OK, I picked up a 13 MBA yesterday that had a LG display. I started reading all the threads about the display differences, and I was curious if there was a difference between the two displays. Well fate would have it that my "X" key was defective so I went back to the store to get a replacement. While there I took a look at the display units. There was a good mix between the two different displays so I had an opportunity to view several of each type. From my non-scientific investigation I discovered that the Samsung display is the better of the two. The LG is a very good display, but the Samsung has slightly better viewing angles and a little more color saturation and contrast.
A little test I've been using for years to test viewing angles is about as basic as possible. I just open up an iTunes window and select the song list view. You'll see alternating bluish/gray stripes. The better the viewing angle of the display the more consistent the strips will be in color from the top to the bottom of the display. In this test the Samsung was more consistent than the LG. On the LG the bars start off gray at the top of the display and are faint gray at the bottom. This may be what some people perceive as a washed out display.
In side to side comparisons the colors do pop a little more on the Samsung. I didn't do any calibrations on the displays so it is possible that a good cal could help the LG with this aspect. I did cal my LG and it did look better than stock. No doubt most people probably wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between the two displays. Though when you put them side by side the differences are perceptible.
I just got home and booted up the new machine. It appears that I now have a Samsung display. As I saw at the store the Samsung display on the replacement machine is a little better than my previous machine. That's my $.02
duffyanneal - If you get minute, could you open this test image and let us know how it looks on a Samsung 13" display?
Scroll to the right and see if you see all the shades or some start blending on the high end...
Reds and Greens blend on the LG.
http://www.pbase.com/jackcnd/image/75285374/original
This sounds like a bad news to me. My LG panel with the same test in the link provided, Red and Green high end 4 bars looked like a 1 big chunk with the same color. Bah!No blending on my Samsung.
duffyanneal - If you get minute, could you open this test image and let us know how it looks on a Samsung 13" display?
Scroll to the right and see if you see all the shades or some start blending on the high end...
Reds and Greens blend on the LG.
http://www.pbase.com/jackcnd/image/75285374/original
This sounds like a bad news to me. My LG panel with the same test in the link provided, Red and Green high end 4 bars looked like a 1 big chunk with the same color. Bah!![]()
RobNor and others...Could you try looking to these test images on and comment include what display you have?
Scales, Grey, RGB
http://www.pbase.com/jackcnd/image/75285375/original
Scroll right and left to see the entire image.
Look for the ability to see all the shades at least from 16-248.
Often shades in certain colors will will clip at the high end,
start looking the same, or crush at the low end.
I notice RED and GREEN clips early on the 13" LG,
this can be corrected often by calibrating the display but
usually at the expense of perceived contrast which
seems already low on the LG.
Gamma 2.2
(* must be viewed at 100%, click original under the image as needed)
http://www.pbase.com/jackcnd/image/94930126/original
Tilt the display back and forth watch for how quickly the shades change.
Ideally you want the inner rectangles to blend in with the surrounding grey background
and at best it should be consistant as you tilt the display or move your head around.
On my LG 13 the viewing angle is very narrow.
On my 13 my screen obviously needs to be at the right angle for everything to work. If I tilt my screen forward or backwards I can tell the difference.On my LG 13 the viewing angle is very narrow.
I hope you're correct about it. It seems like having red and green clipped early seems to explain the slightly warmer tone/lacking saturation on the LG as other owner described?That type of issue is exactly what hardware calibration will fix. A lot of the issues with these displays is the poor Apple default calibrations.
On the first test I can see down to 16 on all bars on the LG (2011 13"),on the grey scale ones I can see the bar below 16.I can only see down to the bar one above 16 on the 2010 Samsung.I do not notice any clipping at the other end of the scale on either the LG or Samsung screens
On the second test both screens have similar narrow viewing angles
Thanks for testing, that's all I needed, trip to Apple Store coming ...
Unless someone posts a corrected LG color profile.
I tried the OSX calibrate without success.
I hope you're correct about it. It seems like having red and green clipped early seems to explain the slightly warmer tone/lacking saturation on the LG as other owner described?
Seems like Samsung panel on the 2010 MBA 13" suffer the same tilting=color distortion too.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1191123/
If it's just purely calibration issue I guess I'm ok with it. I'm no photographer anyway, and I don't think I'm needing all those color accuracy. I think I'm now suffering some kind of your-d!ck-is-bigger-than-mine syndrome or something.![]()
That type of issue is exactly what hardware calibration will fix. A lot of the issues with these displays is the poor Apple default calibrations.
How can I calibrate for free?
It happen on my 2010 MBA 13" LG panel but not as bad as yours that you can actually take a photo to show the problem, if anything, slight tilt of the screen further back and the shadow is gone. Tried to make my eye level/angle the same as how you took the photo, and was having hard time to see the effect from side. I did play around with the screen angle and only appear at some angle that will never work during regular use.You might want to take a look at what I've noticed here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1195183/
I can't see this on my 2011 13" with LG displayYou might want to take a look at what I've noticed here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1195183/
This sounds like a bad news to me. My LG panel with the same test in the link provided, Red and Green high end 4 bars looked like a 1 big chunk with the same color. Bah!![]()
13 inch LG screen here. The highest 4 bars on mine blend too for Red.
Green is a little better; the top 3 bars blend.
But still, if Samsung displays that much better with no blending, this is unacceptable.. We paid good money. I would bet the LG screens were cheaper to produce than the Samsung screens....
I went to the Apple Store today and checked all the MBAs on display. All were Samsung. The one I bought from the same Apple Store was an LG. It could be coincidence but maybe Apple is only putting the Samsung screens on display.