Does the uneven brightness issue affect glossy screens?

[gmckenzi]

Mbp C2d 17"

I received my 17" matte C2D MBP on Thursday Nov 16th.

They very first thing I did was give the display a great deal of my attention to see if it had any grain, or was unevenly lit.

I've checked and my panel is a 9C62. I've also got a 17" G4 PowerBook (the final iteration, only nine months old).

I can tell you that the C2D MBP panel is definitely waaayyy brighter than my PowerBook.

I cannot discern any material difference in brightness across the display. If I set my desktop to solid light gray, I can notice possibly a very slight descrease in brightness in the corners -- but I'm talking about maybe a couple of percentage points darker in an area about two millimeters square. And that's it. For comparison, on my PowerBook, I see the same thing, but the shape of the slight darkening is different and the area is about 4 millimeters square.

I've owned Toshibas and ThinkPads, my wife has a Vaio, and I own a 20" Cinema Display. I briefly owned a final generation Hi-Res 15" PowerBook with the full gamut of display problems that plagued that series -- hence, after about a week I got my 17" PowerBook to avoid the display and battery issues.

My experience has been that my PC laptop displays have had much greater variance in brightness.

Yes, if I compare my C2D MBP 17" display to my 20" Cinema Display, the Cinema Display wins in that there is absolutely no difference in brightness at the corners, and the difference is only noticeable to me when I have my Cinema Display and MBP side by side. But again, the area of decreased brightness is very slight and only occupies a tiny area in the corners of my MBP display -- and my perception of it shifts depending on the ambient lighting and my viewing angle.

Okay...that's alot of words to say that I am thouroughly impressed by the display quality on my new 17" C2D MBP. I've seen the 9C62 referenced as having more problems, but I can assure you the one sitting in front of me doesn't -- which makes me very happy.

Gavin.

 

[PDE]

I just came across this site that reviews lots of notebooks and measures illumination distribution. What become clear is that although we wish for better displays, Apple macbooks and macbook pros do fairly well compared to many other manufacturers, including Sony laptops. It's interesting to read some of reviews to compare.


http://www.notebookcheck.net/Reviews.55.0.html


http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...Pro.732.0.html

 

[Mysterio-]

Got mine 5 days ago. Matte display, and it's perfect, no problems at all.

 

[daneoni]

Got mine 5 days ago. Matte display, and it's perfect, no problems at all.

Is it me or does that look a tad photoshopped, im not saying it is im just saying the image looks....wierd. No offence

 

[Mysterio-]

it's you..

 

[e12a]

it's you..

could you display a full screen solid color? Any except black.

A wallpaper can hide anything. Dont use flash when you take the picture too.

15 or 17?

 

[macman2790]

could you display a full screen solid color? Any except black.

A wallpaper can hide anything. Dont use flash when you take the picture too.

15 or 17?

it looks like he used the flash

 

[Josias]

He just took that pic to show off his purty setup.

 

[e12a]

it looks like he used the flash

yes i know, which is why i told him not to on the solid color pic if he does.

also what model is the display? 9c60?

 

[datamage]

Here is a picture of my matte screen (c2d) - received back @ the end of october.

Screen looks pretty damn good to me.

 

[miniguu]

Here is a picture of my matte screen (c2d) - received back @ the end of october.
*snip*
Screen looks pretty damn good to me.

That's a keeper.

 

[PDE]

I'm just curious. What degree of uneven illumination is acceptable on a large 15 display? Maybe we're all just coming up agains the limitations of laptop LCDs and that in manufacturer's effort to increase brightness, they've failed with everything else. Compared to my macbook, my friend's mbp core2duo is pretty bad, yet compared to other people's mbp it doesn't seem particular bad. Does it get increasingly difficult to get an even illumination as the displays get bigger? In normal use, the unevenness seems negligible, but when you see it in a photo, it looks blotchy. Here is a comparison of my friend's MBP matte display with my macbook:

 

[DHagan4755]

I don't call this matte screen all to good.

 

[fargo]

I don't call this matte screen all to good.

Yak!! What kind of screen was that?! Return it man!! Apple cheated you!

 

[e12a]

Here's my screen.

last pic taken with full brightness, ambient lights off (except for a curtained window).

 

[PDE]

Here's my screen.

last pic taken with full brightness, ambient lights off (except for a curtained window).

I guess the bottom line is that ALL MBP displays have unevenly illuminated displays, some more than others. Yours looks fine to me, but very similar to my friend's new MBP which I posted pictures of above: brighter in the middle, a little darker on the right and a little darker in the corners. It's not apparent under normal use, but becomes visible when there are large areas of solid colors. Still, I think people should expect the same kind of illumination that is present in most macbooks...

 

[clevin]

Yak!! What kind of screen was that?! Return it man!! Apple cheated you!

well, well, well, if apple would ever agree to "fix" his screen, plz let me know too, coz all apple people told me were "they are normal".

