Macbook & Air Screen Quality Question

Hello everyone,

I am not sure where I read this but I remember someone talking about the screen quality of the unibody MB being < that of the MBA. Just wondering if anyone can tell me whether that is true? I found it very hard to differentiate at a store.

Thanks!

 

I've seen a colleague's MB and the screen looked good, though I think a bit washed out compared to my E6400.

Under screen-saver it was easy to see the uneven backlighting, not sure if it is noticeable under normal use.

 

are you kidding me? look at the screen at an angle, in the MacBook; from the top it will wash out, from the bottom it will invert. if you view it from afar, the screen colour will get inverted.

the macbook air screen is superb compared to the standard macbook. it is not affected by this situation. though i still pick the macbook over the macbook air. actually i pick the macbook pro...

 

If at all possible go to a store and take a look for yourself, that's the only way you'll find out what really suits you.

For me I didn't like the screen on the new MBP at all, too much glare, fonts seemed blurry. With the MBA I think the screen is one of the better screens I've seen.

Hope that helps, by the way my vote goes to the Air !

 

I think people are making the MB screen worse than it actually is. I know it's a bit washed out, and may have worse viewing angles than other laptops, but not to the point where I wouldn't buy it...

 

Very generally, the Plastic MB's had ok screens, the current MB's have good screens, the MBP's have very good screens and the MBA's have excellent screens. There are individual variations and preferences with respect to saturation and glare.

The current MB's major weakness is its low contrast ratio and narrow viewing angle. The screen tends to have a bit of a washed out look to it. You can punch it up a bit by calibrating the display and using the TV gamma corrections but you still end up with grey where you'd like to see black in at least some areas. Also its difficult to view the screen such that colors are uniform from top to bottom - often either the top or bottom will be lighter or darket than the rest of the screen. Its not horrible but its far from the screens on the MBP and MBA and the weakest part of the machine which is otherwise excellent.

 

And here I was all gung-ho about getting a white Macbook. If the screen is as bad as you guys say, I may have to go back on that decision.

 

The older (08 and earlier) plastic MB's had ok screens. I believe the newest release of the White MB (early 09) that also got the Nvidia graphics, may have gotten the LED screen of the Aluminum MB as well which I would classify as "good". Apple is a little ambiguous on this so check it out before you decide.

Last week at BestBuy I did not see any big difference in the white MacBook vs the Aluminum MB screen other than the glass on the Aluminum MB Screen.

 

i think you're putting too big an emphasis on other people's opinion. go and take a look at the plastic macbook's screen before you make any decisions. i had a black mac for about a year and i was completely fine with the screen quality.

 

I had a black MB for over a year and used it all day everyday without headaches, eyestrain etc. Its was not near as good as my previous Sony SZ's screen but overall I liked the MB better.

I think a lot of this is that MB's are above average in many of ways, but their screen isn't so its a bit out of place with the expectations the rest of the machine sets.

When I saw some tests on the new MB's screen and how poor its contrast ratio was, I said "no way I'm buying that with a crappy screen". And while I don't doubt the accuracy of those tests, or that this is not nearly as good as the MBP or MBA screens, I can live with the "good" screen and as usual Apple has a product thats more that its specs or the sum of its parts would suggest.

You'll have to take a closer look for yourself.

 

The MacBook's screen is no where near good. The viewing angle is horrendous. I got rid of mine to get the older MBP instead. If you do anything with a dark background you will notice it immediately.

 

I think I will bring my early '08 whitebook up to the apple store and compare the screens in person

 

I'll do the same with my aluminum Macbook, whenever I get the chance to go there...

 

thanks for the feedback everyone! Much appreciated!

 

Exactly. Huge part of the reason why I returned the Macbook in the end.

I'll wait a bit till I actually need a new notebook, or have a complete system rehaul (another reason why I returned it was because of peripheral compatibility)

 

The MacBook display looks a ton better after the color profile has been calibrated.

 

Fully agree there. And to add, it's not only the viewing angles it's also the contrast that is much higher on the MBA and MBP.

Still many consumers will be fully satisfied with the screen on the Macbook.

The advice to "go check it out for yourself" is basically good advice but I did not notice the weaknesses of the MB screen when using it for 10 minutes in the very bright showroom with the brightness of the screen very high. It wasn't untill I was home and worked on the MB screen for a couple of hours untill I started seeing the weaknesses.

 

there are 2 different brand screens put in MB and MBP ... some are more washed out looking and uneven backlit... others are much better looking overall... Its not just a difference in the brand though, its sometimes random luck. I've seen 2 Macbooks sitting side by side that one screen looked pretty poor and the other was fantastic...

 

MB has either 9c8c or the 9c89 LCD. It is a crapshoot on which one you get. But the 9c8c is better than the 9c89. The 9c89's color inverts when viewing it at an angle. The local Apple center had the 9c8c as the display model. I brought my MacBook in to compare the two as I just couldnt stand the 9c89 screen. The 9c8c was MUCH better, but is still no where near good. I would say it is acceptable.

 

How do I tell which screen I have in a macbook?

 

System Pref -> Displays -> Color -> Open Profile -> line 13 "mmod".

 

I have a 9C5E screen in my early '08 whitebook.

 

Should have mentioned I am talking about the Unibody.

 

Doh hahaha

 

Too bad you couldn't just request the screen you wanted. It sounds like what happened a while ago with the Dell XPS laptops. I was lucky, thank god.

 

Absolutely true. The MBA screen is incredible compared to the MB, and even the MBP in my eyes. It's not too glossy and is just amazingly comfortable to work on.