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Just curious, does my rMBP suffer from the yellow hue?

DVNIEL

DVNIEL

Cancelled
Original poster
Oct 28, 2003
949
579
I just got my rMBP yesterday and think this machine is seriously amazing. I've been reading all the articles and obviously can't help but notice the complaints of the screen. I saw someone here do a white screen comparison of their rMBP and an iPhone.

So tell me, was I unfortunate and got one of the yellowed screens?
 

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I don't believe so. From what I understand, the yellow cast affects parts of the screen, not the entire thing, and your screen's white looks pretty even (though it's hard to tell from a picture, you'll have to judge yourself).

It just looks like your MBP's screen has a warmer color temperature than your iPhone's. iPhones and smart phones in general tend to have cooler color temperatures (also called white point), so it's typical for phone screens' whites to look a bit bluer. Your MBP's white is probably closer to actual white than your phone's.
 
If you want you can calibrate your screen to a cooler temperature if you want. My rmbp came with a warmer temp than i'm used to so i changed it to a bit more cooler color temperature
 
sinc26 said:
Your MBP's white is probably closer to actual white than your phone's.
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I would second that, although there technically isn't such a thing as actual white. Actual white is always a bit of preference and a matter of definition. My old 2010 MBP was way too blue in standard. My new rMBP is almost exactly where my 2010 ended up with a new color profile which I used for all the time I had it.
As longs as it is uniform there is nothing wrong with the screen.

You can calibrate the white point to where you need it. I think warmer is always better for the eyes if you work late. Colder usually is preferred by many consumers because it appears a little brighter and more contrasty from afar. That is why most displays are per default way too cold.
If you do photowork calibrate to 6500k. Though sometimes it eludes me what is the point of working with a calibrated screen when most people that view your work, view it on too cold badly calibrated screens. You'd probably want something close to what your customers end up having, too warm is probably not ideal.
 
Baadshah said:
what is the fiftth letter in your serial no?
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That would be "Q"



Thanks for everyone's feedback! I think I'll go on with calibrating my screen to just go slightly colder.
 
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These threads sadden me. A few people with legitimate problems a bunch of other alarmists make people like the OP start hunting for problems when they were previously happy with their machines.
 
Take your Retina MacBook Pro in to an Apple store, set it beside an in-store unit, and take a picture. I predict yours will look noticeably yellow by comparison.
 
john123 said:
What's the point?
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I presume that the OP may not have seen one of the good Retina screens. The OP might think their screen is normal. Most of the in-store displays I have seen are not yellowed. This could not be globally true of course but it's the best test I can come up with to determine whether or not a display is tinted. If the OP prefers their yellow-tinted display after comparing it to an in-store display then fine, I don't care. I performed the same test. One of these displays is mine. Whatever someone might say about these two displays qualitatively one thing is for sure: there is a lot of disparity of colour in the displays that Apple sells. The OP asked if their display was yellow. Based on the photograph posted and based on my own experience and based on the test that I propose my answer is yes, it's yellow tinted. That's the point.

IMG_2032.jpg
 
Shmanky said:
I presume that the OP may not have seen one of the good Retina screens. The OP might think their screen is normal. Most of the in-store displays I have seen are not yellowed. This could not be globally true of course but it's the best test I can come up with to determine whether or not a display is tinted. If the OP prefers their yellow-tinted display after comparing it to an in-store display then fine, I don't care. I performed the same test. One of these displays is mine. Whatever someone might say about these two displays qualitatively one thing is for sure: there is a lot of disparity of colour in the displays that Apple sells. The OP asked if their display was yellow. Based on the photograph posted and based on my own experience and based on the test that I propose my answer is yes, it's yellow tinted. That's the point.

Image
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It takes time, effort, and inconvenience to do the tests you suggest. If the display the OP received is satisfying his needs and doesn't seem yellowish to him, I still fail to see the point.
 
john123 said:
It takes time, effort, and inconvenience to do the tests you suggest. If the display the OP received is satisfying his needs and doesn't seem yellowish to him, I still fail to see the point.
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The point is that I offered the OP an objective test. I attempted to answer the OP's question. That's the point.
 
Shmanky said:
The point is that I offered the OP an objective test. I attempted to answer the OP's question. That's the point.
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I'd argue that you contributed to a culture around here where problems are being created and manufactured, a phenomenon which distracts from finding solutions to real problems—and that is the answer to my rhetorical question about what the point is.
 
john123 said:
I'd argue that you contributed to a culture around here where problems are being created and manufactured, a phenomenon which distracts from finding solutions to real problems—and that is the answer to my rhetorical question about what the point is.
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No, I proposed an objective test to determine if the problem is real or manufactured. I've owned 3 yellow-tinted displays. It's the poor-quality displays that distracts from doing actual work. These horrible displays impair my ability to do my professional work which is why I'm forced to come here in search of answers. You're hindering that.
 