 

[clevin]

Still, I think people should expect the same kind of illumination that is present in most macbooks...

You bet
here is my previous post
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/248380/

and this is my MB


Apple just don't have high quality LCD in laptop line.

 

[e12a]

Its the viewing angle of the LCDs, regardless of screen finish (matte/gloss) which makes the uneven illumination. To get the most brightness, you have to look at the screen right on. That's impossible when the screen is wide and has a bad viewing angle (hence why the middle is usually the brightest, because the camera is focused on the area of the screen directly in front of it).

For example: Move my head to the right corner, it appears to become brighter, the left becomes "dimmer". and vice versa for any direction.

 

[PDE]

Its the viewing angle of the LCDs, regardless of screen finish (matte/gloss) which makes the uneven illumination. To get the most brightness, you have to look at the screen right on. That's impossible when the screen is wide and has a bad viewing angle (hence why the middle is usually the brightest, because the camera is focused on the area of the screen directly in front of it).

For example: Move my head to the right corner, it appears to become brighter, the left becomes "dimmer". and vice versa for any direction.

You're really so right. When you move further away from the display, it appears more evenly illuminated. It's crazy how poor the viewing angles are! having said that, it does appear that there are difference in illumination too, according to http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Apple-MacBook-Pro.732.0.html

DISPLAY


color diagram for the MacBook Pro display
Beside the Intel processor the new 15.2" display probably is the most outstanding innovation. Clearly it belongs to the present top class of notebook displays.

"The 16:10 widescreen display offers the fine resolution of 1440x900 pixels and offers a nice maximum brightness of 230 cd/m². Because of the anti-reflection surface you can use the MacBook Pro even during direct sun exposure! In addition to this, the brightness is regulated automatically by a brightness sensor but can be also adjusted manually. The distribution of illumination of 80% is good. The exact values of the distribution are listed in the following table:

216,8 cd/m² 226,9 cd/m² 184,6 cd/m²
213,2 cd/m² 229,5 cd/m² 188,9 cd/m²
205,6 cd/m² 230,5 cd/m² 205,7 cd/m²
illumination of the screen

 

[clevin]

Its the viewing angle of the LCDs, regardless of screen finish (matte/gloss) which makes the uneven illumination. To get the most brightness, you have to look at the screen right on. That's impossible when the screen is wide and has a bad viewing angle (hence why the middle is usually the brightest, because the camera is focused on the area of the screen directly in front of it).

For example: Move my head to the right corner, it appears to become brighter, the left becomes "dimmer". and vice versa for any direction.

lol, if the question is so simple, I wouldn't complain here.

 

[e12a]

You're really so right. When you move further away from the display, it appears more evenly illuminated. It's crazy how poor the viewing angles are! having said that, it does appear that there are difference in illumination too, according to http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Apple-MacBook-Pro.732.0.html

DISPLAY


color diagram for the MacBook Pro display
Beside the Intel processor the new 15.2" display probably is the most outstanding innovation. Clearly it belongs to the present top class of notebook displays.

"The 16:10 widescreen display offers the fine resolution of 1440x900 pixels and offers a nice maximum brightness of 230 cd/m². Because of the anti-reflection surface you can use the MacBook Pro even during direct sun exposure! In addition to this, the brightness is regulated automatically by a brightness sensor but can be also adjusted manually. The distribution of illumination of 80% is good. The exact values of the distribution are listed in the following table:

216,8 cd/m² 226,9 cd/m² 184,6 cd/m²
213,2 cd/m² 229,5 cd/m² 188,9 cd/m²
205,6 cd/m² 230,5 cd/m² 205,7 cd/m²
illumination of the screen

ah yes I've read that review before. Supposedly its actually pretty even compared to other laptop screens when measured with a light meter.

 

[DHagan4755]

Update for all those interested...

After four trips to the Genius Bar and each time getting a "yeah well I agree with you but they're all like that," I called Apple on the phone after lunch today and ended up speaking with Customer Relations. I have to tell you that the Apple folks on the phone were really understanding and helpful. They called the store and I returned the MacBook Pro earlier this evening for a full refund. I don't want to deal with problems and poor manufacturing.

 

[clevin]

Update for all those interested...

After four trips to the Genius Bar and each time getting a "yeah well I agree with you but they're all like that," I called Apple on the phone after lunch today and ended up speaking with Customer Relations. I have to tell you that the Apple folks on the phone were really understanding and helpful. They called the store and I returned the MacBook Pro earlier this evening for a full refund. I don't want to deal with problems and poor manufacturing.

oh MY, Im sorry , but good for you!

 

[wildmac]

Regarding the glossy screens, My new C2DMB glossy is nice and even.

The viewing angle issues may make photos appear worse than what they actually are, but I've certainly seen the issue on MBPs on display at Apple stores. Esp. with the 17".