iBook screen washed out

I've got a feeling that this is a question that gets asked a lot, so I genuinely apologize in advance.

I've just bought a 1.2 G4 iBook with 12in screen. I'm a switcher from the world of Windows XP and this notebook is replacing my old PIII 450MHz model.

The iBook's keyboard is brilliant - ultra responsive. Mac OS is a joy to use. Software bundle is brilliant. Dashboard is a great idea.

But the screen...? At full brightness it's just about acceptable. I don't know why they build in the lower brightness levels because you need night vision goggles to use them! Colors appear to be washed out... there's absolutely no vibrancy to the colours at all. It's like looking at the screen through a thin piece of gause.

From the research I've done, this appears to be the way it is, although half the entries i've read have said that the screen is washed out, while the other half have said their screens are vibrant and bright. Is it the case that Apple are using different parts depending on what they have in stock? Or do people just have different expectations? (More likely.)

To be honest, I'm starting to get used to the screen, so it's not so bad. Weirdly, my old notebook now appears to have a blueish tinge that I hadn't noticed before. But I was on the brink of sending it back when I first got it on Friday.

Have you tried calibrating the screen in system preferences?

Mine is alot more rich in colour now i've palyed around a bit

mig.gentry said:

Have you tried calibrating the screen in system preferences?

Mine is alot more rich in colour now i've palyed around a bit

Click to expand...

I played with the system tool and then with SuperCal, and managed to make some good improvements. Then I realised that the default "Color LCD" profile was probably better.

I've just installed Photoshop CS2 try-out. I opened the same image that's my desktop wallpaper and it appeared much more vibrant in Photoshop (obviously I can "see through" to my desktop behind to compare). The greens are, well, greener, and the sky is bluer.

The question then becomes: which one should I trust? Additionally, is the color profile that Photoshop using available for OS X to use day-to-day?

(Incidentally, I've got a desktop PC and high-quality monitor for when it comes to photo editing, so this isn't really a genuine issue. I simply would like to know for my own sake! )

The question then becomes: which one should I trust?

Click to expand...

That's the million-dollar question right there

Basically you can't trust either unless they are calibrated correctly using hardware measurement tools.
You could try something like this if it was actually a real issue for you
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/spyder2pro.html
but I don't think it is

Just get it so it's "right" in your eyes...

Aptmunich said:

Just get it so it's "right" in your eyes...

Click to expand...

This is getting weird but the notebook screen doesn't appear as bad as it was. It now just feels brighter. I'm sure there's no magic here and that I'm simply getting used to it. Whatever the case, I still can't really drop the brightness down beyond a few notches above maximum without it becoming simply too dark.

As for colour accuracy, I use an LG L90D+ flat panel on my main PC and, althought this is bright, I was surprised when I first got it that the colours weren't as vibrant as other TFT panels. But the L90D+ is famed for having accurate colour reproduction, and I realised that the colours shouldn't look vibrant! That would mean they were inaccurate.

I wonder if the iBook's screen is actually more accurate than many other panels. I guess, unless we use hardware calibration, we'll never know (although they have some Pantone books where I work - I could try creating some blocks of Pantone reference colours and comparing them...)

ps. Love the iBook keyboard. I've used hundreds of notebooks and this is the best one, hands down, by a mile.