Apple quietly settles MacBook 6-bit LCD screen lawsuit

It looks like that would-be class action lawsuit over the quality of MacBook and Macbook Pro screens has fizzled out to nothing, as the plaintiffs have quietly settled. Although it's technically true that the 6-bit screens can't actually display millions of colors at the same time, apparently the two photographers who filed the suit had a difficult time finding other people who had bought MacBooks based on the advertised color depth of the display -- and from what we're told, you just can't have a "class action" without a "class." Even still, we hope someone at Apple was paying attention to how much interest the case generated at the outset -- although MacBook Pro screens generally look fine to us, we've seen some awful MacBook screens in our day.

[Nabil @ Mar 26th 2008 2:03PM]

I think i'm gonna sue apple because GF's iPod suffle only hold 998 songs instead of 1000

[imacmatt09 @ Mar 26th 2008 2:29PM]

Speaking of Apple... the evil ad is back!

[Vanillacide @ Mar 26th 2008 2:44PM]

"Apple quietly settles MacBook 6-bit LCD screen lawsuit"

6-bit ... that's 64 colors! My goodness, no wonder there was a lawsuit. Why hasn't anyone else noticed that 64 colours isn't millions. ;)

[JT @ Mar 26th 2008 3:14PM]

I believe they are referring to 6 bits per RGB pixel. 24 bit displays have 8 bits per RGB pixel.

[Vanillacide @ Mar 26th 2008 3:24PM]

Humor / humour: containing a comical or satirical element. :O)

[UKNigel @ Mar 26th 2008 3:39PM]

@JT: I think you mean 6 bits per channel of an RGB pixel. RGB means Red Green Blue, and thus an RGB pixel has 18 bits. Each channel has 6 bits.

[vcx @ Mar 26th 2008 3:40PM]

Nabil:
Apple always attaches a disclaimer with the number of songs an ipod can hold. In this case of display color depth there wasnt, because you cant have disclaimers for lies. Hence the lawsuit.

[CraigJ @ Mar 26th 2008 3:40PM]

"the evil ad is back!" Yep. I said this on another thread, but it bears repeating. I like Engadget a lot, I read it every day, but those nasty cycle-sucking ads use a significant portion of my CPU. I have no problem at all with a site earning money via advertising, but this is a bit much. Adblock plus is getting turned on for Engadget until Ryan and Co. can knock some sense into AOL's marketing department.

[Nabil @ Mar 26th 2008 3:46PM]

VCX:

You have a point, and its not the first time Apple has been involved in false advertisement, but this one seems a little excessive

[mymaclife @ Mar 26th 2008 4:11PM]

Apple make suffles? They've moved into the kitchen, to be honest a suffle is fucking hard to make so good on Apple!

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 4:15PM]

the inquirer has a nice comment about how the LCD pixels only display THREE colors.

[Nabil @ Mar 26th 2008 4:16PM]

@mymaclife

smartass

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 4:20PM]

note: souffles = mostly hot air, no substance.

just sayin.

[mymaclife @ Mar 26th 2008 6:23PM]

@ But clever with it! ;)

A clever smart-ass, now that must be annoying.

PS: Firefox includes a spell checker - hint hint...

[Nabil @ Mar 26th 2008 6:31PM]

@mymaclife...

Man you remind me of engineering students who's attention to detail, and suggestions on how to improve your life with technology prevented them from getting laid, and encouraged the bullies to beat them up.

Ahh the days of high school...

[mymaclife @ Mar 27th 2008 2:46AM]

@ Nabil

Wow that worked Nabil - no one likes a bully! The people have spoken.

[ekwmin @ Mar 27th 2008 11:56AM]

"...apparently the two photographers who filed the suit had a difficult time finding other people who had bought MacBooks based on the advertised color depth of the display"

Big, surprise! Guess what, it's the same with just about every LCD monitor you buy at your local Best Buy, Fry's, etc. Almost all the LCDs are now TN panels. People don't care, they rather pay $200 for a 20" LCD than $500. Gamers probably prefer TN because of it's fast response time. At the same time people complain about Apple's cinema monitor being too expensive. Yes, they do have a bit of a premium, but you need to compare them to similar LCDs which brings the price difference closer. I think several people (in other posts) also mentioned that LCDs aren't good for color critical work. That's not true, there are LCD's that have wider color gamut than what's printable. Most places still use CRTs because it's economical, not because LCD's aren't color accurate.

[Flashpoint @ Mar 26th 2008 2:05PM]

EVERYTHING APPLE DOES is INNOVATIVE and SOPHISTICATED and BRILLIANT !

