Colors look like crap on laptop. Why?

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by andheresjohnny, Sep 17, 2006.

  1. #1
    I have a laptop where the colors look very different than on any other pc I've seen.

    The laptop is at resolution 1280x800 and the quality is 32bit. I'm comparing the colors on my laptop to the colors on other PCs (non-laptops). These PCs have resolution 800x600, and the quality is much less than 32bit (I'm sure).

    When I create webpages on my laptop and then view them on these other pcs I am surprised just how different the colors appear.

    Is this a normal occurance when viewing pages across different resolutions and color qualities? The colors are so different that I don't think I will be able to do any development on my laptop.

    Unfortunately, I have almost no knowledge in this area.

    Thank you.
     
    andheresjohnny, Sep 17, 2006 IP
  2. dojo

    dojo Peon

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    #2
    Same here. I also design my sites on my laptop and when I look at them on a CRT monitor I just have a heart attack. Little by little I kinda got used to "think" these differences and I just don't have them look that weird.
     
    dojo, Sep 17, 2006 IP
  3. turhapuro

    turhapuro Peon

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    #3
    Ello!

    Go to your display settings and change color settings, also be sure to compare them same time to desktop pc. I fixed my laptop problem this way, it was the settings in my ati catalyst control panel that was making the
    problems. Hope this helps....

    Uuno Turhapuro
     
    turhapuro, Sep 25, 2006 IP
  4. Zipp425

    Zipp425 Peon

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    #4
    Its most likely the type of monitor...
    When designing a site its best to see what it looks like on a variety of monitors.
    CRT
    LCD
    TFT

    Ive found that they all display colors very differently.
    CRT generally seems darker, and possibly a little more color detail
    LCD is a little faded, the newer LCD's are comparable to CRTs
    TFT is getting a little dated, and is probably provides the most faded colors. TFTs were common on early laptops...
     
    Zipp425, Sep 26, 2006 IP
  5. kaltek

    kaltek Peon

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    #5
    I also design on my laptop but add the finishing touches on my pc. After that I check on a few other machines to make sure the result is as good as it can be on different screens.
     
    kaltek, Sep 29, 2006 IP
  6. thevenerablez

    thevenerablez Peon

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    #6
    In a web design class a while ago I heard that CRT and LCD monitors displayed colors differently. Also, PC and Mac colors are different. I think PCs are darker.
     
    thevenerablez, Sep 30, 2006 IP
  7. Johan007

    Johan007 Guest

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    #7
    First try plugging your laptop into a monitor to see if it is your settings/gfx card or the screen. All laptops can do this.

    Much of it comes down to quality of the screen. If you laptop is displaying colours differently (eg: Oranges come out yucky yellow and very light shades come out white) it is often sadly time to design on a new laptop. Some older TFT screens also suffer from this.

    CRT screens are generally all good and reproducing colours.
     
    Johan007, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  8. mad4

    mad4 Peon

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    #8
    You can download some monitor calibration software to help you sort it out.
     
    mad4, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  9. Clubbuilder

    Clubbuilder Guest

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    #9
    I had this problem as well. My problem was the screen was very dark, and I couldn't adjust the colors well. It wasn't my screen resolution, but my graphics card! I installed a higher quality graphics card (it also came with a better driver).

    What a big difference this made! I believe it was the driver that made the difference.
     
    Clubbuilder, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  10. Gordaen

    Gordaen Peon

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    #10
    All displays will differ to some extent (even same models). Laptop screens are generally designed to use even less power than their desktop counterparts, so the color quality can be lower. Colors and brightness will differ and that is a good reason to calibrate your display. In general, I find laptop screens to be of lower quality than LCD's/TFT's for the desktop.

    You may also want to consider that the gamma level (brightness) differs between Apple's and "PC's."
     
    Gordaen, Oct 2, 2006 IP