Regardless of G4 or G5, would next PB have brighter screen?
I had the chance to stop by the local Future Shop today, and checked out some of the PC laptops. None really caught my eye except for one Toshiba and a Sony Vaio.
What stood out among these two were their extremely bright, crisp displays. They seemed to have almost a glass-like coating. Not glossy but a smoother than any of Apple's laptops. Quite nice actually. The screen also looked good from pretty much all angles.
The one downside was the resolution. The 15.4" Toshiba had a default res of 1900x1200!! I could barely read the name of the files.
That said, I'm hoping regardless of processor, that the next PB rev brings us a better display. Some would like a higher resolution, but I'd just make it brighter.
What stood out among these two were their extremely bright, crisp displays. They seemed to have almost a glass-like coating. Not glossy but a smoother than any of Apple's laptops. Quite nice actually. The screen also looked good from pretty much all angles.
The one downside was the resolution. The 15.4" Toshiba had a default res of 1900x1200!! I could barely read the name of the files.
That said, I'm hoping regardless of processor, that the next PB rev brings us a better display. Some would like a higher resolution, but I'd just make it brighter.
Comments
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
brighter screen would hinder battery life, the battery life isn't that good presently, I'm not saying it won't happen, but don't count on it unless apple gets their hands on some better battery tech, or something
Have you seen the screens he is talking about. They are not regular LCDs but brighter, new screen technology.
Not only are they bright, but text also looks crisper and sharper.
(as opposed to the 2 or 3 year old technology/specs of the current PB line)
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
brighter screen would hinder battery life, the battery life isn't that good presently, I'm not saying it won't happen, but don't count on it unless apple gets their hands on some better battery tech, or something
I'd rather take that decision myself than have Apple take it for me. I'd like a nice bright screen. I can always turn brightbess down if I'm running on battery. But if Apple from the start takes sh*tty screens, I cannot adjust!
The displays are not of good quality generally. The 12" Powerbook displays are essentially iBook displays, some people say even worse. The viewing angles are bad with strong colour shift as view angle changes in all Powerbooks. These are issues that need to be addressed soon.
There is another problem I don't know how to explain. In the OS 9 days, the Powerbook (G3) displays needed no calibration to display correctly colour in the interface, windows and desktop elements, at least for average use. Now with OS X, by default (Color LCD profile) there is always a haze in the screen that is very difficult to eliminate with calibration. On the other hand, the sRGB profile appears very blueish and it is very difficult to adjust too (even with SuperCal). Something is wrong, I don't know what: OS X colour management or the display quality? I am inclined to believe it's the later.
Final point: is it possible using current OS X technologies to change LCD resolutions to non-native modes without quality loss, like in CRTs? I thought a vector based OS, like X, could do that. I am not sure if it needs some hardware (display) support for this. If this is possible, then Apple could use much higher resolution displays in the Powerbooks, without compromising quality while switching resolutions.
Originally posted by PB
Final point: is it possible using current OS X technologies to change LCD resolutions to non-native modes without quality loss, like in CRTs? I thought a vector based OS, like X, could do that. I am not sure if it needs some hardware (display) support for this. If this is possible, then Apple could use much higher resolution displays in the Powerbooks, without compromising quality while switching resolutions.
There's simply no point in "changing resolution" when LCD has a fixed amount of pixels and therefore a fixed resolution. Whenever you're not in the native resolution, or exactly half the native resolution, you're necessarily blurring pixels to make them fit the actual resolution.
It would make more sense to ask if OS X interface is "resolution independent". (It isn't.) Someday we'll have resolution independent graphics but it's not close by any means. Then the interface elements will be able to retain same proportions with minimal quality loss, no matter what the resolution is.
Originally posted by Gon
It would make more sense to ask if OS X interface is "resolution independent". (It isn't.) Someday we'll have resolution independent graphics but it's not close by any means. Then the interface elements will be able to retain same proportions with minimal quality loss, no matter what the resolution is.
Could you elaborate more on this? How OS X (or whatever OS) could adapt to other resolutions without (or with minimal) quality loss?
Throw in that Xbrite technology and Radeon 9700 graphics card and of course a G5 processor.
Ready by fall 2004? Possible? I think so...but likely another speed bumped G4 rev first with the screen/card.
Originally posted by satchmo
That said, I'm hoping regardless of processor, that the next PB rev brings us a better display.
Especially the 12-inch PowerBook is in dire need of an LCD with improved quality. The screen in the current 12-inch PB simply does not deserve the "Power" moniker.
Originally posted by BNOYHTUAWB
I'd rather take that decision myself than have Apple take it for me. I'd like a nice bright screen. I can always turn brightbess down if I'm running on battery. But if Apple from the start takes sh*tty screens, I cannot adjust!
I couldn't have said it better than BNOYHTUAWB. Give me a super bright LCD, and let me turn down the brightness to extend batter life. (Duh!) And give me a 1.6Ghz 9nm G5 and let me run it at 1Ghz to extend battery life further.
Escher
Originally posted by Gon
It would make more sense to ask if OS X interface is "resolution independent".
That's an excellent point, Gon. Mac OS X's dock is a step in the right direction, since it is fully scaleable. Similarly, desktop icons are fully scaleable. Now we simply need to apply the same scaleability to the rest of the interface elements, e.g. the Menu bar, window widgets, etc.
However, I fear that we will have to rely on crappy-looking interpolation for many more years.
On a side-note, it's shocking how many people at work run our brand-new 1280x1024 LCD panels at 1024x768 or even 800x600. It just looks even worse when the interpolation is done by the LCD rather than by the CPU, e.g. when you change the resolution on your internal PowerBook screen. Yikes!
Escher
Originally posted by Escher
...Now we simply need to apply the same scaleability to the rest of the interface elements, e.g. the Menu bar, window widgets, etc.
However, I fear that we will have to rely on crappy-looking interpolation for many more years.
Why having a fully scaleable Dock is easy, while a fully scaleable interface so difficult?
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
I think everyone can agree, the next major revision to the PB may be the one that gets bought in even more crazily high numbers. It is so exciting to think about a G5 or even high speed G4 in that enclosure, or a newer, better one. I am on the edge of my seat to see where this goes. I love notebooks.
So do I...
Enjoy ! :-)