These lawsuits are all lies.

The cake is a LIE

If the USB plug doesn't fit, you MUST acquit.

[Nodspy @ Mar 26th 2008 2:08PM]

OBJECTION!

[Chris T. @ Mar 26th 2008 2:15PM]

UPHELD!

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 2:17PM]

Quite possibly the lamest attempt at trolling in history. This is almost as bad as calling Apple users smug, arrogant, elitist douche bags (Wow, we've never heard THAT before), who carry homosexual urges for Steve Jobs (my nine year old iMac using niece would agree), while drinking shots of Kool Aid between MacWorld announcements (Jim Jones wants his product placement back).

Conversely, this almost as bad as saying that everything Microsoft does is a mediocre PISS POOR IMITATION of something someone else did better the first time (Think GUI, Sony Playstation, iPod, etc).

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 2:21PM]

clak clak clak... SERIOUSLY?

you mean Apple invented the graphical user interface, home console gaming machines and the portable audio player?

that's proof positive that apple users are "smug, arrogant, elitist douche bags," isn't it?

[Blaine Oliver @ Mar 26th 2008 2:34PM]

Why is it that the highly ranked people are usually making fun of the low ranked idiots?

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 2:48PM]

@sinai

Reading comprehension? Have you you heard of it? My words were "PISS POOR IMITATION of something someone else did BETTER the first time. My words wouldn't make sense if I said "IMITATION of something someone else did FIRST" because surely Sony didn't invent the console, just like Apple didn't invent the GUI or MP3 music player.

But here's a history lesson, my gay friend. You see, Xerox actually made a personal computer (Xerox Alto) with a GUI in 1973, but it wasn't released commercially. The Star, which also had a GUI, failed so poorly in the market (due mostly to price) that no one believed in the technology. So along comes Steve Jobs, with his team of engineers. They see the technology at PARC and license it from Xerox (contrary to the popular belief that Steve stole it. I blame this myth on that movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, where Steve and friends just show up and plop down in front of an Alto, demanding to know how it works. Oh, yeah, right, like that happened) in exchange for 1 million in Apple stock.

Apple popularized the GUI with the Mac, in the same way they popularized MP3 players with the introduction of the iPod. We're starting to see the same thing with the iPhone. Although Apple didn't invent touch screens or multi-touch, just about every new phone in the past year, is sporting some kind of God-awful touch screen, and it's not because of Jeff Han or Samuel Hurst. Take my word for it.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 26th 2008 3:30PM]

@ clak

I don't know which terrifies me more; your slavish devotion to Apple, or how really disturbed you seem to be that anyone might think you are homosexual due to your slavish devotion to Apple. You know, with your constant "gay" this, and "gay" that, it is hard to believe you are old enough to have a 6-year-old child. Have you thought about maybe seeing someone to work out these issues you obviously have with homosexuality?

Seriously, I have yet to see anyone claim you are homosexual, yet I have seen you loudly proclaiming how much it offends you that someone might call you homosexual because of your choice in computers several times. That is some pretty Freudian behavior right there.

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 3:46PM]

clak,
then by your definition, apple also copies other people's and companies' inventions, just like you accuse microsoft of doing. and i'll extend my statement by saying that apple copies other people's inventions PISS POORLY and on top of that, LIES ABOUT IT as evidenced by this article.

[Aguiluz @ Mar 26th 2008 3:52PM]

Blaine Oliver:
"Why is it that the highly ranked people are usually making fun of the low ranked idiots?"

Read the comments. Obvious, no?

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 3:53PM]

@L.M. Lloyd

I'm sorry you feel that way, Mr. Lloyd, but I reserve my gay taunts exclusively for sinai, after he made Apple-users-are-gay references a few days ago and no one called him out on it. I find that especially ironic and funny (not gay funny, just funny) when he sports a picture of himself with blond highlights. Just saying.

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 3:57PM]

just to clarify, i made no such gay comment. it was a comment towards "tight jeans" which clak has construed (perhaps freudianly) to believing it means gay somehow. but it's pretty clear that clak has a serious problem with the concept of gay.

either way, you can see he obviously has a hard-on for me from the way he has to comment on every little thing i say.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 26th 2008 4:02PM]

That's ok sinai. The other day I made a comment about people sitting at Starbucks using their Macbooks, and he started going on about how I must think he is gay as well. The guy obviously has some serious insecurity issues, and some issues with his sexuality, so don't take it personally.

Apparently all someone has to do is mention the word "apple" and he thinks someone is questioning his sexual preference.

