A Specific Question About Laptop Monitors

[gearoido]

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Sean,

 

Rob Galbraith has an article about the new backlit Macbook PRO screens that seems very positive. Rob Galbraith DPI: Evaluating the MacBook Pro 15 inch LED-backlit display

 

GaryO

[sean_reid]

Sean, I'm a bit unclear. The antialiasing which bothers you--you find this effect exclusively on type or do you think there's something going on in images as well?

 

It seems as if images are being anti-aliased as well.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[sean_reid]

Sean, no problem calibrating Mac laptops. We used both a Spyder Pro2 and Eye One 2 for them at the University, I just retired from.

 

In fact last May I was at a Leica sponsor seminar on the M8 and we used Mac Laptops and the first thing we did was to calibrate them with Eye-Ones.

 

That's very good to know. Thank you.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[sean_reid]

Sean, yes, I use the Spyder on both my Windows boxes and the MacBook Pro - one of the advantages of the LED backlight on the Mac is that it can be adjusted over a far wider ranger than the older technologies, which can be an advantage for calibration, depending on how you like your screen set.

 

I run Windows on the Mac via BootCamp, which allows full speed "native" operation. You can also use either Parallels or VMWARE Fusion, which is a bit slower, but means you're running OSX and Windows at the same time.

 

Really cool update on the Zeiss, and great to see the comparison on the vignetting versus aperture. This should be required reading for anyone using using an IR filter. BTW, the next version of CornerFix should have the ability to encode the estimated aperture into the DNG's EXIF data, which will ease the "what aperture was that shot at" problem you highlight. Just waiting for permission from the "discoverer" of the coding scheme to publish.......

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

 

Hi Sandy,

 

That's great news about calibration. So you were also able to get some Windows laptops calibrated to your spec? Cool, which ones? (just out of curiosity).

 

I was just reading about Bootcamp today.

 

That's very interesting about encoding the aperture in the EXIF. Great work on that whole program, BTW, and thank you.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[sean_reid]

Sean,

 

Fills about 75%+ horizontally, and about 85% vertically using Safari

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

 

That'll do. Thanks,

 

S

[sean_reid]

Sean,

 

Rob Galbraith has an article about the new backlit Macbook PRO screens that seems very positive. Rob Galbraith DPI: Evaluating the MacBook Pro 15 inch LED-backlit display

 

GaryO

 

I'll read that Gary, thanks.

 

Just read it. I think there may be a 15" Macbook pro in my future.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[c6gowin]

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Sean,

I have one of the newer 15.4" glossy LED screen MacBookPro's and have been very happy with it. I had been using a Sony Vaio 13.3" laptop for the previous 2 1/2 years and I was very happy with it. Aside from the small form factor of the Sony, I was very impressed with the Sony's display. However, now when I go back to the Sony after using the MBP I realize how better the MBP screen is (age could have something to do with that). I have calibrated both the Sony and MBP screens with the Eye One Display with good success. I have noticed that the correction curves displayed at the end of the calibration process are much smoother (less drastic) with the MBP.

 

The other great thing about the new MBP is that it runs both Mac OS X and Window. I must use Windows based applications for my business. This was a major make-or-break issue for me when buying the MBP and I am happy to report that it works very well. Initially, I setup the MBP with a Boot Camp partition to run Windows and I also tried out the Parallels virtual machine software for running Windows. I found both options to work as advertised and have pretty much always use Parallels nowadays. Parallels is more convenient because you don' to restart the computer into the Windows environment - it allows you to run Windows as a virtual machine within a Mac window and I don't see much of a performance hit. By the way, I updated to the Mac Leopard OS on my MBP with no problems.

 

I hope I didn't confuse you more.

[sean_reid]

Sean,

I have one of the newer 15.4" glossy LED screen MacBookPro's and have been very happy with it. I had been using a Sony Vaio 13.3" laptop for the previous 2 1/2 years and I was very happy with it. Aside from the small form factor of the Sony, I was very impressed with the Sony's display. However, now when I go back to the Sony after using the MBP I realize how better the MBP screen is (age could have something to do with that). I have calibrated both the Sony and MBP screens with the Eye One Display with good success. I have noticed that the correction curves displayed at the end of the calibration process are much smoother (less drastic) with the MBP.

 

The other great thing about the new MBP is that it runs both Mac OS X and Window. I must use Windows based applications for my business. This was a major make-or-break issue for me when buying the MBP and I am happy to report that it works very well. Initially, I setup the MBP with a Boot Camp partition to run Windows and I also tried out the Parallels virtual machine software for running Windows. I found both options to work as advertised and have pretty much always use Parallels nowadays. Parallels is more convenient because you don' to restart the computer into the Windows environment - it allows you to run Windows as a virtual machine within a Mac window and I don't see much of a performance hit. By the way, I updated to the Mac Leopard OS on my MBP with no problems.

 

I hope I didn't confuse you more.

 

Thanks Mark and,no, that didn't confuse me at all. I think this is my next laptop.

 

BTW, color aside, is the screen sharp? Do M8 files look like M8 files?

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[Guest guy_mancuso]

The new MBP rocks Sean . It matches my 30 inch pretty darn good and i calibrated both of them. Get the 2.4 version to get the new Led screen, I went glossy too. I could almost use this as the only computer 4gb of ram and will run my 30 inch DVI. nothing can touch that alone

[sandymc]

That's great news about calibration. So you were also able to get some Windows laptops calibrated to your spec? Cool, which ones? (just out of curiosity).

