I’ve been accused of being an Apple slappy on occasion, which is understandable seeing how I’m a Mac user and generally respect and admire Apple’s technologies. To this day, I think Apple is the best thing going for personal technology.
That doesn’t mean I can’t be objective and call things like I see them. I’m more than willing to call a spade a spade, and seeing how Apple’s being accused of selling 6-bit displays (when they’re advertised as 8-bit) on its MacBook and (even worse) MacBook Pros, that time is upon me.
(For the record, a 6-bit display can display 262,144 colors; 8-bits can do 16,777,216. That’s quite a difference (hundreds of thousands v. millions), especially given how Apple prides itself on professional content creation and even sells a pro-grade application called Color.)
I don’t know if my MBP is affected yet or not, as I haven’t had the time to check. I’m not writing this as some form of personal catharsis. Why this pisses me off is that Apple advertises its notebook LCD displays as 8-bit color, and sells the heretofore-ignorant public 6-bitters.
As Jesper says, for shame, Apple. For fucking shame. And now the word is out everywhere: here, Daring Fireball, Arstechnica, Digg, name it.
Secrets don’t remain secrets very long in the web 2.0 world. Especially when someone’s getting screwed.
Before I indulge too much in armchair consumerist lawyering, there is a chance that this might not be Apple fault. It could be some trickery on behalf of the LCD manufacturers (most notably, Samsung and LG). It could be that Apple bought 6-bit panels while expecting 8-bit and never verified it. That’s possible, although unlikely. To me, this is the only case that would exonerate Apple to some extent, and even still, not fully.
Apple needs to make right on this, and fast. Anyone who shells out top-dollar for Apple kit shouldn’t have to gamble on whether he’s being sold crippleware underneath the covers. If my MBP has the 6-bit panel, I’ll be pissed, just like everyone else out there who’s feeling burned because he bought one thing and got sold another.
Incidentally, if you want to see if your MacBook or MacBook Pro panel is 6-bit, here’s something you can try. The relevant info is about 1/3 down from the top of the page.
Apple, fix this. Don’t even think for a second and jacking around with some statement about how the difference between 6- and 8-bit color depth is imperceptible to the human eye across most use cases blah blah blah.
Fix. This. Now.
UPDATE #1: As mentioned in the comments, this entire issue (and subsequent class action lawsuit) seems to be a bit overblown, coming to rest somewhere between fact and frivolity.
It turns out that most portable LCDs are 6-bit, simply because true 8-bit LCDs are expensive, power-hungry and thicker — all of which run counter to what manufacturers want in a notebook display. Apple is quite likely using 6-bit displays just like other PC vendors. The implication that Apple is the only one at fault here may be quite wrong.
So what remains? Well, as reader “engrish” pointed out, only the marketing and positioning surrounding Apple’s notebook LCDs. Apple’s own website claims support for millions of colors, but they don’t mention bit depth specifically. And when it comes to how Apple might support “millions” of colors on a 6-bit LCD, Arstechnica’s Charles Jade sums it up well:
There are a lot of comments one could make about this lawsuit, such as most of it is a collection of anonymous postings from message boards, that since pretty much every OEM advertises “millions” of colors for their laptop displays and likely few are using 8-bit panels, Apple is not responsible for the “sparkly” perceptions of customers. Nonetheless, it’s not really possible to get past the idea of “millions” as a few hundred thousand plus a trick of the eye. The question then becomes whether Apple will try to do just that or settle out of court.
The truth about this issue might not lie at one of the poles, as either the lawsuit initiators or Apple would have you believe. Instead, it’s likely somewhere in the middle, probably closer to Apple’s side than it originally appeared. Is Apple at fault? Technically, no. Could an argument be made that Apple’s spec marketing implies native support for millions of colors and thus the panels must be 8-bit? Perhaps.
Regardless, there’s more to this than meets the eye (pardon the pun), and once people start testing their own MB or MPB display, I suspect there will be far more 6-bit LCDs out there than was originally thought. For the vast majority, mind you, these LCDs were just fine until this news broke, at which point they became junk and in need of replacement. Dithering suddenly was a Major Life Crisis.
We can debate technical reality versus marketing all day long in this context, but the real question is what Apple should — and will — do about it. Once that’s decided, by the way, don’t be surprised if other OEMs fall in line with Apple’s repositioned statement, as they’re likely in the same boat as Apple, but not facing the same class action suit (yet).
Thanks to all the readers who helped me research and clarify this further.
18 responses so far ↓
Nunuvyer Bizniz // May 21, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Even if Apple didn’t know, they should have known. Just plain sloppy. To stonewall on top of it is inexcusable.
engrish // May 21, 2007 at 1:44 pm
“Fix. This. Now.”
Not. Possible. There are no 8-bit notebook displays. Seriously. Apple can only fix the advertising.
MH // May 21, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Having recently done some reasearch on displays I can say that Apple is doing the same thing that other display manufacturers are doing. Many Samsung displays, even larger than notenooks, are only 6 bit, but still claim millions of colours. They do this through ditethering or FRC is the tech lingo. The reason they use 6 bit TN panels is because they are cheaper and faster than 8 bit.
dvh // May 21, 2007 at 2:11 pm
My MacBook Pro only really displays 3 colors - should I be upset? This whole controversy is a non-starter. From what I understand, notebook displays are not generally available with 8-bit/color. Apple doesn’t say they are 8 bit - just that they will display “millions of colors” which is accomplished through dithering. They will be able to demonstrate this. I sympathize with those who got defective displays and were not able to get Apple to replace them. However sometimes people are their own worst enemy getting something like this fixed…
Scott // May 21, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Perhaps I’m misreading Apple’s spec pages, but I don’t see mention of 8-bit anywhere, only “SUPPORT for millions of colors.” “Support” in this case means dithering on it’s built-in display and full, 8-bit color on an external, CRT display. While ethically sleazy, it’s not technically a lie.
