IPS Screens - How uniform should I expect?

[JacksterD]

Hi folks,

I've bought one of the new Retina MacBook Pros, which has an IPS display, and I was just wondering how uniform I should expect this kind of technology to be? The colour temperature goes from blueish to yellowish left to right, and is slightly redder at the top. The shift is most noticeable when displaying grey colours.

I know no screen is perfect in terms of colour uniformity, and I know you guys can't really comment without seeing it in person, but this is probably the most expensive thing I've ever bought and I'm just not sure if this kind of shift is considered acceptable or normal for an IPS screen or if I should look at getting a replacement.

 

[hokies83]

If you paid for one of those 800$ + IPS 2560x1440 displays id accept nothing less then a perfect screen.

 

[C1]

MAC displays, in general, receive good ratings. With conventional notebook screens, lighting uniformity and bleed seem to be the most prevalent issues (my experience). LED backlights seem to add in color non-uniformity issues. None of these need to be serious. Just depends on the quality (and QA) of the (particular) display.

If it is too annoying, then check out an equivalent floor sample to see if it is better/satisfactory and if so, swap for that one.

 

[KingFatty]

Psychologically, if you see the Apple display as flawed, you'll be mentally compromising to accept it.

However, if you already have to mentally compromise, why not mentally compromise for a catleap equivalent display for $289 shipped? That way you can make yourself feel better by rolling around in $500 cash that you saved, to soften the burden of the mental compromise. Wipe away those tears with all the $20s you'll have to toss around.

 

[Phynaz]

Take it back.

 

[Phynaz]

Psychologically, if you see the Apple display as flawed, you'll be mentally compromising to accept it.

However, if you already have to mentally compromise, why not mentally compromise for a catleap equivalent display for $289 shipped? That way you can make yourself feel better by rolling around in $500 cash that you saved, to soften the burden of the mental compromise. Wipe away those tears with all the $20s you'll have to toss around.

Dude, he has a laptop.

 

[Snowshredder102]

Psychologically, if you see the Apple display as flawed, you'll be mentally compromising to accept it.

However, if you already have to mentally compromise, why not mentally compromise for a catleap equivalent display for $289 shipped? That way you can make yourself feel better by rolling around in $500 cash that you saved, to soften the burden of the mental compromise. Wipe away those tears with all the $20s you'll have to toss around.

And I assume that $289 monitor is running at a 2880x1800 resolution, correct?

 

[MrK6]

If you dished out the kind of money a Mac usually costs, I would not hesitate for one second to bring it back (and continue to do so) until your model is absolutely perfect.

 

[Anarchist420]

I was actually going to say beware the e-IPSs, but then I saw you got a MacBook.

However, if you got one of the newest MacBooks then it should have an AH-IPS which is the newest revision of the IPS tech.

 

[JacksterD]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I think you're right, at this price you should really expect nothing but perfection. At this point I'm a bit stuck as to what to do - I didn't mention it before but this is actually RMBP number 4 for me. The first one had a problem with the trackpad but, as far as I could tell, a fine screen; but the subsequent three all had these same uniformity issues with the screen. I guess I could go for another replacement and hope for the best, or go for a different laptop, but to be honest apart from the uniformity issues this laptop is just the best I've ever used in every other way.

Apple has two suppliers for screens in these Retina models - LG and Samsung. My first one was an LG and I had no complaints about the screen, but the subsequent three have been Samsungs and all have shown problems.

I was actually going to say beware the e-IPSs, but then I saw you got a MacBook.

However, if you got one of the newest MacBooks then it should have an AH-IPS which is the newest revision of the IPS tech.

That's interesting, I've not been able to find out the actual technology used in these screens other than it's advertised by Apple as just "IPS". However, I've heard that Samsung apparently doesn't actually manufacture IPS screens, their screens are Super-PLS, so I'm not sure how different that is, whether its just different branding or actually a different technology.

 

[hokies83]

I do think it is LG who makes the IPS tech.

 

[tweakboy]

You are going to get 5ms to 8ms if not more latency no matter the Mhz ,,

so the mouse will be laggy in FPS games.

