Although I absolutely love my 11" I am disappointed a lot with a couple of things...

[fouraadfproa]

Viewing angles.... am I the only one who thinks they are horrid as little as 20 degrees of screen rotation render the screen unreadable.

Opening angle of the screen...couple the viewing angle with the screen opening angle missing a few very vital degrees more in opening....

| guess no one is perfect, other than that I absolutely adore this little baby!

 

[KnightWRX]

Viewing angles.... am I the only one who thinks they are horrid as little as 20 degrees of screen rotation render the screen unreadable.

A gross exageration. The viewing angles aren't quite good, there's some color shift to the sides and up/down from just looking at it dead on, but it hardly makes it unreadable. Don't hyperbole so much.

 

[fouraadfproa]

A gross exageration. The viewing angles aren't quite good, there's some color shift to the sides and up/down from just looking at it dead on, but it hardly makes it unreadable. Don't hyperbole so much.

I was aware of my potential hyperbole when I wrote unreadable, but essentially you can't read it with ease, hence it's legible but not easily readable. To me these few degs. and change in colour make a big difference when I want to position the air as such so as to tilt the screen further back, but it doesn't tilt.

Maybe I have a lemon screen in terms of viewing angles...who knows...and it's a bit worse than others...

 

[KnightWRX]

I was aware of my potential hyperbole when I wrote unreadable, but essentially you can't read it with ease, hence it's legible but not easily readable. To me these few degs. and change in colour make a big difference when I want to position the air as such so as to tilt the screen further back, but it doesn't tilt.

The slight color shift doesn't cause it to be "not easily readable". It doesn't impact readability at all.

 

[fouraadfproa]

The slight color shift doesn't cause it to be "not easily readable". It doesn't impact readability at all.

Well, speak for yourself, it impacts it to me. Others can read on glass screens of macbooks, I can't and prefer matte. So I am sensitive to such things.

 

[skeen]

Viewing angle is fine for me...I suppose the only thing I'm 'disappointed' about is that the storage fills up rather quickly!

 

[tunerX]

How far back can you tilt the screen. Is the color shift really noticeable.

I was contemplating getting one but if there is a color shift then I am helpless because I have red/green deficiencies.

 

[HLdan]

OP, go to your local Best Buy or electronics retailer that carry's computers and check out many of the PC notebook screens. In fact, take your Air with you to compare. What you will see on just about ALL of the PC notebooks is a washed out screen when you pivot the screen back and forth. There are quite a few PC notebooks that are priced above the baseline Macbook Air and the screens are horribly washed out to the point of being "unusable".
I'm sure you'll say you couldn't care less about a PC notebook because your complaint is about your Mac Air, but I'm trying to get you to understand that your screen is far better than you think. If you can't live with it, return it. This is not something you can fix.

 

[fouraadfproa]

Ι am sure, and I am aware of that, but I 've been spoilt by the ips panels on the iphone and the ipad, but you didn't read my post, I said i love my air to bits.

Like I said my complaint is the opening angle together with the color shift. Sometimes when sitting on my rag and writing I have to put a book under the trackpad just to tilt the air back because | don't find it easy to read what with the opening being less than what I expected (still better than the first revs of the airs of course). Funny thing is I believe the hinge did have the capacity, even with the way it is designed, to tilt back a few degrees.

I am also coming from a powerbook g4 and I am spoilt with the great opening angle it had.

But like I said nobody's perfect...I am sure the next air will have ips.

 

[Apollo73]

Ι am sure, and I am aware of that, but I 've been spoilt by the ips panels on the iphone and the ipad, but you didn't read my post, I said i love my air to bits.

Like I said my complaint is the opening angle together with the color shift. Sometimes when sitting on my rag and writing I have to put a book under the trackpad just to tilt the air back because | don't find it easy to read what with the opening being less than what I expected (still better than the first revs of the airs of course). Funny thing is I believe the hinge did have the capacity, even with the way it is designed, to tilt back a few degrees.

I am also coming from a powerbook g4 and I am spoilt with the great opening angle it had.

But like I said nobody's perfect...I am sure the next air will have ips.

Go test the 13" out. It could be that the size difference is just enough to make some of this stuff less of an issue for you. Yeah, I know you can question how this could possibly help, but it might surprise you. I don't know what it is, but the 11" hurts my eyes. I have great eyesight, and I can use my smartphone's screen just fine without my eyes straining, but on the 11" I can't look at it without my eyes hurting. It might be the issues you are describing, but yet my 13" is just perfect for me.

 

[mac jones]

Looks ok to me

 

[silverblack]

Have the 11" here, and the screen looks absolutely fine and beautiful to me.

