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White unibody macbook--your first impressions?
- Thread starter puma1552
- Start date
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a) white unibody Macbook (Macbook6,1)
b) no flickering for me
c) no but I haven't used it continuously for more than 1 hour and a half.
I work 6-8 hours a day on a 24" iMac and I think the Macbook's display looks better and sharper. Please note that the brightness on the iMac is set at 0% and it's still a little too bright (no eye-strain though), while I use the Macbook at 50% brightness (a bit dark but gentler on the eyes).
a.New 15" MBP 2.53/4gb/250gb glossy screen.
b. flickering is driving me mad...very subtle and more obvious on white pages but it's very real and annoying.
c. hard to say..first days I would say yes...then no so I thought I had adapted but now I would say yes again. It's not about the reflections, the gloss or any of that...it's the pulsing and flickering that gets to me. From reading around it seems it may be a peculiarity of LEDs and some people's ability to see the pulsing they naturally do.
I feel the same as you...aside from this I love mine. I am not sure what I will do as I don't want to spend a ton going round and round and the matte version is LED as well so selling this and buying matte might change nothing. Since I can't check one in person I am not sure if I will give up on Mac or or not if LEDs are my problem.
It's ridiculous really...the ancient laptop this one replaced with it's ancient screen never bothered my eyes in years and years of using it.
I have the 9cd1 and tried the websites. Try as I may neither my wife not I can see it flickr. In the daylight I see some reflection that moves a bit but no flickr I can see.
Thank you so much for getting back to me
I wonder whether you would be able to let me know firstly your LCD panel model (can be found by going: system preferences => Displays => Colour => open profile, and then scroll down to where it says 'apple display make and model information'), and secondly try the different settings on this website?
thanks for checking. Did you try the site where you flick through different screens titled 1-7B etc?
Im glad that your mac isn't exhibiting any problems, although I had hoped that this was normal.
thanks for checking. Did you try the site where you flick through different screens titled 1-7B etc?
Im glad that your mac isn't exhibiting any problems, although I had hoped that this was normal.
No I hadn't just did though. We do see it on screen 4a nothing else. I've used this machine for 3 weeks now but I have to be honest with you that in any surfing I've done and I've done hours I've never seen any flickr. But I do on screen 4a. Now I'm off to try my MacBook Pro
Some people would ague those tests mean nothing and I guess unless you notice problems in normal use why worry? I am not sure if those tests validate anything I am seeing or if they are just normal...I won't be looking at anything that looks like those test squares ever anyway...but the pulsing on normal pages is rough to look at.
That page even says on a Mac the tests may not be as accurate because of how they correct images.
I agree. Many times I'll be using a new computer for weeks and notice nothing until I read something on the forums. I don't see it anywhere else that I go or programs I work in so I'll let it go. It is a fine screen really. Maybe better than my Pro side by side
I agree. Many times I'll be using a new computer for weeks and notice nothing until I read something on the forums. I don't see it anywhere else that I go or programs I work in so I'll let it go. It is a fine screen really. Maybe better than my Pro side by side
I wish I was in that position...I noticed the problem THEN found this info not the other way around. For what this thing cost me I would love for it to work without bother. Sadly I am not somewhere I can just return it and am faced with selling it at a loss.
Ah thanks on the display info...I was looking on the info that comes up as soon as you open the color profile...the space for manufacturer and display info is blank while everything else is filled out. Seems from line 17 I have 00009CA3.
thank you very much for testing that out.
I have just tested my 23" ACD (that cost me nearly £530 a year ago), and even that display flickers on example 7.
My thinking therefore is that perhaps two issues are being confused:
1. The inherent inability of different LCD panels to accurately display some close-knitted colours
2. The apparent 'waving' brightness of LCD's
I therefore wonder whether harperjones99 could try and explain what the 'pulsing' is like? I ask because aside from these pages that obviously show the flickering, it is otherwise very difficult to ascertain exactly what feels uncomfortable when using the machine in general!
