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Zillicah

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 12, 2009
74
0
How much better is the new 13inch macbook pro screen compared to the aluminum macbook 13 inch screen? Is it a huge difference or what..?
 
Opinions on the board range from "the greatest screen upgrade of modern times" to "its about the same."

I wish you luck in your quest for answers. As a tech tard, I am of no help.
 
If you got the early released aluminum Macbook you will notice a very big difference. They did a silent update on the more recently released ones though. You would have to check the model number.
 
I agree that the screen difference is night and day. I do not believe that you can see it in the apple stores as much, but the closest thing you can do is to hurry up and go now to the stores where they likely haven't changed the display models yet. Check out that and the macbook air screens and you will have an idea.

But it's the dark scenes and videos and viewing angles that will most dramatically bring out the differences.
 
I agree that the screen difference is night and day. I do not believe that you can see it in the apple stores as much, but the closest thing you can do is to hurry up and go now to the stores where they likely haven't changed the display models yet. Check out that and the macbook air screens and you will have an idea.

But it's the dark scenes and videos and viewing angles that will most dramatically bring out the differences.


I must disagree.

EVERY review I've read so far has stated that the Pro 13inch screen is VASTLY superior to the Oct 08 MacBook 13inch unibody (non-pro).

Exaggerated.

If you look at the new MacBook Pro screen, there's something about it that's almost "contrived".

1) The colours pop, but it's an imbalanced pop. The greens and yellows look awesome, until you start to look at photos and websites, they look too "fluorescent". So fluoro that they look unrealistic. As a prime example, you go to the Apple webpage to view the iPod nanos, and the first thing I thought was, they don't look like that in real life! The blue one especially looked way too light. But on my unibody 13inch it looks closer to the real thing. Actually on my one the colours look just right.

On the pro I tried meddling with the colour settings but no do. Maybe it's my eyes.

2) I notice the screen brightness is different on the pro and non-pro. Eg, when you decrease brightness on the Pro, it decreases quite significantly on every bar. By the time you get to the bar just under half-way, the screen is really dark. By the 2nd last bar, the screen is so dark you can hardly see anything. On my macbook it's more gradual. At the same half-way mark the screen is still comfortable, and at the 2nd last bar it has decreased sufficiently, but not blackish like the Pros. And they were observed under the same white fluroscent ceiling lights. I prefer the non-pro because it makes each graduation, especially at the upper end, still useful. With the pro, it seemed like I would never use the settings half-way below, because the screen is way too dark?

3) There seems to be a lot more "blurring" with screen fonts. They don't look as sharp as on the non-pro?

4) I'll admit, the good things about this screen are the blacks, they are slightly blacker than the non-pro, but not starkly different at all, and the vertical viewing angle is improved. But that's nothing a bit of physical screen adjustment can't fix.

That's my 2 cents. Please don't get me wrong, this is not buyer's envy (or whatever they call it), cos I can swap to the Pro easily if I wanted to (which was my intention when they first came out!) but of course, I did further investigation.

The SD slot I'm not too fussed about. Being a non-frequent user, happy to use a USB adapter. And as for battery, there is one GREAT advantage having a swappable model - if you go camping or travelling or backpacking or out doing community work, etc and there may be long distances between powerpoints, you can double battery life by having a spare in your bag. Sure, minor inconvenience having to power off, but that's minor compared to running out of battery with no spare. I think this is a good consideration for those who travel a lot.

I suggest you guys really deep on this issues go check out the new pros yourself. It may all be subjective.
 
I am coming from 2007 White MB to Base model 13inch UMBP, I would say This the best screen I ever seen, the colors are very rich and blacks are blacks.
 
I must disagree.

EVERY review I've read so far has stated that the Pro 13inch screen is VASTLY superior to the Oct 08 MacBook 13inch unibody (non-pro).

Exaggerated.

If you look at the new MacBook Pro screen, there's something about it that's almost "contrived".

1) The colours pop, but it's an imbalanced pop. The greens and yellows look awesome, until you start to look at photos and websites, they look too "fluorescent". So fluoro that they look unrealistic. As a prime example, you go to the Apple webpage to view the iPod nanos, and the first thing I thought was, they don't look like that in real life! The blue one especially looked way too light. But on my unibody 13inch it looks closer to the real thing. Actually on my one the colours look just right.

On the pro I tried meddling with the colour settings but no do. Maybe it's my eyes.

2) I notice the screen brightness is different on the pro and non-pro. Eg, when you decrease brightness on the Pro, it decreases quite significantly on every bar. By the time you get to the bar just under half-way, the screen is really dark. By the 2nd last bar, the screen is so dark you can hardly see anything. On my macbook it's more gradual. At the same half-way mark the screen is still comfortable, and at the 2nd last bar it has decreased sufficiently, but not blackish like the Pros. And they were observed under the same white fluroscent ceiling lights. I prefer the non-pro because it makes each graduation, especially at the upper end, still useful. With the pro, it seemed like I would never use the settings half-way below, because the screen is way too dark?

