MacBook Pro backlight comparison: LED vs CCFL
By Ryan Block 
posted June 6th 2007 1:09PM
posted June 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:
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.