Photog Rob Galbraith Rates MacBook Pro Display "Not Acceptable"

An anonymous reader writes "Professional digital photographer and website publisher Rob Galbraith has performed both objective and subjective tests on laptop displays, finding that the late-2008 Macbook Pro glossy displays are 'deep into the not acceptable category' when used in ambient light environments. The Apple notebook came in dead last for color accuracy, and second to last in viewing angles (besting only the Dell Mini 9). He concludes: 'Macs are no longer at the top of the laptop display heap in our minds.'"

Comments

NOT flamebait

[syousef]

For f' sake, whoever modded this flamebait needs their head read. Read the summary. A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER has done extensive testing and both SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE (quantitative) tests. He use to like Mac notebooks, but the latest crop doesn't suit a pro photographer. What do the fanbois want before they'll consider an opinion they don't like? A goddamn scientific study?

For the last time Flamebait does not simply mean someone's said something that you disagree with or find inconvenient. Grow up people!

Re:NOT flamebait

[TheGratefulNet]

This guy is a professional photographer, but that doesn't mean he knows how to use a computer. For all I know he didn't go to System Prefs and calibrate the thing.

idiot.

first of all, rob knows photo AND processing.

second, its not 'system prefs' but always a custom calibrator (colorimeter puck) AND its driver/UI software. its never at the windows 'prefs' level.

Re:NOT flamebait

[gomoX]

Please read the 2nd web page where he showcases the four different calibration devices he uses. You don't just "go to system prefs and calibrate". It's a complicated process.

Rob Galbraith is a very reputable source for nerd-friendly information on photography (unlike many other artsy types that can't tell a bit from a byte).

Re:NOT flamebait

[LaminatorX]

Rob is not just any pro photographer. He is one of the leading lights in developing comprehensive digital workflows. He absolutely didn't just go to sys prefs. He has tools that are far more precise and comprehensive than that, involving sensors that tack on to the monitor and the like, and he knows how to use them. If Rob says that the increased chromatic pollution from ambient light unacceptably outweighs the improved shadow density in the glossy display, his word on the matter can be trusted.

Re:NOT flamebait

[samkass]

His conclusion, though, isn't exactly supported by the actual article:

It's important to remember that, even though the late-2008 MacBook Pro 15 inch doesn't keep up in either colour accuracy or viewing angle with laptops from IBM/Lenovo, its display is still quite good and still falls on the right side of the line of acceptable display quality for field use by a working photographer, at least in ambient light that discourages reflections.

The summary picked out the worst of the comments and highlighted them, obviously to cast Apple laptops in a bad light.

Re:Where is the "mark for deletion" button?

[ckolar]

Well, circa 1986 I worked as a photographer for a newspaper and we commonly used "photog" to refer to ourselves. What do I do at the paper, "I'm a photog." Who is covering the big game, "You're the photog, now get to the stadium." Why does Joe smell funny, "That is stop bath, he's a photog."

Detractors in this thread are reading way to much into it, this is not an assault on the language.

Re:Macbook pro 17"

[Khyber]

I'm an industry insider as a former laptop repair instructor.

The actual price WE, the repair depot, paid for matte panels was about 5 cents more expensive than the glossy panels.

Re:Where is the "mark for deletion" button?

[brusk]

The word photog is over a century old. These citations are from the Oxford English Dictionary:

• 1898 Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois) 20 Oct. 2/2 (headline) Amateur Photogs. Mr Sargeant of New York will demonstrate the working of Velox Paper at our store this evening.
• 1952 Daily News (N.Y.) 21 Aug. C4 The Swedish fotogs were actually saving film.
• 1973 R. PARKES Guardians vi. 104 You'll like that fashion photog of ours--what's her name.
• 1995 Denver Post 13 Sept. A2/1 He clobbered a photog lurking outside a hotel.

So if your definition of "real word" is "word I use," sure, maybe not. But if it's "word that's in the dictionary," or, as I prefer, "word that is/has been used by a reasonably large number of people for a non-trivial length of time," this is a word.