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Fully agree! With a 7.25k white calibration the screen is absolutely usable for any office related work, including some light photo-editing.

Now, the real problem with the screen is not its characteristics, but rather the staingate - yes, it's here! - the antireflective coating started to peel out on my screen in the area of trackpad. Apparently, somehow the laptop was pushed in the backpack (although being very nice padded there) and buttons&trackpad touched the screen - so it seems that screen protector is a must. Very unfortunate as that would decrease the screen quality adding some graininess to it.
Antireflective coating is really gentle, what a shame for a £2k device.

Anyone else noticed marks/stains from the buttons/trackpad?
Ug. We shouldn’t need to use a screen protector to use a device as normal use. Shouldn’t need a defender case on a new iPad otherwise will bend in backpack either.
 
I returned mine due to the dim screen, my serial was C0.

Had -two- with C0 serials, both dim/low contrast/poor color that did not correct after reprofiling with an i1Disploy Pro.

If you're not doing color-critical work and don't work in direct light, it's probably fine. But it's almost as expensive as a MBP (and more expensive than a MB) with a display that isn't as good as either.
 
Can somebody go in to settings then display profile and choose Rec.ITU-R BT.709-5
When I compare to the standard profile, I think this one looks great...the black color is just great for my eyes and the standard profile looks washed out. Could anybody try this and tell me what you think?
 
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Can somebody go in to settings then display profile and choose Rec.ITU-R BT.709-5
When I compare to the standard profile, I think this one looks great...the black color is just great for my eyes and the standard profile looks washed out. Could anybody try this and tell me what you think?
Me, and I believe quite a few other folk, are using that profile. It is far better than the default.
 
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Today I was in a reseller store and when going from full dim to full bright, the screen gets brigther and britghter and then goes dimmer! So I think this is a software problem that they made it this dim to compy with the useful time battery wise.

I uploaded the video to youtube so you can see:

 
Can somebody go in to settings then display profile and choose Rec.ITU-R BT.709-5
When I compare to the standard profile, I think this one looks great...the black color is just great for my eyes and the standard profile looks washed out. Could anybody try this and tell me what you think?

this is dramatically better. Much less washed out. Might be a touch of black crush, any way to tweak?

Edit: So this profile definitely crushes black detail. I see no way to adjust gamma within the calibration menu, just tweak white point, am I missing some secret setting?
 
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Today I was in a reseller store and when going from full dim to full bright, the screen gets brigther and britghter and then goes dimmer! So I think this is a software problem that they made it this dim to compy with the useful time battery wise.

I uploaded the video to youtube so you can see:

Did it actually do that in person? Because mine certainly does not. It reaches max brightness and stays.

To me it just looked like your camera refocusing on the new brightness.
 
Did it actually do that in person? Because mine certainly does not. It reaches max brightness and stays.

To me it just looked like your camera refocusing on the new brightness.
Hi. No, it did that in person, thats why i recorded it! What i also realized is that in that shop they are using dark themes, and maybe it happens only in those?
 
Hi. No, it did that in person, thats why i recorded it! What i also realized is that in that shop they are using dark themes, and maybe it happens only in those?
I am also using the dark theme, and mine definitely does not do that. I just tried it again.
 
Just picked up a gold 8GB/256GB for my wife. Screen is plenty bright and looks great. Used the Rec 709 profile and adjusted white balance to about 7250. Looks great. My 15" MacBook Pro is brighter, but then again its a pro machine. She loves the machine. Its plenty fast enough for what she does. I actually really enjoyed setting it up. Hers is a C0 as well, and does not exhibit the weird behavior of above...
 
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Can somebody go in to settings then display profile and choose Rec.ITU-R BT.709-5
When I compare to the standard profile, I think this one looks great...the black color is just great for my eyes and the standard profile looks washed out. Could anybody try this and tell me what you think?

This seems a bit better to me. Thanks for the tip.

