Stupid worrying about my new iBook

[MUCKYFINGERS]

I really really love my iBook 14" but something is bugging me now. Since coming to this forum, I've heard so many opinions that the screen on this thing is **** since its still 1024x768 like the 12", and now I feel like I can't enjoy my ibook. It's constantly sticking out in my mind, and now I feel like a lot of texts are blurry. Even the 17" Hyundai LCD my dad has on his Dell seems to be more "clear" to me and less fuzzy than on my Mac.

I know this sounds really silly, but can anyone give me any good words to help deal with this?? Thanks!

P.S.: Why would the text on my iBook look "fatter and bolder" compared to on my dad's Dell on the same website?

 

[ckeck]

I really really love my iBook 14" but something is bugging me now. Since coming to this forum, I've heard so many opinions that the screen on this thing is **** since its still 1024x768 like the 12", and now I feel like I can't enjoy my ibook. It's constantly sticking out in my mind, and now I feel like a lot of texts are blurry. Even the 17" Hyundai LCD my dad has on his Dell seems to be more "clear" to me and less fuzzy than on my Mac.

I know this sounds really silly, but can anyone give me any good words to help deal with this?? Thanks!

P.S.: Why would the text on my iBook look "fatter and bolder" compared to on my dad's Dell on the same website?

I just purchased and used a 14" iBook for a couple of days to see if I would like an Apple or not, and I actually really enjoyed the screen on the iBook. It was bright enough and very clear.

I know what you are saying when you are talking about the text being slightly blurry/bigger. Chances are your dad has an SXGA or UXGA high-res screen on his Dell. I have the UXGA on my Dell Inprison right now and the text is very sharp, and VERY small...

I actually prefered the iBook in most cases...the screen on that computer is not bad at all...just a different type. You wouldn't want much higher resolution if any on a 14" screen, IMHO

 

[WillMak]

hmmm, could this ib incident be a bigger problem in your life? Do you always doubt yourself or judge your self worth by other people's opinions? If so, go see a psychologist. but if not, think about this: most 15 inch windows machines have 1024 res. People seem fine with those don't they?

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments

Anyone else got anything they have to say so I'll stop worrying?

 

[CanadaRAM]

P.S.: Why would the text on my iBook look "fatter and bolder" compared to on my dad's Dell on the same website?

Cause a website is rendered in the browser using the fonts that are on the machine. You have different fonts on your MAc (named the same but different code), you may have your browser text preferences set differently, but most important, the Mac screen rendering uses antialiasing on fonts, so that they are smoother but a bit fuzzier and maybe bolder. The Dell fonts would be sharper and notchier.

Also, the pixel per inch resolution on the 17" and your iBook 14" are different. Fonts on the Dell screen are probably smaller overall, with smaller pixels.

 

[cwedl]

I won't worry, seriously 90% + of 15" windows pcs have the same resolution 1024x768. My 12" powerbook with the same resolution took me a long time to get used to, because everything was so small, but am used to it now!

 

[icarusflies]

I really really love my iBook 14" but something is bugging me now. Since coming to this forum, I've heard so many opinions that the screen on this thing is **** since its still 1024x768 like the 12", and now I feel like I can't enjoy my ibook. It's constantly sticking out in my mind, and now I feel like a lot of texts are blurry. Even the 17" Hyundai LCD my dad has on his Dell seems to be more "clear" to me and less fuzzy than on my Mac.

I know this sounds really silly, but can anyone give me any good words to help deal with this?? Thanks!

P.S.: Why would the text on my iBook look "fatter and bolder" compared to on my dad's Dell on the same website?

Have you tried the TEXT settings in the screen control panel for LCD text - try a few others? Had the same sort of thing with a PC at work on a TFT - unless it was set as native resolution for that screen it looked really bad.

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

Cause a website is rendered in the browser using the fonts that are on the machine. You have different fonts on your MAc (named the same but different code), you may have your browser text preferences set differently, but most important, the Mac screen rendering uses antialiasing on fonts, so that they are smoother but a bit fuzzier and maybe bolder. The Dell fonts would be sharper and notchier.