Shmanky said:
I presume that the OP may not have seen one of the good Retina screens. The OP might think their screen is normal. Most of the in-store displays I have seen are not yellowed. This could not be globally true of course but it's the best test I can come up with to determine whether or not a display is tinted. If the OP prefers their yellow-tinted display after comparing it to an in-store display then fine, I don't care. I performed the same test. One of these displays is mine. Whatever someone might say about these two displays qualitatively one thing is for sure: there is a lot of disparity of colour in the displays that Apple sells. The OP asked if their display was yellow. Based on the photograph posted and based on my own experience and based on the test that I propose my answer is yes, it's yellow tinted. That's the point.
Click to expand...

The problem with calling that objective is that it doesn't really constitute a reference grade target. An iphone isn't exactly a neutral reference.
 
thekev said:
The problem with calling that objective is that it doesn't really constitute a reference grade target. An iphone isn't exactly a neutral reference.
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I proposed an opportunity for the OP to compare their display with the same category of display and not their iPhone or display on another computer but to compare their display with a computer of the same model.
 
Shmanky said:
I proposed an opportunity for the OP to compare their display with the same category of display and not their iPhone or display on another computer but to compare their display with a computer of the same model.
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I know that. I'm just trying to tell you even that can be misleading. LCD panels vary. Like I mentioned, they aren't exactly reference grade devices. One can vary compared to the next, and if they're close, it's not necessarily a good idea to try to determine which is marginally better. If the OP is able to borrow a colorimeter, at native color temperature, it should measure pretty close to D65 maximum white.
 
thekev said:
I know that. I'm just trying to tell you even that can be misleading. LCD panels vary. Like I mentioned, they aren't exactly reference grade devices. One can vary compared to the next, and if they're close, it's not necessarily a good idea to try to determine which is marginally better. If the OP is able to borrow a colorimeter, at native color temperature, it should measure pretty close to D65 maximum white.
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But it's not going to marginally different, it's going to be distinctly different between a good Retina display and a yellowed display. Here's another shot with a different yellowed display I got. I also have a Spyder4Elite but its measuring tools are technical and if it's your first time measuring a display's characteristics you also have no basis to conclude whether or not the values reported are typical or not. And as we've decided in other threads, the problem isn't necessarily that the display is yellow tinted, but rather that the display is uneven. So if you tried to measure or calibrate your display you might get it calibrated or measured at 6500 in one area but since the display is uneven it will still appear yellow overall across the display as other regions show a different colour temperature.

Are you going to tell me the difference between the two displays in this photograph is marginal?

IMG_2088.jpg
 
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Shmanky said:
So if you tried to measure or calibrate your display you might get it calibrated or measured at 6500 in one area but since the display is uneven it will still appear yellow overall across the display as other regions show a different colour temperature.
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Uniformity is a separate issue. With an appropriate colorimeter, measured at native, it shouldn't be terribly far off. I mean colorimeters are not perfect, but they shouldn't be way far off, assuming a model from the last couple years like your own. Some of the old ones were not properly equipped to deal with LED backlights. Of course they can be tuned further via the use of custom hardware, but it shouldn't be way off. If I measure my cMBP, it's much colder. In terms of uniformity, the standard method is to run calibration software in the center of the display. If it's not visually lacking in uniformity, it shouldn't be that far off. Note that I said native, not tell it to aim for D65 via the rudimentary methods of adjustment available there. With a notebook display, I typically rely on calibration/profiling software to provide a better gamut description of that unit more than anything.
 
Shmanky said:
What colour temperature is reported for your older MacBook Pro?
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i1 profiler native closer to 8000. It's probably a little off in the software, but the older LED backlights really are very cold.
 
Shmanky said:
No, I proposed an objective test to determine if the problem is real or manufactured. I've owned 3 yellow-tinted displays. It's the poor-quality displays that distracts from doing actual work. These horrible displays impair my ability to do my professional work which is why I'm forced to come here in search of answers. You're hindering that.
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You, hopefully, thought you had a problem by looking at it (rather than rampant paranoia and OCD behavior). You tested it.

That is NOT the OP's situation. He has no reason to believe he has a problem other than the complaints of the people here. If he was fine and unhindered before, all you've done by encouraging this nonsense is created a problem.

My discouragement of casual users from getting their panties I'm a was in no way "hinders" your work. It might hinder your alarmist crusade, but I can live with that.
 
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