Thank you all for the replies so far.
I've considered the display, the graphics system, and the resolution. It's not the screen resolution, however. My old eMac had a higher setting of 1280x960 to the MacBook's 1280x800.
It is likely the CRT vs. LCD display. Video professionals still use CRTs, don't they? I wonder if the integrated graphics are to blame. If I could see a Mac Mini hooked up to a CRT, that would prove whether it was the CRT or the IG.
I found
this article from Anandtech, discussing the viewing angle. The author put the blame on the TN panel in the MB, versus the IPS in the MBP. My issue, however, is poor video quality looking head on at it. That may also stem from the cheaper TN panel.
I will try the calibration. I attempted it before, but found it very difficult to balance out the different settings and I just reverted to the LCD default settings.