Also, the pixel per inch resolution on the 17" and your iBook 14" are different. Fonts on the Dell screen are probably smaller overall, with smaller pixels.

Are all font sizes on Macs affected by anti aliasing? I know you can change the anti aliasing settings up to a certain point, but I'm pretty sure it uses it for all their font sizes by default, correct? And I know certain things, like the texts in the OS menus and certain other things here and there are set to anti aliasing no matter what, right?

And thanks again! I seriously thought something was wrong with it being smooth/fuzzy but now I know there's a reason, thanks!

 

[wdlove]

Hopefully you are now able to enjoy you iBook. It's a great mac.

 

[bodeh6]

I just ordered my 14" in my sig. I was at the Apple store and check out all of their offerings. The PowerBook was too much money for me right now. The 12" iBook was a little too small so I am getting the 14". My sister's Dell Inspiron 5150 goes up to 1600x1200 on her 15" screen but she keeps it at 1024x768. I like that resolution for everyday use compared to my brother's widescreen Inspiron 8600 with 15.4" 1680x1050.

 

[stridey]

Are all font sizes on Macs affected by anti aliasing? I know you can change the anti aliasing settings up to a certain point, but I'm pretty sure it uses it for all their font sizes by default, correct? And I know certain things, like the texts in the OS menus and certain other things here and there are set to anti aliasing no matter what, right?

And thanks again! I seriously thought something was wrong with it being smooth/fuzzy but now I know there's a reason, thanks!

You can turn off anti-aliasing for text of sizes x and smaller in the appearance prefpane, but I suggest setting it at the smallest setting (4). It just looks better on. (OS X calls anti-aliasing "font smoothing" btw, so that's what it's under)

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

You can turn off anti-aliasing for text of sizes x and smaller in the appearance prefpane, but I suggest setting it at the smallest setting (4). It just looks better on. (OS X calls anti-aliasing "font smoothing" btw, so that's what it's under)

Is the default font size for Mac OS X size 13? I noticed a lot of things are size 13 on this here mac, but a lot of font sizes are different when I use my Windows machines. Not that they actually look any smaller, but it seems like OS X and XP recognize them as different font sizes, even though to the eye they look the same size.

 

[stridey]

Is the default font size for Mac OS X size 13? I noticed a lot of things are size 13 on this here mac, but a lot of font sizes are different when I use my Windows machines. Not that they actually look any smaller, but it seems like OS X and XP recognize them as different font sizes, even though to the eye they look the same size.

I can't remember offhand, and I'm on a Windows machine right now. If you download TinkerTool you can see (and change) the default font settings.

 

[mcarnes]

The 14" screen is nice, the resolution is just lower but the contrast and color is great.

The larger text on the 14" means you will squint less and won't push your head forward as much to see the screen. I found this to help with some neck pain I would get from the 12".

All screen sizes and resolutions have their good and bad points. I bought my wife a 14" iBook without any reservation. She loves it.

 

[mkrishnan]

Is the default font size for Mac OS X size 13? I noticed a lot of things are size 13 on this here mac, but a lot of font sizes are different when I use my Windows machines. Not that they actually look any smaller, but it seems like OS X and XP recognize them as different font sizes, even though to the eye they look the same size.

It's a browser-dependent thing ... there are differences in the default settings on Safari and the Gecko browsers for fonts.

I would suggest giving it some time to adjust. I never liked font smoothing for every day screen text until I used an iBook for an extended period of time.

Also, if you haven't done it, run the display calibration which is in the display preferences in OS X. It will have a big impact on the perceived quality of the screen. It takes longer, but preferably, do it with the expert options turned on.

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

The 14" screen is nice, the resolution is just lower but the contrast and color is great.

The larger text on the 14" means you will squint less and won't push your head forward as much to see the screen. I found this to help with some neck pain I would get from the 12".

All screen sizes and resolutions have their good and bad points. I bought my wife a 14" iBook without any reservation. She loves it.

By lower, you mean you are comparing it to the 15" pbook right? Cause the res. on the 12" ibook and 14" ibook are the same from what i recall.

 

[kanpachi]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments

Anyone else got anything they have to say so I'll stop worrying?

