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What do you think of this mbp screen?

queshy

queshy

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 2, 2005
3,690
4
As of recently there have been a lot of angry customers who claim their mbp screens have a yellowish tint, particularly in the bottom 1/3 portion of the display. I've only seen a few examples of what this looks like. There is also a thread that basically says that all mbp screens are messed up, in one way or another. When I got my mbp I didn't instantly notice a yellow hue...but now that I'm reading all of these threads, I'm starting to think my screen suffers from the same thing! Luckily I'm still in the window for a swap, so if it bothers me more I can change it. But look at the screen - am I just being paranoid? The screen does not have a yellow tint overall, but I'm starting to think maybe the bottom part of it does. Or it's just my imagination...

Either way, I find the mbp screen really bright, but I also find that my 24" iMac screen shows deeper colors that are more rich.
 

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Doesn't look too bad compared to some of the others I have seen. Can't really see any yellow, but then I am on a cheap windows laptop right now. I will look at it on the 30" when I get home, but I think you are ok.
 
Royale w/cheese said:
Doesn't look too bad compared to some of the others I have seen. Can't really see any yellow, but then I am on a cheap windows laptop right now. I will look at it on the 30" when I get home, but I think you are ok.
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Thanks! I think that in the pictures it appears the screen is darker near the bottom...but I realize there is no such thing as a 100% perfectly evenly lit display. I just want to make sure that this really is within spec before I become more attached to it...but thanks for your time.
 
Flobber88 said:
Hard to tell. Best way to find out is check it with the pictures found here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/313239/
(Found at the top post)

If the bottom one looks dirty and gray compared to the top box, you probably have the yellowing problem.
Click to expand...

the white boxes look pretty much identical in both pictures...is the bottom box "supposed" to be distorted/dirty compared to the top if you have a bad screen?
 
Its hard to say from your photos and honesty I haven't seen any photos that have been able to capture it well.

As a side note, mine was the most noticeable near the dock area. Have you tried hiding the dock and comparing the very bottom of your screen to the top?
I can see the yellow best when I use a light grey background (the one apple displays when the system boots/also found under the wallpaper section).
 
Looking at the attached pics, it's hard to tell.

Try the pictures linked above, if the bottom square is a browning tinge, then it's uneven. If both squares look OK, your set.
 
When I first powered up my 15" MBP 2.4GHz, I though "Wow, that is a beautiful screen". Crisp, sharp, and soooo bright.

Then I read about the "yellowing" issues that some are having.

Then I powered up my MBP next to my new 20" Cinema Display. And sure enough, next to the Cinema Display, my MBP did look yellow. There were no gradient issues... ie, at least it was evenly and consistently yellow, but I was worried for a while.

But then I powered up my old iBook G4, the screen of which I never liked but I never thought it was particularly yellow. And sure enough, my MBP's screen looked whiter-that-white next to my iBook!

Then someone on this forum suggested I had another go at manually calibrating my MBP screen. It's a fiddly process that requires patience... but I'm glad I persevered. The colour balance on my MBP is now way better. OK, so it's still slightly yellow next to the Cinema Display... but I'm massively impressed with the Cinema display so perhaps that's not a fair comparison.

The moral of the story is... if after calibrating your MBP screen carefully, and if there's no gradients or dead/stuck pixels, if you aren't sure weather or not the screen is too yellow, then it's probably OK.

SL
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. So I photographed the screen with those special pics running as well as a full white screen (hid the dock).

Based on the pictures, the screen appears to be a little darker near the bottom, but it seems to be quite minor. Are defective machines much more pronounced than that?

Do I need to calibrate my screen? How do I go about doing this?

Thanks again.

Edit: Ok, the picture with the gray background and the white squares I posted doesn't really represent what I'm seeing. I managed to take another shot (titled "4") which represents what I'm seeing more. It's the lighting in the room that makes a big difference. That being said, 3 and 4 are of the same thing but the white square really appears to be sharper than displayed in number 3.

Or maybe I'm just nuts...lol. I have until 08/03 to get a swap from the apple store if the display bothers me. What do you think?
 

