# Calibrating Early Apple MacBook Laptop Screen???



## gryffinwings (May 2, 2013)

I'm looking to make my screen to have a more appropriate color calibration. I found that you can do this but I would like to know which setting I should use. I have an Early 2008 MacBook running snow leapard. There are several profiles:

Listing:
Color LCD
Adobe RGB (1998)
Apple RGB
CIE RGB
ColorMatch RGB
Generic RGB Profile
PAL/SECAM
ProPhoto RGB
SMPTE-C
sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Wide Gamut RGB

What should I choose???


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## table1349 (May 2, 2013)

This. ColorMunki Display


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## Garbz (May 3, 2013)

gryffinwings said:


> What should I choose???



None. Those are generic working spaces. They are not related to monitor spaces except for sRGB which is the default space most monitors are manufactured to. To make a screen have appropriate colour you need a device to measure the screen and create a custom profile for it, like the ColorMunki that gryph linked to above. Then colour managed software like Photoshop will convert the working space of the image to the monitor space in realtime.


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## JenniferBecky (May 25, 2013)

Sorry to hi jack the conversation.....  Is this the only way to get the monitor to display what would printed?   I had a desktop and didn't have that issue, but now that I bought a new laptop, what I see on my screen isn't what prints, no matter which printer or photo software I use.


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## cgipson1 (May 25, 2013)

Get an external monitor! Unless you have one of the laptops with an IPS panel, most laptops are too squirrelly to give really accurate results. TFT screen just don't do well.  MacBook (Early 2008 and Late 2008) - Technical Specifications


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## cgipson1 (May 25, 2013)

JenniferBecky said:


> Sorry to hi jack the conversation.....  Is this the only way to get the monitor to display what would printed?   I had a desktop and didn't have that issue, but now that I bought a new laptop, what I see on my screen isn't what prints, no matter which printer or photo software I use.



Laptop screens are notorious for not giving an accurate display of color and contrast, and many are impossible to calibrate accurately. The display can change immensely just by altering the angle a little bit. An external monitor will be much more accurate (especially an IPS panel)


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## JenniferBecky (May 25, 2013)

ok, well I hooked up my sons external monitor and while it was closer it still didn't give the right color.... I am using 1 picture in particular to gauge because on my old monitor (all in one computer)  and on my mom's macbook pro and on my phone the sky is purple but on mine and my son's monitor it's blue.   (I was playing in photoshop)   So is there specs I can look for in particular for the external monitor?  I would hate to keep buying monitor's just see if that one works lol


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## cgipson1 (May 25, 2013)

JenniferBecky said:


> ok, well I hooked up my sons external monitor and while it was closer it still didn't give the right color.... I am using 1 picture in particular to gauge because on my old monitor (all in one computer)  and on my mom's macbook pro and on my phone the sky is purple but on mine and my son's monitor it's blue.   (I was playing in photoshop)   So is there specs I can look for in particular for the external monitor?  I would hate to keep buying monitor's just see if that one works lol



Did you calibrate the monitor? What are you comparing it to? Prints? Unless it is from a professional quality printer that can also be calibrated... getting it to match will be difficult!


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## JenniferBecky (May 25, 2013)

Ok, well I used to use the Dell all in one desktop.... I have a all in one Canon printer and when I would edit photos on the dell and print them, both matched.....  I then upgraded on got an HP laptop... I also now have a canon pro9000 Mark II printer....   once I got this laptop, prints don't match what I see on the laptop on either printer....   Oh and always use and had used picasa....  hadn't given too much though until (I am learning photoshop)  I edited a a photo and made the sky blue (my original was gray) and then printed, the print copy came out with a purple sky.... I had also emailed the pic to my mom and uploaded to facebook.   My mom said the sky was lavender....   my husband now has my old dell and when he goes to fb and looks at the pic it displays same as my print.....  when I go to fb on my phone and look at the pic, it's the same as print.   Even minor edits in picasa made huge differences in contrast from what is displayed on my monitor vs prints or even slideshow on TV.  

Previous to this I had tried printing on both computers and using different software.... prints were always the same, but different then my display on laptop.  The pro9000 has calibration setting which I did... but no change to print.  

I figured hooking up my son's monitor would make this issue simple by just purchasing an external monitor.  However, since my son's displayed similar to my laptop, I'm disappointed and frustrated.

My laptop only allows me to adjust brightness and my red, green and blue colors... however, adjusting those colors has not yielded the results..   My laptop from what I can find doesn't have a contrast setting.


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