text on ibook G4 LCD

[invocat]

I have a question regarding display of text on the ibook G4 lcd. I have used a CRT monitor for years so don't have much experinece with
lcd screens. Graphics on my screen look great. Likewise it is fine for watching video on. But I would rate the text display as fairly poor. I have the font smoothing set to the "medium - best for flat panel" setting, but I find the text does not show up very clearly or sharply on the screen, despite this. Often parts of the letters look ghostly or faded. Sometimes parts of the letters are actually missing. To give some examples of what I mean: when I look at the battery charge information, the numbers that show the percentage or the "charged" message look somehow faint and blurry. It is difficult to describe but the letters and numbers do
not have a solid black look. When I went to look right up at the screen while looking at file names in the finder to get an idea of what was going on, I noticed that in fact the letters are not all black. The parts which look faded or ghostly from a distance if I move my face right up to the screen I notice are actually light blue or red. Awhile ago I was typing an email, and I noticed that sometimes pieces of the letters would be missing as I typed. I would type "S" for example and the top curve of the S would
not show up. When I look at any file name in the finder with a U in it, the right side of the U looks faded and ghostly, whereas the left side looks more solid black. After awhile this really begins to bother my eyes.
For all I know this is normal behavior with lcd displays and the quality is just not comparable to CRT, but I don't have enough experience with them to know. If someone who knows
lcds well could let me know if this is normal or indicates a problem with my monitor, I'd appeciate it. If it is a known problem that can
occur with lcds, and someone can give me a bit of information on what it's called, etc, I'd appreciate that too, so I'll be armed with some
information if I have to call Apple. Thanks!

 

[titaniumducky]

This is definitely not normal behavior (unless you are exaggerating which I don't think you are). My PowerBook's screen is crystal clear, so not all LCDs are that way. Also, the iBooks I have seen in the Apple Store aren't that way, so not all iBooks are that way.

You should call AppleCare since (from what I understand) the product is less than 90 days old; it'll be free and a rep will help you out.

If you aren't in free phone support anymore/don't want to call, you can go to a local Apple Store and talk to the Genius Bar there (assuming you have a local Apple Store).

 

[beatle888]

the quality from a laptop lcd will not compare with a CRT monitor. apples stand alone LCD's are pretty much comparable (supposedly) but i havent used one. the text on my laptop always looked a bit soft compare to a CRT but i dont really notice much anymore. as far as the colored edges (convergence of the rgb colors), that doesnt sound normal. can you bring your laptop into an apple store to compare monitors with an ibook display model?

 

[ftaok]

invocat,

Does this phenomenom happen at all font sizes or just smaller ones? If it's happening with just the smaller ones, you probably need to set the "Turn off text smoothing for fonts smaller ..." to a smaller font size.

Hope that helps you out.

 

[MoparShaha]

Go to System Preferences>Universal Access>Enhance Contrast. Make sure the contrast slider is all the way at normal. The problems you are describing sound like contrast issues. I would also change the text smoothing back the "Standard - Best for CRT". I find this is the best setting. The LCD setting makes text look poor. If that doesn't fix it, then you need to call Apple. I have a PB 12", which uses the same screen as your iBook, and I have been very happy with screen quality, and I'm very picky about these things. Good luck sorting this problem out.

 

[invocat]

thanks to everyone who replied. I have now set the font smoothing for crt rather than lcd and that has improved the quality of the text a bit. Thanks for the suggestion. Text is still rather fuzzy and uncomfortable to read though, especially if you are looking at text a lot (which I am). I am going to be going to an Apple Store within the next few days to see if I can compare the screen on my ibook with those on their display models.