 

[blastingcap]

If you dished out the kind of money a Mac usually costs, I would not hesitate for one second to bring it back (and continue to do so) until your model is absolutely perfect.

+1

 

[blackened23]

If you dished out 2200$ for a MBP I would demand perfection and nothing less, period. Also, i'm fairly certain that the 2880x1240 display on the MBP is actually made by samsung and uses PLS technology (which is the same as IPS but with better colors). Ironic huh!

 

[hyrule4927]

Yeah, I'd return it right away. Don't accept anything less than perfect for that kind of money.

 

[hawtdawg]

I have no visible uniformity issues beyond backlight bleed with 2 cheap-o 23 inch screens from samsung and Asus. There are no visible color differences for anything other than black/near black. If you can see color uniformity issues with a 50% IRE greyscale slide, then I would ask for a replacement.

Example: i see no color uniformity issues with the grey background of the anandtech forum on either one of my sub 200 dollar TN panels.

I'm a stickler for this kind of thing too.

 

[Phynaz]

You are going to get 5ms to 8ms if not more latency no matter the Mhz ,,

so the mouse will be laggy in FPS games.

Get back on your meds.

 

[palladium]

There will be some non-uniformity. If you read display reviews over the web they generally quote a brightness delta of 10-15% compared to the center of the display. Having said that, if the non-uniformity bothers you, you should return it. If it's mission-critical, spend $5k on a Eizo or NEC monitor that has uniformity correction built-in.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

It is pretty funny how people don't even read the topic and then just post a reply based on the heading.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

You are going to get 5ms to 8ms if not more latency no matter the Mhz ,,

so the mouse will be laggy in FPS games.

wtf?

 

[Bill Brasky]

wtf?

Just pretend he accidentally replied to the wrong thread.

 

[blanketyblank]

wtf?

I think you've been here long enough to know it's some kind of bot or something similar.
I think over time it gets pretty decent responses by regurgitating other posts, but I'm guessing the keywords about ips are throwing it off.

Anyways I'd probably take it back. I've seen a few of these at work and the screens are very good. Eventually you should be able to get one that has a screen like your first one and a working touchpad.

 

[KingFatty]

Can you talk to the people in the Apple store and explain that you want a laptop with a specific display panel?

I think someone mentioned on here how a salesman in a Microcenter was willing to open the box before the sale to verify the contents, so maybe the Apple employees would be willing to check if they have any laptops in stock with the LG display instead of the Samsung? or even better, perhaps the Apple store has a way to identify their own inventory and determine which laptops have which display, so you wouldn't even need to open the box.

It sounded like you were happy with the laptop when it had an LG display, except for some unrelated issue that caused you to return it. Also, when negotiating with the Apple employee after returning this laptop (it will be your 4th return?), you may want to mention that you intend to return this 5th laptop unless it has an LG display, so maybe he'd be more willing to work with you. Or, perhaps he would know you are a frequent returner and not want to sell to you, I have no idea and depends how much of a hipster/douche he is?

 

[gpse]

try returning it to a different Apple Store, perhaps the store you got it from has an all Samsung batch, another store might have some LG panels. I heard the LG panels are superior to Samsung, so definitely try to get an LG panel.

 

[JacksterD]

Thanks for all the feedback, folks. You've all been far more helpful than anyone over on the various Apple forums who mostly seem to be of the opinion that even though these things cost $2000+ you should just put up and shut up with whatever comes out of the box.

I ordered the MacBook online, so I've set up a return and it's being picked up on Friday. I just couldn't spend more weeks waiting for MacBooks to be delivered and picked up, so I went into my local Apple Store today and bought a new Retina MacBook Pro and thankfully this one has an LG display. Overall it definitely looks more uniform than the Samsungs it's replacing, but it has an interesting red tinge in the top right hand corner. I understand this can be a side effect of certain types of polarisers used on IPS displays - if anyone has any experience of this I'd appreciate your thoughts. Overall I think I'm happy this one, so barring any other problems cropping up I think this might be it.