Macbook Faded Colors

Question

Level 1

9 points

Macbook Faded Colors

I just got my Macbook a few days ago and am happy with it except for the display. The colors seem to be faded or washed out. It was more noticeable in Windows XP for some reason, installed via Boot Camp. I tried adjusting the color settings (gamma, brightness, contrast) as much as possible without any acceptable setting. Compared to my Dell 700m which also has a glossy screen, the Apple's blacks look grey in comparison. Where as, the Dell's screen looks like true black. I'd hate to think Dell's displays are better than Apple's. Is this a common problem on Macbooks? I haven't read anything about it elsewhere so maybe it's my screen. I don't think I'm expecting too much. Has anyone else done actual side-by-side comparisons with another LCD?

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.6), White, 2.0ghz, 2GB, 60GB 5400RPM

Posted on Jun 18, 2006 12:02 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 18, 2006 12:34 PM in response to dcpiatek

...I haven't read anything
about it elsewhere so maybe it's my screen. I don't
think I'm expecting too much. Has anyone else done
actual side-by-side comparisons with another LCD?

Assuming you have tried going back to the default settings in your troubleshooting attempts, I'm wondering if your viewing angle of your LCD screen just needs to be adjusted? Might be that simple.

The screen on these computers are simply gorgeous.

Reply

Answer 2

dcpiatek Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 18, 2006 6:28 PM in response to Larry_Rymal

The viewing angle is definitely different between my Dell and the Apple. Maybe because of the types of lcd's used? But when looked down at a greater angle from the top, the Dell's color still look almost the same. The Macbook however gets much lighter. The blacks do look better when I tilt the screen back at a greater angle to look at it though. But I assume the best viewing angle is when the iSight is square on your face and this isn't the case with it's tilted further back. I'll have to find a nearby Apple store and check out for comparison. Appreciate the feedback. Otherwise it's a great computer. The heat people complain about isn't that bad and it's quick as a whip.

Reply

Answer 3

Jun 30, 2006 10:01 AM in response to dcpiatek

I'm with you on that one.

The brightness is so high/colors so faded, even at the lowest brightest setting, that I have to push the display back as far as it will go to get a decent saturation look.

Anything slightly above the farthest back position of the screen is very white-washed.

This is my third macbook and other than that, everything is great.

It's frustrating though because a washed out display is no good.

Reply

Answer 4

TomNYC

Level 3

592 points

Jul 5, 2006 12:59 PM in response to dcpiatek

Hi, I just got a white MacBook (1.83 GHz), and notice the same thing. The viewing angle is very narrow from top to bottom, much more so than left to right. I have to tilt the display back quite far to see black blacks and saturated colors, otherwise the colors look quite washed out and black looks gray.

This is going to be a big problem on an airplane where you often can't tilt the display back very far in those cramped seats. Is there any way to adjust the viewing angle? If I could do that, all would be fine.

Reply

Answer 5

Jul 7, 2006 1:22 PM in response to dcpiatek

The screen problems you are having may be asily fixed by simply re-calibrating the display. Go to system preferences->display->color. By default the screen I believe is on a setting called LCD display or something like that. Just go the side and choose calibrate, and leave the advanced options off. When it asks you what gamma you want, instead of Mac computer, choose television gamma, which is a little darker and gives the screen more contrast, making it look less washed out. This is the setting I have on all my Apple displays. Hope that helps.

Reply

Answer 6

TomNYC

Level 3

592 points

Jul 7, 2006 4:22 PM in response to thejustin

Re-calibrating won't make a difference, I've already tried it several times. The LCD screen is the problem, no matter what you do, and no matter what angle you look at the screen, there is a VAST difference in color saturation from top to bottom. I have to tilt my screen back to it's farthest point just to read text near the bottom of the screen, that's how bad it is. Otherwise, everything at the bottom of the screen is very washed out, as though brigtness were turned all the way up, and contrast all the way down. The color of Dock icons are all faded pastel colors on the bottom instead of the rich bright colors they are at the top of the screen. This is most definitely a defective LCD, and I hope Apple will replace it.

Reply

Answer 7

Jul 7, 2006 4:46 PM in response to dcpiatek

There is a way to have a gamma slider so you can put it wherever you want, you just have to calibrate the display using the advanced options. At the ned of the calibration it gives you a gamma slider.

