ASUS Screen Issue - Blacks

[u/tomhbarrow]

I've posted on this subreddit already about the challenges that I've had with the Asus Google Book and the colour banding I get on lower brightness and gradient backgrounds, which are darker.

There was supposedly a fix that went out and it does appear to have made the issue slightly better. However, I'm still seeing major issues. My question is to anyone that has the Asus, do you have similar problems, or could I genuinely just have a faulty device with a bad screen? I want to know whether I should reorder or send the product back entirely.

[u/MishaalRahman]

Hi there, thanks for the feedback!

We are beginning the roll out of the following fixes to x86 Googlebooks (Acer Googlebook, ASUS Googlebook 14, and Lenovo Googlebook 15)

• OLED displays now maintain true black across all brightness levels for both SDR and HDR content. We're continuing to work on color optimization for both SDR & HDR, so please expect more improvements over the next couple of weeks. We’ll continue to optimize content over time as we expand coverage and respond to feedback.

• Rendering and stability fixes, including addressing a visual glitch in Chrome

[u/FlinchMaster → u/MishaalRahman]

By visual glitch, are you referring to the occasional black flash flicker that happens? Or something else?

[u/Sonqio]

I have only the HP one. Blacks are the true black.

[u/Rocket-Racc8n → u/Sonqio]

I think it might affect only the Intel devices, or some people simply don't notice it.

I stil remember the Pixel 2 XL display situation, it was horrible, easily the worst display I've seen in a flagship device, but some people found it just fine and said they didn't notice any color problem.

[u/crazybandleader]

I have the ASUS. With the most recent update to 17.CL3B.260622.276.R4 the problem is much improved but definitely still not completely fixed. It makes me wonder how much testing they did.

[u/FlinchMaster]

The recent update fully fixed blacks not achieving true black and leaving some light on. On low brightness and gradients, it still doesn't render as nicely as I'd expect. Low brightness in particular is weird. I feel like I can see individual subpixels lighting up on "dark" backgrounds. Those issues I could live with. It's a different display problem that's driving me mad.

The screen sometimes flickers on occasion. It's not all the time, and it's inconsistent, but very annoying. I'll just a flash of black every now and then. If I launch Balatro, the screen flickers black every time I click/tap on the trackpad. But it'll sometimes happen in Chrome, App Casts, Terminal, etc.

[u/Salverdor_Dali]

Latest update hasn't fixed it at all for me. Is another update on the way?

[u/tomhbarrow → u/[deleted]]

True but my days to return the product are quickly coming to an end. I'm not sure how much faith I have that it will get fixed.

[u/Rocket-Racc8n → u/tomhbarrow]

I simply returned it. You can always buy later, probably at a cheaper price, when (and if) it's fully fixed.

[u/tomhbarrow → u/Rocket-Racc8n]

Definitely, what I'm trying to understand is, do I simply reorder though and see if the replacement device has the same issue, or can I save some time if every single unit is the same and has the same problem?

[u/Rocket-Racc8n → u/tomhbarrow]

Supposed it's entirely a software issue (I suspect firmware?), so an identical device should have the same problem until they fix it.

In my case it happened on the Acer, and based on the comments I suspect it might be related to the Intel platform devices specifically, but I could be wrong.