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Christiaan Troo · Apr 21, 2006, 11:42 PM

ok so i bailed out on buying the MBP and went for a 12"PB to get started in my macintoshing.
except that as soon as i turned it on, i realised how poorly the graphic display was, i am shocked!
it is *completely* grainy (and i've been using a cheap pc for years with half its memory and it looked a 1000x better!) and really really crunchy/choppy.
i just don't get it

is it even possible to change its' graphic card? the guy at the store told me forget about it when i showed my hesitation about it being only 64mb. he seemed to imply it was either impossible or nearly unfordable..
any help to this would really help me. i litteraly feel like selling it off again! but would rather not..

Nai no Kami · Apr 21, 2006, 11:52 PM

I have a 12" PB and although you may complain about the brightness/contrast of the display, I have never found it grainy. Are you sure that the display is set to millions of colors. If the "grainyness" is due to a poor color depth, you will be fine even with 6 MB of VRAM (my iBook clamshell did fine with that). You should check under System Preferences > Displays.
On a sidenote: as far as I know, the GPU cannot be upgraded/changed on a portable Mac.

kmarketing · Apr 21, 2006, 11:55 PM

Hi,

The video card is not upgradeable.

Didn't you get to see it first in the store? Did they have a store model? It looks like you may have to return it if you really don't like it, but you will probably have to pay a restocking fee. unfortunately, the 12" powerbooks used will more than likely not bring you back what you paid for.

I'd say to save you the hassle of selling it, just return it and take the loss on the restocking fee.

Good Luck, I have a 12" and love it since it is the most portable mac laptop out there. But then again, I didn't pay full price for it.

Christiaan Troo · Apr 22, 2006, 12:00 AM

yes well the brightness/contrast is one thing.
but the grainyness and especially crunchyness is another..
display is set to millions, 1024x768, should be fine, but all my images come out looking extremely pixelated.
i even switched it to 800x600 to see what would happen, and it looked slightly better! but only slightly.
the store where i bought it have a no return/exchange policy so i doubt they'll be much help.

Christiaan Troo · Apr 22, 2006, 12:01 AM

"Didn't you get to see it first in the store? Did they have a store model?"

yeah, i did see it in the store and everything looked great!

what's a restocking fee? how much are we talking about?

Nai no Kami · Apr 22, 2006, 12:30 AM

Does the symptom persist if you create another user and log in with it?. If you take a screenshot (+Shift+3), does it reproduce the graininess (you will have to check it on another computer)?. If so, Could you post/link it here?. Have you tried reinstalling the OS (you can do an archive and install if you have valuable data on your PB)?
Have you checked on System Preferences > Universal Acces > Seeing if the "Enhance contrast" option has been activated?. It could also have been accidentally activated by pressing +Option+Control+.(period)
Have you tried lowering the color depth to see if it gets worse?

mad cow disease · Apr 22, 2006, 02:55 AM

Moral of the story...

Always always always always always always always always always do your research before buying.

iREZ · Apr 22, 2006, 03:26 AM

what youre mentioning sounds odd...got any pictures?

molala · Apr 22, 2006, 06:24 AM

the display shouldn't be grainy and pixelated. i have an older (1.33GHz) 12" PB and don't have those problems, though the display isn't as bright as the larger PBs. i would bring it to the genius bar in an apple store if the shop you bought it from won't be any help.

Christiaan Troo · Apr 22, 2006, 08:50 AM

"Does the symptom persist if you create another user and log in with it?"

i haven't tried that yet. had no idea that could be an issue

"If you take a screenshot (+Shift+3), does it reproduce the graininess (you will have to check it on another computer)?"

i took a couple of screenshots opening images that normally look spotless on my old crappy pc, and once zoomed in 1x or 2x on the PB, look extremely grainyand pixelated ..
how do you post pictures on here?

"Have you tried reinstalling the OS?"

not yet. i guess i will if all else fails...

"Have you checked on System Preferences > Universal Acces > Seeing if the "Enhance contrast" option has been activated?. It could also have been accidentally activated by pressing +Option+Control+.(period)"

checked. it wasn't activated. (although i wish i could change the contrast a bit! but it looks even worse in the end)

"Have you tried lowering the color depth to see if it gets worse?"

you mean go into "Color LCD" option and individually change the depth?

Christiaan Troo · Apr 22, 2006, 09:01 AM

by the way, i did notice that if i switch the desktop image from "fill screen" to "tile", it looks sharp and clear.
everything looks good when small basically, but once zoomed in once or twice, its quality is gone..

jamil5454 · Apr 22, 2006, 09:49 AM

Just curious, did your old PC have a CRT monitor?

TheoCryst · Apr 22, 2006, 03:11 PM

Ah, I understand the problem now. You definitely don't have an issue with your computer itself. You just need to realize that on ANY computer, when you zoom in on any image, it becomes significantly pixelated (much more noticeable on LCD screens as opposed to CRT). This includes desktop wallpaper: if you use an image smaller than 1024x768 as your desktop and select "fill screen", it will distort the pixels and make the image look very bad. Try either centering/tiling your images, or just find a larger image for your desktop.

Christiaan Troo · Apr 22, 2006, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by TheoCryst

Ah, I understand the problem now. You definitely don't have an issue with your computer itself. You just need to realize that on ANY computer, when you zoom in on any image, it becomes significantly pixelated (much more noticeable on LCD screens as opposed to CRT). This includes desktop wallpaper: if you use an image smaller than 1024x768 as your desktop and select "fill screen", it will distort the pixels and make the image look very bad. Try either centering/tiling your images, or just find a larger image for your desktop.

thanx for the comment, but i do know my basics in pixel quality, especially the fact that scretching images distorts them, etc.
the thing is, i'm not zooming in more than 1x or 2x! that is not normal.
i can usually manage to zoom in a couple of times *and* on the fifth zoom or so, THEN the image starts looking inacceptable. but 1x, 2x..? it's a little over-the-edge. considering that alot of professional photographers use the 12" to move around during shoots, it would imply that the quality was quite crystal-clear (unless "stretching", or zooming extensively of course) to just be able to maximize it to fit the window.

it's still a great machine, don't get me wrong.
but aside from the fact that the screen in already quite small, i would've thought that would've been even better.. sometimes images blown up on huge screens lose so much of their quality, but starting from such a little screen, i just guessed it wouldn't have such an issue.............