That's a great test, and easy enough to do that anyone with an iPhone can do it. It really illustrates the issue.
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16" MacBook Pro ghosting / smearing...
- Thread starter StONE_ROdGEr
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Put macOS in Dark mode. Open System Preferences. Move the window in circles. The icons will noticeable blurry ghost trail. I tested on 2015, 2018, 2019 retina screens and all about the same. But something about the newest screens looks washed out.
In dark mode, then opening the system preferences panel, it does look washed out or greasy when moving in a circle at a decent steady speed. Almost like when you just wake up in the morning and eyes are a bit blurry.
Though, with bright icons, mostly white, on a dark background, even on the LG display, I will see some smearing patterns, just not to the level seen on the MacBook Pro 16. I tried to take a video, but since I can't repeat the same motion/speed, it's not reliable to show the difference between displays.
I’m fully aware there isn’t going to be a newly designed panel per Ax number, and I never implied there was. However, I decided to order a second one just to rule out a potential first batch problem, and I was reporting back here to help rule out the Ax being key.
You seem to be very opposed to this thread, and the views of people who seem to have experienced the issue; do you just need to realise this thread isn’t for you? 🌝
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This thread bums me out.
That smearing is very noticeable and not good.
Not good at all.
That smearing is very noticeable and not good.
Not good at all.
Just saw this thread as I am coming from a mid-2012 MBP retina, I also noticed the screen performing 'differently'. First it seems that the screen has a warmer, yellow tone compared to the mid-2012 MBPr where the whites seemed white. It could be that I got used to a cooler screen but definitely there is a difference. As for ghosting I can see that the screen is slower. When scrolling text (white on black background), the white text becomes blue when scrolling. Although it's not such a big issue it makes it harder to go through documents. I wonder how can it be that a new laptop has a worse screen compared to a 7 year old laptop.
EDIT: I compared the dark mode on the MBP 2012 with the dark mode on the MBP 16 2019. Although the scrolling is not really smooth on the MBP 2012, there is no hint of smearing or text becoming blue while scrolling as opposed to the MBP 16 2019.
EDIT: I compared the dark mode on the MBP 2012 with the dark mode on the MBP 16 2019. Although the scrolling is not really smooth on the MBP 2012, there is no hint of smearing or text becoming blue while scrolling as opposed to the MBP 16 2019.
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I don't notice any smearing - although I have not gone looking for it either. I use my system as I normally would rather then looking for issues. Under my normal usage everything seems fine - no smearing, no popping speakers (after latest update).
Happy camper here.
Happy camper here.
Actually I am also using the system as I normally did with my MBP 2012. Only when scrolling through text it becomes immediately obvious there is something going on with this screen (at least compared to the original MBP 2012 retina, it might be that people coming from later MBPs have a different experience). At least good to hear that your system seems to be working fine. BTW: I have no issues with popping speakers, the speakers are a huge improvement.
I notice the warmer, yellow tone too, compared by my brighter, bluer late-2013 MBP screen. It makes the screen appear less bright to my eyes, but when I measured it with a colorimeter, the 2019 screen is in fact about 20% brighter.
Do you have TrueTone enabled? The display is factory calibrated, shouldn't have a warm tone.
TrueTone is disabled. I don't really mind the yellow tint, blue light is bad for your eyes anyway. The trails on text and video due to the poor response times, however, are driving me crazy.
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Yep, ghosting is indeed a big issue, at least for me, as I am primarily using this laptop for editing texts. When scrolling, the text becomes all blurry and colours shift. This makes it really hard on the eyes to scroll through text all day. Actually it reminds me a little bit of the first IBM Thinkpads which had passive LCD screens, where there was also a lot of ghosting, but then again, this was late in the 90's. I think Apple should really have a look at this, because this is not an improvement compared to earlier MBPs.
Mark my word: sooner or later Apple will use higher resolution (pixel density) displays for their laptops.
And then in a Trumpian fashion everyone who were thinking that 4K or more doesn’t make any sense write books on why Apple has done the right thing and reinvented laptops.
And then in a Trumpian fashion everyone who were thinking that 4K or more doesn’t make any sense write books on why Apple has done the right thing and reinvented laptops.
Lmao I do agree with this on other aspects of Apple products and people’s reaction to them but I stand by what I said earlier
Spot on my friend - spot on...
This place is notorious for defense of all things Apple (even bad things like ghosting screens and failing keyboards) and then - POOF! - Apple makes a change and suddenly it really WAS an issue and now Apple has, of course, "led the charge" and is "out innovating everyone, yet again!, yes TIM!!, YES!!"
It's shocking how in the bag so many are for everything Apple does.
It's honestly a little sad.
Remarkable how quickly so many disagreements here become, supposedly, about whether Apple is always right, something no one here ever claims or implies. When you find yourself thinking that's what's behind something you're reading here, you should know you're missing the point, and are probably not interested in the point.