Maybe you need different link to the advertising were Apple specifically mentions “8-bit color” or “built-in LCD displays 16.7 million colors.”
Last time I checked, true 8-bit LCDs were rare and expensive.
Steve P // May 21, 2007 at 4:24 pm
It is one of the unfortunate issues of advertising. “Weasel” language.
As ol’ Shel said in the song about being eaten by a Boa Constrictor, “I don’t like it - one bit!”
But as irritated as this made me about Apple, they are not alone. And, as has been correctly pointed out, this is an advertising issue, not an issue of faulty displays.
I’d like to see any legal action expand to cover all such ‘misleading’ statements. Not to totally eliminate them but to make sure that electronics specs are CLEAR to the non-cogniscenti.
)
(Of course I’m one who also thinks ongoing interest rate terms for credit cards etc. should be required to be in the same size type as the promotional rate!
This whole Apple thing isn’t quite much ado about nothing, it does deserve a significant slap on the wrist. But it’s not what it’s being made to appear and I don’t see that anyone was really damaged since there are not any 8 bit laptop displays that someone might have been steered away from.
Al // May 21, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Look, Apple uses the adjacent pixels, above, below and on either side to flash and cause the pixel in question to seem to be a different color than it actually is showing. In other words, Apple tricks the eye into seeing 8-bit color from a 6-bit display.
In reality, the screen only uses red, blue and green. Should Apple just advertise 3 colors? Of course not.
If you are tricked into seeing more than just red, blue and green, is it false advertising? Of course not.
The technology Apple uses tricks your eye into seeing over 16 million colors where only 3 exist. Every monitor on earth does that.
No crime here.
Neil Anderson // May 21, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Not sure if this is comparable, but what about how hard drive manufacturers state the number of GBs they’re selling me? Is that false advertising since my computer tallies the available GB differently?
Top Posts « WordPress.com // May 21, 2007 at 8:01 pm
[...] Apple taking the heat it deserves. UPDATE: Or is this whole thing overblown? I’ve been accused of being an Apple slappy on occasion, which is understandable seeing how I’m a Mac user […] [...]
Kaida Rose // May 21, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Now that’s alot of writing. And I think dude that you are a passinate writer!
2.0 weblogs // May 21, 2007 at 10:20 pm
The best thing a company can do is help become a cult obsession, tweaking the truth when you you are throwing down hard earned cash is NEVER appreciated. Cheers to all those on the up & up.
http://ThunkDifferent.com
Kurazaybo // May 22, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I am not sure about this, I remember reading somewhere that the original PowerBook 17″ had exactly the same panel as the 17″ iMac G4. Anyway it is really misleading to say LCDs can display millions of colors if they can’t.
James Fryer // May 22, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I have owned a bunch of laptops (seven) over the years. The MacBook I now have has the brightest, sharpest, most colorful display of the bunch. By far.
If yesterday you had no complaints about your LCD screen, whining about it today is nothing short of foolish.
Now, the vertical viewing angle of the MacBook screen is another issue. And a completely rotten one at that. But I knew that going into it, so I won’t bitch about that too much.
fifthdecade // May 24, 2007 at 5:00 am
Don’t get your knickers in a twist over something you can’t even see with your eyes! At the end of the day what’s important is how many colours we perceive and whether the resultant picture looks better than on another laptop or not.
If all you are doing is reading the spec sheet without fully understanding it, it’s just so dumb.
Dithering is a well known technique that significantly improves visual imaging, and is responsible for improving printers’ outputs and nobody is suing them because they don’t compete with Microsoft whose latest greatest software OS can’t do dithering.
Jeff, you’ve really fallen into this spec sheet trap haven’t you?
Bill // May 24, 2007 at 6:42 pm
These people are not satisfied with the quality of the laptops. This is what the complaints show. I think that they are using the specs to support their case. If they did not have quality issues, they probably would not be complaining, but read the complaints before thinking them ‘too picky’. They are complaining about artifacts and colors that do not match as well as other issues. The spec sheet may be a good argument to win their case. I think they should have just returned the laptops, but then the lawyers would not make their money. Buy the way, the plaintiffs will probably get a $100 Apple coupon, while the lawyers make thousands.
128k rulz // June 7, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I have no problem with Apple or any other manufacturer using sub pixel dithering, but they need to alter their resolution advertising.
If the current 15″ Macbook Pro uses 2×2 dither (12 subpixels) to reach millions of colors depth then the true resolution is only 720×450.
Using the same twisted marketing logic, the original monochrome 128k Macintosh features support for 2^175,104 colors.
Jason // April 6, 2008 at 11:53 am
I simply overpaid for this 17″ MacBook Pro and would love an excuse to give it back! lol especially now that I see OSX86!
brian // April 14, 2008 at 6:24 am
6bit panels are very apparent to some of us, and easy to pick out. The colors just dont look natural or right and the effect is irritating. Its the visual equivalent of listening to a voice or instrument off key.
I think this goes to show how differently we all see the world. I shudder to think of so many people who think banded sunsets are natural
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