To me, it seems that in my peripheral vision things seem more 'wobbly' than they do on other screens (all non-led) I have used
In my experience with the many many apple notebooks I've owned I'm careful about returning them unless I really am uncomfortable with what I may have found wrong. Several times I've ended up with worse than what I started with. Some people then get refunds but I need an Apple computer and can't just walk away. For the most part though Apple has always made it right in the end
Bought it in Poland and they refuse to follow normal standards and offer refunds on lots of things. Unless I wanted to get a lawyer and press it which would cost me more in the end I am better off selling it...I will lose a bit but will be much simpler in the end. Buyer beware in certain countries where Apple has no presence and the resellers set their own policies...Apple will not ship into these places either from countries they do have stores so unless you want to do the remailing thing and risk opening it and having a problem that will cost you a ton to send back you are stuck. I was worried to buy here for this very reason and of course things couldn't just work normally.
Apple told me to get bent and it's the resellers problem not theirs. Everyone passing the buck.
In my experience with the many many apple notebooks I've owned I'm careful about returning them unless I really am uncomfortable with what I may have found wrong. Several times I've ended up with worse than what I started with. Some people then get refunds but I need an Apple computer and can't just walk away. For the most part though Apple has always made it right in the end
Totally agree, in the summer I went through 5 macbooks that were partially dodgy only for them to get continuously worse until I gave up and went back to my old mbp. Problem is that said mbp broke a few days ago and I needed a new mac pronto. Thought i'd give a macbook another try (am really not a fan of glassy screens and didn't have enough cash to plump for a 15" mbp), but alas here we are.
I am very reluctant to send this one back as it would involve down time I simply dont have and as you say the potential for a worse machine.
If it is just the flickering on certain websites with that mesh-like background then it really doesn't bother me at all, its just that it seems that in general the screen seems less than 'solid', if that makes any sense at al!
I know exactly what you mean. I have already lost money in this paying the inflated EU prices (2200usd for the 1700usd model and some countries are even higher) and I am reluctant to sell it and spend even more trying to get a matte version somehow. I would ignore it too if it was only on the test but it's all the time and most noticeable on the lighter backgrounds I spend the most time on.
Wow! Sorry to hear that. We some times take it for granted we have an Apple Store or two just an hour away. Good luck with what ever you decide.
yeah that is what i am using right now, and I have to say other than this odd screen thing this laptop is absolutely wonderful: beautifully designed, lovely keyboard, the trackpad is an absolute delight to use (the 4 finger expose is simply incredible), it is near silent, and currently driving my ACD alongside the 13" screen!
a quick question for harperjones99, how subtle is the pulsing you talk of? What I am seeing seems so slight that im just wondering whether we are really talking about the same thing?
I think its the same based on how you describe it...someone else described it exactly as it seems to me in a past post here too. It is very subtle and someone would likely think I was making it up if they just took a quick glance...but since I am looking at the screen so much I notice it. I really don't know if it is defective compared to most or if I am just seeing the LED refresh like some people can. Either way I don't like it. If I go through the cost of trying the matte model and it's just how Apple's LED screens are it would be an expensive trial since I can't return from here without great shipping expense.
yeah seems like we may be seeing the same thing. Do you think that there is any way to capture it on film? otherwise do you know anywhere in particular that has a particularly good explanation and description of what is happening?
I don't think it would be detectable on film since filming the screens introduces even more appearance of flickering often due to frame rates etc. Surely it wouldn't be obvious on the normal or poor quality video I could take. Maybe if you had a RED camera
This discussion here speculated that it has to do with the voltage and how the LEDs switch on and off and at what rate. Lot's of people notice LEDs pulse or flicker from their point of view. The glossy screen doesnt bother me...it's the pulsing. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1677617&tstart=0
I don't know if it's the LED backlighting or some gpu issue because they have both been indicated in the past as a cause of flickering/pulsing.
I am really fed up with it...and since I like the rest so much I hate to go back to a PC CFL display if I can even find one. It's of those things that people not experiencing will dismiss or say we are making a big deal out of....but it's very real and bothering to several people it seems. You see a lot of "man I thought I was the only one or going crazy" as responses. I didn't notice it in the store's bright lighting in the few minutes I took to check the screen for deal pixels etc when i bought it. It is like buying a mattress...you can't tell until you actually use it.