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Those pictures, especially the last one, look like pictures of a perfect screen to me. I don't see what the complaint is, I don't see any yellow at all on those. Not sure what the above poster is talking about.
 
Sbrocket said:
Those pictures, especially the last one, look like pictures of a perfect screen to me. I don't see what the complaint is, I don't see any yellow at all on those. Not sure what the above poster is talking about.
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lmao two very different posts we have here!

I have to bump this thread so that it doesn't float to the bottom with this discussion unresolved (sorry).

Normally this kind of thread isn't very useful, but the yellow screen is so hard to photograph and not many people suffering from it have posted what their screen looks like. I posted those pictures because they do an okay job of representing what I see. I didn't do any modifications to them except for lowering the quality to chop down the file size.

Am I only starting to think it's a bit yellow just because I'm reading all of this? Or is it really yellow? I spent so much money on this laptop and had to save so hard to get it, that I want it to be perfect. I don't mind replacing it, I replaced my iMac a few times (due to really major problems) just to get one that I was happy with. Thanks everyone.
 
I don't get this. Why do you have to post internet asking "Is there is problem with my screen?" Ask yourself - are you bothered by it?
If it doesn't bother you then carry on using it.
There's too much Mac hypochondria going on around here.
 
sinecurea said:
I don't get this. Why do you have to post internet asking "Is there is problem with my screen?" Ask yourself - are you bothered by it?
If it doesn't bother you then carry on using it.
There's too much Mac hypochondria going on around here.
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Yes, you are quite right - there is too much mac hypochondria. But I think my reason is quite justified since there are so many customers who are angry about their screens. It's hard to tell if I am bothered by it because I don't know what a "normal" screen looks like. Analogy: I believe that the sky is blue. I'm pretty happy with that - but if everyone told me tomorrow that the sky was really red and that I'm really missing out because a red sky is much better (for x, y, and z reason) then I'd be pretty angry! Similarly, if you presented me with a mbp having a perfect screen and it was so much better than mine, I would take mine back and try and get a perfect one, like advertised from Apple.
 
From the pictures, the screen looks colored different on the bottom, but that could be the angle. Have you calibrated it?

It's really up to you to decide if you are happy with the screen or not. You'll be the one looking at it for the life of the computer.
 
After G said:
From the pictures, the screen looks colored different on the bottom, but that could be the angle. Have you calibrated it?

It's really up to you to decide if you are happy with the screen or not. You'll be the one looking at it for the life of the computer.
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I really am not sure how to calibrate it. I went through the calibration utility but was I supposed to manually calibrate it (instead of pressing next, next, next, etc)?

Is my screen just as yellow as everyone else who is very angle with it? Or are those screens much more noticeable - because honestly I may see a bit of yellow in the screen, but I don't see enough of it to accuse apple of making the world's worst computers...ultimately, it is me who'll be looking at the screen most of the time, but I'd rather deal with the yellow screen problem now rather than next year, when I'm out of warranty.
 
I had the same problem as you do. I'd check these "test" images.. so I started to see yellow... I have samsung lcd... so I was worried, but...
So I downloaded many Hires wallpapers (nature photos) and a tried to see any yellowish in them. All of them were so beautiful.. (even compared to a CRT monitor!!!)

So I decided to keep it... no problem since.

Anyway, I always have something on my screen and it never just plain grey, so I don't see any problem :)


FYI: i used this site to get many wallpapers to try: http://interfacelift.com
 
queshy said:
Thanks! I think that in the pictures it appears the screen is darker near the bottom...but I realize there is no such thing as a 100% perfectly evenly lit display. I just want to make sure that this really is within spec before I become more attached to it...but thanks for your time.
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it's really hard to tell from the pictures you posted. i can see that the screen is darker near the bottom, but the screen is darker near the top in some of the images as well. instead of attributing this to some defect in the macbook pro display, i think it's more the viewing angle the camera's shooting at. call me crazy, but i think your macbook pro's screen might actually be fine. :eek:
 
Sbrocket said:
Those pictures, especially the last one, look like pictures of a perfect screen to me. I don't see what the complaint is, I don't see any yellow at all on those. Not sure what the above poster is talking about.
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So you can't see the obvious difference in colour with the white squares. If so then fine but I can so I wouldn't settle for a screen like this. Sorry.
 
