MacBook Pro backlight comparison: LED vs CCFL
By Ryan Block 
posted Jun 6th 2007 1:09PM
posted Jun 6th 2007 1:09PM
Yes, we're aware CCFL displays eventually wear down and lose their brightness, but either there really is a huge difference in CCFL and LED, or the 8-month old MBP we tested against in the photos had really worn down. Our suspicion is that it's a bit of both.
Standing in front of the white-LED backlight on the new MBP, it's immediately apparent how crisp the whites are -- it's very noticeable after staring into CCFL LCDs all day long. But even though the whites were whiter, the screen didn't necessarily seem a lot brighter, which is probably where some amount of CCFL dimming on our test MBP came into play in creating the dramatic difference we saw. Viewing angles were very similar on both machines, but as you'll notice, at half brightness it's the LED backlit MBP that's dimmer, and the CCFL display that's actually brighter. Interesting stuff.
Note: People, seriously, the commentary about the desktop contents on the CCFL test laptop is irrelevant. We borrowed the 2nd gen CCFL MacBook Pro it to do the test, ok? (Ours is a 1st gen MBP, which was a little older and would have surely skewed the results of the screen test.) Just so you can rest easy that we're not evil bad men pirating MPAA movies you can compare the serial numbers from our MBP with the MBPs tested in this post:
Did you get any pictures of the 17in 1920x1200 screens next to the old 1680x1050 ones?
The 17" MBPs haven't yet arrived at most (if any) stores.
Thats cool. But is there a battery life difference?
Well in theory there should be an energy saving because LEDs use less power than traditional cathode lights for the same brightness, right?
Something that you might take into consideration is the color profile for both MBPs. Ive got dual 20" cinema displays, and they looked quite different side by side until i used a color profile tool.
Maybe the difference would be imperceptible if the new MBP wasn't so green-heavy.
Undead is right. Without profiling the monitor, this is an apples to oranges comparison. Especially since the graphics card in the MBP has been updated as well, there's no way to see what side-by-side image quality looks like without a good custom profile on each of them.
As I said, it was wholly unscientific. This was as good a test as we're gonna get in an Apple store -- we don't have a review unit on the new MBP yet.
I too would like to know if the battery life is better. I would think that LED would be more efficient or brighter, but I could be wrong.
Why has nobody included a blurb about batt life in any of the articles about this new LED backlight.
???
I saw something on the Apple site saying LED would give 1/2 to 1 hour of extra battery life
The 15" LED MacBook Pros extends battery life 30-60 minutes when compared to the older MacBook Pros. This includes battery savings from the LED itself as well as the new Santa Rosa chipset.
oh absolutely. I was just helping out my fellow engadget reader!
Hmm, on some pics the right screen is very bright and on some it seems like they've changed place so the left one is the brightest?! The topic says LED Vs CCFL and therefore it should be LED to the left. But the text says it's the other way..
So, is it LED to the left on every picture??
Hmmm, lots of axo dvd rips on the desktop on the "old" model. Might want to clean those up before you have CIA or something at your door.
Loved the pic comparisons!
Well if it's only 'slightly' brighter, then maybe it's not worth upgrading or anything. Sigh. Another disappointing post. No point in getting a new MBP if this is all they got.
Sadly, it seems that if every Apple upgrade, is just a bunch of minor ones.
If the CCFL is always on the LEFT, what is up with the 50% brightness? Do you loose that much of the LED at 50%? Is it part of the power saving?
Someone take a light meter and measure what 50% means.... maybe in LED 50% is really 50%..... or visa versa
Dimming with CCFL has always been somewhat hokey, particularly on notebooks. My iPAQs have always had a really good range between max and min brightness, with minimum being barely there, but practically all notebooks I've ever seen barely dim the backlight at all even at the min setting. My old Toshiba, Samsung, Dell and the current Averatec all are not much dimmer on the min versus the max setting. I would expect the LCD backlight to have much more range there.
