Laptop screen quality questions.

May 7, 2007 10:57 PM

Laptop screen quality questions:

1. In general, how good are laptop screens at reproducing color?
2. If you're using a laptop, take a look at the following gamma chart. Does the area on the left have any yellow in it?
3. Aside from adjusting the gamma, is there any way to make a laptop screen look better without reducing the image quality?

My laptop screen pales in comparison to my LCD desktop display, even though it got very good reviews. It's rather annoying when I'm doing PS work.

posted by archagon to technology (10 answers total)

2. Yes.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 11:00 PM on May 7, 2007

LCD monitors in general are known (I believe) for bad color reproduction if you're "in the business" and need stuff calibrated.
Laptop screens are no worse than desktop screens, I think, they're just slower and a little less bright because of the tech necessary to make low response time and the space necessary for the big lights (unless you get a cool LCD backlit thing, they're getting those now). My Macbook Pro's screen is great, though.

2. I don't see any grey on that chart. I have a nice Dell 21" LCD.

3.I don't know of any way to make things look better... Make sure the backlight is on a good level (sometimes too bright or too dark can throw off your whole color calibration).

Anyway, I'm not an expert but that's what I think I know.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:49 PM on May 7, 2007

2. No. I have a MacBook Pro Coreduo.
posted by shr1n1 at 12:12 AM on May 8, 2007

1. Fair to poor, as the color you see changes with your view angle. You can gamma-correct and white-balance-adjust forever, but you're never going to get it as consistent as a decent CRT.
posted by zippy at 12:13 AM on May 8, 2007

2. No. I have a MacBook Pro Core Duo, as well.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:54 AM on May 8, 2007

1. I find the bright end of the green spectrum can be a bit ambiguous (macbookpro core duo and a 23" apple cinema)
2. No, looks good for me too.
3. No clue.
posted by furtive at 6:13 AM on May 8, 2007

I have a Powerpro L 8:15 (Compal Hel80). In the picture in (2) I see two yellow vertical stripes on the left in the gray area, and I see two vertical gray stripes on the right in the black area.
posted by chndrcks at 6:17 AM on May 8, 2007

Laptop screens just don't reach the same quality as desktop LCD panels. I believe the MacBook Pro is the best of the bunch, although is still inferior to better-quality desktop screens.

Reviewers definitely don't judge notebook screen quality on the level of suitability for photo editing. The majority of reviewers are simply looking for (a) screen size, (b) brightness and (c) colour saturation. I know because, yup, I had that job once upon a time.

Maybe laptop screens will get better with the new range of LED-lit screens due to hit later this year (including Apple models, according to Steve Jobs).
posted by humblepigeon at 7:49 AM on May 8, 2007

2. I see no yellow or any other colors. I'm on a MacBook Core Duo.

What's the graph tell you?
posted by odinsdream at 8:24 AM on May 8, 2007

2. I see yellow on an IBM/lenovo T60.
posted by rush at 12:02 PM on May 8, 2007