New MBA: improved viewing angle?

[Roman2K~]

Erik Lanigan has lamented on YouTube about the limited viewing angle of the 13" MBA (late 2010) compared to that of the 11".

I'm afraid I have to agree with him. On my late 2010 13" MBA, the slightest tilt results in pretty significant color distortion. Other than that, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, I love the high resolution and lack of glass (no annoying reflections, despite the glossiness).

Can anyone comment on the viewing angle of mid 2011 MBAs, especially compared to the late 2010 ones?

A video I have taken of my late 2010 MBA to illustrate what I mean:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Nv8307iyE

 

[Roman2K~]

Bump?

 

[Philflow]

I doubt anything has changed. Apple still wants to sell the MBP.

 

[Roman2K~]

I doubt anything has changed. Apple still wants to sell the MBP.

Same here, but I ask just in case. Absence of improvements in this area would make for one less reason to be eyeing the upgrade .

 

[ghsDUDE]

How obvious is this problem?
I want the base 13...but will sacrifice battery, trackpad, and screen size and buy the 11" if this is an issue.

How bad was it with the "13?

I saw his videos too, and he seems to hate the 13" and LOVE the 11".

 

[Starfyre]

How obvious is this problem?
I want the base 13...but will sacrifice battery, trackpad, and screen size and buy the 11" if this is an issue.

How bad was it with the "13?

I saw his videos too, and he seems to hate the 13" and LOVE the 11".

Trackpad is the same.

 

[Roman2K~]

How obvious is this problem?
I want the base 13...but will sacrifice battery, trackpad, and screen size and buy the 11" if this is an issue.

How bad was it with the "13?

I saw his videos too, and he seems to hate the 13" and LOVE the 11".

It's not as bad as to be a deal breaker for me, but significant enough that I notice color distortion immediately when the screen is not tilted just right depending on which height I'm looking down from. It's most obvious when human skin is displayed.

I will try to make a video tonight, but not sure it will render properly.

Trackpad is the same.

For a long time I thought so too, but recently I saw a video review that stated the opposite. Haven't checked if that's true.

 

[aristobrat]

How obvious is this problem?

I never used the 11", but switching from a 15" MBP to a 13" MBA last October, I never had any problems with the viewing angles of the Air.

It did distort some if I pushed the screen back on a crazy angle, but sitting in front of it (or having it on my lap), it was great for me.

 

[Roman2K~]

I never used the 11", but switching from a 15" MBP to a 13" MBA last October, I never had any problems with the viewing angles of the Air.

It did distort some if I pushed the screen back on a crazy angle, but sitting in front of it (or having it on my lap), it was great for me.

Hmm, interesting. I may have got a lemon LCD panel then. On mine, colors feel more accurate when the screen is pushed back a little.

 

[ghsDUDE]

Trackpad is the same.

I could have sworn the 13" trackpad was bigger.

 

[Cali3350]

Id be willing to bet good money its the exact same panel.

 

[CapnJackGig]

Been using a 13 inch 2010 model for 10 months now and have no issues with the color, other than it getting really washed out on high brightness, but I never go that high anyway.

 

[Roman2K~]

@johndoejohndoes

I will try to make a video tonight, but not sure it will render properly.

Here is a video to illustrate what I mean by distorted colors ("washed out" I guess?):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Nv8307iyE

 

[WardC]

Regarding the trackpad, I think he was saying that the trackpad on the 2010 and 2011 13" models are the same.

I own both of the 2010 11" and 13", and yes the trackpad on the 13" is significantly larger than the trackpad on the 11" (larger in vertical size)

 

[myrtlebee]

The trackpad on the 11-inch is smaller in height. I know because we have a 13-inch MacBook Pro and an 11-inch air. The 13-inch MacBook Pro and Air have the same size trackpad. The only time it is slightly bothersome for me is when using the two gestures for opening and closing Launchpad. My fingers slightly brush the sharp-ish aluminum edges surrounding the trackpad on the 11-inch and they do not on the 13-inch. A minor gripe, but it's a cool gesture and I would prefer 13-inch's trackpad for it.

 

[Cali3350]

@johndoejohndoes

Here is a video to illustrate what I mean by distorted colors ("washed out" I guess?):

[url=http://img.youtube.com/vi/G3Nv8307iyE/0.jpg]Image[/URL]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Nv8307iyE

Any laptop screen is going to look washed out at that angle, they are still TN screens.

 

[andmm]

What screen dio you have:


To identify your display
open terminal , paste
ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

the first line is your display model

example: 13" ultimate - LTH133BT01A01

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1192807/

 

[Roman2K~]

What screen dio you have:
[...]
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1192807/

Ah thanks for pointing me to this thread. I just bought the 2011 13" to try for 14 days (to compare battery life and screen quality in order to decide if loosing money selling the old one is worth it). I'll definitely check SSD and display panel models & manufacturers to make sure both are from Samsung.

And tonight I'll post (here) the model number of my 2010.

Any laptop screen is going to look washed out at that angle, they are still TN screens.

Washed out colors at maximum angles (or close to) are fine, I don't expect iPhone 4 or iPad levels.

The problem is the color distortion after tilting the screen even just slightly. I don't know if you can tell watching the video, looking at human skin color tones. These change quite a bit over limited ranges of angle. That's noticeable unambiguously looking at the screen in real life.

 

[ghsDUDE]

Thanks for that video.
Yeah I got the 11" to be safe and I live it (w/fullscreen).

I checked out the angles on the 13" in store and could definitely see the problem...but I had to tilt it back a little further than regular...so I'm sure if it's at the right angle it looks fine.

 

[Roman2K~]

ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6
example: 13" ultimate - LTH133BT01A01

(Sorry, I forgot to run that command yesterday evening.)

Result: LTH133BT01A01
I'm eager to find out if my new MBA will get a Samsung too...

 

[andmm]

(Sorry, I forgot to run that command yesterday evening.)

Result: LTH133BT01A01
I'm eager to find out if my new MBA will get a Samsung too...

LTH133BT01A01 is the samsung display.
Have you tried another macbook air in a store, to find out if these have the same problems?

 

[Saturn1217]

Looks pretty good to me

I don't have a MBA (yet) but based on the vid and my experience in the apple store I'd say the viewing angles actually look pretty good.

Does anyone remember the screen on the macbooks when they first switched to aluminum? Now THOSE were some bad screens. So bad that when they transitioned to 13 inch MBPs in 2009 Apple specifically advertised the increased color gamut. I remember checking out the old aluminum macbooks in store and being shocked by how washed out the blacks were at even very mild angles.

I don't mean to belittle anyone's complaints here but well it could be worse

 

[Adidas Addict]

This is the reason I went back to a MBP, the 13" MBA screen is the worst display on any current apple computer. I got sick of having to adjust the screen constantly to get that tiny angle where the screen looked 'ok'.