[hillcrest]

I went down to the apple store to confirm that I really did want the 17 over the 15. I compared the sizes and weights, and yes the 17 is bigger and heavier, hah. But the added screen room made up for that. Then I realized that the 15 was a bit brighter. I checked brightness control (max on both), and display settings including display profile, and they were the same. I put the screens at the same angIe and next to each other and asked a few people, including employees, which they thought was brighter, and they all said 15. Though images looked richer and more saturated on the 17, probably because it was darker. The apple store was a less than ideal location to test this because it was so bright, including reflected sunlight. hmmm. I've been waiting so long for these machines and have never owned a laptop. Is this a big deal?
btw - they had 1.25 and 1.33 GHZ in stock in emeryville.

[bcaslis]

Yes, I've had a 17" for several months and I picked up the new 15" today. The 15" is noticablely brighter. Also after loading some pictures, it looks to me like the colors are as good or better on the 15".

[michaelb]

Makes sense: later LCD design, better technology used.

Are you sure the 2 units were of equal age however? LCD panels fade/dim over time.

[spalding12]

i was extremely disappointed to notice the same thing when i was in the apple store in tampa, florida last night.

not happy about that at all

greg

[cc_foo]

Originally posted by michaelb:
Makes sense: later LCD design, better technology used.

Are you sure the 2 units were of equal age however? LCD panels fade/dim over time.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.

So it could either be that the 15" comes with a brighter screen, OR
that the 17" screen has faded ever so slightly since it's been bought. Imperceptibly of course, until compared with another machine.

Hope it's cos of a better 15" screen, since I'm mine is en route to me.

[hillcrest]

yes they were probably the same age. they had just recieved both the 17" - 1.33Ghz and the 15" 1.25Ghz yesterday,

[hillcrest]

It may have to do w/the fact that the back light has to illuminate a smaller area.

[Agent69]

Thanks Hillcrest. I was about to suggest the very same thing.

[StiZeven]

Originally posted by hillcrest:
It may have to do w/the fact that the back light has to illuminate a smaller area.

Wouldn't that logic suggest the 12" model would have the brightest over-all screen then? Which of course, it does not. Unless I am missing something!

[RodriCO2000]

Well the 12 inch PB is a different design of the PB.. Maybe the 17 and the 15 use the same Backlight, while the 12 uses a smaller one....

Just my 0.02

[StiZeven]

I personally would assume that each LCD has a backlight that is sized accordingly to the size of the display that it's lighting.

Then again, Apple uses different LCD manufacturers (Hitachi, Samsung, LG, etc.) randomly for all models, so perhaps the 15" AlBook has one from a manufacturer that makes brighter displays.

[seanyepez]

Are you sure the new 15-inch PowerBook uses a new panel? The last TiBook used a panel richer and brighter than the panel the 17-inch PowerBook uses. It would be interesting to compare the screens of a late-model TiBook and a new 15-inch PowerBook. I bet they're the same.

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by michaelb:
Makes sense: later LCD design, better technology used.

I hope this logic applies to the new 12". The LCD used in this system is 2 year old iBook technology. I think the 12" Powerbook deserves a better screen.

Noah

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by michaelb:
Makes sense: later LCD design, better technology used.

I hope this logic applies to the new 12". The LCD used in this system is 2 year old iBook technology. I think the 12" Powerbook deserves a better screen.

Noah

[bcaslis]

Yes, you are absolutely right. My 1GHz Tibook had a screen brighter and better than my 17" when I first got the 17". I don't have it to compare to anymore, but the 15" seems about the same better than the 17". I think it's just the 15" display is better than the 17" rather than fading backlights or newer better LCD technology. I'd be willing to bet if you compared the 15" Al and a 15" 1GHz Tibook, the screens would be identical.

Originally posted by seanyepez:
Are you sure the new 15-inch PowerBook uses a new panel? The last TiBook used a panel richer and brighter than the panel the 17-inch PowerBook uses. It would be interesting to compare the screens of a late-model TiBook and a new 15-inch PowerBook. I bet they're the same.

[Eug]

Yep. Even the "old" TiBook SD had a brighter screen than the previous 17" AluBooks. I noticed that my TiBook had an excellent screen, which seemed brighter than the 17" AluBooks. So I went to a store to test out the machines side by side. Even a TiBook that was months older than the 17" AluBook had a noticeably brighter screen.

I suspect (as others have) that the 17" screen has not changed, and neither has the 15" screen going from the TiBook to the AluBook.

That said, the 17" is acceptable. The one I really don't like is the one in the 12" PowerBook/iBook. The colour cast is too orange, because the backlight is too dim. (Note, this TiBook brightness does NOT apply to older models. The 667 is simply not as bright from what I have been told.)

P.S. I guess the 15" 1280x800 rumours were simply way off.

[BrunoBruin]

Originally posted by Eug:
P.S. I guess the 15" 1280x800 rumours were simply way off.

I dunno. I'm in the camp that believes that the new panels were one of the reasons for the long wait for this model. Did Apple plan to use a 15.4 and in the end have to switch back to 15.2? If you look at the product shots, the bezel on the new 15 is wider at the sides than the top, while the bezel on the 17 and the Ti is consistent top and sides. It looks like a panel just a bit wider should have gone in there.

Personally I'm just as happy, I would hate to lose any vertical resolution.