3) There seems to be a lot more "blurring" with screen fonts. They don't look as sharp as on the non-pro?

4) I'll admit, the good things about this screen are the blacks, they are slightly blacker than the non-pro, but not starkly different at all, and the vertical viewing angle is improved. But that's nothing a bit of physical screen adjustment can't fix.

That's my 2 cents. Please don't get me wrong, this is not buyer's envy (or whatever they call it), cos I can swap to the Pro easily if I wanted to (which was my intention when they first came out!) but of course, I did further investigation.

The SD slot I'm not too fussed about. Being a non-frequent user, happy to use a USB adapter. And as for battery, there is one GREAT advantage having a swappable model - if you go camping or travelling or backpacking or out doing community work, etc and there may be long distances between powerpoints, you can double battery life by having a spare in your bag. Sure, minor inconvenience having to power off, but that's minor compared to running out of battery with no spare. I think this is a good consideration for those who travel a lot.

I suggest you guys really deep on this issues go check out the new pros yourself. It may all be subjective.

1.) Could not agree more.

2.) Prefer the Pro on this one.

3.) Not sure about this one.

4.) The blacks may not be much darker but they are significantly darker.

I bought my uMB 13" four days before they released the MBP 13" so I managed to "upgrade". I regret doing this though.

I've numbed my vision sort to speak in terms of ignoring the funky colors but one thing which bugs me to no relief is the Japan OS X wallpaper. The house looks absolutely ridiculous. It's like neon orange and super light brown in certain areas.
 
I owned a 13" uMB for a couple weeks before exchanging for the current 13" uMBP and the difference was NON EXISTANT. I'm telling you there wasn't a damn bit of difference, but thats not the reason I upgraded.

both have wonderful screens from what ive experienced. I bought the 13" uMB in may.....
 
Problems with colours too

I'm also very disappointed with the colours of my new macbook pro screen. Some colours are indeed looking fluorescent (orange, yellow). Almost need my sun glasses for it ;-). Strange thing is that if you configure the calibration and set it to the 2,2 gamma (television, pc), colours look more realistic.

Does anyone share this experience?
 
I'm also very disappointed with the colours of my new macbook pro screen. Some colours are indeed looking fluorescent (orange, yellow). Almost need my sun glasses for it ;-). Strange thing is that if you configure the calibration and set it to the 2,2 gamma (television, pc), colours look more realistic.

Does anyone share this experience?
I just bought a 13" Macbook Pro and I agree the colors look too fluorescent. Its the blue/purple-ish that looks weird to me. Almost as if you were under a UV light. The typical blue see often on websites and in finder looks more fluorescent purple to me.

I tried calibrating but that didn't seem to resolve it. I'm impressed with the flexibility of the calibration. It seems that Apple should be able to come out with a profile which corrects it. I hope they do.
 
I have one of the uMB's that were "silently" updated in April/May and it has the 9CA5 screen that I absolutely love. The colors and blacks etc. look great.

Then I got a 13" uMBP 2.26GHz and besides the super annoying Firmware 1.7 issue (beach balls, computer freezes etc.) I too noticed immediately the "fluorescent" looking colors and especially of note was the blue/purple and yellow/orange. So IMHO the screen was inferior to my uMB 2.4GHz. Needless to say with the combination of the firmware 1.7 issue I got rid of the uMBP 13".
 
Then I got a 13" uMBP 2.26GHz and besides the super annoying Firmware 1.7 issue (beach balls, computer freezes etc.) I too noticed immediately the "fluorescent" looking colors and especially of note was the blue/purple and yellow/orange. So IMHO the screen was inferior to my uMB 2.4GHz. Needless to say with the combination of the firmware 1.7 issue I got rid of the uMBP 13".

What firmware issues?
 
Well, I had the Unibody 13 (non-pro) and it just didn't cut it for videos-no way

the new one shows video fine.

As for the difference between the ( 'upgraded screen' non-pro 13") screen who knows, as to try to get one of these by carefully checking dates ,etc, would be sort of excessive I think (exactly the sort of thing that forum members would do i'm sure) :D
 
I wouldn't even spit in the direction of the previous unibody Macbook. The display on it was one of the worst I've seen. Just looked at the new one in the store today and it was miles better, especially when it comes to viewing angles. On the new one I felt I didn't have to constantly try to find a position where it shows colors correctly. It's still a 6-bit TN panel so colors will be a bit rubbish compared to what I'm used to (30" H-IPS display) but I didn't find them offensive and any color problems should be easily sorted out with a calibration.
 
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