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 4:12PM]

@sinai

Well, the problem you have here, my gay friend, is that Apple LICENSED the GUI from Xerox PARC, while Microsoft actually STOLE the technology from Apple, using a loop hole in their development contract (because, you see MS was developing software for the Mac). The contract specified that Microsoft couldn't create a GUI on their own until a year after the Mac was introduced, which was originally supposed to be released in 1982. The Mac got delayed however, but no one at Apple bothered to update the 1982 date specified in the contract. So as a result, Microsoft was able to release Windows 1.0 in 1985. This was still a year after the introduction of the Mac, but that goes to show you how slow Microsoft is at developing software, even when they have a time advantage.

The only reason why Microsoft was able to dominate the PC market is due to the exclusive agreements that Microsoft made with PC manufacturers. 80 percent of Microsoft's sales comes from OEM sales. So in essence, consumers didn't actually choose Microsoft. The PC manufacturers chose for them.

"i'll extend my statement by saying that apple copies other people's inventions PISS POORLY"

It's too bad the public no longer agrees with you.

[mymaclife @ Mar 26th 2008 4:16PM]

@ L.M Lloyd

On the matter of Clak and his constant Gay jibes - I think he protests too much! In the words of William Shakespeare the more one talks about something, the more they are trying to hide something.

Clak take your homophobia somewhere else - I'm not gay but your comments make right thinking hetrosexuals look stupid and offend homosexuals!

[snitch @ Mar 26th 2008 4:36PM]

Sure apple copies everyone!! i bet there's a bunch of people that think they copy the Meizu M8 too, lol. Now if only meizu can get the M8 to work!!!! lol. It looks good on paper though you got to give it them

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 4:35PM]

@sinai

"just to clarify, i made no such gay comment. it was a comment towards "tight jeans""

Yes, because accusing men of wearing tight jeans could mean ANYTHING. It could just mean that Mac users are conscious about our weight, right? Mac users wear tight jeans to show WOMEN just how thin they are, right? Because that's what women look for in a man, tight jeans. Is that what you meant sinai? I was obviously mistaken. How silly of me.

@L.M. Lloyd

This is what what you're referring to? Seems like I was responding more to the general stereotypes of Mac users, rather than to homosexuality (although that is a consistently part of the stereotype).

L.M. Lloyd: You know, every time I read the obligatory "if you don't like the Apple bias, then go away and stop reading it" comments present on every Apple leaning site, I ask myself "oh, is that what all those people at Starbucks spend their day doing on their Macbooks?

Clak: Well, let's see now, I've actually never owned a laptop in my life, even when I was a Windows user. Before I switched, I think I built 6 computers for myself using Asus motherboards and AMD processors. I built one Wintel machine for my best friend and another AMD machine for my father. So that makes 8. I've had 2 Apple machines, a G5 and a Mac Pro, but there's no Macbooks in my history and I haven't been to Starbucks in 2 years (I'm a tea drinker), so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask. You see, I'm not the typical Apple user.

But, I KNOW! Let's ask my NINE year old niece! She has an iMac, which probably means she's smug and elitist like all Apple users, so maybe she knows the answer... oh SNAP, I just realized something. She's too young to drive, so she's probably never even been to Starbucks and she's too young to drink coffee. So where can we find a stereotypical user to answer your question. Oh, I know, let's just make ASSUMPTIONS. I mean, that's the beauty of stereotypes, right?

So, I would imagine that those Macbook users are more than likely gay, smug and elitist, so they're probably looking at gay porn or Versace's fall line-up. They might be reading the electronic version of "How to be a Douchebag Elitist" monthly. And if they have a MacBook, they probably have money to burn and more than likely are driving a BMW to Starbucks, which means they have a 100,000 a year job, which means they went to college, but wait! We all know that Mac users are too stupid to know how to use REAL computers, so how can this be? I mean, these people are distracted by shiny objects, so how is that they have so much money to buy MacBooks and iPods and iPhones?

So, to answer your question, I have no idea what those smug, elitist, gay Apple owners do all day at Starbucks. I'll have to do some more research.

[Eddie @ Mar 26th 2008 4:55PM]

@clak
So...not only is apple inept because they don't update important parts of their contracts, but they are also slow at developing software? I mean the way you worded this implies that MS worked from 83-85 on windows and that the mac was supposed to be released in 82 (implying it was developed in previous year(s)) but wasnt until 84, right? Seems like at best the same amount of time.

Choose your wording more carefully if you are trying to so vigorously defend your fanboy-ism.