It's probably due to the voltage characteristics of an LED, actually. At 50% voltage the current flowing through a diode is a lot less than 50% of the current at 100% voltage, and my guess is that CCFL is more linear, meaning that at "50% brightness" the LED display would be dimmer.
the LEd one looks faded, not a true color as the lcd one.
the led one seems brighter but not a good color contrast as the old screen.
it's still an apple :(
Purely aesthetically speaking I am happy they reduced that uneven bezel at the top of the screen. It's more uniform now and if you're OCD like me it makes a difference.
No offense to who ever took these images, but i think running the levels on the photos to bring out the true colors would help a lot in making a proper comparison.
What a misleading gallery. I assume the CCFL is on the left for all the pics cuz it's clearly showing 2.15ghz in the system profiler... but at the top it says "LED vs CCFL" which would imply it's the other way around. Furthermore, with one exception, the CCFL screen seemed brighter in every pic...
That axxo movies was the first thing that caught my eye. Tisk Tisk Tisk.
It would be useful to show a comparison on how well these backlit displays can show a color image.
Assuming that the Apple cables in the background are pure white (which may or may not be 100% correct), here's what Levels in PS came up with:
http://www.pbase.com/ac773/image/80086862
Looks a bit wonky, sure, but it did remove that yellowish color cast pretty well.
Awesome movie pirating!
is it me or does the gray on the led screen look like pissed yellow? the screen do is more brighter...
Ryan,
Unscientific as your comparison may admittedly have been, you might have at least told us if you set the brightness for the same levels relative to their minimum and maximum settings. That takes 10 seconds each to check (F1 and F2 function keys). It's an additional 2 minutes per machine (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Displays > Color > Calibrate...) to make sure they have comparable color calibrations. I've read that the LED display illuminates quicker -- that would have taken very little time to check as well (close lid, open lid; or put to sleep, wake from sleep).
Your observations have basically shown us that both displays light up, which I suppose is heartening to know but not especially informative. Otherwise, without knowing whether or not you had done the simple, unscientific checks I just mentioned, your nice photos are pretty much -- from this zombie's point of view -- meaningless.
Both were set to default calibration.
I'm just waiting for my quad core, SSD based MBP to come out before I buy one.
Thank you everyone who help answer my brightness problem. I thought I had a ghost next to my bed. :)
there is text provided at the bottom of most of the images explaining the shot.
Yup nice collection of pirated movies on the old mac there. Didn't they ban a user a while ago for saying that Engadget encouraged piracy?
As to the screens I'd definately say LED backlighting is the way forward. Less power consumption, cleaner lighting and less dimming over time.
aXXo Rules!
Hey guys, the LED being darker at 50% is a good thing. One thing LED backlighting lets you do is go much darker than CCFL before it conks out entirely. So the LED can go as bright as CCFL but it can also go much darker, so the 50% mark would be much darker as well.
they took the pic off :rofl:
The LED backlight can either go darker and/or the linearity is different. I agree this wasn't a very good test.
Damn dude! Ghost Rider isn't even out yet! How did you get that rip?
I don't remember seeing it anywhere in all of the announcements for the new 15" LED MBP's, but the LED MBP's case sure looks to be a little smaller (less space between the top edge of the screen and the edge of the case). That is unless the CCFL and LED aren't well lined up in those pics.
I've seen the LED in person, and it's noticeably brighter and more impressive
I don't see a major difference, looks like my Dell 1501 screen on full on the right and 1 setting down on the left :/
I think GhostRider is out in Canada on DVD ;-)
Phil: the cables are magsafe power cables, thus they would be a slight grey; however, the magnetic connector itself is white, so you can base it off of that.
They are different. I like the LED better - it is brighter and fresher. Colors on either CCRT or LED laptop screens are terrible. One needs a "hot" cathode ray tube (a TV style monitor)
Agree with Undead et al. It's a nice effort on Engadget's part, but useless due to lack of calibration. The two units are clearly set to different color points, and any comparison will be flawed until you can get them matched up.
Ugliest Screen Ever. Only for Mac FunBoys. Apple is becomming only a "snobs griffe"', or a bad religion like Scientology...
I`d prefer a Alienware...
Huh? How are screens ugly?
