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jogi · 02:21 PM

Hi

I'm in the process of selling my previous generation Macbook Air and contemplating to buy a Unibody macbook. I've been scared off by reports of the screen not being of good quality, comparable to my current MBA.

Following some research, I have found the following ICC Profiles for the Unibody MB, depending on what panel it is equipped with (LG or AU optronics)

Can any of the current MB Unibody owners give them a try and post their impressions?

ICC Profiles link:
http://files.me.com/jgiannakas/log7hy

You will need to copy them under Library -> ColorSync -> Profiles , then open the System Preferences - Display -> Color -> Uncheck the "Show Profiles for this display only" and select the one that looks best for you.

kylef · Feb 15, 2009, 06:01 PM

9C89 (A) - very green
9C89 2.2 6500K +16 (A) - slightly paler, greys better than 'Color LCD' though
9C89 2.2 Native +16 (A) - very similar to '9C89 (A)', a tad lighter
9C8A 2.2 Native (Spyder3) - very similar to 'Color LCD', a tad darker
JC Display - noticably darker

All in all, option 4 (9C8A ... Spyder3) works best on my Unibody MacBook.

Hope this helps?

fisherKing · 08:47 PM

i'm using JC Display, which looks great (screen limitations notwithstanding).
a custom profile will make a HUGE difference; my screen is now not-as-bright, but deeper, denser.
but i do go back to the default when i watch movies (prefer the brightness...)

UNTeMac · Feb 15, 2009, 10:47 PM

Setting the gamma from 1.8 to 2.0 helps a lot for color depth on my display. Beyond that it's still the "Color LCD" profile. My only complaint is that the brightness adjustment curve is much rougher than with 1.8.

jogi · Feb 16, 2009, 12:00 AM

Thanks guys! How does the screen compare to the MBP after calibration? is the difference that bad still?

AKcrab · Feb 16, 2009, 12:12 AM

I take it you don't have a store nearby that would let you see both units side by side?

I find the macbook air and the macbook pro screen to be clearer/brighter/better than the macbook screen.

That said; the current macbook screen is a LOT better than the previous macbook screen.

jogi · Feb 16, 2009, 12:16 AM

I've seen both of them in the London Apple Store, but they were both un-calibrated. The Macbook screen looked particularly washed out compared to the MBP and my current, calibrated MBA.

As I'm not coming back to London till next week, and I have already listed my MBA for selling, I'd like a feel of which one I should get..

AKcrab · Feb 16, 2009, 12:21 AM

IMO, two uncalibrated displays will give you the same info as two calibrated displays.. Sure you can calibrate one to look as good as the uncalibrated one, but what happens when you calibrate the second one?

jogi · Feb 16, 2009, 12:26 AM

Got a point there. If the MB screen with calibration could look close to what my calibrated MBA screen looks like, I would immediately by the MB.. Guess I'll have to wait and try the profiles in the apple store...

fisherKing · Feb 16, 2009, 11:02 AM

the macbook pro screen outshines (no pun intended) both the air and the mb, hands down. it's a better screen; less glare, better color. the air screen is nice enough; the macbook screen is bright, clear, just...a bit washed out.

having said that, it STILL blows away my former 12" powerbook screen, so am happy enough; am doing my graphic work, other work on the mb, and all is well (enough).

joe · Feb 16, 2009, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by fisherKing

the macbook pro screen outshines (no pun intended) both the air and the mb, hands down. it's a better screen; less glare <---.

I don't mean to take issue with this but it is a major sore point with me. At the Apple Store the staff let me move things around and perform side by side comparisons between the macbook, pro, and air. I agree the pro has the best screen overall. But I also found the pro screen to have as much glare as the MacBook and slightly more than the Air(?!). I bought the Pro anyway because I needed firewire and Apple didn't give me a choice with the screen. But with a job like mine - constant travel at many jobsites with little to no control over background lighting - I just couldn't take it anymore. Neither could my customers.

I want to be accurate here - there wasn't a single customer that didn't complain about how hard it was to see past the glare and background reflections on the pro screen. This no matter how they repositioned the notebook and/or tilted the screen. So last week I finally broke down and installed a Power Support anti-glare film. That was $35 well spent! Now my macbook pro is finally useable at work. But if I had the choice I'd have bought a matte option with any of Apple's notebooks - including the air. I don't care if my macbook pro had marginally better colors and more "pop" before the anti-glare film. Those are meaningless if you can't see the dam screen.

fisherKing · Feb 16, 2009, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by joe

I don't mean to take issue with this but it is a major sore point with me. At the Apple Store the staff let me move things around and perform side by side comparisons between the macbook, pro, and air. I agree the pro has the best screen overall. But I also found the pro screen to have as much glare as the MacBook and slightly more than the Air(?!). I bought the Pro anyway because I needed firewire and Apple didn't give me a choice with the screen. But with a job like mine - constant travel at many jobsites with little to no control over background lighting - I just couldn't take it anymore. Neither could my customers.

