So... about that Macbook screen wash-out

[nishishei]

Some shots of the MB C89 and Sony Z.

That Sony screen looks much better. The website's blue header should look like the Sony, not the gloomy color of the Macbook.
Also notice the Sony doesn't reflect like an ass either.

The form factor of the Z is better too, it has less bezel and fluff. The Macbook kind of looks like a chubby and slightly retarded cousin next to the Z.

 

[bidwalj]

Don't take "good enough" if you are paying for "better".
It really is a bad screen for the money. Really bad.

It is a relative statement, for the money it should be better than my 3 year old cheap Evesham (have you even heard of them?), and it isn't.

It is EASILY useable in everyday situations, but I'm paying £1150 which is not everyday money, so it better kick arse in all situations.

Saying stuff like "how often do you even look at a black screen!??!" is just chumpish crap that makes people like Steve Jobs wet their pants with excitment whilst you pay top whack for a screen he probably got for half the price that Dell would pay to put a decent one in.

I boot up Vista and it looks like brain-matter grey all across the bottom and black at the top. Once you have seen this you will notice the dock is washed out.
I watch movies all the time on laptops, and there is usually a black bar top and bottom. Well, I say a black bar top and bottom, I mean a grey bar at the bottom and a black one at the top.

The fact is this is the screen that is going to be in the macbook for now. If people feel its not worth their money, simply do not purchase it. Personally feel everything apple sells is way over priced compared to PCs yet most of us on here choose to go with Macs.

Whether the screen is worth the price of the macbook is another story and is going to depend on who you talk to. Personally, i would love apple to include more for the price i paid.

 

[Slurpy2k8]

I never understood why the bevels of the macbooks were so massive. Makes them look cheap, like an eepc or something. There's no reason to have a bezel that large, especially when similar notebooks have much thinner bezels, which are much more attractive and less distracting.

 

[Zadiek]

I never understood why the bevels of the macbooks were so massive. Makes them look cheap, like an eepc or something. There's no reason to have a bezel that large, especially when similar notebooks have much thinner bezels, which are much more attractive and less distracting.

I think the bezel's on Macbook's are larger to accommodate for the large trackpad and full size keyboard on the bottom case. I do agree they should design it differently so that the bezel is smaller though.

 

[nishishei]

I think the bezel's on Macbook's are larger to accommodate for the large trackpad and full size keyboard on the bottom case. I do agree they should design it differently so that the bezel is smaller though.

+1
Unfortunately, I don't really need a trackpad that big. I think the size of the old trackpad was good enough. If I really wanted a huge trackpad, I would buy a touch tablet.

Still doesn't explain the width, I guess for proportions sake.

 

[Philflow]

That Sony screen looks much better. The website's blue header should look like the Sony, not the gloomy color of the Macbook.
Also notice the Sony doesn't reflect like an ass either.

The form factor of the Z is better too, it has less bezel and fluff. The Macbook kind of looks like a chubby and slightly retarded cousin next to the Z.

I agree on your observations on the colors.

About the reflection, that picture isn't really fair cause the flash is directed at the the MB screen, not the Z.

As for the MB being chubby, not really, Z is quite a bit thicker.

The Z has a lot smaller footprint though, 500 grams lighter and has much better contrast levels.

 

[miamialley]

oh no..reading all those comments about the screen makes me nervous.

sold my macbook air (had problems with it..overheating and the like) and ordered a macbook on the 17th. hopefully i'll get it next week...but as for now i don't know where my macbook is, this really su*ks!!

after seeing some of those pics in this thread i'm sure i'll be disappointed. not sure what to buy instead? maybe it's time to look at thinkpads or sony, because the macbook pro is too big and the mba too expensive 🙁

i'm stuck right know...after waiting nearly 3 weeks for my new mb.

Three weeks?! What in the world are they doing to that computer? Where do you live?

 

[nishishei]

The Z has a lot smaller footprint though, 500 grams lighter and has much better contrast levels.

I wonder why you got both the Z and the Macbook? The Z is clearly the superior laptop of the two. As for being a bit thicker than the Macbook, it's only in the rear, so that's not really a noticeable disadvantage, gives you a slight tilt for your keyboard. Footprint and weight to me are more important criteria; the one pound difference is huge and the Macbook might as well be a 14" notebook. The Z also runs much cooler than the Macbook which serves as a giant heatsink.

 

[iMeat]

I wonder why you got both the Z and the Macbook? The Z is clearly the superior laptop of the two. As for being a bit thicker than the Macbook, it's only in the rear, so that's not really a noticeable disadvantage, gives you a slight tilt for your keyboard. Footprint and weight to me are more important criteria; the one pound difference is huge and the Macbook might as well be a 14" notebook. The Z also runs much cooler than the Macbook which serves as a giant heatsink.

sounds like you found your new laptop, enjoy.

 

[nishishei]

sounds like you found your new laptop, enjoy.

Well my gf only uses Macs, so I'm still in the market for either a Macbook or a Macbook Air for this Christmas. I'm definitely leaning towards the MBA now, but I'm worried about overheating problems.

I have an MBP and an HP elitebook tablet. Both screens are leagues ahead of the new Macbook. I don't get why people are so defensive about craptastic screens. If no one puts up with it, they'll make better screens. It's not like the technology isn't there. The margin between a good screen and a craptastic screen is probably $50. When you're paying $1400-1600 already, it's not too much to ask for a $50 feature.

 

[mobilehavoc]

My MB screen is perfect. 😱

*Nervously looks around for MacJenn to pop out screaming "crapbook, crapbook, crapbook"*

😀

 

[uncleSmurf]

you know.. im trying to do one of the color profiles listed on here but I can't even get colorsync utilities to open. All I get is app not responding when I try to open it.

 

[Ron21]

Here are some pictures of the same website as above on my 8C screen.

2 Pics one with flash and one without taken in a pitch black room with brightness set to max.

 

[iMeat]

Those pics look good to me, but i just love craptastic crapbooks i guess🙄

 

[HLdan]

+1
Unfortunately, I don't really need a trackpad that big. I think the size of the old trackpad was good enough. If I really wanted a huge trackpad, I would buy a touch tablet.

Still doesn't explain the width, I guess for proportions sake.

The large trackpad is designed to support multi-finger gestures rather than just using your middle finger. 😀

All jokes aside, could you imagine doing a four finger swipe for Expose on a tiny trackpad? It's great that Apple was thinking out of the box in terms of everyone having different sized fingers so the trackpad is designed to accommodate mostly anyone.

 

[BoingoBongo]

I was in class tonight, and the girl next to me had some kind of Toshiba notebook. It didn't look like it cost anywhere near as much as the MB, but the screen was amazing. I was sitting pretty far off to the side, but the screen was still crisp and bright. Beautiful.

Why in the hell can't Apple use decent LCD panels?

 

[amsukalski]

Here are some pictures of the same website as above on my 8C screen.

2 Pics one with flash and one without taken in a pitch black room with brightness set to max.

I can clearly see the flash on the first picture, but what's the bright white reflection on your screen in the second photo, if it's not flash?

 

[Philflow]

I wonder why you got both the Z and the Macbook? The Z is clearly the superior laptop of the two. As for being a bit thicker than the Macbook, it's only in the rear, so that's not really a noticeable disadvantage, gives you a slight tilt for your keyboard. Footprint and weight to me are more important criteria; the one pound difference is huge and the Macbook might as well be a 14" notebook. The Z also runs much cooler than the Macbook which serves as a giant heatsink.

I have a lot of laptops passing here. I like to play with them and sell them with profit.

Between the Z and Macbook it's give and take imo. I would agree the Z is superior, but the Macbook has some strong advantages too. For example: the touchpad is far superior, zero fan noise while the Z can get quite loud, keyboard is slightly better imo (less travel on the keys), much easier to upgrade the hard drive, and the GPU outperforms the lower ends Z with 128MB GPU.

The screen on the Z is a lot better than the Macbook, but contrast isn't as good as the Macbook Air or Sony SZ. This may have to do with the special anti scratch coating Sony is using. Color accuracy is great though.

Here are some pictures of the same website as above on my 8C screen.

The picture you're comparing to was shot with brightness set to 50%

I'd love to see the same pic on 50% brightness.


On the thickness:

 

[Ron21]

The picture you're comparing to was shot with brightness set to 50%

I'd love to see the same pic on 50% brightness.


On the thickness:

I'll take some pics tonight at 50% brightness.

Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the Sony has a better screen, I just don't think the Macbook screen is as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Here are some pictures of the same website as above on my 8C screen.

2 Pics one with flash and one without taken in a pitch black room with brightness set to max.

Rule #1, when taking photos of a screen turn the stupid flash off! Meter off the screen and you'll be fine. All other parts will be dark, but the point here is the screen! Your photos are virtually useless because the flash will cause the color/brightness/contrast to be completely off.

I'm still wondering if they're just getting rid of old stock in terms of screens and will they "update" it soon enough or is this really it?

 

[iStrat]

I'll take some pics tonight at 50% brightness.

Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the Sony has a better screen, I just don't think the Macbook screen is as bad as people make it out to be.

Thanks. Please set your MacBook to one of the profiles in this thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/588431/

I use this profile and it looks pretty good to my eyes.

http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=141467&d=1225034148

 

[Ron21]

Rule #1, when taking photos of a screen turn the stupid flash off! Meter off the screen and you'll be fine. All other parts will be dark, but the point here is the screen! Your photos are virtually useless because the flash will cause the color/brightness/contrast to be completely off.

I'm still wondering if they're just getting rid of old stock in terms of screens and will they "update" it soon enough or is this really it?

The flash is off in the second photo..

 

[Ron21]

Thanks. Please set your MacBook to one of the profiles in this thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/588431/

I use this profile and it looks pretty good to my eyes.

http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=141467&d=1225034148

I'm using "JC Display", thats the only one that looks good on my macbook. All the other ones make my screen look washed out.

 

[Philflow]

Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the Sony has a better screen, I just don't think the Macbook screen is as bad as people make it out to be.

The C89 is not an overall bad panel. The contrast is just mediocre. For some people that's a problem.

But you have the 9C8C panel, so yours might be a bit better.

 

[NC MacGuy]

I've got a 9c9A panel and it looks absolutely gorgeous out of the box!! Didn't have to do a single calibra..... Oh never mind, wrong thread - it's my Air I bought to replace the MB.😛

!00% happy I did even though it did set me back another $900. Principle involved here people, hold on to it and suck up mediocrity or let Apple know it's substandard for the price and it'll get fixed.