I bought the new MBP yesterday. The screen looks great. I have experienced a little problem and I haven't had a chance to call Apple yet. I adjust the brigtness to very low at night. The computer automatically turned the brightness higher without someone touch the F2 key right in front of my eyes. It happed 5 or 6 times last night.
The other problem with the new MBP is that some of the current Bootcamp drivers don't work. My Isight Cam, LAN NIC, Apple keyboard and some other drivers won't load under Windows Vista. The wireless drive does work.
Hey Mike Ling,
Thanks for mentioning the driver issue. My main reason for looking at apple right now is to have a 1920x1200 1"thin PC notebook, and I need to know how well Vista Runs on these things. I'd like a review site where they just blast apples OS away and review Windows on the new Hardware.
Mike,
You can turn off the auto-dim setting in the control panel.
DS
Mike Ling:
It is part of the preferences you have set up that it automatically adjust the screen/keyboard brightness to the light in the room. My MacBook Pro does this automatically as well, so it is not an issue.
System Preferences -> Display
Uncheck the box that says "Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes"
Now it will act like you expect it to. I personally prefer it to auto adjust, too bright a screen in the dark is bad for ones eyes, and too light is also bad. But really that is up to you.
I think the more important thing is even lighting, as opposed to brightness. I don't think brightness itself was a problem with the old displays, but uneven lighting was (where the right half of the screen would appear darker than the left, most noticeable with a solid color on the whole screen). This is the big benefit from LED in my opinion (in addition to the battery life).
i like how in the first comparison picture theres an aXXo rip of ghost rider and stomp the yard....hmmmmm someone embarking on dling spree?
Hey Mike Ling,
Thanks for mentioning the driver issue. My main reason for looking at apple right now is to have a 1920x1200 1"thin PC notebook, and I need to know how well Vista Runs on these things. I'd like a review site where they just blast apples OS away and review Windows on the new Hardware.
Ryan,
Thanks for the post. You saved me a trip to the store. It definitely seems that this would be the right machine to replace my 1.5GHz PB G4.
As a CS3 Art director, LED LCD alone makes this a nice upgrade.
As a PC gamer, this box will be a great all in one solution. The 8600M GT (top nVidia mobile card available) supports DirectX 10 functions in HARDWARE.
I'm sold. =)
stomp the yard? dude, seriously!? so much for your journo credibility...
Sheesh people! How about next time you ask if it was my laptop! (It isn't, believe it or not.)
Mike Ling - System Preferences > Displays > *uncheck* Automatically adjusts brightness as ambient light changes.
Should save you a call to Apple, if you hadn't known about that already.
Hi Kirkk,
Thank you for replying. The Bootcamp disc does not have the 8600M driver, but I found on the net. I still don't have the driver for the sound and the enternet card. My wireless works fine, but I might need to use the wired LAN at work. Did you get the isight and sound to work?
Thank you,
Mike
Mike Ling:
Regarding the screen brightness adjusting without your input... have you gone into your Display properties and unchecked the "Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes" option. Used to bug me too but disabling that option took care of it. As for the Boot Camp drivers you might want to try again. I'm using a brand new (as of last night) 17" Santa Rosa MBP with a Boot Camp partition running Vista Ultimate and haven't seen the driver problems you mention.
LED seemed to have better viewing angles too.
But, either way, it's still ugly ass Mac OSX.
If you think OS X is "ugly" I would recommend that you 1. get rid of your polyester suits, 2. Sell your 1984 Reliant, and 3. donate your brain to scientific research (now).
Yeah. Not beautiful, like XP or Ubuntu. Right? Am I right? Tell me I'm right.
I can't say that XP or Ubuntu is "beautiful" but I still think both look better than the Mac OSX interface.
The LED seems easier to read at 50% brightness.
LED's hit full brightness immediately but may dim slightly with heat buildup. They're also more efficient at lower power levels, so you might get better battery life at "dim it to save batteries" level.
Supposedly LED displays can be thinner; is that noticeable anywhere?
Also, does anyone know the mfr of the LED? I was guessing Cree, but there could be packaging issues that make other mfrs better. Cree is still the best lumens/watt, AFAIK.
