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Macbook Pro 17" display unveiled...

P

PDE

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 16, 2005
2,484
18
Just installed xp on my 17" Mbp and ran astra32. For those interested, the display is:


LG-Philips
LP171WE2

Got this from the LG-philips site:



ㆍFeatures

17.1" TFT LCD Panel for Notebook PC






Model Name LP171WE2

Active Area [mm]
367.42 x 229.64



Outline Dimension [mm]
382.2 x 244.5



Thickness [mm]
6.2



Resolution
1680 x 1050



Aspect Ratio
16:10



Pixel Pitch [mm]
0.219(116)



Number of Colors
262,144(6bit)



Luminance [cd/㎡]
300



Color Saturation (%)
45%



Weight [g]
670



Contrast Ratio
600:1



Interface
LVDS 2port



Viewing Angle [˚,U/D/L/R]
100/130



Color Temperature [K]




Response Time [ms]
25



MP Schedule
Now
 
I have a question about backlighting. My 17" does have uneven backlighting and I wonder if this is a problem with the manufacturing of the LCD itself, or with the assembly by Apple? Is it possible to create uneven backlighting by incorrect assembly?

Trying to understand the technical parts of this. I just can't imagine that a huge company like LG-Philips would be producing displays with this kind of uneven illumination distribution and still be able to stay in business...or is Apple just selecting the cheapest of their panels?
 
Number of Colors = 262,144 (6bit)
Click to expand...
"Support for Millions of Colours" Don't you just love :apple: Apple Marketing!

262K / 6bit may explain the hideous amount of color banding on these laptops. Still waiting for revised LCD specs before buying anything.....
 
This is outrageous!! And I who thought LG/Phillips made good LCD panels! Those are crap compared to anything! Response time and colors, EW!
NOT a 3000$ laptop quality!
 
Laslo Panaflex said:
25ms response? That's horrible.
Click to expand...
That's pretty typical, depending on what that actually means. Not all companies rate the response in the same way. If 25ms means off to on to off.. black to white to black, or gray to gray is the question. Is it typical or average response, or the fastest response.. Many times when you see response times of 8ms or less, this is not under typical or average use. It's advertisement to get your dollar
 
Outside75 said:
Looke here: CLICK

at least AUO updated their panel.. I wonder if its now panel lottery when some users are getting previous version and some the updated one?
Click to expand...


It seems they are deliberately misleading customers, or trying to avoid being clear about the display.
 
Jiddick ExRex said:
This is outrageous!! And I who thought LG/Phillips made good LCD panels! Those are crap compared to anything! Response time and colors, EW!
NOT a 3000$ laptop quality!
Click to expand...

Well, I thought so too. I don't think there is much wrong with these panels besides the uneven backlighting. Yes, they're 6 bit, but it seems ALL laptop displays are 6 bit. I haven't seen reference to 8 bit laptop LCDs anywhere.

I'm wondering if the problem has to do with Apple's assembly and design - at least the brightness illumination part. If the display had even illumination it would be fine, for a laptop.
 
Sorry, how do I take a screenshot in Windows? I don't have a "Print Screen" button on my MB keyboard nor on my Apple wireless KB...

EDIT: Nevermind.

LP133WX1

ㆍFeatures

13.3" TFT LCD Panel for Notebook PC



Model Name LP133WX1
Active Area [mm]
286.1 X 178.8

Outline Dimension [mm]
299.5 X 195.5

Thickness [mm]
5.3

Resolution
1280 X 800

Aspect Ratio
16 : 10

Pixel Pitch [mm]
0.2235(114)

Number of Colors
262,144(6bit)

Luminance [cd/㎡]
250

Color Saturation (%)
45%

Weight [g]
350

Contrast Ratio
400:1

Interface
LVDS 1port

Viewing Angle [˚,U/D/L/R]
50/90

Color Temperature [K]


Response Time [ms]
25
 
Can somebody explain to me the reason my old powerbook G4s and powerbook G3 seemed capable of displaying gradients perfectly? Was it because they were dimmer and had less contract and therefore did not show their limitations in the same way? Have there never been laptop displays that are genuine 8 bit?
 
