that the poor colour gamut of the new MBA's screen was a problem.

I do not intend to use the MBA as a primary computer - I have several others including a 27" iMac to use for things like photo editing. Am I likely to feel disappointed by the colour reproduction on the MBA or is it fine, generally, for web browsing, etc.?

Comments from any photographers using the MBA for photo/video editing welcome.

Cheers,

jahman

No. I've calibrated the screen and it's pretty much the same as a MBP. Any laptop will be a disappoint compared to a calibrated desktop monitor but people complaining about it are your typical measurebators.

 

[jahman]

No. I've calibrated the screen and it's pretty much the same as a MBP. Any laptop will be a disappoint compared to a calibrated desktop monitor but people complaining about it are your typical measurebators.

Thanks for that. What software is available for calibration on the mac? Haven't used any such software on the mac before.

Cheers,

jahman

 

[macbook123]

Don't forget that there are (at least) two different display models for each MBA

There seems to be a huge difference between the two models used on the new 13.3", called 9CF0 and 9CDF. Please read this thread and respond with your own display make and information about the contrast&gamut:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039142/

So posting here as it there is only one MBA display and comparing that with others, is misleading. Knight and Mikethebigo above, please update your posts with display names. Chances are you two have different experiences because you have different displays!

 

[mikethebigo]

There seems to be a huge difference between the two models used on the new 13.3", called 9CF0 and 9CDF. Please read this thread and respond with your own display make and information about the contrast&gamut:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039142/

So posting here as it there is only one MBA display and comparing that with others, is misleading. Knight and Mikethebigo above, please update your posts with display names. Chances are you two have different experiences because you have different displays!

I'm running an 11.6" ultimate with the 9CF2 display. It looks great to me.

 

[chrono1081]

No. I've calibrated the screen and it's pretty much the same as a MBP. Any laptop will be a disappoint compared to a calibrated desktop monitor but people complaining about it are your typical measurebators.

+1. Not to mention anyone with a true need for color accuracy will have a pricey lacie or something to edit on, not a laptop screen.

I'm sure I'll get flamed by the above comment but its true.

 

[bcaslis]

Thanks for that. What software is available for calibration on the mac? Haven't used any such software on the mac before.

Cheers,

jahman

There are several. X-Rite makes hardware software packages and the Spyder 3 Pro is popular also. The software Color Eyes Display Pro works with several hardware calibrators.

http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=788

http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3pro.php

http://www.integrated-color.com/cedpro/coloreyesdisplay.html

 

[bcaslis]

There seems to be a huge difference between the two models used on the new 13.3", called 9CF0 and 9CDF. Please read this thread and respond with your own display make and information about the contrast&gamut:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1039142/

So posting here as it there is only one MBA display and comparing that with others, is misleading. Knight and Mikethebigo above, please update your posts with display names. Chances are you two have different experiences because you have different displays!

The displays are different (as are any). I don't see where you are getting this "huge" from. Do you work with color calibrated displays? That's the whole point of calibrating. Anyone working with an uncalibrated display just doesn't know what they are doing. Two displays of the same make can show significant differences. Once two displays are color calibrated it's unlikely that anyone but a trained professional would be able to tell them apart unless one was significantly better than the other.

 

[macbook123]

The displays are different (as are any). I don't see where you are getting this "huge" from. Do you work with color calibrated displays? That's the whole point of calibrating. Anyone working with an uncalibrated display just doesn't know what they are doing. Two displays of the same make can show significant differences. Once two displays are color calibrated it's unlikely that anyone but a trained professional would be able to tell them apart unless one was significantly better than the other.

I'm saying there seems to be a huge difference because of the very different reviews of the two panels, with the 9CDF being described as superior to the MBP displays and the 9CF0 being described as clearly inferior. Are you suggesting that the 9CDF comes well calibrated from the factory and the 9CF0 needs to be calibrated? I tried some of the profiles provided in the other thread, but am not happy with any of them.

I wonder if there's a way to find out if the two models were actually produced by different companies. Isn't LG now making all Mac laptop displays?

 

[bcaslis]

I'm saying there seems to be a huge difference because of the very different reviews of the two panels, with the 9CDF being described as superior to the MBP displays and the 9CF0 being described as clearly inferior. Are you suggesting that the 9CDF comes well calibrated from the factory and the 9CF0 needs to be calibrated? I tried some of the profiles provided in the other thread, but am not happy with any of them.

I wonder if there's a way to find out if the two models were actually produced by different companies. Isn't LG now making all Mac laptop displays?

I'm saying they both need to calibrated and lots of people have no idea what they are talking about. Color professionals calibrated monitors every week due to internal light changes and aging of monitors. Heck to be accurate you need to different color profiles for every light environment you are in. One for this room, one for that room, etc.

Anyone claiming one is more accurate than another has no idea what is involved in color calibration. Additionally, there is an enormous difference between something that looks good and one that is accurate. Many Apple displays out of the box look good, but are in accurate. If I showed my display to a layperson and asked which one looked "better", most the time they will likely pick the default display because it's "brighter" or the "the colors pop more".

It is impossible to accurately calibrate any display without doing it in the lighting conditions it will be used in. It's fair to say that all the displays Apple is using are approximately the same quality and all displays are not accurate unless calibrated. Anything else is silly.

 

[macbook123]

I'll confess that for the Air's display I don't care so much about accurate color representation, as I know my 30" HP IPS display does far better for editing imagery, etc. I do care about contrast, deep blacks, and non-blotchiness on the Air's display, as I use it for writing and reading. I'm getting a feeling that the 9CDF might be better than the 9CF0. We need a direct comparison of the two. Unfortunately Anandtech didn't mention which displays they had in theirs. Does anybody have an idea how we could compare the two displays? Also, how to find out what company built each one of them?

 

[macbook123]

I called my local Apple Store and they only have 9CF0 on display that I could compare with, so no help for me as I have 9CF0.

 

[HiddenGem]

No. I've calibrated the screen and it's pretty much the same as a MBP. Any laptop will be a disappoint compared to a calibrated desktop monitor but people complaining about it are your typical measurebators.

What software did you use to calibrate the screen? How does it compare to the MBP 15" after calibration.

 

[MRU]

Supercal is a great calibration tool.

 

[Adidas Addict]

Yes it's a problem, the screen is the worst I have had on a mac, even my mums whitebook has a better display than the latest 13" air. I couldn't stand it and went back to a new 13" MBP, the quality of the screen is like night and day compared to the air. (and i had the supposedly better screen part no)

 

[HiddenGem]

No. I've calibrated the screen and it's pretty much the same as a MBP. Any laptop will be a disappoint compared to a calibrated desktop monitor but people complaining about it are your typical measurebators.

Can you post you .icc file, please?

 

[HiddenGem]

Yes it's a problem, the screen is the worst I have had on a mac, even my mums whitebook has a better display than the latest 13" air. I couldn't stand it and went back to a new 13" MBP, the quality of the screen is like night and day compared to the air. (and i had the supposedly better screen part no)

What is the better screen part number? How do you tell?

 

[teerexx52]

Yes it's a problem, the screen is the worst I have had on a mac, even my mums whitebook has a better display than the latest 13" air. I couldn't stand it and went back to a new 13" MBP, the quality of the screen is like night and day compared to the air. (and i had the supposedly better screen part no)

I didn't see it that way in my comparisons of the MBA and the MBP. I thought the screen was quite nice.