macsforme I found a sealed refurbished base model M2 MacBook Pro 13” on eBay for $750, and it arrived yesterday.
I wanted to follow up on my experience with this model over time as some others have.
I ran several versions of Ventura with roughly equal comfort (or lack thereof). The settings I found most comfortable were: StillColor active, display resolution at native 2X retina, True Tone disabled, and Night Shift disabled. I'm not sure if it made a difference in my case, but I also disabled the touch bar unless the function key was pressed, per the instructions here.
macsforme So far, the display looks stable and mostly comfortable, although there is a slight warm undertone (compared to the older displays I am used to) which I associate with discomfort but I believe this is residual and I can adapt to the screen.
As I previously noted, the panel has uniform colors with a slightly warm undertone (after some time, I would now describe it as a sort of "murky orange" undertone). In my experience, this is consistent with the appearance of modern (especially wide-gamut) displays which I tend to find uncomfortable. I also briefly tried Asahi Linux, and I sensed the same warm undertone (along with perhaps some additional flickering, likely due to the re-introduction of temporal dithering), so I attributed the tone to the panel itself rather than some macOS issue.
While I can tolerate the screen, especially for short periods, I found it to be harsh. I tend to notice the harshness of screens most acutely when I am short on sleep and/or have had more screen time than usual. During one such recent episode, I had some pronounced discomfort while using the device, along with some pain in my forehead right above my eyes. Looking back to one of my other daily-use screens provided immediate relief.
Interestingly, while I alluded to the warm undertone, I would not say that the overall color tone of the display was specifically warm. Visually comparing color palettes between this and an older MacBook side-by-side, I would say the colors themselves (including white) appeared roughly equal if not even slightly cooler on this M2 touchbar MacBook Pro. So, I'm not even sure what I am seeing/sensing. It reminded me somewhat of the murky warm undertone of my 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro (with mini-LED XDR display) where all my problems started. I speculated earlier that I may still have some residual psychological effects/associations which could be overcome with regular use. I still allow for this possibility, but unfortunately I do not have the ability to make this my primary device and use it for hours every day to find out.
As a final point of comparison, I recently received a work-issued 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro (with mini-LED XDR display), and forced to use it as a daily driver for about two weeks of training. In theory, this machine should have bothered me severely, but I actually found it quite tolerable and found the display to be clear, with a pleasant cool undertone (after disabling True Tone) such as I am accustomed to. This was even before enabling StillColor (I could not upgrade past Monterey until after the training). I compared this machine side-by-side with my M2 touchbar MacBook Pro, and counterintuitively I actually found the 16" XDR panel more pleasant and tolerable. I know a few others here have reported comparing 14" and 16" MacBook Pro XDR panels side-by-side and finding some much more tolerable than others, so this must be the panel lottery in effect.
Ultimately, I do not plan to keep the M2 touchbar MacBook Pro, as I consider simply tolerating a device for short periods to be unacceptable. After years of struggling to find a modern Apple product that does not bother me, I am weary of the fight and I sense that I may be coming to the end of my time as their customer. My last option may be a desktop Mini or Studio, but with forced 10-bit color output from any Apple Silicon Mac to my standard monitors (likely triggering FRC), I am deeply skeptical.