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Is your older machine running Leopard? Because if it is then that could be a gamma difference between Leopard(1.8) and Snow Leopard(2.2).
 
I know - I own a 5080 Kuro and appreciate dark, inky blacks. But not if they come at the expense of muted brightness (i.e., good black levels because of a high quality panel vs. good black levels as a result of a dim backlighting system).

On a related note, I went through 4 MBPs trying to find a panel without excessive bleeding, poor black levels, or dead/stuck pixels and was unsuccesful. The Apple panel lottery can be be very annoying.

And I own a Samsung B8500 with great black levels, but still a rich, contrasty picture. I hope this report is isolated. :)

How did you go "through 4 MBPs" without incurring a restocking fee? Or did you exchange them as defective? Was that the new MBP that was so flawed? :rolleyes:
 
If these darker screens are really true that sucks.
What is the point of an 10h battery life 13" notebook (with this being the only useful feature in this refresh) if the screen is too dark.
They should have a max brightness like Lenovo on the high nit panels. 400+
Lenovo Panels suck in Contrast and everything but if you sit outside on a sunnyday away from any plug. All you need is brightness.

If they got these 10h by reducing display brightness that really sucks. I will get an old 15" refurbished.
 
Here we go with the screens again. Will have to wait for someone to do a review with a light meter to seem how bright it really is. Although there have been ZERO advancements in battery technology so the only way to give more usage time is bigger battery or "enhancements" like screen darkening.

What is the size of the battery on your new Macbook Pro?
 
And I own a Samsung B8500 with great black levels, but still a rich, contrasty picture. I hope this report is isolated. :)

How did you go "through 4 MBPs" without incurring a restocking fee? Or did you exchange them as defective? Was that the new MBP that was so flawed? :rolleyes:

There are no restocking fees for exchanges. I put a lot of $ through my local Apple dealer on behalf of my business so the manager treats me right. These were not minor quibbles (the owner suspected a bad batch of panels - he sent others back as well) but, regardless, I never accept sub-par equipment at the premiums Apple demands. Nor should you.

The panel issues were related to the previous generation (i.e., pre-April 2010 release).
 
Ok so I went to the Apple store to exchange the laptop, they exchanged no problem but it has the same issue.
After comparing both computers side by side I have noticed that the new screen has a reddish hue to it (which I hate), it is not as bright and the colors are more dull. My 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro compared with my 27" iMac and the new i5 MacBook Pro, I find that the 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro's screen looks almost as good as the 27" iMac (in terms of brightness and color).
So I did not have a defective machine, I can honestly say that the panel they are using is somewhat inferior than the previous revision.
 
I got a new 15 inch mbp with 9CA4 it looks much dimmer at half brightness than my last gen mbp. it looks good at full brightness but bad at half brightness.
 
Yup, I totally agree that 10 hours is unrealistic. I would say that any increases in battery life are not software, but just due to the size of the battery pack.

If they lowered the max brightness of the screen, that's one way to increase run times. The chips don't use any less power this generation, and the integrated graphics isn't all that different in terms of power consumption.

Anecdotally, I tested a 9400m 15" mbp 2009 surfing the web like normal at full brightness and got 4:00. On a mbp 2008 penryn I would have gotten about 3:20. It's inline with expectations. Just don't expect miracles.
 
Ok so I went to the Apple store to exchange the laptop, they exchanged no problem but it has the same issue.
After comparing both computers side by side I have noticed that the new screen has a reddish hue to it (which I hate), it is not as bright and the colors are more dull. My 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro compared with my 27" iMac and the new i5 MacBook Pro, I find that the 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro's screen looks almost as good as the 27" iMac (in terms of brightness and color).
So I did not have a defective machine, I can honestly say that the panel they are using is somewhat inferior than the previous revision.

+1

The 9CB7 on my new AG Hires 6,2 is as bright as hell, but the "wrong" color after calibration (see my other long and boring threads about this) versus the 9C85 on my 5,1 unibody. It is slightly "red" (actually, I'd say magenta) - most noticeable in the Facebook header and on hyperlinks.

Not a good screen, IMHO. Certainly not a patch on my last MBP.
 
Damn Im starting to think the same thing now, although I cant compare to my last one because I no longer own it.

grr.
 
my 15 is dim. went to the store to compare and they all seemed brighter so i checked them out and at the store they were all set the max brightness. do others have problems with the 15 on half brightness. for me at half brightness it looks like a powerbook from 5 years ago.

as others have said is this an attempt to extend battery life?

can someone tell me if the battery capacity increased on either the 15 or 17 this time.
 
I think you guys are being a bit picky. Half-brightness on this new i7 hi-res is is plenty compared to my old Thinkpad. Thinkpads have a reputation for having dim screens (bulb and LED), and taking a cue from when IBM ran things, Lenovo also artificially tones down screen brightness in software - much more so than Apple does.

The fact that "half-brightness" on these new screens is dimmer than the old MBP's is a moot point if they're just as bright on the max settings. Notebookcheck's light-gauged readings correlate with the last revision, give or take 10 or so cdm^2.

I don't see what the big fuss is and it certainly doesn't warrant exchanging the laptop 4 times. That seriously inflates the prices (which are already on the high-end) for the rest of us by doing that.

Just enjoy what you have because in the end, it's a laptop. What matters is what you do with it, rather than what it does.
 
The fact that "half-brightness" on these new screens is dimmer than the old MBP's is a moot point if they're just as bright on the max settings. Notebookcheck's light-gauged readings correlate with the last revision, give or take 10 or so cdm^2.

Except that Apple uses a host of different panels within each revision - we dont know if the Noteboochecks panel is the same as the one in *your* laptop...
 
When you say darker, do you mean the colors look duller?

If that is the case, I am with you.
I have just recently sold my 2009 white unibody Macbook and picked up a 2010 13" Macbook Pro. My first impression when I had first booted up the machine was that the colors of the icons on the dock appeared washed out or duller than what I had remembered.

I am not sure if this is a minor isolated case or if Apple has tweaked the brightness setting, as others have mentioned, to achieve the 10hr battery spec. However, I am pretty certain that 50% brightness on my 2009 looks much brighter and clearer than 50% brightness on my new 2010 Macbook.
 
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