Apple still not transparent about its hardware specs
Remember this post of mine, where I tried to discern among the various LCD monitors on the market, but couldn’t get anywhere when I dug a little deeper into the Apple Cinema Display specs? I wrote that on 4/30/07, and nothing has changed since then.
I was looking at the specs for the 15″ MacBook Pro yesterday, for the very same reason. I needed to find out whether they have 6-bit or 8-bit color, since they’re using newer LED technology, and again, I couldn’t get anywhere. The site lists nothing but “millions of colors”. You may think it doesn’t really matter, they look fine, (and I agree) but I want to know for sure.
Besides, it wouldn’t do to forget the controversy that erupted last year about the MacBook displays, where Apple was accused of falsely stating they can display “millions of colors” (8 bits per channel) when they could (allegedly) display only 262,144 colors (6 bits per channel) and they use dithering to “fake” the difference. That controversy resulted in a lawsuit, which is still pending.
It all gets back to being able to compare specifications and make an informed purchase decision. Other hardware manufacturers (like Lacie) list detailed specs for their products. Even if they don’t, when I call their tech support, they’re able to tell me. NOT so with Apple. When I call them, they tell me nothing. When I chat online with them, they also tell me nothing. Have a look at the chat I had yesterday with one of the Apple experts. It’s reproduced below.
- You are chatting with MeriAnn, an Apple Expert
- Hi, my name is MeriAnn. Welcome to Apple!
- MeriAnn: Good morning.
- You: MeriAnn, can you tell me if the display on the 15″ MBP is 6-bit or 8-bit?
- MeriAnn: I am really sorry for keeping you waiting, I’ll be just another moment.
- MeriAnn: The 15.4-inch TFT LED backlit display has support for millions of colors.
- MeriAnn: There are millions of colors, which is higher than either.
- You: Yes, I know that. But is the color depth of the display 6-bit or 8-bit? The regular MB is 6-bit. What’s the MBP’s?
- You: I need the clear, black-on-white specs.
- MeriAnn: We do not publish those specs.
- You: Well, I need to know so I can make a purchase decision. Where can I go to get those answers?
- MeriAnn: What are you looking to do with the MacBook Pro?
- MeriAnn: Click here for MacBook Pro Specs
- You: That tells me nothing I don’t already know.
- You: Look, I’m a photographer. My camera can capture 12-bit color. There are 10-bit monitors out there, but they cost thousands of dollars. I need to know if the MBP can display 8-bit color, or whether it’s only 6-bit color. Why is that question so hard to answer?
- MeriAnn: Give me a moment, I will call a System Engineer.
- MeriAnn: Sorry about that, same answer, it supports millions of color.
- You: This is very frustrating. I wish Apple was more transparent about its specs. Other companies are.
- MeriAnn: I understand!
- MeriAnn: Thank you for visiting the Apple Store. We appreciate your business.
It’s like talking to a robot. No offense to MeriAnn, whoever she is, she didn’t have the information, but why doesn’t Apple equip its people with the information? More important than that, why can’t they disclose the information right on the website? Is it so hard? All it takes is 5 little characters: 8-bit or 6-bit. Done. Why keep its customers in the dark?
Well, what if we take the trusting route and take their word on “millions of colors”? Can we do that? I don’t think so. Certainly this person doesn’t think so. He’s pretty sure they’re 6-bit color. And this post in the Apple Support Forums also states unequivocally that the MBP displays are only 6-bit per color channel. This MacInTouch review of the 15″ MBP also concludes that the displays are 18-bit color or 6-bits per channel.
Trusting Apple at its word certainly didn’t work with the MacBooks last year, and I don’t think it’ll work now either. Before you call me suspicious, here’s something else I uncovered.
I got on the phone with another Apple Expert the day before, because my parents needed help purchasing an iMac. (Incidentally, I recommended they buy the iMac, which they did, after I also told them to buy a MacBook last year, which they did. I like Apple products. But I also like truth in advertising.)
The specs for the iMac state an 800 MHz system bus speed. A 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor is available on the 24″ iMac, and I wanted to find out whether the system bus speed would get bumped up with the processor upgrade. Both of the Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors can handle bus speeds up to 1333 MHz, so I was hoping the answer was yes. I didn’t want a fast processor paired with a slower bus.
What I found out surprised me. The Apple Expert had to put me on hold while he connected with a technician, and then he informed me that the bus speed in the iMac is just 667 MHz, not 800 Mhz. Forget the faster bus I dreamt about, apparently the stated specs on the site are wrong!
I don’t know what to think of that. Perhaps the technician was confused. After all, the DDR memory is rated at 667 MHz. Maybe that’s what the technician thought I wanted to find out. But I was pretty clear I needed to know the front bus speed, not the memory speed, and I re-stated that before ending the call, only to be told the same thing. So either Apple is misinforming its customers about the iMac’s capabilities, or an advanced support technician was wrong. You decide.
Don’t even get me started about the processor specs. I still can’t figure out which of the Core 2 processor flavors are getting used in the various Apple computers. Where is that information?
