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cyberwarrior · Oct 1, 2006, 04:49 AM

Hi all.

I am wondering why the brightness of the MacBook is so weak

? During the day mine is set to 14/16, (there are 16 increments for the brightness control). On full brightness it doesn't look 'rich' and it doesn't require turning down from being too bright. My ACD is set to about 1/3, which looks bright.

In comparison my Sony SZ Carbon (which is a considerably better laptop (battery life, weight (i know its price point is at a premium to the MB, but this doesn't account for brightness (also, it destroys the MBP in terms of weight and battery life)))) is blindingly bright on full

and at half brightness is about the same as the MB on full!!

What's your brightness set to? Is mine faulty?

Chips G · Oct 1, 2006, 09:07 AM

I have no complaints about the brightness of my MacBook, it seems on par with other laptops I have seen, although I have not compared it to the Sony SZ Carbon. Is there an Apple store or a store that sells Macs near you so you can compare?

Good luck,

-Chris

rnmac · Oct 1, 2006, 12:32 PM

Mine is nice and bright. No complaints here.

Railroader · Oct 1, 2006, 02:10 PM

Very bright here. No complaints. Much brighter than the Pismo I used to have.

Elektrix · Oct 1, 2006, 02:42 PM

It's probably not going to compare well to the Premium SZ; Sony puts a super-high quality screen on those with a different type of lighting technology (I forget the details, but it is what accounts for the excellent brightness, etc.).... it's actually a big part of what you're paying for with the Premium SZ models compared to the non-Premium ones, besides the carbon casing stuff.

And of course, with the SZ premium models you're also paying for the lighter weight, the better battery life, etc. (as I understand it, the lighting technology Sony is using for the screen is not only brighter than the regular SZ and other laptops, but also more power efficient).

I think you're asking too much for the MacBook to have the same kind of brightness, really..... I'd say the same thing if someone asked why their non-Premium SZ screen (which is still more expensive than a MacBook) wasn't nearly as bright or vibrant as a Premium SZ screen.

I'm honestly not sure why this is even a question; you seem to already know that the SZ has better battery life, a better screen, etc. than the MacBook? Do you expect that the MacBook should be the same in those areas as a Premium SZ, or what?

cyberwarrior · Oct 2, 2006, 07:20 AM

Thanks for your replies folks, I'm happy to hear that you are all satisfied, on introspection, my dissatisfaction islikely due to my being somewhat down on Apple and my MB at the moment; apple failed to repair my MB which has shutdown issues, thus requiring resetting the logic board on a daily basis until i can find time to let them have it again..

Elektrix, thanks for your informative post. 1) I didn't realise sony was using a technologically different panel in the SZ (I shall investigate!); though of course this makes sense now. 2) I am quite possible asking too much of my MB; with a gap in the product line-up where a top-end 13" should be, one forgets this is not at all a comparable unit. Saying that.. the MBP is inferior in display brightness to the SZ -also. (especially my brother's, whose MBP's panel has failed ^^).

Sad that Sony has some amazing products but is taking such a consumer beating.

Rob van dam · Oct 2, 2006, 07:29 AM

It may be the LED backlights in the sony laptops that people may be refering to.

Elektrix · Oct 2, 2006, 07:33 AM

As far as I know, every laptop manufacturer's LCD panels are inferior to what the Sony SZ Premium models use (I include even every other Sony panel). This has actually been a complaint with Sony, frankly, as the previous S series used to have better screens across the board, but Sony has now split the SZ line up so that apparently spending $2150 on a laptop only gets you the "basic" stuff, and you need to spend more for the better screen technology and battery life.

Sony is taking a consumer beating for a lot of reasons. Speaking as a former Vaio owner myself (I owned a Sony S360), all I can say is that if you have yet not had any problems or had to deal with Sony, consider yourself lucky. All you need to do is check some Sony Vaio forums sometime to see the number of people having problems with their SZ's (at least non-Premium ones), and the hassle it has been to get Sony to repair them or even acknowledge some of the problems.

The difference I see between Sony and Apple in this regard is that Sony just seems to handle their customer service and support much worse than Apple does, one of the main reasons I'm no longer a Sony owner, and why I am not currently considering a Sony SZ (the other reason of course is that I don't want to pay a $500 premium just to get the same kind of bright screen as I got on my "normal" S360).

Elektrix · Oct 2, 2006, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by Rob van dam

It may be the LED backlights in the sony laptops that people may be refering to.

Yes, that's what I'm referring to. I don't remember the details, but they're using some different type of backlighting (I think maybe they actually use multiple backlights or something) in order to get the extra brightness and uniformity with the premium SZ models.