I have an early 2005 PowerBook G4, and I was wondering how the screen compares to that of the late 2005 PB, and the 2006 MacBook Pro. I've found conflicting reports online, some say the MacBook Pro screen is better, others say it's the same.
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PowerBook G4 screen vs early MacBook Pro
- Thread starter retta283
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I don't have an early 2005 to visually compare with, but I know from specs that the late 2005 PB screen is higher resolution. I currently also have a 17" 2006 Macbook Pro in my possession. That machine has a "glossy" screen whereas the screen on my PB is matte. Regardless of that, the MBP screen is brighter, seems like a brighter backlight. I've never been dissatisfied with the PB screen, but side by side, the MBP one does look better IMO.
As an owner of several of these Macs, I would say that even the original MacBook Pro 15" display is substantially brighter and more vibrant than any of the PowerBook G4 displays. The 2008 MacBook Pro 15" is another huge step up in brightness and vibrancy again due to the LED backlight vs the CCFL tube found in the earlier displays.
In terms of the PowerBook G4 15" early 2005 and late 2005 comparison, I actually prefer the image quality of the early 2005 "Low-res" (1280x854) display over the Late 2005 "Hi-Res" (1440x960) display. Sure, the resolution is higher, but Apple did something odd and chose a display panel which appears to be slightly "fuzzy" and not quite capable of displaying the full range of 24-bit "Millions of Colors" that the prior models did. I can swear I see dithering (noise) in action and for some reason, my memory tells me it might have been an 18-bit capable panel. I have several of the 15" DLSD PowerBook G4s and they all exhibit the same slightly less-appealing display quality.
Someone with more expertise on LCD panels could probably explain the difference, but my eyes prefer the earlier model G4 15".
In terms of clarity, brightness and vibrancy, the finest PowerPC portable display in my collection is the 17" Low-res (1440x900) panel. However, I don't have the 17" DLSD / Hi-Res model to compare it to and I am curious if anyone could put the four models side by side and identify the best looking display (bearing in mind they will all likely be suffering from worn out CCFL tubes by now).
EDIT: If you are finding your PowerBook display dull, consider changing out the backlight CCFL tube for a new one. Some time back I purchased a pack of 10x 327mm x 2mm CCFL tubes from a "party light supplier" on eBay for less than $20 out of China. The job has been on the back-burner for some time (I have tested they are suitable), but I plan to change out all of the faded 15.2" display backlights in my aging PowerBook G4 15" models (including the Titaniums) one day soon.
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If you want to do the comparison and have a low-res 17" PB to transplant it onto, I'd be glad to send you a 17" DLSD with good screen and dead lobo for shipping cost.
Been trying hard to find that machine a home since I really hate to scrap such a nice screen and many other good parts, but I'm gonna have to give up soon if I can't since having a disassembled, dead laptop laying around with no hope of fixing it is getting old. 
So true. The difference between a 2005 15” PowerBook and 2006 15” Core Duo MBP screen was incredible. One was like squinting at a matte painting whilst the other was like staring into the sun.
I can’t believe anybody would prefer the PowerBook screen. I haven’t used an earlier model than 2005 though.
The screen resolution of the last generation(DLSD) 15 and 17" PowerBooks is more or less the same.
I've found that DLSD PowerBook screens are often fairly dim even on max brightness-that is not the case on any of the MBPs I've used. Also, the 2007 and later 15" MBPs(3,1 and 4,1) all had LED backlighting, which makes them not only brighter but to my eye also gives better color fidelity and better contrast. I calibrate all of my displays that are actually in use-with a ColorMunki Smile on Intels and a Spyder Pro 2 on PPC, and even calibrated the LED backlit screens look better to me.
Put another way, given the choice for photo editing, I'll take an MBP 3,1 or 4,1 over a DLSD PowerBook any day, even putting the specs aside.
I've found that DLSD PowerBook screens are often fairly dim even on max brightness-that is not the case on any of the MBPs I've used. Also, the 2007 and later 15" MBPs(3,1 and 4,1) all had LED backlighting, which makes them not only brighter but to my eye also gives better color fidelity and better contrast. I calibrate all of my displays that are actually in use-with a ColorMunki Smile on Intels and a Spyder Pro 2 on PPC, and even calibrated the LED backlit screens look better to me.
Put another way, given the choice for photo editing, I'll take an MBP 3,1 or 4,1 over a DLSD PowerBook any day, even putting the specs aside.
Just out of curiosity, I'm aware that the 17" DLSD and MBP screens are interchangable. Anyone know if that is the case with any of the 15" MBP's?
The 15" is a different aspect ratio so no it isn't. It's also worth noting with the 17" that the later SLSD (2005) G4s are also interchangeable with the MBP. The early 1GHz model is different though.
Good to know! Thanks for the info! I didn't realize the 15" MBP was a different aspect ratio. Never had one, and thought they looked the same in pictures.
It's due to the larger bezels, they made them larger to add the iSight camera.
[doublepost=1547588992][/doublepost]I'm thinking a mid 2007 MBP now, since it has a LED screen.
The Early 2008 MacBookPro4,1 is the best IMO, just be aware that if the GPU has not been replaced with the later revision, it will eventually fail.
You can read all about my adventures with this model and the GPU related info on this thread;
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/early-intel-trash-or-treasure-macbook-pro-2008.2122634/
I wasn't aware that model had GPU failures. Do any of the other pre unibody MBPs have issues like this?
