You messed something up. 50% on MBA equals 70% on MBP? It should be the other way around to make sense.
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Macbook air 2018 screen brightness
- Thread starter SoApple
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Yeah, I know that sounds strange, and I pulled out both my laptops again to make sure I wasn't reversing the percentages after I posted it. It's strange because the jump from about 70-75% on the MBP is huge, and suddenly the MBA looks very dim at 50% compared to the MBP. 70% is comfortable for me, but 75% would be too bright. And the jump from 75-80% is even brighter. It's as if the MBP gets brighter exponentially...I don't have any stats to back this up, they're just my perceptions. Maybe the brightness is spread differently across the MBA, such that even though it's dimmer than the MBP nit-wise, the light is distributed in a way that makes the display seem brighter than it actually is. There is a disclaimer to this, though, as I'm the weirdo around here who enjoys using the MBA at 50% brightness or below, and am known to "love dull images."
I actually find myself using just a little above 50% on average lighting, like Starbucks.
That seems reasonable--I suspect something is wrong with my MBP. The battery is truly horrible compared to what others have been saying, and my keyboard is broken so I'm having it shipping to Apple soon. Who knows if I got a faulty display as well--I bought the 2018 MBP on release day and maybe it was part of a bad batch. The keyboard replacement gets me a new battery...maybe it'll some how fix the display, too, if there was anything wrong with it.
I think the colours/contrast being worse in addition to the max brightness, is the real issue.
It is actually a downgrade to the 12” MacBook - which to me is a strange decision by Apple. I mean it wouldn’t have even been worth it for whatever battery gains they were looking to achieve, so it appears to be a cost decision.
We have 4K/15W CPU 13” on the markets which are managing decent battery run, surely Apple could have at least put the same screen as the 12” MacBook?
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Apple these days is just about crazy profits. They will sell a match, add a useless and cheap feature to it to justify a $100 price. The days of passion at Apple are gone for now.
Maybe Apples thinking is that the Air is for the average consumer and students, they are less likely to notice and or need the display of the MacBook Pro? As for the MacBook Pro it’s aimed at people who do video and photo editing so they will need the better display. Not sure it’s just a guess on my part.
Which is fine if you compare to the MacBook Pro, but why does it has to be inferior to the 12" MacBook - makes no sense to me (and it is clearly worse than the 12" from my observations, not one of those spot the difference challenges).
I have no idea, I didn’t even know that it was worse than the 12” MacBook I would of thought better not worse.
The 12" MacBook has both better contrast/colours and is brighter (despite both rated at 300 nits and the same colourspace).
Very odd, it’s probably difficult for me to tell the difference because I’ve been using the 2012 iMac and 2011 MacBook Pro (before it died on me late last year) both of which are none retina. That probably makes the MacBook Air look good to my eyes? Although I do own and use the 2017 iPad Pro and that is retina
I noticed this in the Apple store, I saw the MacBook side by side with the 2018 Air. Very slight difference. I also saw the 2018 Air side by side with the 13in MB Pro which is a bigger difference but that is to be expected. At that point it is also better than the 12in MacBook.
All in all it is making think the MacBook is a great machine but I should probably grab the 2018. Seems like a big of a stronger machine even though it has less memory.
Do the fans come on often on the Air 2018? The MacBook 12inch will never have that problem.
I just want to make sure which ever model I stick with that I am happy with it for a couple years down the road and I definitely don't want dull screen or a memory issue.
[doublepost=1548731156][/doublepost]Which I really want to like the air and give it a shot because it is a $100 cheaper has the latest features.
But the 3 things in order that are pushing me toward the 12 inch MB is the 1) Screen quality/brightness. 2) 128gb Memory 3) Fan
3 is almost a non factor but the extra $100 is worth the difference for the memory but I may never use it so that boils down to an extra $100 for a better screen which is worth it.
Yep, the only other time I ever heard the fan on my older Air was if a website was using Flash.
They have to be. They're a publicly traded company. Keeping their stockholders happy is what high profits do.
Same happens on my 15" MBP with more powerful processor, more cores, more memory, more x-y-z. Hardly shocking it happens on the MBA.
Technology gets cheaper every year, but not for Apple. Their upgrades would be cheaper each year if they kept their margins the same.
Yeah, that comment was right after I got my new Air. Turns out I had to return/exchange it as it developed a hardware issue and I opted not to repair it. As soon as I set up the new one I could see the screen was much dimmer than the one I returned. I'm so bummed. Not sure what to do. Do I keep it and learn to squint or do I return it for a comparable Pro model. I'm so aggravated.
So two days ago I went back to the Apple Store and returned the #2 2018 MBA. I did check out the Pro and of course for a bit more money I would have a brighter screen and more computer. They happened to have another MBA with the same configuration as the first 2 Airs so I opted to do another exchange. I figured if this one was also a dud, then I'd just go back and buy the Pro.
As it turned out #3 was just like #1 in terms of screen brightness. Obviously, it's not like the Pro, but it isn't dim and washed out like #2 was. So as long as this one has no other issues I'm pleased. I only wish I had taken a good screenshot of all three to show you how different they were. I had to have the brightness slider almost all the way right on #2 so that I could read my screen comfortably. And it still seemed dim. #1 and #3 I have the slider just a teeny touch over half way. That's a pretty significant difference.
I’ve heard too many people saying the screen differs between the units. Pathetic for a $1200 device. Mine is fine luckily, inside the room I can easily use brightness set to a half of a scale. Maybe batteries are unequal too, because mine is 6h and some people feel surprised.
I use 3 macbooks at the moment, and I'd be happier if I could get a brighter screen on my 2017 12" i7 mb. I also use a 2018 13" mbpro, and a 2017 15" mbpro, and those two mbpros are so much brighter than my 12". This is very, very noticeable to me.
This is very important to me when working near a window, or outside, or in a bright environment. My IDE for developing software are always dark-themed and so the brightness really matters to me.
I checked the specs on the MBA 2018 and when I saw the max brightness on the screen (300 nits), I quickly lost interest.
This is very important to me when working near a window, or outside, or in a bright environment. My IDE for developing software are always dark-themed and so the brightness really matters to me.
I checked the specs on the MBA 2018 and when I saw the max brightness on the screen (300 nits), I quickly lost interest.
This one is better than just "OK", granted it's not the Pro screen but as long as it doesn't develop what they called a Hardware Issue which started this whole exchange frenzy then I'm happy. I was very happy with the first computer.