NewDwarf I used to own an Intel MBP 2016 13" (also Touch Bar) with Iris 550 graphics. It was a pretty usable device, screen was generally crisp, UI looked sharp — was actually a really great device for graphic design and music production, at least around the macOS Mojave era.
However, some issues I had with the Intel MBP 2016 13" is that sometimes different color schemes (e.g. VSCode themes) made me feel tired or looked blurry while using them. There were also times where working with very long documents was really tiring and hard to focus on.
Despite the screen being usable for some applications, I remember changing color schemes, fonts, and line spacing over and over on the Intel 2016 13" (which is usually a sign that a screen is impacted by at least some level of temporal dithering)
So for heavy schoolwork and coding, there were a lot of times where I ended up switching to old Windows and Linux laptops to really be able to focus.
(At the time, I had no idea what PWM or temporal dithering was or that I even "had issues with screens", so I did not know at all why I occasionally had such an urge to switch devices when working with a lot of text.)
FWIW, I later had a 2020 Intel 13" MBP for a short time (the very last Intel made) and its screen was way worse than the 2016, looked blurry even at native res and lots of eyestrain. 2016 13" was my only usable Intel MBP .
So…
I'd actually say the 13" Touch Bar M2 MBP (with Stillcolor) is actually better than my old 2016 13", as so many color schemes all look equally as good on this screen without starting to feel "weird".
(The 13" Touch Bar M2 MBP is especially better than the 2020 13" Intel MBP, lol, as the TB M2 screen is actually sharp. But it's honestly better than the 2016 13" too!)
The screen on the Touch Bar M2 is actually so sharp that even looking at it from halfway across the desk, I can use it on TRUE native (2560x1600, super tiny) resolution and still be able to read coherently which totally shocked me.
If I can read THAT precisely once I'm put in front of a "good screen", maybe that explains why I can notice temporal dithering and why I'm sensitive to it…
The Touch Bar M2 MBP also seems to be noticeably better at displaying very dense, cluttered UI — and especially better at displaying "repeating lines of the same thing" and allowing me to easily "line them up" in my head without everything feeling like it looks unstable or unbalanced.
So the Touch Bar M2 MBP is better than even a usable Intel MBP, IMO
Note that this is specifically about the 13" Touch Bar M2 MBP.
All the other M1/M2/M3 MBAs, MBPs I've tried, I have significant issues with (even with Stillcolor) and I would not want to use any of those as my primary device. Mini-LED MBPs especially are totally unusable for me.
However, the screen on the Touch Bar M2 MBP is built totally different from all of the other Apple Silicon laptops…
It's something you could swap out a good Intel Mac with and not notice much of a difference — or if anything, actually notice an improvement (this all relies on Stillcolor, of course).