I have gone through 3 MBPs in the last 3 weeks, so I may be able to add to the discussion. My first one had an obvious yellow band problem in the lower 1/3. You didn't even have to strain to see it. It was quite obvious when you open up a all white or all gray window. The pics that you have posted show me a normal MBP LED screen. My next 2 MBPs exhibited the same sort of behavior (the bottom square would be slight duller than the top square which would be bright white). I believe this is normal for new LED screens.

Another test you could do is open up a safari window (go to about:blank). Make the screen size about the full length of the laptop horizontally and about a 1/4 of the size vertically. Now drag the screen from top to bottom slowly and see if you see any change in shade of the white area. I notice that mine does change gradually to a slight grayish tint, from the bright white it is at the top. I think this is perfectly normal for the new LED screens. Maybe more people can try this and report back.

So, there is nothing wrong with your computer. Enjoy it. If it's not blatantly obvious, which it doesn't sound like it is, then you don't have a defective screen.

What is your screen manufacturer? My first one was a Samsung and my other 2 were LGs.

Edit to add: I had the exchange the 2nd MBP for random shutdown issues, not anything screen related.
 
pandayoghurt said:
So you can't see the obvious difference in colour with the white squares. If so then fine but I can so I wouldn't settle for a screen like this. Sorry.
Click to expand...

If what everyone is complaining about is the very slight difference that you can see between those two white squares, then I'm afraid to tell you that your energy would be better spent pursuing something more worthwhile. The slight difference between those two would not be noticeable in normal operation; when are you ever going to be looking at a screen of pure white? I thought that for such a hotly discussed issue it would have to be something a bit more noticeable than that, and I can't help but think that the volume of posts on this subject is a bit ridiculous now. If you can sincerely see a difference that impacts your use or enjoyment of the computer on a regular basis, then for all means replace it. If you're just looking for faults, though, you've got more important things to worry about than this.

Not to mention that this "issue" disappears (at least on my screen) if you tilt the screen back at an angle. I don't even see any yellow; if anything, this would be related to non-perfectly even backlighting when the screen is viewed at a 90˚ angle.

Really, this is a bit pathetic. This isn't a major issue by any stretch of the imagination.
 
^I agree completely. If it's not blatantly obvious, then it's not an issue. All LED screens seem to exhibit a slight color change from top to bottom.
 
Have the same problem...

I have exactly the same problem. MBP SR, Samsung, week 28. I think the creator of the thread have stated very clearly what´s going on with the screen. The problem is quite subtle but the issue is there. I have replaced my MBP SR because of this. It seems like some of you think this is a silly problem. But when paying $2,100 for a computer and you only have two weeks to spot faults, you tend to look for 'em.

I own a Vaio, FE-series (sold in Europe, mine was bought in Sweden). I bought it a couple of months ago and the screen is, sadly to say, much better. More even and brighter. And it's not a LED. And I bought it new for just above $1,000.

I hope you get this sorted out bro'. I just felt that i HAD to replace it. I can't spend that much money and feel that I didn't get what I paid for.

Good luck! (To the both of us, I havn't got my replacement yet.).
 
Psicotec said:
I have exactly the same problem. MBP SR, Samsung, week 28. I think the creator of the thread have stated very clearly what´s going on with the screen. The problem is quite subtle but the issue is there. I have replaced my MBP SR because of this. It seems like some of you think this is a silly problem. But when paying $21,000 for a computer and you only have two weeks to spot faults, you tend to look for 'em.

I own a Vaio, FE-series (sold in Europe, mine was bought in Sweden). I bought it a couple of months ago and the screen is, sadly to say, much better. More even and brighter. And it's not a LED. And I bought it new for just above $10,000.

I hope you get this sorted out bro'. I just felt that i HAD to replace it. I can't spend that much money and feel that I didn't get what I paid for.

Good luck! (To the both of us, I havn't got my replacement yet.).
Click to expand...
Man, you were ripped off!
 
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