As for 4K screens, most people including pros don't get much advantage from them in a laptop and as explained above, they do have their downsides for laptops. They'll get cheaper and more efficient, and all will balance out in favor of their use in MBPs someday soon, no doubt.
As for 4K screens, most people including pros don't get much advantage from them in a laptop and as explained above, they do have their downsides for laptops. They'll get cheaper and more efficient, and all will balance out in favor of their use in MBPs someday soon, no doubt.
For anyone who's unsure on the whole ghosting thing, I just made this before I send mine back. (And yes, this is EXACTLY how you see it in person...)
Did the above test at Best Buy (circle movement of system preferences in dark mode)
Looked the same as the 16 I have at home and essentially the video above.
Though, it’s a pretty brutal test, and even my normal LG monitor can look poor at this, except not at the level of the 16’s screen.
If this is considered normal for the screen, I then asked myself, does it effect my normal use, and if it doesn’t, just not worry about it. But if this is not consistent with all 16s, and instead a bad batch or some have different/better panels, then I’d want to make sure I’m not settling for the inferior version.
Looked the same as the 16 I have at home and essentially the video above.
Though, it’s a pretty brutal test, and even my normal LG monitor can look poor at this, except not at the level of the 16’s screen.
If this is considered normal for the screen, I then asked myself, does it effect my normal use, and if it doesn’t, just not worry about it. But if this is not consistent with all 16s, and instead a bad batch or some have different/better panels, then I’d want to make sure I’m not settling for the inferior version.
See - I just can't tolerate that, even if it is actually "normal" for these.
It's just awful and I'll admit that I'm one of those people that really is bothered by stuff like this.
I see it and notice it on every 16" I try and it just was never this way with other models in the past.
Super super frustrating.
I really hope a ProMotion screen can make this all better - hopefully in 2020.
- I don’t perceive any ghosting, blurring, or image retention in day-to-day use including light gaming (Diablo 3, Borderlands 2).
- When I use a specific test with the UFO animation and a camera, I’m able to observe what many posters are complaining about here.
- Although the screen response time might not be the absolute best achievable given the engineering / price trade offs, the fact that this is nominally a 60 Hz panel likely means that there are diminishing returns as we get below 16 ms in response time (most IPS panels are in the 5-8 ms range).
- Given the 3 observations above, I believe that the display is fine as-is for its intended use cases. At this stage I would be unwilling to accept the engineering sacrifices that could be required to get a lower latency panel, namely:
- Smaller colour gamut
- Less accurate colour reproduction
- Worse viewing angles
- Increased price
- I would be willing to make some trade offs (especially on price) if the response time and refresh rate were substantially better, i.e. I’d be willing to pay a bit more for a 120 Hz ProMotion display with everything else being equal.
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Odd as when searching this i see plenty complaining on 2012-15-18... so nothing new?
Here is the page im basing above on howz to test fro ghosting on my macbook and here too macbook pro 2018 ghosting
Upgrading my late 2013 15" loaded machine to the 16" 32gb ram/1tb ssd/mb video card and hope not to see this... as i dont on my current 2013rMBP.
Then again if its not something one sees in every day use I'm not bothered as taking a camera to snap a shot on test screen isn't something one should have to do to find an issue.
Here is the page im basing above on howz to test fro ghosting on my macbook and here too macbook pro 2018 ghosting
Upgrading my late 2013 15" loaded machine to the 16" 32gb ram/1tb ssd/mb video card and hope not to see this... as i dont on my current 2013rMBP.
Then again if its not something one sees in every day use I'm not bothered as taking a camera to snap a shot on test screen isn't something one should have to do to find an issue.
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And this does this on all machines including my 5K iMac. And it must be super annoying each day when you have to constantly drag the settings box around to prove to yourself and others that your laptop has ghosting. My wife’s MacBook Air has the same behavior as well and so do the 2016-2019 MacBook pros both 13” and 15”.
If it bothers you this much you are just going to have to move on to another manufacturer or keep dreaming that Apple will one day make a machine that is up to your standards.
Well, this is an Apple fan site.
I’m critical of Apple when I feel it’s warranted (I’ve destroyed them in the iOS13 thread) but praise them where I think it’s due. I also was extremely critical and hated the butterfly keyboard on previous MacBook models.
I happen to think the 16” is a great laptop. The best laptop in fact that Apple has ever made imo. That’s not blind defense to actually like it because a handful of people in here aren’t happy with the display. It’s fine if you have issues with it, but don’t tell me I’m wrong for saying i don’t have issues with it just because you perceive a “ghosting” issue (not you specifically but some others in this thread).
I’m not sure what you want out of people in here. Is everyone supposed to just agree with you and return their MacBooks even if they don’t see an issue with the screen?