LG or Samsung for programming and writing

[curiousprgrmr]

I just bought a 2013 mba i5/8gb/256gb and got a LG screen. At first boot up, I was really disappointed with the washed out text but after using the MacRumor's calibration for LG, the display became much better.

However, I still find that the black on white texts lack contrasts and clarity, I like to use my laptop as far from the screen as I can, sitting straight up as I mainly use it for long hours of programming and writing. I got used to a 13.3 1366X768 for years, which I had no problem staring at for hours long since the writings were bigger everywhere (especially in chrome).

The mba's slightly higher res makes the texts smaller, I find myself leaning forward a lot and force my eyes in order to reading writings, especially, I have a very hard time reading the grey names of the tabs in Safari. I have a much easier time reading on a 13.3 Acer and 2010 mbp than this new mba.

I tried lots of calibration profiles but none could make the texts seemingly sharper. I also tried boosting the contrast in accessibilities settings, it made the texts clearer but other colours became weird. I recently brought the mba to my local Apple Store, in which all the demos 13' mba were Samsung, to compare them side by side. Indeed, the contrast on the Samsung makes the black texts darker, but other colours were less natural.

Should I return the mba, in hope of exchanging it for a Samsung display? Is there any other way to increase the darkness or size of texts? I need to use it asap. The mba will solely be used for programming and writing, no media of any sort or heavy graphics. Thanks

 

[hakr100]

Unfortunately, Apple has for years ignored the calls for resolution independence.

 

[irDigital0l]

Personally I dont think its worth the hassle.

Most people who dont check places like MacRumors won't even know about these.

 

[ra004e]

You're not alone, I had both LG and Samsung 11" and came to the same conclusion. It's a shame the LG was i7/8G/256 and Samsung i5/4G/128. I ended up keeping i5 as it had the Samsung. Mind you I have X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro and calibrated both. Even after calibration I still felt the LG had the contrast issue you describe. Not that the LG is bad at all, the color seemed better and vertical shift was much less noticeable, also colors remained neutral with shift as Samsung shifted to green. Other issue with Samsung is ( at least one I have ) calibration out of box is not bad a little shifted to red ( grey's that is ), the issue is after calibration when text is scrolling you can see a green glow around black text on a white background. LG did not have that issue. LG had less blacklight bleeding almost none. I think the LG is better panel all except contrast, which brings us back to op's original issue and why I kept Samsung. I spend most my time reading and coding, so the Samsung was the better choice for me despite flaws and having to settle for the lesser machine. Sorry to be so verbose. Hope any of this helped. Good luck. Wish we didn't have to play the panel lottery.