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 5:10PM]

@Eddie

Well, to answer your question, Apple actually found out that Microsoft was developing Windows in 1983.

I would paraphrase the story, but this is how one of the original Mac developers, Andy Hertzfeld, recounts the story on Folklore.org:

"I gradually began to notice that Neil (Neil Konzen, Microsoft's main systems programmer assigned to the Mac project) would often ask questions about implementation details that he didn't really need to know about. In particular, he was really curious about how regions were represented and implemented, and would often detail his theories about them to me, hoping for confirmation.

Aside from intellectual curiosity, there was no reason to care about the system internals unless you were trying to implement your own version of it. I told Steve that I suspected that Microsoft was going to clone the Mac, but he wasn't that worried because he didn't think they were capable of doing a decent implementation, even with the Mac as an example.

In November 1983, we heard that Microsoft made a surprising announcement at Comdex, the industry's premier trade show, held twice a year in Las Vegas. Microsoft announced a new, mouse-based system graphical user interface environment called Windows, competing directly with an earlier environment announced by Personal Software called "Vision". They also announced a mouse-based option for Microsoft Word. When Steve Jobs found out about Windows, he went ballistic.

"Get Gates down here immediately", he fumed to Mike Boich, Mac's original evangelist who was in charge of our relationships with third party developers. "He needs to explain this, and it better be good. I want him in this room by tomorrow afternoon, or else!"

And, to my surprise, I was invited to a meeting in that conference room the next afternoon, where Bill Gates had somehow manifested, alone, surrounded by ten Apple employees. I think Steve wanted me there because I had evidence of Neil asking about the internals, but that never came up, so I was just a fascinated observer as Steve started yelling at Bill, asking him why he violated their agreement.

"You're ripping us off!", Steve shouted, raising his voice even higher. "I trusted you, and now you're stealing from us!"

But Bill Gates just stood there coolly, looking Steve directly in the eye, before starting to speak in his squeaky voice.

"Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it."

Unfortunately, it turned out that while the agreement that Microsoft signed in 1981 stipulated that they not ship mouse-based software until a year after the Mac introduction, that ended up being defined in the contract as September 1983, since in late 1981 we thought that the Mac would ship in the fall of 1982, and we foolishly didn't let the ship date float in the contract. So Microsoft was within their rights to announce Windows when they did. Apple still needed Microsoft's apps for the Macintosh, so Steve really couldn't cut them off.

Microsoft didn't manage to ship a version of Windows until almost two years later, releasing Windows 1.0 in the fall of 1985. It was pretty crude, just as Steve had predicted, with little of the Mac's thoughtful elegance. It didn't even have overlapping windows, preferring a simpler technique called "tiling". When its utter rejection became apparent a few months later, Bill Gates fired the implementation team and started a new version from scratch, led by none other than Neil Konzen.

Neil's version of Windows, released a couple of years later, was good enough that Apple filed a monumental copyright lawsuit against Microsoft in 1988, but they eventually lost on a technicality (the judge ruled that Apple inadvertently gave Microsoft a perpetual license to the Mac user interface in November 1985)."

[m-p{3} @ Mar 26th 2008 5:28PM]

Maybe Microsoft is not that innovative, but they provide excellent technical support. In an enterprise, I can't see Apple providing what Microsoft can on the support level.

[reticulate @ Mar 26th 2008 7:05PM]

@clak: So, first off, Microsoft is ripping off Apple, but in actual contractual reality they were quite within their rights and it was only because of Apple's delays with the Macintosh interface that Windows ever managed to exist?

Whatever, I guess. This is all history now.

What I really don't get is this burning desire to constantly defend and sometimes even aggravate on behalf of a faceless multinational corporation that in the end only really wants your money for shiny things. In the entire world of gadgets and electronics there is no more cultish and downright bizzare devotion to a company, and more often than not it comes off as a sort of smug "I'm of the chosen, I bought this computer instead of your lowly one" mentality that's fucking annoying.

I've known and argued with many mac users, and almost to an individual when you get down to it they actually honestly think they're better than you because of their choice of computer. I actually really like Apple's hardware design but when you see otherwise grown men and women acting like privileged assholes over a purchasing decision it makes you wonder whether you want to buy into an otherwise excellent design philosophy and OS environment.

Go read some Apple message boards. Without a doubt you'll see a constant low-level bashing of Microsoft, Windows and most importantly Windows users (ie the other 90-odd percent of people) that reeks of an over-inflated sense of self-importance. Remind them that Vista is actually not bad given a halfway recent PC and that they were all doing the same thing around the time XP came out and you'll get told to go back to your 'Windoze' and play with your 'Zune' because 'nobody else owns one'.

