Donux BTW, interesting note about firmware versions is that Asahi Linux runs "within" a different macOS version firmware (and thus different display control processor firmware as well) from my main macOS installation — even though I have Ventura 13.6.6 within 14.4.1 firmware on my M1 Air, whenever I'm booted into Asahi it's "temporarily" running within 13.2 firmware instead.
What I've noticed is that even though Asahi doesn't yet have a Stillcolor equivalent and I can still notice a certain level of temporal dithering flicker around edges of text because of that, the level of flicker I notice is generally less than macOS (even with Stillcolor) — and, most importantly, the backlight feels totally different in Asahi.
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My M1 Air backlight in macOS (Ventura on top of Sonoma firmware) feels too bright at all brightness levels, everything has a sort of glow to it and the display still feels very bright at low backlight levels.
However, in Asahi (which is running on top of a different "temporary" Ventura 13.2 firmware that's loaded in at boot) — even though I still notice some temporal dithering flicker, the backlight of the display feels much more "low contrast and mild with MUCH less glow" at the same time as colors remain able to appear just as saturated as they would on macOS.
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There is also much less "false sense of 3D depth effect" while running within Asahi's temporary macOS 13.2 firmware, even if looking at identical photos, screenshots, or wallpapers (but not entirely solved).
White backgrounds especially feel notably different between OSes. The IOMFB backlight compensation disabling trick I recently discovered finally made white backgrounds in macOS feel much closer to Asahi Linux, but it's still different.
I also don't believe the difference in this "backlight feel" is because of PWM because the PWM detectable on dark gray when filming at 240hz is still present in both macOS and Asahi.
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Overall, the display feels entirely different, but at this point I'm not sure whether it's "because of Linux" or "specifically because of how Linux temporarily loads in older macOS display firmware".
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Final note about M1 Air is that I can actually use it very well outdoors in sunlight on both OSes. This is why I still prefer it to the M1 Max M1 MBP which was unusable everywhere… I'd actually consider the M1 Air usable outdoors which is why I kept mine.
I'm not sure if this is because of some effect of the ambient light sensor or just that sunlight masks a lot of the problems of the display. I know that it's not because of reflections on the glossy screen "helping", as I actually use a matte screen protector and that makes it better for me in all conditions. (Seemingly contrary to many others here, I strongly prefer matte over glossy.)
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However, the M1 Air still very exhausting to use indoors (and it doesn't matter if it's under my otherwise awesome Waveform Centric bulbs or under bad 100% flicker LEDs/flourescent bulbs). Whenever I'm at home, I can get literally dozens of times more work done with almost no strain through my 2012 Windows laptop + remote desktop into macOS.
M1 Air is not "absolutely crippling" indoors like the M1 Max MBP was because I can still get some work done on it giving the "illusion of productivity", but the moment I switch to my 2012 Lenovo it's like my productivity skyrockets and so many tasks no longer feel difficult.
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I can't DFU downgrade at the moment as I'm busy and a lot of important work is currently running off of my M1 Air… but when I'm more free I'll try to DFU downgrade to 13.2 and see if the backlight while macOS is able to feel more like Asahi Linux does + remaining able ro run Stillcolor at the same time.
Not super confident but something in me feels like it's worth a try. I'm willing to be the "test subject" here as I'm not satisfied with my M1 Air screen indoors anyway.
Glad to hear that just a simple downgrade improved your screen, in your case definitely avoid messing with a setup that's working for you.