New C2D Macbook...Colors look washed out.

[Luigi239]

Hey everybody, I just got my replacement Macbook today. I love it, but compared to my old one, the colors really look washed out. Does anybody else have this problem? Changing the color profile to Adobe RGB (1998) helps, but it still doesn't seem the same. Should I be worried? I want this one to be perfect, unlike my 3 previous ones.

EDIT: Also, looking at the screen at an angle, I see these...I guess you would call them blotches. Is that normal too?

Thanks

 

[Wie Gehts]

My display seemed washed out after I installed the new iLife 08 but could be my imagination. I just got this thing a few days ago.

You can go in the display prefs > color and do a calibration. In the simplified version I used 'color lcd' and just set the mac gamma at 2.2 and I like it a lot better.
1.8 was too light. And the color temp about a half a tic less than D50..looked more natural to my eye. YMMV

On the other hand, if you go into advaced mode you can get specific with color shifts and all but it can drive you crazy. (Arrrggh, everything now has a bit of a green tint to it.... hehehe)

 

[rosh325]

Supercal is also a great program to use.

 

[vicious7]

Supercal is also a great program to use.

Agreed. Get it here.

 

[Luigi239]

Thanks for your sugestions...I downloaded supercal but it seemed to complicated, so I tried the colorsync advanced options, which made it better, but Adobe RGB 1998 seems better to me.

At the setting I have, the display is Ok, but should I be worried? Would it be worth it to take it back? This computer has to last at least 3-5 years, and I want it to be perfect.

 

[squeeks]

compared to my MBP looking at the macbooks in the store, i dont know if its the lights or what, but they all look washed out

 

[Luigi239]

compared to my MBP looking at the macbooks in the store, i dont know if its the lights or what, but they all look washed out

Allright, well that makes me feel better I guess. Anybody else have input, before I finally put my fears to rest?

 

[FuzzMunky]

Just perform a SuperCal calibration. The amount of time you seem to have invested talking about this issue in MacRumours would have been more than enough to do a proper calibration and thus end your fears. The last page of the SuperCal calibration is the one you would be interested in. Here you can change the gamma to make the colours deeper.

 

[G-Force]

Allright, well that makes me feel better I guess. Anybody else have input, before I finally put my fears to rest?

I have had 3 defect MacBooks, and received my 4th one today.

First one:
Good colors, gradients looked _really_ bad. Overall the screen was really bad.

Second one:
Good colors, gradients looked good but the screen was way too bright (which made it seem washed out). Even after calibration. Overall the screen was bad for my taste.

Third one:
Same as the second one.

Fourth one:
Also good colors, gradients look really good and this screen isn't too bright. Just fine for a notebook.

These are my experiences.

 

[Warped1]

I have the same issue. I bought an otherwise flawless macbook refurb.

The white seems too bright effecting colors to a washed out look. The problem is really apparent if you do not have the perfect angle on the lcd.

Switching the gama to 2.2 makes a world of difference but it's not nearly as good as my desktop system with NVidia card. I am not sure if there is a defect and will be doing some more testing with my LCD monitor as well as Windows bootcamp appearance this weekend but I suspect that these are just poor contrast lcd's.

BTW - How do you reset all of your Color profiles to default?

 

[Warped1]

Same issue using Vista. I used the intel driver color correction to reduce the contrast a touch. It's useable. It reminds me of early LCD projectors I have used for home theater. I'm chalking this one up to poor quality LCD and not a defect.

 

[yadmonkey]

Just got a new C2D Macbook yesterday and I was really disappointed by how severely washed-out the colors looked. Then I tried SuperCal thanks to the suggestions on this thread and after some serious adjustments to the calibration, the thing looks excellent.

Thanks to rosh and vicious for that!