Macbook Pro Screen Questions

Does this generation of MBP have the best screen? (In terms of accuracy for photography). I'm looking to get the 13" but never owned a mac before.

 

Even though the 13" MBP screen is much improved over previous 13" Macbook screens, it still isn't as good as the 15" screen. The 15" screen although good still isn't as good as the 17" screen. =P

 

And the MBP 17 still isn't as good as the Dell Precision M6400 8-bit TN screen (or the HP 8730w). Which aren't as good as the Lenovo X200t AFFS+ screen). But honestly, every other model besides those above have similar crap 6-bit TN screens. Though, the Dell XPS 16 and Precision M4400 screens are around the MBP 15 level.

 

I thought the SXPS 16s have RGBLEDs that show 110% of the colour gamut, while most WLEDs (like what MBPs use) show 60-80%?

 

same goes for the M4400 RGB LED screens...but the screen itself is still 6-bit iso 8. The different backlighting doesn't change the actual screens itself. The M6400 and HP mentioned have real 8-bit screens.

 

I'd still say the Dell XPS 16 has a better screen than the 15 MBP though.

 

It does . and in my opinion better than my 17" as well

 

agreed....

 

I have to disagree. I have both (XPS 16 / 15" MBP) and the RGB display in theory should be better but it isn't. The viewing angles, backlight uniformity, and overall brightness on the RGB display aren't up to the level of the MBP. Reds, greens, and blues on the RGB are almost neon in color. I tried out an Alienware M15x, and I prefer that display (non RGB 1080p) over the RGB display. I had the display in the XPS replaced four times (dust x 2 and dead pixels x 2) and all of the displays exhibited the same issues. A quick check is to look in the bottom, left corner. All of the displays were dark and miscolored there. I also spent some time with a Dell M6400 with RGB display. It did look better than the XPS, but even it had the odd discolored/dim region on the bottom, left.

 

i used to think that mbp has the best screen

 

Maybe, maybe not. But he's asking about Macbook Pro's.

 

well, I'm not sure why you're having the uniformity problems and what not. But the neon color you're experiencing is coming from a High Gamut monitor.

Theoretically an RGB LED will have better color accuracy, maybe a calibration is in order. Regardless a laptop monitor cannot hold a candle against a stand alone LCD. So I rarely consider monitor quality in a laptop a top priority. But for argument sake, based on specs the laptops already mentioned have the best monitors available in a laptop as color is a subjective thing.

 

If you want correct colors, regardless of taste, you will always need to do calibration. And i do mean calibration with a hardware tool, not eyeballing it or running some test on websites. Then again, that's only if you seriously need your laptop to give as accurate a picture as it can give. If you just want movies to look nice and vivid that's a different question.
I wish manufacturers would just bring back 15" and 17" IPS screens for laptops!!

@ OP
overall the MBP screens look pretty good, above average. While the RGB LED screens mentioned above are usually superior, there have been some issues with them as welll....as usually is the case with newer technology

 

Well...he's just asking if the MBP has the best screen...whether he means "compared to older MBP's" or "the best of all the laptops out there" is not really clear is it

 

Personally, I think any mention of 'screen quality' with the glareomatic displays is completely irrelevant, given that in most real-life situations you're reduced to doing a Charlie Chan impression and bobbing your neck around like a Bollywood dancer trying to catch a legible image.

If you're sitting in your mom's basement with the single bare lightbulb in front of you then the 13-inch MBP screen is probably the best of any previous Mac in that price range.

 

lol...very true

 

Thanks guys

This is exactly the feedback I wanted. I have a great screen at home for my main editing but this laptop will be mainly used for on event downtime, quick edit / sorting.

The land of 13" inch laptops seems barren of good screens.
Eventhough you basically have choices between bad and worse at this level I still want to get the most out of my money as i tend to keep laptops for a bit. It's a little sad since I would gladly pay more for a better screen.

 

It would really depend on what you use it for. For my general use, I rank(ed, since I no longer own them) the glossy UB MBP's the lowest out of all the laptops I have had - a place shared jointly by the Dell XPS 16 (although it does have a better display than the MBP's if you can actually find somewhere you can see it).

The 13-inch Sony's (SZ/Z) are definitely far more usable than the MBP's. I've had problems with the Z's which has lead me to reject them, but less issues in general than the MBP's. It's just that with the MBP's I don't get a choice of what to buy - so in order to have supported OS X I have to deal with inferior hardware. Apple 13-inch wise, the Air's glossy display (which is similar to the Sony's and non-glass-fronted Dells) is pretty much the glossiest I can stand, and it's not a terrible screen.