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Grain-haters rejoice! No more grain on 15"!!!

P

PDE

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 16, 2005
2,484
18
Just received my new MBP and wanted to quickly share the good news regarding the LCD for my fellow grain-haters out there:

NO MORE GRAIN! It's now grainless, just like its 13" and 17" siblings! FInally a display worthy of such a nice computer.


Other comments on the display 09c67:

- it's an LG LP154WP2-TLA1

- It's wonderful to have a display that reaches full brightness immediately. No warm-up. Great.

- Viewing angles seem slightly better, but that could have to do with uneven illumination and the grain on the older ones.

- The LCD is very even, but still not as even as a good quality desktop LCD. There is some minor bleeding from the sides here and there, and a very very slight darker strip at the bottom, but it would be invisible to 99% of users. Because I've had so many bad screens over the past year, I think I'm over-sensitive.

- It's extremely bright, whites are crisp, blacks are very black. Good contrast.

- Gradients still show some banding - I've accepted that as current limit of technology in notebook displays.

- because of even illumination and no grain, the display seems much sharper and easier on the eyes than the previous ones.



In other words, we've got a winner here! I've waited over a year for a decent display and now we've got a really good one.

No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain! No grain!

Very pleased.
 
What you mean you had a grainy core 2 duo and Apple replaced it with the news ones or you sold your core 2 duo and got a new one?
 
Mac-Addict said:
What you mean you had a grainy core 2 duo and Apple replaced it with the news ones or you sold your core 2 duo and got a new one?
Click to expand...

It's a long story....but I've had quite a few MBPs, all of which had bad displays. I returned or sold them and have been using a macbook for a while now.
 
woot. I'm glad I took a risk and ordered right away instead of driving 1.5 hours one way.
 
How can you tell if you have a bad display?

Just a few questions...

What do you guys mean by "grainy"? How does a grainy display look like versus a non grainy one?

How do I tell if a display is "bad"?
What do I need to be looking at to fully test the entire screen? When I look at my 15'' rev. b MBP, I can't see any individual dead pixel. But then again I don't know what exactly to look for. Am I looking for a micro pixel that has been stucked to one color? Or am I looking at patches of "darkness"?

What's "uneven backlighting"?
To be honest, when I'm looking at the display dead center, it seems like it is brighter at the center and it noticeably fades at the corners and edges. I just thought this was normal.

If I do have a bad display, I want to know as soon as possible. I just got this baby 2 months ago but hopefully Apple can give me a new MBP
 
I have no clue what bad grain is and don't want to know so that I don't become so prejudice against displays like a lot of the people on these forums.

I have seen uneven back lighting and I believe it is when parts of your screen are darker/brighter then other parts when they are not supposed to be. I think the edges of the screen are most prone to this. Usually this is obvious.
 
superspiffy said:
If you've used a bad display for a long time (my story) and you don't know what a good display looks like, how can you tell if you've been giving either one?
Click to expand...

If you have been generally happy with your display, then do yourself a favor and don't look for faults. These things depend on expectations and past experience. I know there are many people out there who are very happy with the previous displays and that's great. No need to dig for something when you're not noticing anything wrong!
 
I bought my car. I loved it found no faults.

I decided to read a new review of my car and it talked about excessive road noise.

From that day on I never had the same relationship with that car.

My point is what the poster above me was able to articulate much more nicely then I. Don't look for the faults or you will find them, even if you don't have them or didn't mind them before you found out.
 
This is really good news. I've been searching for a definitive answer on this for some time. Like you PDE, i had the MBP and exchanged it for a MacBook because the display was atrocious with the grain. The MacBook's is great.

However, i still prefer most things about the MBP to the MB...so maybe i'll be grabbing a SR MBP in a few months. We'll see. I can't wait to see it in person at the Apple Store.
 
Of all the MBPs I've seen including mine I've never seen this grainy screen. I'm a digital artist so if the screen is funky I'd notice.
 
just outta curiousity, why would you buy the glossy screen version? I see people using glossy screens and see nothing but reflections, it drives me crazy. Someone enlighten me :)
 
jamesybsu said:
just outta curiousity, why would you buy the glossy screen version? I see people using glossy screens and see nothing but reflections, it drives me crazy. Someone enlighten me :)
Click to expand...

I love my glossy. It's crisper, and I don't think I've ever seen a reflection on it, unless I was trying to. And it's slightly easier to read outside.

but yeah, let's not turn this into a matte vs. glossy thread.

As far as grain, I don't notice any on my 15" MBP's CCFL-backlit screen. It does have a slight uneven backlighting, but nothing too noticeable except on a pure white screen. I am jealous of the new LED-backlit screens, though :rolleyes:
 
Bern said:
Of all the MBPs I've seen including mine I've never seen this grainy screen. I'm a digital artist so if the screen is funky I'd notice.
Click to expand...

It's definitely an issue, I don't know why you can't see it if you are specifically looking for it.
 
So is there a difference in terms of grain between the glossy and the matte one? I don't want to order a SR MBP the next days and get a glossy, grainy one. Which model did you order, PDE? 2.2 or 2.4 GHz? I don't think this makes a difference, just wanna know..
Or can somebody absolutely agree with PDE and guarantee, that the grain problem isn't a problem anymore?
Thanks.
 
aureus said:
So is there a difference in terms of grain between the glossy and the matte one? I don't want to order a SR MBP the next days and get a glossy, grainy one. Which model did you order, PDE? 2.2 or 2.4 GHz? I don't think this makes a difference, just wanna know..
Or can somebody absolutely agree with PDE and guarantee, that the grain problem isn't a problem anymore?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I am the most picky person around and I tell you this: the matte ones have no grain. I saw one glossy LED that I felt showed some kind of grain, but nothing like the old ones. I ordered the 2.2.

Seriously, grain is no longer an issue - trust me! There are other issues, but grain is not one of them.
 
I'd also like to think of myself as pretty picky. I returned a 3 day old MBP and exchanged it for a Black MacBook in March because the grain was really bad.

I went into the Apple Store in San Diego last week to check it out. I only used the computer for about 90 seconds, but i could not find any grain on the 15" Matte display. Just gorgeous. If you weren't in the market for a 15" MBP solely because of the grain -- now's the time to buy.

I'm happy Apple fixed the problem, but it shouldn't ever have made it past QC anyway.
 
Yay, No more grain, now all other buyers have to worry about is if they get a screen with the Yellow Tinting issue =\
 
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