 

[gonnabuyamacbsh]

Itt: op makes a simple complaint and apple d riders run to valiently fight and protect its honor

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I find the viewing angle on the 13" to be better than on the 11" but only marginally so....likely because of the taller screen.

Keep in mind that I seldom am using a laptop of any kind while seated in the "optimal" position. My laptop is usually on my workbench and I often am typing while standing up. YMMV of course.

 

[silverblack]

Itt: op makes a simple complaint and apple d riders run to valiently fight and protect its honor

LOL. Of course, as we all know the OP is "holding it wrong".

 

[HLdan]

Itt: op makes a simple complaint and apple d riders run to valiently fight and protect its honor

Oh, I see, so the OP's only allowed to complain and nobody else is allowed to do anything but agree with him?

 

[dwsolberg]

Viewing angles.... am I the only one who thinks they are horrid as little as 20 degrees of screen rotation render the screen unreadable.

Opening angle of the screen...couple the viewing angle with the screen opening angle missing a few very vital degrees more in opening....

| guess no one is perfect, other than that I absolutely adore this little baby!

I feel the same way about my wife. The viewing angles that she looks good in are getting narrower, too.

---------------------------------------------------
P.S. NOT true! Just a joke.

 

[Mac32]

Personally I think the 11' screen is great, with very good resolution and contrast. The 11.6 is a great laptop IMO.

 

[magbarn]

OP, go to your local Best Buy or electronics retailer that carry's computers and check out many of the PC notebook screens. In fact, take your Air with you to compare. What you will see on just about ALL of the PC notebooks is a washed out screen when you pivot the screen back and forth. There are quite a few PC notebooks that are priced above the baseline Macbook Air and the screens are horribly washed out to the point of being "unusable".
I'm sure you'll say you couldn't care less about a PC notebook because your complaint is about your Mac Air, but I'm trying to get you to understand that your screen is far better than you think. If you can't live with it, return it. This is not something you can fix.

This, the vast majority of PC laptops in B&M stores have very horrible screens. Not only do the viewing angles suck, but the resolution is always a pitiful 720P. I know you can special order a couple of dell's and Hp's with higher rez screens, but pretty much Apple is one of the few B&M's where you can walk into a store and buy a higher resolution laptop without special ordering.

 

[psirix]

I feel the same way about my wife. The viewing angles that she looks good in are getting narrower, too.

LOL I was reading this thread at work and read this comment and then my co-worker was asking what was so funny. hahahaha.

 

[iRun26.2]

Personally I think the 11' screen is great, with very good resolution and contrast. The 11.6 is a great laptop IMO.

I completely agree. Going in to see the screen in person is was what made me buy it. I have no regrets!

 

[gwsat]

Ι am sure, and I am aware of that, but I 've been spoilt by the ips panels on the iphone and the ipad
. . .

But like I said nobody's perfect...I am sure the next air will have ips.

I agree that color rendition, brightness, and the capability for wide angle viewing are great on the iPad's IPS display, but I hate, hate, hate the maddeningly reflective glass panel covering the iPad's screen. I prefer the non IPS displays on the MBAs because they don't have a glass panel covering them. Consequently, my reflection problems have been dramatically fewer on my MBA than they are on my iPad. I know that a lot of Mac owners actually prefer glass covered screens but I am certainly no one of them.

 

[a2applegirl]

On macs in general there seems to be a trade off between saturation of color and shiny-reflectiveness of display. I hated looking at myself in the "mirror" all the time when I was watching videos on the ipad. In my opinion, the screen was too reflective.

When I was buying my macbook pro last spring, I tested both the matte and the glossy screens, and I found the matte screens to be too washed out in color compared to the glossy screens.

I find that the air has washed out color compared to my macbook pro, but that is fine because the screen is not so reflective that it is acting as a portable mirror.

 

[gwsat]

On macs in general there seems to be a trade off between saturation of color and shiny-reflectiveness of display. I hated looking at myself in the "mirror" all the time when I was watching videos on the ipad. In my opinion, the screen was too reflective.

When I was buying my macbook pro last spring, I tested both the matte and the glossy screens, and I found the matte screens to be too washed out in color compared to the glossy screens.

I find that the air has washed out color compared to my macbook pro, but that is fine because the screen is not so reflective that it is acting as a portable mirror.

Excellent post! I have made no secret of my cordial detestation of Apple's highly reflective glass covered displays. I have tried to keep in mind, though, that some think glass covered screens provide more vibrant color rendition. Like everything else where judging image quality is concerned, it's all a matter of opinion. I guess we should give Apple credit for giving buyers of 15 inch and 17 inch MBPs a choice in the matter.