 

Sean,

 

The best of the Windows laptops was an Acer 8204, but even so, the backlighting was very uneven. However, also be aware that Acer is notorious for putting different screens into the same model of laptop, so you can't ever be too sure what you're going to get. I think I just got lucky:D

 

Sandy

[johnjs]

Sean,

I have a Sony AR Series 17" notebook with the X-Brite display and have been very happy with it for the past several months. The new AR Digital Studio notebooks have the latest XBRITE-HiColor™ LCD technology and run the Nvidia 8400M GT with 256MB dedicated video memory, and video memory of up to 1GB with sharing main memory, with HDMI out for external displays. The computer can be configured with up to 4GB system memory, as on the MacBook Pro's. One thing that steered me to the Sony over the MBP was the dedicated SD card slot, and it also has both Express Card and PCMCIA slots, useful for CF card readers (at the time Express Card CF card adapters were just coming out). The display is glossy but the X-Brite coatings are very forgiving of reflection, you'd have to look at one. I do like the MacBook Pro quite alot as well, it's an excellent computer and Leopard with iLife '08 is a compelling package, I just played with one at an Apple store yesterday (actually am thinking of getting a 24" iMac). Also, the backlight keyboard on the MacBook is something I really wish I had on the Sony and to me one of it's best features.

 

http://www.sonystyle.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/pdf/VGN-AR660U_SpecSheet.pdf (1.54MB)

 

best-John

[sean_reid]

Thanks for the comments all. I'll look into that Sony as well but I think the 15" Mac (matte screen for me) is the way I should go. If anyone knows of a source with good deals on these, please let me know. Thanks also, Guy, for the tip that only the 2.4 has the LED screen.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[johnjs]

MacBook Pro on MacMall.com. Buy your MacBook Pro from the #1 Apple Direct Reseller.

Seems like you get alot of extras with the various configurations. I've never personally ordered from them, maybe others' could comment? Excellent choice in a notebook btw - I'm sure you will love it and it's new operating system.

best-John

[wparsonsgisnet]

... If anyone knows of a source with good deals on these, please let me know...

 

Sean, just have your student nephew/neice order the computer to get the educ discount. I believe you get 10% -- and that's it for Apple.

 

I bot a used G4 but an mow buying my mac's new. Suggest the same......

 

Enjoy.

[Guest malland]

Sean:

 

In August I replaced an older 15" MacBook with the latest 17" MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) with 4GB of RAM and a 7200 rpm hard disk. The display is much, much better then the 15" ones and the computer is very fast. I chose the high-resolution monitor version (1920x1200), which is vastly superior for editing pictures. I now wonder how I could have ever edited pictures on the 15' lower resolution monitor. And I would stay away from the glossy version of the monitor because it's easier to match prints with the matte version.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Flickr: Photos from Mitch Alland

[stevelap]

Thanks for the comments all. I'll look into that Sony as well but I think the 15" Mac (matte screen for me) is the way I should go. If anyone knows of a source with good deals on these, please let me know. Thanks also, Guy, for the tip that only the 2.4 has the LED screen.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

Sean,

 

You could take a look at Apple's own refurb store, accessed from the Apple Store website. Everything comes from Apple, with a full warranty, and goods are usually priced at 15-20% below list. At the moment the US site has a couple of 2.2's and 2.4's at $300 off and 2.33's at $600 off.

 

By the way, afaik both 15" models (2.2 & 2.4) have the same standard screen with LED backlighting, (glossy screen optional). They also have the same video card, but the 2.2 has 128mb of video RAM compared to the 2.4's 256mb.

 

Regards

Steve

[sean_reid]

Sean:

 

In August I replaced an older 15" MacBook with the latest 17" MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) with 4GB of RAM and a 7200 rpm hard disk. The display is much, much better then the 15" ones and the computer is very fast. I chose the high-resolution monitor version (1920x1200), which is vastly superior for editing pictures. I now wonder how I could have ever edited pictures on the 15' lower resolution monitor. And I would stay away from the glossy version of the monitor because it's easier to match prints with the matte version.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Flickr: Photos from Mitch Alland

 

Hi Mitch,

 

Thanks for the tip. The advantage of a 15, for me, is that it (in a case) will fit in the trunk of my motorcycle.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[sean_reid]

Sean,

 

You could take a look at Apple's own refurb store, accessed from the Apple Store website. Everything comes from Apple, with a full warranty, and goods are usually priced at 15-20% below list. At the moment the US site has a couple of 2.2's and 2.4's at $300 off and 2.33's at $600 off.

 

By the way, afaik both 15" models (2.2 & 2.4) have the same standard screen with LED backlighting, (glossy screen optional). They also have the same video card, but the 2.2 has 128mb of video RAM compared to the 2.4's 256mb.

 

Regards

Steve

 

Thanks. I'll check that out.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[thomasl.se]

I would stay away from the glossy version of the monitor because it's easier to match prints with the matte version.[/url]

My two years old Fujitsu SIemens Amilo D 17" Wide has a glossy screen. I'm not sure if that's a major reason my eyes tire with this particular monitor.

Otherwise, the useful viewing angle is vastly superior to that of my previous laptops; ordinary stand-alone monitors.is more of a comparison in that respect.

 

Will have a look at MacBooks next time.

 

Thomas

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[sean_reid]

MacBook Pro on MacMall.com. Buy your MacBook Pro from the #1 Apple Direct Reseller.

Seems like you get alot of extras with the various configurations. I've never personally ordered from them, maybe others' could comment? Excellent choice in a notebook btw - I'm sure you will love it and it's new operating system.

best-John

 

Thanks. I'll take a look.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean