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Still banding issues when on integrated graphics?

2contagious

2contagious

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 29, 2008
755
0
UK
Hi,

Back when the 2010 MacBook Pros were released a few of us realised that when the integrated graphics were used, banding was visible in simple gradients such as the Finder bar. The banding disappeared when using the nVidia graphics card. Is this still the case or has it been taken care of with a software update?

see you,
chris.
 
Can nobody comment on this? I need to know if the problem still exists before I buy one.
 
Banding? If you mean lagging then yeah it still happens to me even on a fresh install. Apple are supposed to be releasing a graphics update soon though.

Aren't you buying a Mac Pro considering your sig?
 
What do you mean by lagging?

By banding I mean that gradients (such as the light gray to darker gray transition in the finder window bar or any window bar in mac os x really) look chopped instead of fluid on the internal graphics (Intel). A user on this forum described it as "16 bit colour look vs. 32 bit colour look" although that might be a bit too exaggerated. It basically looked like dithering on Intel graphics did not work as well as on Nvidia graphics.. and I am wondering if that problem has been taken care of with a software update.

About your question: I am not sure yet about which one to buy.. MacBook Pro or Mac Pro.
 
2contagious said:
What do you mean by lagging?

By banding I mean that gradients (such as the light gray to darker gray transition in the finder window bar or any window bar in mac os x really) look chopped instead of fluid on the internal graphics (Intel). A user on this forum described it as "16 bit colour look vs. 32 bit colour look" although that might be a bit too exaggerated. It basically looked like dithering on Intel graphics did not work as well as on Nvidia graphics.. and I am wondering if that problem has been taken care of with a software update.

About your question: I am not sure yet about which one to buy.. MacBook Pro or Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

I will take pictures and post in a second. I never noticed a difference. It does lag (auto-beach ball) when switching cards if you are using dynamic switching.

Nvidia:
3478u2b.jpg
[/IMG]

Intel:
2rz3s6p.jpg


Also, buy the Macbook Pro. You can easily make a one for 1/3 of the price: Click here.

I'm playing CoD on Xbox so after this game I will edit this.
 
Cashman what monitoring system are you using? That doesn't look like iStat, it looks interesting.
 
Thanks, the graphics controler looks like it will come in handy when trying to save battery power.
 
ccashman92 said:
I will take pictures and post in a second. I never noticed a difference. It does lag (auto-beach ball) when switching cards if you are using dynamic switching.

Nvidia:
3478u2b.jpg
[/IMG]

Intel:
2rz3s6p.jpg


Also, buy the Macbook Pro. You can easily make a one for 1/3 of the price: Click here.

I'm playing CoD on Xbox so after this game I will edit this.
Click to expand...

Posting screenshots won't work because it's the system that captures the image. It's not what you actually see when it's output through a faulty graphics card or screen or with some faulty driver.. I checked and all the MacBook Pros at my local Apple Store still have the gradient banding issue (slightly chopped looking gradients on Intel vs. fluid looking gradients on nVidia), but that might be because they are MBPs from the first batch since they put them up on display when they came out this year. I wonder if this was/is software or hardware related.
 
Yes it is still happening...

I have a MacBook Pro 17" Anti Glare Core i7 and when connected to an external monitor it is better but the MBP LCD still makes gradients look like the Target logo, really it's so frustrating. I am a web designer and it is infuriating to design and see the damn new computer struggling to display such a simple graphic accurately. My hard drive died a few weeks back as well and my apple care covered HD and Logic board replacement, since I received the machine repaired, it feels even worse. I hope a software update will fix this. I ponder between taking it back to the genius bar and see if they feel a replacement would be advisable, but the more i research the more it seems this is software related. My energy settings are set not to switch graphics automatically in order to force high performance at all times until they fix the problem.

Gradient created in Photoshop at 300 dpi, full view (100%)
5100904208_020e79e7c8.jpg


Web gradient from Apple's web site on Safari:
5100904284_2bea8e4eba.jpg


I should add that when the computer does not have an external monitor attached, the MBP LCD uses the Intel HD graphics card and the problem disappears. Only when an external monitor is added via digital mini port I see that the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M is used for both monitors and the problem appears only on the LCD not the external.
 
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