I have a 17" early 2008 and recently gifted to someone a mid-2007 15" - both were upgraded to max RAM, SSD and 802.11ac WiFi. I honestly did not really notice a difference between the two models in normal use but of course go for the 2008 if you can. Either one would make a great choice. I bought nothing older than a mid-2007 for the exact same reason you mentioned of wanting the LED screen and it was definitely worth it. I think I got lucky, but I paid $35 for the 2007 and $75 for the 2008, both in physically perfect shape.
Also have had a few 15" PowerBooks (both hi res and standard) and yep, the 2007-2008 MBP screen is a HUGE difference.
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The 2006 Core Duo (MacBookPro1,1 matte or glossy models) and Core 2 Duo (MacBookPro2,2) used the ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 GPU which appears to be more reliable than the stock-standard "602" revision 8800M GT found in the 2007/2008 models, but they are certainly not as capable in terms of graphics performance.
In my experience, the MBP2,2 runs a little cooler than the MBP1,1 series and will also allow 64-bit operation (Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 was the last officially supported system). Otherwise, the MBP1,1 is limited to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and 32-bit only apps.
Also to consider are the maximum memory configurations;
MBP1,1 (2006) max 2GB (1+1)
MBP2,2 (2006) max 3GB (2+1)
MBP3,1 (2007) and MBP4,1 (2008) max 6GB (4+2)
(The 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs are pricey though)
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I know this is kind of old but this is the best place to post this. I'm looking at a 2007-08 still, but am worried about GPU failures. Can anyone give me info on the GPU failures? I'm mainly interested in seeing if they are as common on the 2007.
I think they are just as common. Though, I'm 99% sure I read that some MBPs seemed to have shipped with the revised GPU (G84-603-A2 instead of G84-602-A2 which is faulty) but there seems to be no pattern to it. The only real way to know if the one you buy has the faulty design is to actually check the GPU chip itself. My 2008 17" has the faulty one, but I have yet to see it have any trouble at all. FWIW, I did apply new thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) when upgrading to an SSD and to 802.11ac WiFi.
I believe some users here offer a service to replace the GPU with the revised chip, you might look into that if you get a 2007 or 2008 for a decent price. I plan on doing this if/when mine decides to start showing signs of failure but it has been rock solid so far.
I believe some users here offer a service to replace the GPU with the revised chip, you might look into that if you get a 2007 or 2008 for a decent price. I plan on doing this if/when mine decides to start showing signs of failure but it has been rock solid so far.
It's important to keep the pre-unibody MBPs as "cool" as possible, to prevent GPU failure.
I use iLapStands for that purpose. You shouldn't place them onto your lap, since they get darn hot and might cause thermal injury to your skin! Under rare certain circumstances with very very heavy load I placed the MBP onto ice-packs to keep them cool.
I happend to "kill" one A1260's GPU closing the MacBooks lid and the machine overheated because it didn't go sleep for some unknown reason.
I donated another A1260 to my niece's daughter, who placed it between cushions in her bed in order to watch streaming video and she managed to kill the machine within a month after I gave it to her ...
Taking care about temperature will make the pre unibody 15" MBP but nice machines - especially because of their matte and blazing bright screen. My A1260 (ElCap/6GB RAM/1TB SSD/PCExpressUSB3.0/attached BassJump-Subwoofer) is my main computer to go and at home and I use it >90% of my computing time (office, browsing, music, streaming video).
Would I even need a lap stand for basic stuff like photos and videos? And I'm only watching 480p or lower on it
I'm currently only browsing the web and GPU is at 67°C.
Web is a distress with it's never ending spying out your computer just to spam you with personalized ads.
Decompressing video is heavy load too.
Web, streaming video and virtual-machines are the most demanding tasks on my A1260.
Then I got used to the iLapStand since my first ever Mac: a mid-2009 13" MacBookPro.
Meanwhile I've got a lot of them 2nd hand - for me, family-members and also for friends.
They are really indispensable in my opinion and you can put a lot of stuff beneath ... but on the go I don't carry such stuff around but use the MBP as it is and without any problem.
I won't be using it with the Internet. Just local video, pictures, and music. I am hoping that the load of local files won't kill the GPU.
They are. I had the MBP 3,1 on its original logic board and it finally died suddenly about a year ago. I have a replacement GPU chip for it but my soldering skills need a lot more practice before I tackle it. Just about any notebook on the market with an nVidia 8600/9600 mobile chip was affected. I was very careful about keeping my laptop cool, I never let temps exceed 80C for more than a few seconds and used agressive fan software settings to override Apple's useless default thermal trigger points.
Prior to that I had the MBP 2,2 with the ATI GPU and I would counsel you to avoid that one like the plague. It was sold during a period when far too many manufacturers were ridiculously overgenerous with anti-glare coatings on their displays. Mine was proabably the worst screen I had ever seen on any laptop. Whites were grey/silver and booting into Windows with its small, unbolded fonts, text was unreadable. I hated that laptop and didn't mourn for a second when it was stolen; it just gave me an excuse to replace it with something better. The screen on the 3,1 was a huge improvement.
Anecdotally, the 2009/2010 MBPs were supposedly the least problem ridden. After that, ATI took a leaf out of nVidia's books and gave us GPUs that committed suicide at random.