How to Check For an LG Display in a MacBook Air and Make it Look Better

Share

If you have a newer MacBook Air you should pay attention. Some of the MacBook Airs are shipping with Samsung displays, and some are shipping with LG displays, both are quality displays, but the LG’s default color profile is lighter and a bit flat. Most users probably won’t notice this, but if you sit a MacBook Air with a Samsung display next to one with the LG display, you can see the difference. This is easily remedied by using a custom color profile that has better gamma. This post will walk you through how to check which manufacturers panel you have, and also show you how to add a custom color profile that makes the LG display just as gorgeous as the Samsung.

Check for an LG Display with the MacBook Air

Using the same command to check the make and model of an LCD that works on past Macs, you can check the manufacturer of the display panel of the MacBook Air.

• Launch the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/)
• Copy and paste the following command onto a single line and hit return:
ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6
• Read the output, you are looking for an “LP” prefix to numbers reported back:
LP133WP1-TJA3
Color LCD
• If the prefix is not “LP” then you have a Samsung display and there’s no need to use the color profile or to follow the rest of the instructions, if it does start with LP (like the example shown), then proceed

Add a Custom Color Profile for the MacBook Air’s LG Display

A user on MacRumors forums put together a custom color profile that really sharpens the display of the LG displays in some 2011 MacBook Air machines. Again, if you don’t have an LG display then you shouldn’t use this profile. Adding this color profile is reversible and you can always go back to the default if you don’t like it.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Download this .icc profile to the Desktop
• Hit Command+Shift+G and enter the following path:
/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/
• Copy the downloaded .icc profile to that displays folder, you’ll need to authenticate
• Open “System Preferences” and click on “Displays”
• Select the “Color” tab and uncheck the box next to “Show profiles for this display only”
• Click on the second “Color LCD” profile in the list (the top-most Color LCD profile is the default)

If you have the LG display, you’ll see a difference immediately. Contrasts are sharper, whites are whiter, and there is a much more clear differentiation between minor shades of colors and greys.

If you decide you don’t like the modified LG profile, just select top-most “Color LCD” in the list. You can also put the color profile into the user home library folder instead of the system library directory, but you’ll probably have to make the folder yourself.

Thanks to Erlend for sending in this tip from Mac1.no!