Any laptop screens (I'm hoping Apple's) really first rate and suitable for image editing?

[joshua daniels]

I'm considering purchasing an Apple, and am leaning towards a

notebook. However, I'm also aware of the relatively rarity of really

good LCD screens - at least ones suitable for image editing. I'm not

completely determined to go Mac and so would also like to know of PC

notebooks with truly top notch screen. Please advise!

[patricklavoie]

There is NO laptop screen that professionaly good for image editing, mac or pc. You should

buy another screen, CRT (LA CIE 19 inch 550$CAN) or a LCD to plug on it. That is if you plan

to do serious work on your picture, if you what to adjust family picture or you dont plan to

make a living from it, i suppose a laptop screen is OK.

[ellis_vener_photography]

A lot of pros do their initial work on 15" Apple Powerbooks. If you are ultra-critical then

hooking up getting a high quality CRT or large LCDs - like the newer large Apple LCD

monitors is the way to go.

[robert_m3]

The current 15" Powerbook's screen is better than previous models. I recently upgraded and

I'm using it a lot for photo editing - more so than any previous laptop I've had. Also the wider

screen format (1440 x 960) lends itself nicely to editing 35mm format. Recommended!

[Brad_]

Every laptop LCD I've seen is a compromise. That said, the most recent 15" and 17"

PowerBook screens are very nice. Laptops are nice if you need to be portable, but still, a

desktop (such as an Apple G5) and LCD display will give you the best performance and user

experience. And the latest 20" iMac is pretty sweet for an all in one solution.

[jbq]

most certainly not the 12" version.

[mystuff]

the current powerbook screens are ok-ish, having moved from an original tibook to the

17" pbook earlier this year i find colour and gradation are better (i keep the screens

hardware calibrated), but...

 

i use a neutral grey desktop and it clearly shows that the illumination is quite uneven

 

much more of a disappointment is that the vertical viewing angle is far *worse* than the

older model (there's a nasty intensity inversion that occurs around 45 degrees above

perpendicular)

 

plus the slightly frosted surface causes a shimmer on areas of flat tone, like a faint satin

chrome effect

 

but the vertical viewing angle is the big problem, there is really *no* latitude for changing

your viewing angle, even a couple of degrees gives a visible change

 

in short i'm more inclined to buy an external monitor for the new pbook than i was for the

old one, just waiting for eizo to get cheaper!

[kristin_brown]

"the current powerbook screens are ok-ish, having moved from an original tibook to the 17" pbook earlier this year i find colour and gradation are better (i keep the screens hardware calibrated), but..."

 

John, when you say "earlier this year", do you mean before or after the most recent PB update, in which they reportedly upped both pixels and brightness (I believe they were released late last month)?

[mystuff]

Kristin,

 

well spotted! it occurred to me as i posted that the latest 17" pb has an updated screen, but it

was too late for me to modify

 

the new screen is higher resolution and supposed to be able to go a lot brighter, given these

differences it it may also address some of the problems with the previous model

[erik scanhancer]

I can report from my own experience that the viewing angle of the Powerbook October 2005

version is still very sensitive to changes in angle of view. It is considerably brighter and

sharper than its last predecessor though. Another good thing is that the 15 inch PB has built

in support for Apple's 30 inch Cinema display. Now that is a great screen for image editing!

[dave_osborne]

One thing I always do when using a laptop screen is have a gamma chart handy (like in quickgamma) - you can see how the gamma changes depending on what angle you have the screen at, so when you're doing any crital contrast ajustments use the chart to ensure you're not being fooled by looking at the screen at too steep an angle.