MacBook Pro Display Quality

[makemake]

I hate to say it but the screens in Apple's new 15" MacBook Pro suck.

I went through THREE 15" MacBook Pros last November/December. The panels on the 2016's were not uniform — not in brightness or in color. One side was pinkish the other side blueish. It also felt like the middle was brighter than the rest of the screen. Completely underwhelming and disappointing. I returned them all within the 14 days. My hope was that things would change with the updated models this past June, but alas, no such luck.

Check out the pics I took this evening at the Apple Store. Every model in the store is like this. I took these with my iPhone 7 and they are representative of what you see in person. Given my experience, more likely than not, you'll get a model with these characteristics. Blah.

I've read posters comment on how uniformity in IPS displays is an issue. Well not on mine, or the 2015 15" models I've seen both in the store and at work, by comparison to the new design with the P3 color gamut. The previous generation screen is more uniform and consistent across the display, with one caveat that some received panels that were too warm.

I observed that the new 13" MBP screens were better. I've been considering the 13-inch. It's more portable. But... I have a late 2013 15" MBP. My battery is healthy and everything works fine. I was itching to upgrade and for more memory too (only have 8GB) and quad-core to dual-core... Now I'm like "meh" not so much.

I've been toying with the idea of getting the 2015 15" MBP that Apple still sells. At least I'd be doubling my memory.

Hopefully Apple will adopt OLED displays sooner than later. It's rumored to be in the works. Maybe it'll come out this fall with a model that supports 32GB of RAM? The energy cost savings borne from OLED displays might offset the increased power consumption of DDR4 desktop-class memory. We'll see.

I like the new 15" design but I feel like its marque feature — the display — is such a compromise. 🙁

 

[JPizzzle]

I'm wondering how mine compares, as I really want to keep a 15" but don't want to exchange and get one with backlight bleed or worse issues. what do you guys think?

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

I'm wondering how mine compares, as I really want to keep a 15" but don't want to exchange and get one with backlight bleed or worse issues. what do you guys think?

Seems absolutely fine to me. Viewing from an angle will always shift the colours slightly, so observe it facing dead on (How you normally use a computer). If the colours seem a little off (Warm) then make sure you actually use the screen calibration tool and adjust it to how you think it should look.

I think a lot of people have become over-sensitive to this for some reason, and convinced themselves of issues through confirmation bias. I've seen people go through 10 MBPs to find the 'perfect' one, when in reality if you just use it as normal and adjust colours to suit your needs then it normally turns out to be just fine.

 

[JPizzzle]

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately my issue is an uneven tint, which can't be calibrated. Mine seems warmer on the left.

 

[makemake]

I think a lot of people have become over-sensitive to this for some reason, and convinced themselves of issues through confirmation bias. I've seen people go through 10 MBPs to find the 'perfect' one, when in reality if you just use it as normal and adjust colours to suit your needs then it normally turns out to be just fine.

Maybe. But you could have inverse confirmation bias: you're pretending the issue isn't there. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. Sure, some many not notice it (or they may notice it) and go about using it without fuss. However, when you don't see it so starkly in the previous generation's display, or on the iPad or iMac for that matter, it's frustrating. Any pro TV reviewer, like CNET's David Katzmaier, or the guys from rtings.com would point out the issue I'm talking about. Calibration would adjust the whole screen...but this issue is part of the screen is a different hue than the rest overall.

 

[itsamacthing]

First one was yellowish, second is nice... third is on the way now

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Maybe. But you could have inverse confirmation bias: you're pretending the issue isn't there. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. Sure, some many not notice it (or they may notice it) and go about using it without fuss. However, when you don't see it so starkly in the previous generation's display, or on the iPad or iMac for that matter, it's frustrating. Any pro TV reviewer, like CNET's David Katzmaier, or the guys from rtings.com would point out the issue I'm talking about. Calibration would adjust the whole screen...but this issue is part of the screen is a different hue than the rest overall.

That would be plausible had I any personal interest. I don't, so it's unlikely I would experience any bias on this matter.

I cannot see any difference in any of those images you posted. I used a colour meter on the screen and it could not see any perceivable difference in the images. For funsies I loaded up one into LightRoom to adjust the colours and try find anything, all I can see is the shadow of someone stood in-front of it taking a photo.

The only way to find any colour variation in the panel is to oversaturate it.

However this colour variation is largely derived from the room. With it being a reflective surface, around 15% of the light from the glass is going to be reflected back at you.

The only way to accurately test for colour variation across the panels. Is to go into a black room with matte walls and no light source other than the screen itself. I'm sure those pro TV reviewers would know this anyway, but the screens on a a monitor are different to a TV, cost significantly more, and are generally better. And again you need to look dead on because of the refractive nature of the glass, anything viewed from an angle will always shift the colour.

Reflection/refraction is the only way I can explain these as I have yet to see any that actually have a screen defect, you might have a red tint on one side, but may be sat next to a red curtain for instance.

There's a lot of variables, and the screen itself is far less likely to be the cause given the QC and expense that goes into manufacturing them.

 

[JPizzzle]

I could see that the left side is pinker without the over saturation. I don't like this super power
[doublepost=1501768195][/doublepost]Can anyone give some thoughts on mine. The color tint isn't as drastic as others. Trying to decide whether to keep or risk something worse

 

[xmonkey]

I could see that the left side is pinker without the over saturation. I don't like this super power
[doublepost=1501768195][/doublepost]Can anyone give some thoughts on mine. The color tint isn't as drastic as others. Trying to decide whether to keep or risk something worse

Yours looks good to me, I wouldn't try getting another.