Image credit: Apple
January 19, 2009
Dear Mr. Jobs:
I have been looking into buying a MacBook Pro. After doing some research on the laptop, I uncovered some evidence [http://mantia.me/blog/macbook-pro-thousands-of-colors/] that it does not have support for “millions of colors” as stated on the Apple website. Instead, the MacBook Pro displays are supposedly only capable of 6 bits per channel, or 18 bits per pixel. This is only 218 colors, or 262,144.
I chatted with some “experts” on the Apple Store website. The first two repeated that it was “millions of colors,” but avoided my question when I asked how many bits per channel. The next expert stopped replying when I asked her about the color depth, and the fourth one did the same. The fifth expert, Melissa C., told me it was indeed 6 bits per channel. Here is the conversation I had, as copied and pasted from the chat window:
| Melissa | Hi, my name is Melissa C. Welcome to Apple! Would you like some assistance with your shopping? |
| Me | Sure. I’ve got a question about the MacBook. How many bits per channel is the screen capable of displaying? |
| Melissa | Hi! One moment please. |
| (Long pause) | |
| Melissa | I am looking into this for you. Will this be your first Mac? |
| Me | Yes. I will be installing Windows on it. |
| Melissa | Great! How do you plan to use the Mac? |
| Me | I will use it for photo and movie editing. My scanner can capture 16 bits per channel, and my camera can capture 10. |
| Melissa | Thanks. It is 6 bits per channel. |
| Me | Thank you so much! |
| Melissa | You are welcome. |
| Me | I’ve talked to many experts before, and they keep on telling me that it’s ‘millions of colors.’ |
| Melissa | When do you plan to get your new Mac? |
| Me | Probably when Windows 7 comes out…I’m still doing research on Macs. |
| Melissa | It is many colors. I can get you the supported resolutions too. 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 640, and 800 by 500 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio |
| Me | Thank you. |
| Melissa | You are welcome. |
So, the rumors are accurate. The MacBook Pro’s display is only capable of 6 bits per channel. A million is way bigger than 262,144. Even my cheap Compaq FP7317 that I bought nearly six years ago when LCD was considered relatively new can display 8-bit color, or 16,777,216 colors [http://www.lcdnfo.com/html/Compaq__FP7317-lcd-monitor.html].
I admire Apple’s hardware, which is why I want to get a Mac. However, I also like honesty and truth in advertising. In the honesty section, Apple has failed. Terribly.
It all comes down to this: either the technicians, experts, display specialists, and all the websites of the manufacturers from which Apple buys its displays are wrong, or Apple is misinforming its customers about the specs.
I don’t understand why I had to talk to five experts before finding an answer. Why can’t Apple equip its employees with information? Or, why can’t Apple just write it on the website? It only takes 5 characters to do so: “6-bit.” As a customer, I just want to make an informed decision when I make a big purchase, and to do that, I need information. But Apple seems determined to keep that information out of customers’ hands.
Thanks for your time in reading this letter. You probably will not respond because you have other more important things to tend to, like the Apple Tablet (which will hopefully actually be capable of millions of colors).
Sincerely,
Kevin Chen