Reply

Answer 8

TomNYC

Level 3

592 points

Jul 7, 2006 5:22 PM in response to thejustin

Trust me, it doesn't work. I've done the Advanced Calibration and changed all kinds of settings. It does change the image of the screen, but, it doesn't fix the huge difference in color from top to bottom of the screen.

G4 (MDD), Dual 1.25GHz, ATI Radeon 9000 Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Reply

Answer 9

Jul 7, 2006 5:44 PM in response to thejustin

I was fiddling around with calibration and noticed the advanced "expert" option and found what you said. Made a big difference, but still not sure how to go about properly calibrating it. Such as, what brightness settings should I be calibrating from? Seems to me, that once you set the brightness and calibrate, you don't want to touch the brightness settings again or you'd mess up the calibration.

For now, I just tried to make it a bit darker and more contrasty. I'll worry about the calibration when I start doing a bit of photo work.

Reply

Answer 10

Jul 15, 2006 6:27 PM in response to Robert Drake1

I have a MacBook 2.0 (white) and the screen is great. Much nicer than my 5 month old PowerBook g4 12" (and as a longtime Mac laptop user, I was worried about the glossy screen). Even outside, provided I'm in a shaded area. My guess is that your screens are screwy. Take it to an Apple store (or other retailer if, like me, you're in an area Apple hasn't designated as being Apple store worthy).

Reply

Answer 11

ArchUrban

Level 4

1,160 points

Jul 15, 2006 6:50 PM in response to TomNYC

trust me. it works. I actually created five different display profiels. original LCD set is terrible. it's too warm, fuzzy. with expert mode, you can try several times until you will be satisfied. now, I change display profiles, depends on situation. it works great. you can also recalibrate second LCD monitor which hooks up with your macbook. too.

Reply

Answer 12

kjk

Level 4

1,323 points

Jul 15, 2006 7:33 PM in response to dcpiatek

I've read various comments/opinions about the glossy vs. matte argument for the MacBook, but haven't heard about the display looking "faded". My MacBook display shows very vivid colors, and is evenly illuminated from the top of the screen to the bottom. (no dead pixels either).

I'd definitely take it in to be checked, it should be a very saturated display.

Reply

Answer 13

dcpiatek Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 15, 2006 8:13 PM in response to kjk

Sorry for the lack of response to my post but I've been out of the country. I've tried changing the gamma to the television 2.2 setting and while that does help, it is far from perfect. I've come to the conclusion that the problem is definitely the vertical viewing angle and I've read a review from someone with the same complaint. Maybe the ones posting here are the few with issues or maybe we just scrutinize more? But when the top of the screen is in the proper angle, the colors look correct at the top. But this causes the bottom to be washed out. You can tilt the screen back and have the bottom colors looks correct, but then the top is no longer good. It bugged me with the dock on the bottom so I put it in vertical mode and has become less of an annoyance. In Windows through Boot Camp it is even more noticeable. Maybe the display drivers are not tweaked properly but they look worse than in MacOS and my adjustments did little good. If you put the Windows task bar vertically it is plainly visible to notice the blue color change from a rich blue at the top of the screen to a faded blue at the bottom.

Reply

Answer 14

kjk

Level 4

1,323 points

Jul 15, 2006 8:39 PM in response to dcpiatek

dcplatek,
try this app: http://homepage.mac.com/macguitar/FileSharing16.html

its for finding dead pixels, but in your case will also show how the colors fade off from top to bottom (or not). On my MacBook, from my normal viewing angle, the colors are solid, bright, and saturated from top to bottom-its only if I move my display more than 20 degrees or so from side to side (or top to bottom) that I get gradation, and even then I never get a washout-what I see is a color gradating to dark.

Reply

Answer 15

dcpiatek Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 16, 2006 12:52 AM in response to kjk

Thanks kjk. May I ask what your normal viewing angle is? If you open Photo Booth, is your head centered in the picture? With the camera pointed at me, if the top of my head is in the exact center or lower (leaving the bottom of my face cut off), the colors look normal throughout. But this angle seems quite signficant. I'll be at Macworld Expo in SF so that will allow me to check and compare at least.

Reply