Apple's laptops pale by comparision
So I pop by my local BestBuy today and lo and behold, Apple products!
It was a welcome sight...but not for long. The ability to compare PC laptops next to Apple's showed how poor the PB's LCD display is.
Sony's X-Brite screens and the like, were razor sharp with great contrast. In fact a 13.3" Sony Vaio at 4.2 lbs and combo drive was rather impressive. Other than the OS and two crappy thin trackpad buttons, it was quite nice. I must admit, in comparison, the PB's and iBooks screens were dull, lacked punch, and slickness.
Which led me to think, why doesn't Apple utilize the best LCD technology into their laptops. Is it a power issue? Or it just too expensive? Or are we just in between revisions and should expect this to see better displays in the next gen of PBs?
It was a welcome sight...but not for long. The ability to compare PC laptops next to Apple's showed how poor the PB's LCD display is.
Sony's X-Brite screens and the like, were razor sharp with great contrast. In fact a 13.3" Sony Vaio at 4.2 lbs and combo drive was rather impressive. Other than the OS and two crappy thin trackpad buttons, it was quite nice. I must admit, in comparison, the PB's and iBooks screens were dull, lacked punch, and slickness.
Which led me to think, why doesn't Apple utilize the best LCD technology into their laptops. Is it a power issue? Or it just too expensive? Or are we just in between revisions and should expect this to see better displays in the next gen of PBs?
Comments
Originally posted by satchmo
So I pop by my local BestBuy today and lo and behold, Apple products!
It was a welcome sight...but not for long. The ability to compare PC laptops next to Apple's showed how poor the PB's LCD display is.
Sony's X-Brite screens and the like, were razor sharp with great contrast. In fact a 13.3" Sony Vaio at 4.2 lbs and combo drive was rather impressive. Other than the OS and two crappy thin trackpad buttons, it was quite nice. I must admit, in comparison, the PB's and iBooks screens were dull, lacked punch, and slickness.
Which led me to think, why doesn't Apple utilize the best LCD technology into their laptops. Is it a power issue? Or it just too expensive? Or are we just in between revisions and should expect this to see better displays in the next gen of PBs?
i'll take my 5.5 hour battery life over a brighter display any day. besides, i almost never turn the lcd brightness up more than the first notch anyways.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
i'll take my 5.5 hour battery life over a brighter display any day. besides, i almost never turn the lcd brightness up more than the first notch anyways.
keeps your eyes wide shut
Originally posted by mattyj
Yes and that's why they run out of battery on about 2 and a half hours. It's all about compromise.
um. no it isn't. and no powerbook today lasts 5 hours. in fact, with the 15 and 17 inch powerbooks you'll be hard pressed to get 3.5.
apple's portable LCDs have been dissapointing for a while now. But a lot can be done to improve them by messing with the colorsync options
Originally posted by ipodandimac
i'll take my 5.5 hour battery life over a brighter display any day. besides, i almost never turn the lcd brightness up more than the first notch anyways.
He isn't just talking about brightness. Clarity, contrast, viewing-angle, refresh-rates and color richness are also important factors when evaluating display quality. Apple laptops are not comparing very well here. Besides, I'll take a better display over longer battery life any day. I'm using my computer wirelessly maybe 20 percent of the time, but I'm using its screen 100 percent of the time. As do most people.
Originally posted by GreggWSmith
5.5 hours? Hell I wish I could get a full 3 out of my brand new 12inch! Do you have a diesel generator powering yours?
nope, just the right power settings i guess. my 12" is about 4 months old, and 5.5 hours is admittedly the top-top end of my battery life, but i never get worse than 4.5 hours unless i'm doing major video work or watching a dvd. i use my laptop "unplugged" probably 90% of the time.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
nope, just the right power settings i guess. my 12" is about 4 months old, and 5.5 hours is admittedly the top-top end of my battery life, but i never get worse than 4.5 hours unless i'm doing major video work or watching a dvd. i use my laptop "unplugged" probably 90% of the time.
cough....bullshit...cough
altho with only 2 bars of brightness you probably do get better than most, altho i have no idea how you dind that usuable unless all you do is work in pitch black and don't care about how anything looks.
Originally posted by applenut
cough....bullshit...cough
altho with only 2 bars of brightness you probably do get better than most, altho i have no idea how you dind that usuable unless all you do is work in pitch black and don't care about how anything looks.
Not at all. I have a brand spanking new 14" iBook and I get a solid 4.5 to 5 hours out of it, and my settings aren't that low at all.
Personally, I believe the difference is a classic form over function compromise. The Apple notes are thiner and lighter. To get there, they opted for less backlighting and less robust screens. Often Apple has chosen style and aesthetics over function and performance. Apple has probably rightly decided that their customers would rather have a sexy, thin notebook over a clear, bright screen. Too bad for the rest of us who would rather have function over form.
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
Try using your laptop with your screen all the way on like the nice bright Sonys. Also, turn airport on. If all you are doing is typing notes on an unlit screen, you have no right to talk about battery life. Even diehard Mac evangelist admit that battery life is nothing special on the books these days. It is also well known that Centrino notebooks eat Apple's battery life lunch.
Personally, I believe the difference is a classic form over function compromise. The Apple notes are thiner and lighter. To get there, they opted for less backlighting and less robust screens. Often Apple has chosen style and aesthetics over function and performance. Apple has probably rightly decided that their customers would rather have a sexy, thin notebook over a clear, bright screen. Too bad for the rest of us who would rather have function over form.
Why cant we have both form and function, keep the same style and dimentions accept make it like 1/5 inch thicker for a better display and slightly beefier battery?
Surely they could make a scaleable G5 and tune the wireless consumtion and be able to compete with centrino on bat life.
Originally posted by a_greer
Why cant we have both form and function, keep the same style and dimentions accept make it like 1/5 inch thicker for a better display and slightly beefier battery?
Amen! While the PB's are undoubtedly sexier, it's way too fragile. I'm guessing even hard core Apple enthusiasts would welcome a bit more functionality over form. I'd certainly take adding an eighth of an inch thickness for increased brightness.
That said, some of Sony's offerings are pretty slim and lightweight, yet still possess that X-Brite screen technology. Perhaps Centrino is the key.
You should feel lucky i hadn't been in BestBuy minutes before you. That pc laptop area would have been ghasta styled and you would have been singing the Apple praise instead.
Buy the Sony...all of you
Originally posted by SQUÅSH
Perhaps i could have some of that satchmo smoke?
It's not as if Apple can do no wrong. I love Apple, but I'm not blind to Steve's RDF.
Also consider that all of this falls into the same trap that selling TV's have been in for years. The punchiest, brightest looking one always seems to look "best", but it will be far from accurate. Nevertheless, the uninformed customers seem to always gravitate to the most poorly adjusted sets simply because they have the contrast and sharpness boosted to high hell. They may stand out on the sales floor, but it is a different picture (no pun intended) when you actually have it in your home. That is where the qualities of accuracy and low eye fatigue can really come into play.