Jump to content

Unable to calibrate the new MacBook Pro (Hi-res anti glare)


Recommended Posts

<p>I have received my new MacBook Pro 15" i7 (hi-res anti glare) few days ago but disappointed to tell all of you that it is impossible to calibrate to standard. I am using eye-one display 2, both on my new MBP, my imac and my Dell U2711 which is connected to the MBP. All of them set at 6500k, 2.2 gamma and 90cd, while the imac and the Dell both look okay, the MBP has a somewhat purple/pink cast to it, and no matter how many times I calibrate, it still looks the same. I have called Apple Hong Kong but they know nothing about calibrating. Search the Apple support forum and found out I am not the only one. Does anyone has similar issue here? What a big disappointment since this MBP that I bought is for photo editing but only to learn that it is not usable.</p>

<p>Jason K</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Have you tried calibrating by eye in System Preferences > Displays > Color (calibrate/advanced?)<br /> Matching print output to your display is more important than two displays matching perfectly. It's even a chore to match two identical displays when viewed at different angles.</p>

<p>Different brands of LCD/led panels have their own distinctive flavor. I would not be quick to return a 17" i7 MBP.<br /> How does it handle Lightroom 3?</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>You can try calibrating to the display’s native white point instead of 6500K.</p>

<p>Or, if the eye-one software can set a white point by xy or XYZ coordinates, then try increasing y or Y slightly, which should make the white point greener without lowering the color temperature much.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Hi Steven, matching my prints is the most important thing to me. I have tried the included Apple method and it looks awful. While the imac and the dell matches my prints almost perfectly, but not the MBP.<br>

I do not have the LR3 yet. Will Buy it later.<br>

Hi Joe, will try that tonight, but however the software won't let me change the Y value. thanks.</p>

<p>Jason k</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Thanks for your response Andrew. Have you tried comparing your Calibrated MBP with other calibrated monitor? I just tried to play with the white point setting with the MBP and nothing is matching my other two monitors. Honestly, I am start thinking now the magenta/pink cast is the native color of the anti glare coating... Just emailed x-rite and waiting for a response.<br>

<br /> Jason K</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>It's pretty similar to a Dell monitor I have on my Windows box, but with less gamut. I'm not sure what's going on with yours, but mine has no noticeable color cast. If I try dimming it a couple more notches to about where you have yours, the colors do lose some zing, but the white is going gray, not magenta.</p>

<p>On my old MBP the blues went purple but I don't get that with this one. I don't think there's a color cast in my coating either. I know there's more than one make and model of panel Apple uses in each size/resolution, and to find out which you have you need to open the Color LCD profile that came packaged and look at line 17. Mine is Model 00009CB7, which is the same Samsung panel Anandtech reviewed here: <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/3669/apples-15inch-2010-macbook-pro-more-battery-life-tests-display-evaluated/4"><click></a> and from the scuttlebutt on the web it looks like it's the best one. 9CB6 is the same one but glossy, 9CBB and 9CBA are made by Philips/LG.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Mine is a 9CB7 as well. I will take a picture of both monitors tomorrow and try to post it here. But I recalled one thing, the other day I was trying to restart the MBP and before it completely restart the screen paused for a half second or so, in that half second the screen looked normal like my other monitor but it wears that cast after that. So would it be a bug of the operating system? Don't know. Anyway, many thanks for your help.<br>

Jason K</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>I looked at the 15" w/anti glare at an Apple store, and though it obviously wasn't calibrated, the color shift to magenta was obvious. I put on a grey screen and compared with the 15" glossy. The glossy was grey, the anti-glare was shifted way towards magenta. I know this is just 1 sample, but it gave me pause about the anti-glare. I hope you sort it out and let us know how.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote>

<p>"But I recalled one thing, the other day I was trying to restart the MBP and before it completely restart the screen paused for a half second or so, in that half second the screen looked normal like my other monitor but it wears that cast after that."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>As far as I understand that colour switch is happening the moment when the OS loads the custom monitor profile you created by calibrating. The fact that there is no colour cast just before that, most likely rules out the display as the cause.</p>

<p>I would rather suspect a problem with your calibration device. Can you try a different model/make?</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Can a TN panel display ever be said to be truly "calibrated"? </p>

<p>IME and by visual measurement, a shift of eye point by an inch or so is enough to throw the gamma off by a couple of points. Of course no electronic sensor shows this because it's always set perpendicular to the screen. You can't really beat the good old Mk I eyeball, because that's what most of us use to actually edit our pictures.</p>

<p>Jason's apparently faulty screen notwithstanding, why are we still putting up with old-hat TN technology being foisted on us? LCDs should be moving to IPS (at least) as standard with LED backlighting. Only THEN will calibration be worth something. If only we could persuade the general non-discriminating public to refuse to buy these crappy TN panels!</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Unfortunately there are very, very few laptops with IPS. I saw a Thinkpad with IPS not long ago but the problem was it made the display portion of the case very thick.</p>

