The new iPad: Retina Display Analysis
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 19, 2012 5:49 PM ESTQuantifying Display Performance: Big Gamut Gains
Pixel density may have improved, but what about the rest of the display characteristics? We'll start with the usual suspects - brightness, black levels and contrast ratio:
Despite a tremendous increase in pixel count and density, the new iPad delivers roughly the same brightness and contrast ratio as its predecessor. White point remains unchanged as well at ~6700K.
At the introduction of the new iPad, Apple briefly mentioned a 44% increase in color saturation from the new panel. Although the old display definitely looked good, the new one does actually look better. My eyes aren't normally the best judge of gamut, but we have some tools to help quantify exactly what I was seeing:
Color gamut has definitely improved. While the iPad 2 and TF Prime both were able to represent ~40% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, the new iPad jumps by nearly 50% to representing 65% of the Adobe RGB gamut. More impressive are the gains you see if you look at the color gamut of the new panel compared to the sRGB space:
Here the panel is able to deliver nearly full coverage of the sRGB color gamut. Below is the CIE diagram for the new panel with an sRGB reference plotted on the same chart so you can visualize the data another way (the white triangle is the new iPad, the gray outer triangle is the sRGB reference):
Near perfect coverage. The new iPad's display is a huge step forward in both pixel density and being able to represent a wider color gamut. While it's still no where near the quality of high-end PC displays, this is real progress for tablets. The bar has been raised.
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gorash - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Btw, if you don't think that paying $100 per 2GB of RAM or $200 per SSD upgrade or whatever is not overpriced and does not count, then I don't know what else to tell you. I will just call you a fanboy and move on.Everybody knows that you can get laptops with the same specs for lower price than MacBooks.
eallan - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
I tried really hard to ignore your ranting, and failed.Your only examples are ACCESSORIES or UPGRADES.
The macbook pro is far and away the nicest laptop I've ever seen. I use mine all the time, and it's stuffed with high quality hardware. I upgraded my own ram, and saved a bit of money.
Stop ranting about a few accessories mattering. Don't buy them.
The iPad is hardly overpriced even compared to other OEMs SMART PHONES.
You can not like apple for a million reasons, I really don't care. It's just irritating reading you type some tripe like "Everyone knows apple is overpriced," and having no evidence.
gorash - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I'm only mentioning accessories because I'm trying to make a point. It's not as if MacBooks are not overpriced, now is it?doobydoo - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
You said 'Apple Products' - and guess what, that includes EVERYTHING they produce, not just SOME things. iPad and Macbook Air are within that all-encompassing statement of yours.As I predicted, that report is based on reported failure rates. People who have budget laptops from Toshiba or Asus don't tend to be as fastidious about repairing them.
More relevant counter proof (since the topic at hand is mobile devices):
http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/cell-phone-compar...
Regarding the Macbook Air, I run Windows on mine, and you've been asked to do something very simple. Tell us the specific make and model which is cheaper and has equivalent spec (SSD speed, size, weight, depth, volume, screen quality, touchpad quality, backlit keyboard). Once you do that (which is impossible), I'll explain to you why you're wrong. You're making vacuous claims until you actually provide an example.
You don't need an Apple dongle for it to work, and again your ramblings about accessories are not relevant.
The $200 upgrade cost both doubles the RAM and the FLASH (SSD equivalent) hard drive, adding an additional 64GB SSD. For the sake of argument, lets take the 13 inch MBA with 128GB SSD, and 1.7 ghz processor. Find me a cheaper equivalent. If you don't reply with one, you haven't replied.
gorash - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Do a simple Google search, sheesh. I'm not going to do it for you.Mystermask - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Lame answer. You loose.(so much for "Apple is overpriced")
tmuller2 - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Apple charges more for RAM because it costs more to make than the generic, off-the-shelf chips used in other PCs. I didn't think there was any difference until added RAM to a Mac Pro. I tried to buy from Apple but modules were EOL since my machine was couple years old. So they directed my to a 3rd-party reseller. I was loving that seeing their prices half than Apple's. However, it wasn't long until RAM modules started shutting down from overheating. Ended up having to take one out. I was informed that Apple's RAM uses a custom design with high dollar materials, such as some type of brass for the heat sinks. Apple's RAM emits much less eternal heat than typical modules. Apple's components are highly customized relative to others, add to Apple's cost.gorash - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
"Apple charges more for RAM because it costs more to make than the generic, off-the-shelf chips"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Apple fanboys really are mad, aren't they? ROFL at justifying Apple's overcharging strategy at the expense of the ignorant. Newsflash: Apple uses the same RAMs as everybody else, most likely made by Samsung or whomever is making the most amount of RAM.
gorash - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
" I was informed that Apple's RAM uses a custom design with high dollar materials, such as some type of brass for the heat sinks."The teardown at iFixit shows that it indeed uses regular Samsung RAMs with no special heatsinks whatsoever. Whoever told you that was just pulling your leg :).
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-13-Inch...
robinthakur - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
He said Mac Pro, as in the big silver desktop model, so it is conceivably true because alot on a Mac Pro is quite custom and hence extraordinarily expensive. Learn to read, troll. The iPad3 is a bargain of epic proportions given the specs, that's why they sold 3 million over last weekend. In terms of total cost of ownership over 3 years, I don't find Apple laptops overpriced at all. The better level of support and build quality/esale value and nice design are worth paying for in my opinion. If my mates who have bought cheapo laptops are any indication, they usually stop working shockingly quickly, and the support is lousy. Who wants to deal with that?