PDE said:
Can somebody explain to me the reason my old powerbook G4s and powerbook G3 seemed capable of displaying gradients perfectly? Was it because they were dimmer and had less contract and therefore did not show their limitations in the same way? Have there never been laptop displays that are genuine 8 bit?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind knowing the reason for this too.
My Macbook display is not bad (apart from the chicken-wire lol), but to be honest, I still prefer my 15" Powerbook's display. It's nowhere near as bright or as sharp, but the colour gradients are far nicer.
 
I have a Macbook Pro 17" 2.33 GHz bought in March 2007.

The problem is that gradients show horrible banding and gamut problems.

I am a graphic designer and this problem makes working on the 17" a nightmare for selecting colors.

Try this: open the Photoshop color selector and try to pick a color in the mid to upper range. I can't select a color shade reliably when all the color shades look the same, never mind reliable color! We tried calibrating the screen with a Pantone calibrator with no change.

The store I bought it from promised to replace it of course, but the unbelievable thing is that they don't have a single 17" 2.33 GHz that doesn't have this problem!!! They do have one older model 17" 2.0 GHz that has a perfect screen, no banding, beautiful gradients. The new Pro 15" models are excellent too with no problems whatsoever.

This means that at some point Apple has downgraded the 17" screen specs without telling, or it's a bad batch. The store contacted Apple who won't admit receiving any complaints like this.

I'd be bloody mad about this if it wasn't so strange that I almost can't believe it. I've trusted Apples great reputation up to now, but now I don't know what to make of this.

I'd really like to know it this is an isolated case or a bad batch. You can test this with LCDtest http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15119

My hardware info:

Machine Name: Mac
Machine Model: MacBookPro2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP21.00A5.B01
SMC Version: 1.14f5
Serial Number: W87030NPW0J
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

ATI Radeon X1600:
Chipset Model: ATY,RadeonX1600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x71c5
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-xxxxxx-158
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.158
Displays:
Color LCD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Depth: 32-bit Color
Built-In: Yes
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected
 
Jiddick ExRex said:
This is outrageous!! And I who thought LG/Phillips made good LCD panels! Those are crap compared to anything! Response time and colors, EW!
NOT a 3000$ laptop quality!
Click to expand...

It is crap if you're comparing to normal LCD displays.

It isn't crap compared to the LCDs used for laptops. Not at all.

Uneven backlight....well, I'd blame that on Apple.

The gradient issue isn't an issue for me, and if it was an issue, it would be the LCD panel manufacturer's fault. On that note, I don't see banding at all on my MacBook. Also, I haven't seen it on my friend's 15" MBP, so again, I don't know what to say.

iW00t said:
45% colour saturation

*drool*

Yet it has such lousy colour range (262K) and lousy response times. Wow, lose lose. There is no pros to it! :mad:

Anyway a rather insightful article I found about LCD monitors.
Click to expand...

With your persistent whining about colour saturation and colour range, have you ever just accepted the fact that LCD technology in laptops are generally not up to snuff?

arkitect said:
So... are they telling fibs again?
Or does it all depend on the interpretation of the word support? :rolleyes:

Number of Colors
262,144(6bit)
Click to expand...

Yes, 6-bit is poor, but the "support" they're referring to is simply colour interpolation. If you can imagine an LCD can display 2 different red pixels that are sliiiiightly different shades, the MacBook can interpolate the shade of red directly between the 2 shades of red the LCD panel is actually capable of displaying. That way, they offer you 3 shades of red despite the fact that the display is only capable of showing 2 shades, but not the one in between.

I think the interpolation is done by quickly showing one shade of red, then the other, then the first shade again......all done very quickly. When this happens, the shade of red that you see on your LCD will then appear to be a shade directly between the 2 shades the LCD panel is switching between. Either way, the method actually works, and you can see colours that your monitor isn't capable of displaying.

Anyway, the banding is likely not due to the 6-bitness of your LCD. Lots of LCDs don't have colour banding, and they're ALL 6-bit, and have been so for years --- WELL before you ever found this out. ;)
 
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