[torsoboy]

Apple is being sued because it's iMac monitors can only display 262,144 colors, though it advertised them as capable to display “millions of colors”.

What do you think? I think if it is true, Apple should get a kick in the butt for deceptive ads and selling inferior products.

Apple Sued Over iMac�s Lack Of �Millions Of Colors�

[OreoCookie]

No, not Apple monitors, but most (cheap) TN displays. That includes many portables (including at least 15" MacBook Pros) and now the 20" iMac. The old 20" iMac has used a more expensive S-IPS panel that used 8 bit-per channel circuits. Cheap TN monitors just give you 6 bit per color.

[Zeeb]

I didn't take this story very seriously at first--but it seems to have merit. If it turns out that Apple is actually using inferior materials than previous generations that will certainly affect my buying decision as I'm up for a new laptop soon.

[OreoCookie]

What are you using now?
BTW, I wouldn't really say inferior, I would say, they go more with the industry standard here. I hope Apple will somehow reverse this when 8 bit panels become available (again) for small displays.

[mduell]

Been true for years with the laptops. Got to do something to keep margins up on the iMacs since they continue to use the laptop CPU/chipset/GPU which raises costs over the competition.

Palm got nailed for advertising their 4096 color PDAs as 65k colors (using spatial dithering, IIRC), but Apple hasn't had a big lawsuit loss yet over their temporal dithering.

[Tomchu]

I got reamed by this very issue after I had the display panel in my girlfriend's MacBook replaced. Apple uses four different manufacturers for their MacBook displays -- LG/Philips, Samsung, Optronics, and Chi Mei. It's relatively easy to figure out, through software, which one you have.

The colours on the original panel (an LG/Philips) were superb. The colours on the replacement (a Samsung) were absolutely disgusting. It was also noticeably dimmer. Not even Leopard's slightly-transparent menus were being displayed without major dithering, making everything look like a grid/pixelized mess.

I brought the issue up with a contact I have at Apple HQ, as well as my tech, and they both agreed to try to resolve it by replacing the panel again. This time I got an Optronics display, and the colours are just as good, if not better, than the original LG/Philips.

There is dithering on all the displays (can be seen using a test image), but in the better two, the only really visible dithering is in the extremities of the red band. The Samsung was visibly dithering ~30% of the test image.

[Tomchu]

I'm going to post some follow-up information because I've had some inquiries about the above post:

You can use ColorSync Utility to check up on which model of LCD you have in your MacBook. The steps are simple:

1. Open ColorSync Utility
2. Click "Color LCD" under Displays
3. Click "Open" beside the color profile information
4. In the new window, scroll down to item #13

The "Model" field is the one to look for. It should be one of these:

9C5E/5E9C - Chi Mei N133I1
9C5C/5C9C - Au Optronics B133EW01
9C5B/5B9C - Samsung LTN133W1
9C5F/5F9C - LG Philips LP133WX1

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by Tomchu 

I'm going to post some follow-up information because I've had some inquiries about the above post:

You can use ColorSync Utility to check up on which model of LCD you have in your MacBook. The steps are simple:

1. Open ColorSync Utility
2. Click "Color LCD" under Displays
3. Click "Open" beside the color profile information
4. In the new window, scroll down to item #13

The "Model" field is the one to look for. It should be one of these:

9C5E/5E9C - Chi Mei N133I1
9C5C/5C9C - Au Optronics B133EW01
9C5B/5B9C - Samsung LTN133W1
9C5F/5F9C - LG Philips LP133WX1

Thanks for that. Turns out I have the LG/Philips screen; no wonder why I think its so much better than some others with MacBooks.

[turtle777]

It's a non-issue for 99% of the people.

They wouldn't know the difference unless you told them. Stupid litigious Amaraca.

-t

[peeb]

Well, whether or not they would notice the difference surely is not the issue. If Apple is claiming something that is not true, that's grounds for litigation.

[Tomchu]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

It's a non-issue for 99% of the people.

If you had seen the **** Samsung panel Apple tried to peddle, you wouldn't say that.

[richwig83]

My screen has dreadful colour representation, as well as the worst dithering ive ever seen on an lcd!!!!

Went to the apple shop to quiz them about it, and i was told that "ALL" lcds are like this..... errrrr no they are not!!!!

TOMCHU= What are the chances of me getting my LCD replaced by a different brand under applecare??

[seanc]

Originally Posted by Tomchu 

I'm going to post some follow-up information because I've had some inquiries about the above post:

You can use ColorSync Utility to check up on which model of LCD you have in your MacBook. The steps are simple:

1. Open ColorSync Utility
2. Click "Color LCD" under Displays
3. Click "Open" beside the color profile information
4. In the new window, scroll down to item #13

The "Model" field is the one to look for. It should be one of these:

9C5E/5E9C - Chi Mei N133I1
9C5C/5C9C - Au Optronics B133EW01
9C5B/5B9C - Samsung LTN133W1
9C5F/5F9C - LG Philips LP133WX1

Turns out I have a Chi Mei, the name doesn't sound good... I've not noticed any major dithering, but I can see it if I look closely on the finer window top bar and the backlighting is pretty uneven/tinted yellowy on the right.

EDIT: If some more pixels die, I'll go get it replaced.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

It's a non-issue for 99% of the people.

They wouldn't know the difference unless you told them. Stupid litigious Amaraca

The difference in brightness alone is stunning.

[Tomchu]

First, make sure that your screen is actually doing the ugly dithering (compare it to a friends' or something), then ...

Work your way up the chain. Be respectful, but be firm. Say that this is not the standard of quality you expect from Apple (because it isn't!).

I finally ended up emailing someone at corporate about the issue, and talking to my technician at the store I go to to get repairs done. Apple agreed to send him a new display so he could install it -- but we were taking a chance because we both knew that there was no way to ensure that we would get a particular brand of display.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Turns out I have a Chi Mei, the name doesn't sound good...

CMO is one of the largest (4th, I think) LCD panel makers in the world. They own Westinghouse's LCD brand IIRC.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

It's a non-issue for 99% of the people.

They wouldn't know the difference unless you told them. Stupid litigious Amaraca.

-t

I can tell the difference between TN panels and other panel types, and I'm colorblind.

Probably wouldn't be able to pick apart an MVA, PVA, or IPS monitor from each other, but put a TN panel in the room, and I'll tell you which one it is.

If I can tell the difference, anyone can.

[OreoCookie]

You can easily tell the difference, the colors are very much dependent on the viewing angle (which is bad if you are concerned with accurate colors).

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

It's a non-issue for 99% of the people.

They wouldn't know the difference unless you told them. Stupid litigious Amaraca.

I disagree, apple misrepresented the product they were selling. I notice a difference in the number of colors. Its not right that they did this and you grossly overstate the percentage of people who don't notice.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

you grossly overstate the percentage of people who don't notice.

Ouch, that hurt.

I put eleventy billion hours of research and study into coming up with that number. I dedicated my whole life to it.

Let nobody think I picked this number arbitrarily to make a point.

-t

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Ouch, that hurt.

I put eleventy billion hours of research and study into coming up with that number. I dedicated my whole life to it.

Let nobody think I picked this number arbitrarily to make a point.

-t

Well, you do know that 90% of all statistics are made-up.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

Well, you do know that 90% of all statistics are made-up.

Yes, and the remaining 70% are lies. What's your point ?

-t