I was actually at a Apple store today looking at Macbook Pros. I totally agree with the assesment here. The LED backlit models looked great.
Well , i just ordered my new MBP with Glossy display which i like better.What you guys prefer , Matte or Glossy ???
Cheers!!!
:-) No chance. We are all jealous, after all: you have both Ghost Rider AND LED MPB.
Thanks for nice round up from POV of plain user. I'm personally impressed by the difference.
This system would be my next PC for sure. The old beige junk is getting old enough to be thrown away (read: "have Linux installed"). MBP 17" would stack nicely with my PB G4 12" ^_^
In my tests, the LED screen seemed to have a warmer white color temperature (the CCFL appears more 'blue'). Whether that's a good thing is up for debate.
CCFLs may wear down over time, but the color filters and perhaps the liquid crystal material itself (both of which are used regardless of backlight tech) also wear down over time, and this is probably a greater enemy of display quality.
Brightness is really only important if you're using your laptop outdoors. Do any of us go outdoors?
But LEDs should offer a brightness/Wh advantage, no inverter to catastrophically fail (#1 cause of flat panel failure), and a host of other benefits, all stemming from the fact that it's not a bogus technology like CCFL.
-Carl
Ghost Rider sucks anyways. Next time show us some interracial pr0n so we can see if the shades of black, white and pink look better on the old or the new LED model ^^
That's cool and all.. But I'm interested in seeing the difference in an outdoors situation. LCD is crap outdoors, perhaps LED is better? Anyone..?
What I want to know is, what's that transparant-news thingy of the iPhone on the LED-MacBook Pro? Is that a program of some sort?
But the LED's sure have a nice advantage, even besides the brighter screen. They're less of an energyhog, and they (from what i heard) are cheaper to produce :)
Oh I just noticed the new ones have a lower top border on the screen, just like the pre-isight macbooks (powerbooks)! Nice.
If you're having trouble with Vista under Boot Camp, it may be because you're using the 64-bit version. Apple hasn't produced drivers for it yet, and probably won't until the actual release of Boot Camp in October. It'll still run though.
This is kinda funny... I had never heard of axxo before, but because of all the comments posted, I decided to check it out. heh heh, I think I have a new hobby :)
But they updated the 15-inch display only!!! It's not so clear in the Apple web site. I wrote a post about that on Making Waves, here:
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2007/06/room_for_a_green_view.html#more
No, they update both 15 and 17 display it clearly says what the update is for each here...
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
[quote]Display’s the thing
A great video processor powers a great display. The new MacBook Pro is available in 15-inch models with a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display and a 17-inch model with an optional 1920-by-1200 pixel display.
[/quote]
Being able to really reduce the brightness is great. There are times where these screens are just waaaay to bright, so you'd like to put on sun glasses while working on the computer.
Have you guys every heard of a tripod?
Actually, it looks as though they moved the screen up just a little bit, making the top bezel shorter, and the extra length is at the bottom now. Looks better if you ask me.
My guess is even color point alone would be worthless, given they're two different technologies. You'd need something like Spyder2PRO to come up with an accurate comparison. Even then ... it's still two different technologies.
If the LED backlit monitor saves power ... that's what it's all about.
The LED looks brighter, more white.
Anyway, I can't see any of those axxo-movies everyone is talking about? have they been Photoshopped away? ^^
Just thought I'd through this article into the mix on LED VS CCFL http://www.pencomputing.com/features/outdoor_readable_notebooks.htm
The author points out that contrast is what makes the displays more readable, not the brightness. Although they are talking about outdoor viewing I still think it is relevant.
What's that prog that's displaying the HD revo's and temp?
I don't see why the standard was CCFL in the first place for all backlights on laptops... I mean, LED's are cheap, small and bright. I don't even know how the hell you would go about buying CCFL's.
It could have been done this way: Forget about color - stick with grayscale. Use a standard video or photographic test pattern, like the one dpreview uses for its digicam reviews. Adjust the brightness of both monitors to the same level for middle gray scale (using a spot meter or whatever). Then make a judgement about power or whatever you're interest is.