How the heck to calibrate a 17" MBP Screen?

Sorry for another question so fast guys, but the screen is super bright but the colors are off WAY off.

I have tried the Calibration built into mac and used expert also, but I must admit I only make my screen look worse.

Is there any way to get a decent calibration with out paying for those hardware/software calibrating equipment. ?

With the cost of this System that should be the last thing anyone should haev to spend money on.

I have the LED backlit screen. 1920x1200. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

@New - You should change your sig first so we don't all think you still have your M15x

The one question I have is how did you calibrate it? One way that I calibrate my screens (I do actually use the programs) is that I print out a variety of colors and then put that piece of paper next to my screen and calibrate it that way.

 

Thanks Stone will update my Sig now..

 

why did ya get rid of the m15x and go for the mbp anyway?

 

Well I had my M15x since feb nothing but problems sine day one.
So i was interested in the mac Books. And figured I would give it a try. Plus it's better build quality over the Alienware.

 

Yea I would have gone Newf's route also. The only thing I do not like about MBPs is that they really get hot, and the screen doesn't go back far enough (when I'm sitting with my friends, I wish it could go like another 10 - 20 degrees.

 

i don't know how to solve the problem. you calibrated it correctly and made what look worse exactly? the screen? the screen doesn't change when you calibrate it... its still the same screen.

the colors change... it probably made it look dull by comparison, especially if you were working on something and made you made it look correct on your uncalibrated screen, and then calibrated your screen afterwards...

so do the screen calibration properly, then do your photo-video work.

 

Well the Calibration built into the MBP with colors everything has a pinkish tint. And the colors just seem dull. When going through the calibration wizard, it's even harder to get it anything near decent. The screen is quite bright but the colors look dull. When I turn down the gamma it doesn't look so washed out. To me the colors just don't seem to be correct on this MBP.

 

glossy or non-glossy?

 

Glossy 17" LED Screen 1920x1200..

 

hey what type of screen do you have? Try going to preferences/display/color/color LCD/open profile/scroll down to 13 and under you will see something like 9xxx.

My screen is a 9c80 but yours should be 9c79 or something else. Just curious. If it is a 9c79 there are pre calibrated color profiles that you can d/l from other people and looks great.

 

Mine Says 9C7A

 

I owned 2 previous 17" mbp hi res version one in 2.5Ghz and 1 in 2.6Ghz and both had the 9c7A screen. I remember on default color profile or even on adobe RGB that it looked washed out but I found a color profile online that made it look much better/cleaner.

But for some reason the 15" mbp looks better with default color adobe.

 

as long as you aren't doing any photo editing or film or anything, i guess the goal is just to make everything look "good"...

i dont see why you wouldn't just do the proper color calibration though. if you go through the color calibration utility, you can get very accurate color.

 

I know what the OP is talking about though. It doesnt have that vivid "pop" colors that should be there. Apple's calibration tool is a joke imho. I've done it many times and always end up looking the same as the adobe RGB color profile (maybe slightly different color on some things like grey).

But there are people who have used spyder color 2 to calibrate the same screen as the one the OP owns.

 

I know what the OP is talking about though. It doesnt have that vivid "pop" colors that should be there. Apple's calibration tool is a joke imho. I've done it many times and always end up looking the same as the adobe RGB color profile (maybe slightly different color on some things like grey).

But there are people who have used spyder color 2 to calibrate the same screen as the one the OP owns and it makes a huge difference.

 

That is exactly my point the Apple color calibration is terrible the Color no mater what I do just look washed out.

Does anyone have a decent calibration profile or point in the right direction?

Cheers

 

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=451631&page=2

Scroll down a little to the 9C7A Cal Profiles.zip

and download that folder and use the spyder 2.2 that looks amazing.

 

Thanks jjahshik32,

I got the profiles. On last question how do you load them. I sorry for asking such a stupid question as I am completely new to Mac OSx. I am quite proficient on Windows, on mac my shiny new Mac not so proficient just yet.

I apologize for being such a newb.

 

paste the file that you downloaded into library/colorsync/profiles/displays, after you do that, that profile should show up in your display preference pane in system preferences, select it and ya done.

 

Thanks Caveman,

Worked. Way to simple. Learn something new everyday.

 

Anybody got macbook screen calibrations?