Video Developer Note: Video Product-Specific Details

I’m getting lots of email from people saying this whole issue of 6-bit notebook displays is bullshit, because all notebook displays from all vendors are in fact 6-bit, and that they all simulate millions of colors using “temporal dithering”. If so, fine by me, so long as the results look good.

But that’s not what this tech note from Apple says. For example, regarding the 17-inch iMac, it says:

The graphics card temporally dithers the 6 bits per component to show up to millions of colors.

But regarding the MacBook Pro, it says:

The display supports 3D acceleration and display depths up to 24 bits per pixel at all supported screen resolutions.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro supports an LCD display size of 1680 × 1050 pixels at 116 dpi and shows up to millions of colors.

Emphasis added.

(Thanks to readers Markus Hänchen and Chris Thompson.)

★ Wednesday, 23 May 2007