I want to be accurate here - there wasn't a single customer that didn't complain about how hard it was to see past the glare and background reflections on the pro screen. This no matter how they repositioned the notebook and/or tilted the screen. So last week I finally broke down and installed a Power Support anti-glare film. That was $35 well spent! Now my macbook pro is finally useable at work. But if I had the choice I'd have bought a matte option with any of Apple's notebooks - including the air. I don't care if my macbook pro had marginally better colors and more "pop" before the anti-glare film. Those are meaningless if you can't see the dam screen.

i had a chance to compare the screens of the new macbook, the new macbook pro, and the white macbook, all side-by-side, with the same desktop picture (orange and black); all set to maximum brightness (okay, still not scientific)...

the pro was the best; brightest, sharpest. best colors, deepest black. less glare than the new macbook.

the macbook by comparison was still bright and sharp (not as much tho), but the colors...not so deep, and the black, not as black. and a lot of glare.

the older macbook was not as bright or sharp, colors fair...

i bought a macbook, the size i wanted in a laptop. the screen really is ok...as long as you're not sitting it next to the new pro... and overall, this is my fave mac laptop ever (and i've had 5 previously).

jogi · Feb 16, 2009, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by joe

I don't mean to take issue with this but it is a major sore point with me. At the Apple Store the staff let me move things around and perform side by side comparisons between the macbook, pro, and air. I agree the pro has the best screen overall. But I also found the pro screen to have as much glare as the MacBook and slightly more than the Air(?!). I bought the Pro anyway because I needed firewire and Apple didn't give me a choice with the screen. But with a job like mine - constant travel at many jobsites with little to no control over background lighting - I just couldn't take it anymore. Neither could my customers.

I want to be accurate here - there wasn't a single customer that didn't complain about how hard it was to see past the glare and background reflections on the pro screen. This no matter how they repositioned the notebook and/or tilted the screen. So last week I finally broke down and installed a Power Support anti-glare film. That was $35 well spent! Now my macbook pro is finally useable at work. But if I had the choice I'd have bought a matte option with any of Apple's notebooks - including the air. I don't care if my macbook pro had marginally better colors and more "pop" before the anti-glare film. Those are meaningless if you can't see the dam screen.

To be honest, I don't see the MBA having any glare. I know that the MBP will be much more "glarey" but I think that a matt screen is far worse than any glossy screen when it comes to colours. ( i am not a photo professional, so any of those arguments dont really apply..)

SierraDragon · Feb 17, 2009, 03:01 AM

After literally an adult lifetime of Mac laptops since the Duos IMO the MBPs rock, but the 17" seems to transcend all others for graphics users like me, by a lot. With available pro screen I prefer the 17" MBP rather than the 15" MBP. My reasons:

• More screen real estate, a very big deal when in the field and no external display is connected.

• Much higher pixel count, a very big deal when in the field and no external display is connected.

• Available matte display, a very big deal (to many pro photogs, including me) when in the field and no external display is connected. Note however that none of us have actually seen the new 17" MBP because it is just now shipping.

• Faster; the added size and easier heat dissipation of the 17" apparently allow Apple to make less engineering compromises.

• Twice the available RAM, a very big deal moving forward as app vendors evolve apps to better utilize available cheap RAM, OS 10.6 and boxes with more RAM access. Under OS X Photoshop (and probably Aperture as well) can already take advantage of up to 32 GB installed RAM, maybe more.

• Longer battery life is alleged, which matters not to me but some folks care.

• After years of using 15" and smaller, starting with the Duo, I now use a 2.33 GHz 17" and far prefer the larger size.

• All the above benefits and it only weighs 1.1 pound more than the 15" MBP.

-Allen Wicks

P.S. Adding RAM adds heat, which may be why Apple does not support more than 4 GB RAM in the 15" size.

Simon · Feb 17, 2009, 04:12 AM

6GB although officially not supported work fine in the 15" MBP. It's installing more than 6GB that has caused problems.

If you install 4+2GB the system will recognize all the memory, the OS will address all of it, apps will eventually eat it all up and release it again when quit. Just like you'd expect.

analogika · Feb 17, 2009, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

P.S. Adding RAM adds heat

???

(and even if it did, it must be far less than the additional heat generated by furious hard disk paging when memory gets low?)

joe · Feb 17, 2009, 06:14 AM

Originally Posted by fisherKing

i had a chance to compare the screens of the new macbook, the new macbook pro, and the white macbook, all side-by-side...

My only issue was with the unibody screen glare. I have no problem with the colors, contrast, etc. Refer to the top center photo and be sure to click "all sizes" to get to the large resolution (1483 x 701) image:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmohns/...344759/detail/

It's not a camera trick that makes the unibody model (left) out-glare the others. It's the shiny glass plate in front of it's LCD which is multiplying the reflections. Notice the double-exposure of the light in the unibody screen compared to the other glossy screens. One reflection is from the underlying glossy LCD, the other from the overlying glass plate. This is clearly visible in the bottom right of the lamp when it is reflected only by the glass border and not the LCD. IMHO the glass seems more susceptible to glare than the underlying glossy LCD or the glossy LCD on the Air (center) and previous MacBook (right). But regardless, that's still 2 reflections for the price of one! No wonder the glare seems so much more intense on the unibody models. My customers don't notice 2 reflections tho, they just have a heckuva time trying to make out what's on the screen if there's the least bit of light shining from above or behind!

The anti-glare films offer a decent workaround and I'm very satisfied with my Power Support film. But they can have issues of their own:

http://www.macworld.com/article/1386...antiglare.html

http://simon-mlogs.blogspot.com/2008...oo-glossy.html

Apple's best solution was the one they already had. Offer the OPTION for an anti-glare screen for those that need it. And not just on the most expensive, least portable model.

jogi · Feb 18, 2009, 12:03 AM

Finally made my decision and have put the Macbook Air for sale.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=330307875153

Hope the MB screen is good enough, else I'll have to reach deep for an MBP...

Maflynn · Feb 18, 2009, 08:10 AM

Why not go to an apple store and check out both, that way you'll see which display panel is best suited for your needs.

fisherKing · Feb 18, 2009, 08:44 AM

i HATE the glare on my macbook, but have learned to live with it (i avoid light facing the screen (ie glare) or in front of me (making the MB a mirror).

still...the screen is bright enough to 'overcome' the glare in most cases, and, as i've said above, this IS my fave mac laptop ever (and it's my 6th)...