05-03-2011, 03:19 PM

Hi guys, just purchased a macbook air, was going to get the macbook pro as i won't really be taking it out the house much, not really a high flying businessmen kinda guy, just work as a scaffolder lol.

Reason I bought the Air was it suited my needs perfectly, all I do is browse the web, and watch video. Don't really play games on it, and don't really use it as a music machine (My 27" Imac fills that role) now my only concern is as the title says, the screen quality on the display.

Now I am not savvy in the tech world, but from what I could tell when I was comparing the two with the apple guys (Their stores are very helpful) the only thing I noticed that caught my eye was the screen quality and brightness on the macbook pro. The screen looked alot brighter, and the images looked more crisp, I know the macbook pro has glass protection covering the screen, but is the display it self different to the Mac book airs?

Its not a deal braker for me, I love my macbook air 13" (I bought the top of the line model) its extremely quick, it looks the part and its extremely light for when I do want to either take it upstairs or vice veser or take it in the backgarden on a nice hot summers day, but I just feel a bit gutted that it didn't look as bright as the macbook pro considering that I was debating over the two.

Whats up with it then guys? Is it just my eyes, or are the screens actually different, and also with it not being protected by glass should i be worried about damaging the screen? Iv noticed when I got to clean it with a soft cloth, the screen ripples, makes me a bit on edge about damaging it : P

Thanks guys.

05-03-2011, 04:12 PM

The screens are different. The MBP has a 1280x800 screen and the MBA has a 1440x900 screen so by that measure the MBA screen would be considered better. It has a higher resolution and pixel density. I dont know about the brightness bacause I havent compared the two side by side but the MBA looks good to me. I was accually hoping to try to switch out the screen on my MBP with a MBA screen.

Wanna trade? Just kidding I dont even know if it will work. But the screens are def different.

05-12-2011, 03:34 AM

I compared the the new MBA 13" and a brand new MB Pro 13 the other day. The screen on the MB Pro clearly has better color and I have seen Anandtech reviews that stated the MBA screen shows only 47% of AdobeRGB where the MB Pro show like 70%.

I have the MBA on loan from a friend because I need a laptop to bring when shooting weddings. The thing is that the MB Pro 13" only has 1280x800 resolution wich is really not a lot of screen space IMO. So unless you are doing photo editing that requires better colors I find the MBA screen better because of the higher resolution.

05-12-2011, 02:46 PM

It also means that everything on the MacBook Air is going to be smaller because of the higher resolution. For you younger folks with uncorrected eyesight that might be OK.

But for us older guys who wear glasses to read the screen, it only makes it more difficult to see. An external large monitor for use at home is almost a must.... Just some food for thought.

05-13-2011, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

It also means that everything on the MacBook Air is going to be smaller because of the higher resolution. For you younger folks with uncorrected eyesight that might be OK.

But for us older guys who wear glasses to read the screen, it only makes it more difficult to see. An external large monitor for use at home is almost a must.... Just some food for thought.

That is a good point. Even though I have "perfect" vision I sometimes struggle to read the text on my 27" iMac because of the huge resolution. However you can allways use the zoom (CTRL+mouse scroll). I am looking forward to Lion and the iOS pinch to zoom in Safari.

05-13-2011, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

It also means that everything on the MacBook Air is going to be smaller because of the higher resolution. For you younger folks with uncorrected eyesight that might be OK.

But for us older guys who wear glasses to read the screen, it only makes it more difficult to see. An external large monitor for use at home is almost a must.... Just some food for thought.

Isn't their also some code found in lion hinting that it will support scaling for these higher resolutions? So the eventually when we have "retina" quality displays they icons and such will still be reasonably sized. I know it doesn't matter yet but it is something to look forward to.

05-14-2011, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by thurstmw

Isn't their also some code found in lion hinting that it will support scaling for these higher resolutions? So the eventually when we have "retina" quality displays they icons and such will still be reasonably sized. I know it doesn't matter yet but it is something to look forward to.

That would be a nice thing to have but I haven't heard if that will be a feature in Lion. I guess we'll have to wait until sometime this Summer to find out.