macnn
03/26/2008, 10:05am, EDT
Wednesday, March 26th
Apple settles in 'millions of colors' court case
Apple has agreed to an out-of-court settlement in a long-running lawsuit over the MacBook and MacBook Pro, writes the Chicago Tribune. Two California photographers, Fred Greaves and Dave Gatley, filed the class action suit in May of last year, over Apple's claim that the Pro could display "millions of colors." According to the filing, the reality is that Apple fakes the notebooks' color range through software dithering, and yet offers the extended color option in a Mac OS X drop-down menu, without any mention of software emulation.
While this may be acceptable for most users, Greaves and Gatley contend that it hurts professional photography work. When editing, they say, maximum color accuracy is needed to ensure the best output. This can become especially important when making the leap from digital display to print.
The terms of the settlement have not been made public, but plaintiff lawyer Peter Polischuk is said to have explained that his clients had trouble finding other participants for the action. To become involved, they would also have had to buy a MacBook for reasons of color range.
Filed under: Apple, computers, digital imaging
Other story tags: MacBook, MacBook Pro, lawsuits
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I wonder why. Perhaps no one else had this issue or was bothered enough to file a stupid lawsuit?
I am not a pro, but when asking about color correcting my laptop (using Eye One/Spyder3 device), I was told to do the color adjustments on the laptop, then move to my LaCie monitor for a final proof.
Geez! Anybody wanna join me in suing Apple for lying to me? I bought a new iMac and the box clearly stated that it came with a mouse. I was surprised to find no mouse in the box...and I had already bought the feed and cage.
...oh, brother...
Whether a pro photographer does critical color work on a laptop is irrelevant.
In other words... they lied (exaggerated marketing claim).
As others have said, professional photograpers wouldn't be relying on a $1,000 laptop. The screen quality of the Macbook is so low it doesn't matter if it produces BILLIONS of colors - you wouldn't see them correctly anyway.
Problem is many photographers need a laptop, and the market is plenty confusing for the not-so-technically skilled.
We would expect a company like Apple to at least give accurate tecnical specs on their hardware. As a pro photographer, image editor and teacher/consultant, im glad Apple got a slap on the wrist for this one...