Can you see why I have a hard time trusting the specs stated on the Apple website? I just want to make an informed purchase decision using the full tech specs, and Apple seems determined to keep that information out of its customers’ hands. Why?
Many thanks to MacSurfer for picking up the story.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Follow my posts. It's easy and free.
The seller was going to send it by priority mail but I requested...
To be fair, “256 colors” , “Thousands” and “Millions” of colors is nomenclature that Apple has long used in describing color depth. They don’t use terms like “8bit” or “24bit” because those descriptions aren’t meaningful to a lot of people. Further, if Apple’s own website and tech specs don’t use the nomenclature you want, it’s probably not a reasonable expectation that someone on the call line is going to be able to use your nomenclature.
Although you qualify your statement, referring to the call-line person as a “robot” isn’t fair either. That person works in the service economy and isn’t paid all that much…I do think the question can be answered, but it will take someone with considerably more expertise (an engineer, in all likelihood) than the average help-line person.
Comment — January 30, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Wiley, I agree with you. Apple’s always used those terms to describe the color capabilities of its hardware. What I have a problem with is the inaccuracy of those descriptions. When they say “millions of colors”, they really mean “hundreds of thousands of colors” plus dithering, at least where laptops are concerned. They should state that openly.
And yes, my irritation came through when I chatted with MeriAnn. It shouldn’t, but it did. The thing is, after 9 months of the same treatment from Apple, I’m justified in being frustrated. I just want the facts, not advertising fluff. I think that same opinion is seconded by plenty of others. Btw, she did speak with an engineer, as I pointed out in the article, but still couldn’t give me an answer.
Comment — January 30, 2008 @ 11:55 am
Apple uses 262K colors TN LCD panels just like other manufacturers with hardware dithering to 16M colors.
Comment — January 30, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Perhaps Apple isn’t as up-front as many would like because they seek to hide the fact that they’re using the same cheap components as PCs costing half as much.
A good guide to basic LCD technology is to get the viewable angle specs. TN typically goes no further than 160 degrees in its better direction while PVA is often listed as 178 degrees. There are more than just those two LCD panel technologies out there, but most 8-bit displays have higher viewing angle numbers than 6-bit ones.
I also believe that all notebook LCD panels are 6-bit which means Apple’s are. 99% of people out there don’t seem to care about colour gamut or accuracy so 99% of the hardware gets made without much regard for them either.
I believe Apple made some marketing noise a while back about the move from 667MHz bus to 800MHz bus in most of their products. What surprised me about that was they stuck with 667MHz RAM, which forces the bus to wait for data every few cycles. Having RAM that matches your front-side bus is much more efficient. Of course 800MHz notebook RAM costs a small percentage more than 667MHz stuff and Apple will always stick with older, slower parts if it makes them an extra buck or two.
In the PC desktop world the processors, motherboards and RAM are mostly rated for 1066MHz or higher and 1066MHz RAM is only a tiny bit more expensive than 800MHz stuff, but Apple doesn’t play in that world at all. Despite the large case, the iMac is essentially a notebook and thus uses small outline DIMMs which have fewer data pins and lower speed ratings than desktop RAM.
Comment — January 30, 2008 @ 8:13 pm
I haven’t taken a close look at a MacBook Pro, but my understanding is the high-resolution panels are 8-bit. I’d say the best thing to do is take a look at one in person. It should be fairly obvious (especially in Leopard with all the gradients) if the screen is dithered. The MacBook’s screen looks like absolute crap because of the dithering. Proper color calibration helps a little, but it still looks bad.
I have an 2.8GHz iMac, it does indeed have an 800MHz frontside bus, while the memory runs at 667MHz. This has to do with Apple’s choice to use notebook processors in the iMac (and all other Macs, save the Mac Pro and Xserve). Intel’s chipsets for these processors only support memory at 667MHz.
Comment — January 31, 2008 @ 7:19 am
[...] do the research to back up your purchase decision. This is also why I’m steamed up about Apple’s non-transparency when it comes to their hardware specifications. I don’t know what I’m buying, and it [...]
Pingback — February 27, 2008 @ 10:14 am
[...] Apple’s less than transparent specs for its hardware. One of my points of contention was the display of the MacBook Pro. Well, I’m willing to forgo that point in view of the MBP’s plentiful other advantages. [...]
Pingback — March 6, 2008 @ 7:39 am
I am ready to purchase a new iMac. I am not that computer savvy and so need help understanding the specs. There is no place that I can find on the Apple website that explains the differences. For instance I am interested in the 24″ either 2.8 GHz or 3.06 GHz, I need to decide if the price difference is worth it for me, but without calling an Apple rep. and sounding totally stupid on the phone I can not find a description and comparison of the differences in the specs.
Comment — January 3, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
I hear you, Mark. And when I do call Apple to have a rep explain a difference to me, I find out they’re not that knowledgeable and have to refer me to their tech support specialists.
Comment — January 3, 2009 @ 2:19 pm