<p>As TN goes, this is a good one. As Martin says, you may have a problem with the calibrator. Normally I'd think bad sample, but if it's able to do a display without the cast... what does it look like with the default Color LCD profile or one done with the OSX calibrate-by-sight thing?</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>My experience with a 2009 MBP is that it will not calibrate properly with the screen dimmed, and 90 cd is well below the dimmest setting available through System Preferences.</p>

<p>What has worked for me is to calibrate the screen at 75% or full brightness per System Preferences, then dim it. I doubt you'll get it all the way down to 90 cd without color shifts, though.</p>

<p>Rick</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Thanks a lot guys for your help and thanks Mike for the link. I watched through the whole video and also the "calibrating an external monitor" video. And it was exactly what i did, including the pre-cal part of using the Apple included software to set the white point and gamma. But it is always nice to make sure what I did was right. Anyway, I had a friend visiting tonight and he has a couple years old MBP 15" with the glossy screen and was also calibrated with his i1 display 2, so I asked him to bring along his notebook and I pulled out the medium grey screen from LR2 and we watched all three screens right in front of our eyes, and guess what? although all 3 screens looks differently but his screen looks more natural and much closer to the white point of my Dell U2711. And he agrees that my screen does appears to have a somewhat magenta/pink cast to it. Still can't figure out why. I guess nothing is perfect.... anyway, waiting for Apple and X-rite's response. Thanks again for all your help.</p>

<p>Jason K</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>If you google the topic, the pink cast pops up fairly frequently. There are several discussion threads on Apple's site <strong>closed</strong> without being resolved. I was surprised to learn the 17's use TN panels.</p>

<p>Since I haven't read it here as of yet, it's a good idea to turn off the ambient light sensor and back off on the brightness of the pro before calibrating. When I use a lowly Huey, I put the unit in the dark or let it read a gray card while it measures ambient light and it gets better results.</p>

<p>I'm following this thread because a 17" i7 MBP seems to calling and will probably be my next computer when I upgrade again. I hope you resolve the problem and know it is rather frustrating.<br /> Regards,<br /> Steve</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote>

<p>I'm following this thread because a 17" i7 MBP seems to calling and will probably be my next computer when I upgrade again.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Hi Steven,</p>

<p>If I may suggest...</p>

<p>I'm using a 13" MacBook Pro plus the 24" LED Cinema Display, and I love it. </p>

<p>The combination will cost less than the 17" MBP by itself while giving you a much larger screen to work with, and better battery life in the MBP.</p>

<p>The 24" display is incredible. The viewing angle spec is 178° both H and V, and that's true. The measured gamut slightly exceeds the sRGB spec at all points.</p>

<p>I highly recommend this combination.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Thanks Leigh,<br>

I'm currently running a 13" MB chained to a Dell 2209WA (cheapo 22" ips.) What I dislike about the Apple displays and the iMac's are that their screen sits too high on the desk.</p>

<p>I'm fairly near-sighted with bifocals. The bottom of the Dell display is 2" above the desk that it's sitting on. I get a sore neck poking my nose upward so I can use the bottom of my specs.</p>

<p>Not too long ago I plopped down in front of a Mac Pro and a 30" cinema display (a $10K setup at the time) and it just did not work for me.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Hi Steven,</p>

<p>I know what you mean.</p>

<p>This machine is a Dell with a 24" monitor that sits on a side table, which brings it down to a comfortable level. The top is about even with my nose, so I'm looking down at the screen.</p>

<p>Perhaps a similar arrangement would work for you.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>TN pannels can definetely be calibrated. I have SyncMaster 192N in the office, calibrated it with Spyder3Elite, it's reasonably accurate when comparing screen and print. On the other hand, when I calibrated 13" MacBook (2008 model, not MBP) I've noticed severe banding and also slight magenta tint. Then I've found that my MacBook screen is 6-bit pannel, not much you can do with picking up right colours using either colorimeter or eye-based calibration. Check what kind of screen your MBP has.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>They're all 6-bit TN panels. All TN laptop panels are 6-bit, and all but one or two laptop panels are TN.</p>

<p>A big part of the point of calibrating is to avoid color tints. So long as you're within the reasonable working brightness of the screen, not trying to push the color temp too far and it's a reasonably good screen, whether it's Mac or Windows you should be able to get a reasonable calibration... even my crap Acer 11.6" mini plastic thing with gloss screen and the Windows 7 bug that makes me reload the calibration after sleep shows no color cast when calibrated. If a good screen shows a tint after calibrating, it's a bug or an error, not a shortcoming of LCD technology. I <em>know</em> that Macbook Pro's panel model can be calibrated properly. If brightness is off when the screen tilt is off, tilt the screen correctly! An experienced user can immediately spot and correct that problem.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...