Yet when people make reasonable and consistent arguments against elements of Apple's policies or design decisions, WE'RE the haters? What gives?

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 7:41PM]

@reticulate

Well, first of all, my only point, if you read my other comments, is that Microsoft STOLE the GUI from Apple, while Apple licensed the GUI from Xerox. There's a common misconception that Apple stole from PARC, which in the minds of Microsoft apologists and fanboys, automatically absolves Microsoft of any wrong doing. When you license something, you pay for it. You don't send your engineers to a rival company and ask misleading questions so that you can parse out technical data. And the fact that Bill Gates himself characterized it as stealing only proves my point.

But about this penis envy with PC users. Why do PC users harp on the notion that Mac users "think they're better than us." Why does the discussion always go there? I've never heard a Mac user say those words. Most of us can give you clear reasons why we hate Windows and love our Macs. I was a Windows users for ten years, so I'm quite sure I use a better operating system than you. That's a fact. Now whether I'm a better human being, that doesn't even enter into the discussion. A computer does not make you a better person.

But Macs are better. I'm not saying PCs don't have their place. PCs are generally accepted in the enterprise, but that's a lowest common denominator market. I work in the film industry where the quality of your computer really matters. Go into any production house in Hollywood and tell them you have a PC and see how long it takes for you to get laughed out of the building.

And more to the point, you act as if PC users are victims. I've noted this before on this blog, but it bears repeating because for at least fifteen years, Mac users have been the endless butt of jokes. PC users have always been good at dishing it out, but now that Apple has seen an upsurge of success, the PC fanboys can't seem to be able to take it. Forgive me if I don't feel sorry for you guys.

[Derek McNelly @ Mar 26th 2008 8:04PM]

@ Clak:

It was Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid.

And Apple fanboys would be doing shots of Starbucks espresso, because it's hip, trendy, and now.

[Jack Storm @ Mar 26th 2008 10:44PM]

@ clak

If Gates did steal the GUI how come apple hasn't successfully won a lawsuit against them?

Maybe because they didn't steal anything and just outsmarted jobs and co.?

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 2:07PM]

Engadget, I'm surprised that you haven't posted the news about Microsoft wanting to develop iPhone apps. You could have gotten some good old Anti-Apple/Anti-Microsoft cross pollination, that is, clicks beyond your wildest dreams.

[chickenator @ Mar 26th 2008 2:13PM]

hahaha...mmm...

[MadMike @ Mar 26th 2008 2:13PM]

Both groups would still agree on one thing. Vista sucks.

[Toadlet @ Mar 26th 2008 2:13PM]

*sigh*

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/26/microsoft-sifting-through-iphone-sdk-apps-a-possibility/

[sinai @ Mar 26th 2008 2:14PM]

you want apple ass kissing? go read ars technica, or digg.

the very fact that this has been "settled quietly" means apple wants this story buried, which is the very reason it should be posted.

[clak @ Mar 26th 2008 2:47PM]

@sinai

Reading comprehension? Have you you heard of it? My words were "PISS POOR IMITATION of something someone else did BETTER the first time. My words wouldn't make sense if I said "IMITATION of something someone else did FIRST" because surely Sony didn't invent the console, just like Apple didn't invent the GUI or MP3 music player.

But here's a history lesson, my gay friend. You see, Xerox actually made a personal computer (Xerox Alto) with a GUI in 1973, but it wasn't released commercially. The Star, which also had a GUI, failed so poorly in the market (due mostly to price) that no one believed in the technology. So along comes Steve Jobs, with his team of engineers. They see the technology at PARC and license it from Xerox (contrary to the popular belief that Steve stole it. I blame this myth on that movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, where Steve and friends just show up and plop down in front of an Alto, demanding to know how it works. Oh, yeah, right, like that happened) in exchange for 1 million in Apple stock.

Apple popularized the GUI with the Mac, in the same way they popularized MP3 players with the introduction of the iPod. We're starting to see the same thing with the iPhone. Although Apple didn't invent touch screens or multi-touch, just about every new phone in the past year, is sporting some kind of God-awful touch screen, and it's not because of Jeff Han or Samuel Hurst. Take my word for it.

[Dan @ Mar 27th 2008 3:02AM]

@Clak

Clak, nobody loves you. Get used to it.

[MadMike @ Mar 26th 2008 2:11PM]

Actually the regular MB does seem a bit chintzy compared to the MBP. You get what you pay for.

[mushy @ Mar 26th 2008 2:35PM]

What price do those MB start at again?