“Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has revealed that the company will substitute light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the fluorescent lamps now used to backlight Macs’ flat-panel screen displays, confirming rumours that first surfaced in January,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld.
Keizer reports, “By turning to LEDs, Apple can eliminate the mercury used in fluorescent lighting. ‘We plan to introduce our first Macs with LED backlight technology in 2007,’ Jobs said.”
“According to Cree, a manufacturer of LED backlighting, the technology reduces power consumption by 12% from a traditional fluorescent tube. Other benefits include a more even distribution of light and truer colours,” Keizer reports.
Full article here.
So, how many birds will be killed with that one stone?
MW=death! ha!
Blast. Missed first post again.
My next MacBook Pro purchase is holding on two things: Leopard and LED backlit displays. Once they’re on the market it’s time to squeeze the checking account. Hopefully, both will be out before Halloween.
I get the impression that LED technology is problematic for larger screens therefore the screen, I assume, would be darker….looks like I will not be getting it in the 17″ MBP that I want to buy in september.
@ Buster
Maybe so.. but wouldnt it be prudent to see the new models first before making up your mind ?
I mean, when was the last time His Steveness dissappointed you ?
Buster: Not sure about the problems but Samsung’s been making them big for awhile:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/06/samsung-hl-s5679w-dlp-with-led-backlight/
And who said Apple was not green?
Gimme the new iMacs with the new screens. Make the video card and hard drive upgradeable and add a couple of extra slots for RAM. Sold!
Damn, now those Greenpeace bastards won’t be after them any more.
Back to clubbing baby seals then…
@KingMel – keep dreamin…
@KingMel – I’d love to see some way that Apple could make an off the shelf graphics card fit in an iMac so you could upgrade it, but I just don’t see it happening. There would have to be about 2 PCI slots of space for a card, in case it has a massive cooler, and then there might be heat issues in the rest of the case. Not to mention how you’d hook up to the card outputs, and even plug the card into some hinged slot…would be a nightmare to design 🙁
I’ll keep dreaming too though 😀
Yes, power consumption for LED backlit LCD displays is down, but isn’t the display brighter too? If so, anybody know increased percentage brightness?
“So, how many birds will be killed with that one stone?”
depends how many coconuts their carrying
And if they’re African or European.
A long, long time ago I went clubbing with a baby Seal. That was the first and only time he got turned away from the door. True story.
WTF? Since when is lead environmentally friendly?
You folks are moroons…..
And by the way, lead is spelt with an ‘a’.
itiods! All of ewe.
@TMF…
Definitly african swallows, yeah, definitly, yeah, yeah, that will save 1.4 gigawatts of energy in one week. Enough to power my flux capacitor, definitly, yeah.
If the Macbook Pros come with this tech there better be an option to stick with the old tech. No way will I be the first in line to try LEDs, give it a couple of years in Apples laptops then we’ll see.
LEDs combined with flash drives. 5 hour battery life, here we come.
I’m chomping at the bit for my next MacBook Pro. But I am waiting for LED backlighting, Mac OSX 10.6 Lion, iSight 3D with hologram technology, Blu-ray Disc, 1 TB flash drive, and an implementation of Steorn Orbo for power.
“I’m chomping at the bit for my next MacBook Pro.”
Can we see that on YouTube? Does it hurt?
Jim: Wapner would be proud.
Oh Hurray! No more mercury in our LCD screen. Now let’s fill our homes with compact fluorescent bulbs, each one of which contains as much mercury as one screen. Is it just me or are these GreenPeace whacko’s completely insane?
Hopefully, one day LEDs or something like that can be used for general lighting, especially as the poorly considered rush to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs is gaining momentum worldwide. Fluorescent bulbs suck in so many ways.
Yeah, I’m waiting for LED based bulbs too. I’m stocking up on the old incandescent bulbs to tie me over until then.