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New Unibody Macbooks have better monitors?

C

Cali3350

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 16, 2009
249
0
Hey guys, deeply considering buying the new 2.0ghz Macbook from Apple in the next few days, but I have a question....

Are the laptop screens improved from previous generations? The white clamshell Macbooks had HORRIBLE laptop screens, some of the worst I've ever seen. Im really not interested in buying a laptop with a screen that I can't stand to look at. So, im looking for some user impressions of the laptop. Much better? Great viewing angles? Good brightness/contrast?

Thanks for the opinions guys!
 
Viewing angle is still quite...poor compared to the MBP's but the brightness is much better when compared to the white MacBooks. When I put the two side-by-side, it seemed that the fullest brightness on the white MB was just over half the brightness of the new MacBook.

Secondly, it's a glass, glossy screen. But now I'm used to it and I haven't seen any problems yet.

In conclusion, I found the new MacBook's screen to be much better than the old one's, but if gloss or viewing angle bothers you, then maybe its not better.
 
Cali3350 said:
Hey guys, deeply considering buying the new 2.0ghz Macbook from Apple in the next few days, but I have a question....

Are the laptop screens improved from previous generations? The white clamshell Macbooks had HORRIBLE laptop screens, some of the worst I've ever seen. Im really not interested in buying a laptop with a screen that I can't stand to look at. So, im looking for some user impressions of the laptop. Much better? Great viewing angles? Good brightness/contrast?

Thanks for the opinions guys!
Click to expand...

If your hope is to look at the monitor off-angle, then you'll be disappointed. If you look at it directly on, it has bright, beautiful, contrasty colors, and looks great.
 
I don't care too much about horizontal viewing angles, but vertical viewing angles are very important to me. There is nothing in this world more annoying then the top and bottom of a screen having different contract/brightness because of a poor panel.
 
I don't mind the screen. it is not the best, but i'm not that picky. if a small vertical viewing angle drives you nuts, the macbook screen will drive you nuts.
 
For a consumer MacBook, the screen is phenomenal. Compared to the MB Pro, you will notice some disparity. I calibrated my screen and it has made a big difference. Personally, I think that all of the extreme hatred of the screen is misplaced. It is a very good screen. I think that there could be a perception that for the price tag, the screen should be top of the line. That's just not the reality of Apple computers though.

Screen quality has always been one of the key differentiators between the consumer and professional Apple computer lines. With the Unibodies, it is one of the few differentiators left between the two. If you plan to do serious graphic design work, which the aluminum MB is quite capable of, I highly recommend an external monitor.
 
The unibody screen is nearly the same as the plasticbook screen except for a bit better brightness. Since you mentioned you are picky about vertical viewing angles you won't like this screen at all. There's no way to get the same black level across the entire screen even if you look at it dead on.

Bright primarily white web pages look amazing. Black, dark movies with shades and contrast look terrible. Side by side my MB screen looks terrible versus my MBA screen when watching movies. When web browsing you can't really tell the difference viewed dead on, but colors invert real fast on the MB with slight change in viewing angle compared to MBA.
 
tubbymac said:
The unibody screen is nearly the same as the plasticbook screen except for a bit better brightness. Since you mentioned you are picky about vertical viewing angles you won't like this screen at all. There's no way to get the same black level across the entire screen even if you look at it dead on.

Bright primarily white web pages look amazing. Black, dark movies with shades and contrast look terrible. Side by side my MB screen looks terrible versus my MBA screen when watching movies. When web browsing you can't really tell the difference viewed dead on, but colors invert real fast on the MB with slight change in viewing angle compared to MBA.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything except I think movies look great when viewed dead on (which is the only way I use my screen).
 
Hmm. Thanks guys.

Gotta admit, the fact the screen isnt uniform with a dead on view is a turn off.
 
Cali3350 said:
Hmm. Thanks guys.

Gotta admit, the fact the screen isnt uniform with a dead on view is a turn off.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's fair. Best thing you could possibly do is go take a look for yourself... some are better than others as well since there are 3 different screen manufacturers involved in making screens for the MacBook. They're quite good once calibrated as far as color, brightness and contrast go... just not quite a Pro.
 
The MacBook display quality varies -- Apple sources the panels from several suppliers, and while it's quite clear that some of them are crap, many of them are actually quite good.

The only (and I mean only) way to determine whether you'll be happy with the screen is to buy one and try it. You can read all the anecdotal evidence you'd like, but since there's no way to know what batch your [future MacBook's] screen will be from, reading a bunch of posts won't really mean much. Same goes for Gizmodo's review -- it looks like they got one of the bad panels in their MacBook, because mine certainly has a better viewing angle than that.
 
To be fair to Apple though, after I was unsatisfied with my Macbook screen I went around to various stores checking out other notebooks. With PC Windows machines I found it to be almost completely random on display quality. Some $300 netbooks had AMAZING (but tiny) screens and then some $500-1500 machines were just as bad as the Macbook with only a few random cheapo machines having really good displays. The $2000+ machines had good screens but then if you're spending that much might as well get a MBP or MBA.
 
I noticed a difference both in brightness and it seemed a good bit less washed out too.

Only from using my sisters though, and I haven't used the white book extensively either.
 
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