Mucky,
I'm not sure if you worrying about your new iBook is "stupid" because it is quite possible that it is worth worrying about. Although many people may dismiss this opinion of mine (and may hate me for it), I think that the screen on the iBook (and 12" PB) is poor in quality -- it is the worst display I've ever seen in all my days of laptop computing. The most obvious problem with the screen is that the clarity and brightness are uneven from top to bottom. I would have to constantly change the angle of the display so that I could see the screen depending on what area of the screen I was reading. This may well be what is causing your text to look blurry, although this seems to be the result of the anti-aliasing/smoothing of fonts on Macs.

Although I'm sure you don't want to return your iBook, maybe this would be a better choice in the long run. It is interesting to see how people "create their own realities", and by coming to this board to look for positive feedback on something that truly bothers you, it would be a shame if you kept the iBook and found out later that trying to force this perception change and "lying to yourself" did not turn out as well as you expected.

Anyhow, I don't mean to crash the party and be the pessimist here -- all I'm trying to say is that your worrying is not "stupid" and that you have perfectly justifiable reasons for your sentiments. Of course, whatever you decide to do is up to you. Good luck.

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

Well, it turns out I was just worrying a LOT for no reason. I tried the iMac G4s at school today, and the display is the same quality as my iBook G4. Everything had the same "fuzziness" or whatever as a result of the text smoothening. But, I think I like the text smoothening now

 

[ozone]

Mucky,
... I think that the screen on the iBook (and 12" PB) is poor in quality -- it is the worst display I've ever seen in all my days of laptop computing.

I have to agree with kanpachi here... when I was considering buying Apple laptops, I found the 12" iBook and to a lesser degree, the 12" PBook, to have mediocre screens. That being said, they're obviously good enough. However, even when I compared the screen of my short-lived 15" PB to my 15" Compaq, the Compaq had much better brightness, colour saturation, and clarity. Still, with Apple, you're paying for the whole package.

If you're planning to hook up your iBook to an external monitor most of time, the screen itself will be less of an issue.

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

Mucky,
I'm not sure if you worrying about your new iBook is "stupid" because it is quite possible that it is worth worrying about. Although many people may dismiss this opinion of mine (and may hate me for it), I think that the screen on the iBook (and 12" PB) is poor in quality -- it is the worst display I've ever seen in all my days of laptop computing. The most obvious problem with the screen is that the clarity and brightness are uneven from top to bottom. I would have to constantly change the angle of the display so that I could see the screen depending on what area of the screen I was reading. This may well be what is causing your text to look blurry, although this seems to be the result of the anti-aliasing/smoothing of fonts on Macs.

Although I'm sure you don't want to return your iBook, maybe this would be a better choice in the long run. It is interesting to see how people "create their own realities", and by coming to this board to look for positive feedback on something that truly bothers you, it would be a shame if you kept the iBook and found out later that trying to force this perception change and "lying to yourself" did not turn out as well as you expected.

Anyhow, I don't mean to crash the party and be the pessimist here -- all I'm trying to say is that your worrying is not "stupid" and that you have perfectly justifiable reasons for your sentiments. Of course, whatever you decide to do is up to you. Good luck.

Thanks for your input man. I definitely love this iBook though and the screen quality is really top notch. I know the older iBook 12" screens were kind of dark, but this new iBook's screen is very bright and very very attractive to look at it. The display is excellent and I couldn't ask for more on it. And like I said in my earlier post, the text display on the iMac G4s at school also look "fuzzy/smooth," so I know it's just the way the OS is designed and that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with my hardware.

 

[andiwm2003]

regardless what you buy there is always somebody who thinks it's crap and he knows a better product. and with the internet these idiots can spread their opinion uncensored. you bought that ibook for you not for other people. it's a great machine. if you really don't like it i'm happy to take it for free

i though long about getting an ibook or a powerbook. it was the possibility to run two monitors that made me buy the pb not the screen quality.

enjoy your ibook.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I just got my iBook G4 in my signature, and i just made the icons smaller on the desktop and made the Dock smaller as well, somehow, I do not miss the 1280x1024 space that I have on my PC.