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Mjmar

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 20, 2008
1,190
504
I was at the Apple Store yesterday, and after looking at the notebooks for awhile I came to the conclusion that the Macbook's screen looked washed out compared to the MBP's and MBA's. The blacks didn't seem as dark, and the screen wasn't nearly as bright. I want to get a Macbook, but I'm a bit worried about the screen. First it was size, and people told me that the quality of the screen made up for the size. Honestly though, I can't see how. The screen bothered me a bit at the store, so do you think I should hold off on the Macbook or give it another shot?
 
I've heard this said before, that the MB screen compared to MBP is rubbish, but I've not got any problem with my MB screen. Unless you're going to have a MB and MBP next to eachother all day long, and constantly compare them, I'd say you probably won't notice it. I'm 99% happy with mine, just wish it were a little brighter for those times when I use it in bright sunshine.
 
It's fine. Certainly not as good as the screens on Apple's other notebooks, but not bad. Pretty average as far as notebook screens go.
 
I had a Rev A and the screen was diabolical , I couldn't see it when i was simply trying to use the machine in the garden, I'm uK as well so not that much sun .

It's ok for what it is but if you need the machine on the road , in the day time , forget it , darkness is the best place to use the Macbook ....should have called em night books .

It is as of now the glossy screen is the ONLY thing stopping me buying ...I'm really hoping the rumoured refresh includes a matte option .
 
Mine is pretty poor, but calibrating helped. People keep suggesting David's profile but that looked terrible on mine. I tried many different settings, but in the end switching the gamma to 2.2 and upping the contrast half a notch in universal access worked best for me. IIRC there are at least 2 or 3 different brands of screen in macbooks, and some look better than others.

Edit : Here's that post, https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/467198/
 
So how do you get another profile to show up in display preferences ??

I have it in the correct folder but nothing ??

thanks :)


->Macintosh HD->Library->ColorSync->Profiles and put it in there.
When you go Display Preferences, it is called Seems Good 2.
 
I love my MB screen. Its so bright compared to my old ibook screen
I usually have it only set to 50% brightness. The glossy is very sharp imo.
 
I love the screen on my Macbook, great brightness and contrast... the glossy screen makes everything look so much better then those matte screens.
 
For those of you that have had it for awhile... Is the 13" screen bad on the eyes? At the store I was squinting at the screen, but maybe it just takes some getting used to. I'm coming from a 15" screen so that may be why.
 
I personally think that the MacBook's display is quite nice, however it does have poor viewing angles. I even think the default colour profile looks much better than any other alternative I have ever tried.

I use [Seems Good 2] and it made my MacBook's colours more vibrant, almost like a Cinema Display.

Maybe my display is just from a different manufacturer to yours, but that looks awful to me, and yet I keep hearing everyone say how much of an improvement it is. Am I completely wrong?

EDIT: It turns out that I have the LG/Phillips display, which is believed by many to be the best one. Lucky me!
 
Maybe my display is just from a different manufacturer to yours, but that looks awful to me, and yet I keep hearing everyone say how much of an improvement it is. Am I completely wrong?

See my post up there ^^^^. Glad someone agrees with me.
 
Maybe my display is just from a different manufacturer to yours, but that looks awful to me, and yet I keep hearing everyone say how much of an improvement it is. Am I completely wrong?

I don't know, each screen is different. For some people it might improve, while other it won't.
 
Apple has at least 3 different sources for displays for the MacBook line. Some manufacturers are better than others in terms of image quality. However, they are all TN-type panels.

My MacBook (black 2.2GHz Santa Rosa) has a very good quality screen. Its no S-IPS panel, but its pretty darn good for what is basically a budget laptop. Of course, to maximize potential image quality, I've calibrated the colorsync profile with a ColorVision Spyder calibration unit.

I don't have the URL handy, but do a search - there's a way to determine the manufacturer of the display in your machine by looking at some ID code buried in the colorsync subsystem.
 
->Macintosh HD->Library->ColorSync->Profiles and put it in there.
When you go Display Preferences, it is called Seems Good 2.

yeah I have it in the correct folder but nothing :confused:

I love the screen on my Macbook, great brightness and contrast... the glossy screen makes everything look so much better then those matte screens.

hehe yes as long as your in TOTAL darkness ;)
 
Back in March, I originally went to BestBuy to maybe buy a MB and didn't get one because the display looked washed out as well, but then so did the MBP and the MBA. I think it was the bright lights at Bestbuy.

I ended up buying one anyway a month later online at Apple.com. As soon as I got it, I calibrated the screen and was surprised at how bright the colors on the display actually were. Side by side with my MBP I can obviously see the MBP screen is brighter but the colors are the same and the display no longer looks washed out.

Many times I prefer to use my MB over the MBP because of it's glossy display. Some things like videos look at bit better on the MB.

It's very possible that you may have one of the inferior screens. There are different screen suppliers that Apple uses.
 
Back in March, I originally went to BestBuy to maybe buy a MB and didn't get one because the display looked washed out as well, but then so did the MBP and the MBA. I think it was the bright lights at Bestbuy.

I ended up buying one anyway a month later online at Apple.com. As soon as I got it, I calibrated the screen and was surprised at how bright the colors on the display actually were. Side by side with my MBP I can obviously see the MBP screen is brighter but the colors are the same and the display no longer looks washed out.

Many times I prefer to use my MB over the MBP because of it's glossy display. Some things like videos look at bit better on the MB.

DAMN you have almost have the whole Mac lineup at your house!

Back to this thread lol
No problems with the MacBook's screen. I have it in desktop mode pretty much all the time when at home, but on the road when i use it its great. If i need to save battery (i usually have the charger plugged in though) i put the brightness down to 1 (square i guess you could say), still looks good enough. I set the screen profile to Apple RGB which is already within the system. Looks great!
 
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