I bought the MBA 16/512 coming off of a 2013 11" MBA and a 2017 nTB Pro (work). The screen is noticeably dimmer though I'm going to give it a couple of weeks to see if it really matters. When you aren't on them side by side, it seems a lot brighter.
 
Anyone else noticed marks/stains from the buttons/trackpad?

Yes, unfortunately. I also had this with my 2012 MBA, and I have noticed it on my wife's 2016 13" MBP. Although the marks are faint, the keys and trackpad border definitely touch the screen, this is very disappointing for a machine that is supposed to have a top-notch build quality. I'm not seeing the ant-reflective coating detach, however.
 
I have no problem whatsoever with the screen on my new MBA 2018.
I checked the already installed calibrations, but ended up with an own calibration a bit less yellowish.
Works great for me. Seldom even use full brightness on it, 1 or 2 clicks down even.

Sorry, if you have problem with the screen in anyway. I surely don't.
I really like the retina. My last MBA didn't have that.
Love this machine.
But ok, I haven't had it outside yet. Too cold for it here now.
 
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I've had no brightness issues either. I also have an MBP, so I would expect to notice if there was a problem. I usually run my MBA a couple of notches below 100%.
 
The screen brightness is fine. 300 nits is brighter than pretty much all gaming laptops I've been speccing out for my next computer purchase. Never took my old 2013 MBP outdoors to use with any seriousness, not sure if the MBA is any brighter.
 
Yesterday I was in an Apple Store to buy a new phone for my wife and while waiting I took some time to look at the new MBA. Nice looking computer, and smaller than the older model. To be honest there were a lot of people in the store due to the holidays but not too many people looking at the laptops. Most were looking at watches or phones.

On the table where I was checking out the new MBA I noticed there was an old MBA to my right and a new MBP to my left. All 13" models. I took the opportunity to place them right next to each other, turned up the brightness to max on each unit, opened photos, and selected the same photo on all three in fullscreen and then stood back and looked at all three screens side by side.

I know this was not scientific and very subjective, but to be honest they all looked really good, even the older MBA with the silver bezels. The lighting inside the store was pretty bright and it was during the day. I looked at them each from a distance and up close with my nose almost against each machine. Attracted the attention of a few employees who just smiled and let me be.

Maybe it's just me, but they all looked pretty close to each other picture wise. Even the old MBA. Each had good detail, colors were pretty close to each other, and the brightness was fine. If I had to choose just one I would say that some colors looked better on the MBP, but if it was a blind test where you could just see the screens I would have a hard time telling the difference between the three.
 
Can somebody go in to settings then display profile and choose Rec.ITU-R BT.709-5
When I compare to the standard profile, I think this one looks great...the black color is just great for my eyes and the standard profile looks washed out. Could anybody try this and tell me what you think?

This one looks much better than the MBA.ICC one mention earlier in the thread. I noted in the picture I am using for my desktop background is that the reds were enhanced. Just not sure if the original scene was that way. But BT.709-5 looks good so far.
 
Return my macbook air 2018 because the brightness was very low for me...
I take the mpb tb 2018 instead
 
Ug. We shouldn’t need to use a screen protector to use a device as normal use. Shouldn’t need a defender case on a new iPad otherwise will bend in backpack either.

I avoid screen protectors on any Retinae models - reports of screen damage form these maybe modified now ?
 
Just returned my 2018 Air today. For the most part, I loved the computer, but the screen was just too dim and colors were very dull. Especially black, which was way too washed out, sometimes even brown looking. Mine was a C0 serial number, by the way. I may buy another one at some point, but gonna wait it out to see where this model goes in 2019. Ironically, I've also got a 2017 MBP nTB that I just bought from the Apple outlet store for another family member, and that screen is bright and colorful, just a joy to use. Maybe it's got a higher quality panel than the 2018 Air and that's what makes the difference. Who knows.
 
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