Macbook air m4 15 incher, any better then previous iterations

Visitor2318

Alikhan
I am sad to head that even the Sky blu M4 macbook air is causing eyestrain for you.

Try to go into accessibility settings, then colour filters and put a ''personalised'' blue colour filter. I usually put it a 2 notches and it helps, but doesn't solve the problem. Maybe it can help alleviate a bit more for you also. Also, the STMP RP 431-2-2007 DCI (P3) colour profile (in display settings) usually is easier on my eyes also

Visitor2318

I have read on another forum that some people had luck with the new Nano-textured M4 Pro display. I think I will try it in the coming months if more people come back with the same experience. If anybody here tried it in store or has bought it and tried it I would like to know your experience.

Here is the link to one forum : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/any-headaches-pwm-problems-on-new-macbook-m4-pro-14inch.2444534/

Donux

Visitor2318 I went through these some time ago. There is no sound conclusion of m4 being better. Those who claim it is, likely did not have eye strain problem at all and simply just participating. Besides, there are lots of claims of M4 being PWM free. It is not true, it is not pwm free, as tested in rtings. However, usually Pro models are better, especially for users who understand that they can do tweaks, like chaning color profile or installing betterDisplay. But there are exceptions of people who come back to Air models for better eye comfort. All in all, there is no indication of improvement that woud signal - this is a sure thing buy. So assuming the risk, M1 Pro 14/16, or M2 pro 13 might be better choices for second hand purchases. Plus there is no real innocation in M4, just incremental improvement, that 98 percent of people do not really need. Not to mention you are paying for wide gamut screen and then switching off dithering, as well as color profile to some prehistoric quality. This is just wrong and would sound more like irrational brand product addiction. So Airs might be a hope, because its on the cheap side at least with those tweaks. But there are no clear indications that Airs getting better either.

AshX

Donux

I also noticed this discrepancy in store. Interestingly I found the more washed out screen to be more comfortable. The brighter screens clearly had a calibration problem, too.

If you look at various topics on MacRumors or even Reddit, there are complaints going back to M1/M2 about screen quality. The custom builds particularly had a backlight problem where the piece holding the screen in place created an indentation on the screen.

Clearly you’re going to deal with the screen lottery. As to PWM no one is able to confirm or deny it.

I haven’t had a chance to pick one up myself yet, but I think it’s going to be difficult to hone in on what - if any - of the MBA models are worth it.

I think we are also discounting the role MacOS versions play. Each generation is limited to the OS that it ships with. In other words, you can’t run Monterey on an M4. And it seems like the trend is that each subsequent interation introduces more visual problems in an attempt to make the screens appear more competitive.

It’s very easy to feel like we are chasing windmills because other than the guy who made Stillcolor, everyone is just guessing. I still have yet to see enough evidence that Stillcolor is as effective on the M4 chips as it was on the M1-M3 generations.

Unfortunately I’m not a programmer, otherwise I’d be diving into what could be causing all this. So we are relying on the benevolence of those with that skill set devoting hours to dissecting the inner workings of MacOS.

JTL

AshX It’s very easy to feel like we are chasing windmills because other than the guy who made Stillcolor, everyone is just guessing. I still have yet to see enough evidence that Stillcolor is as effective on the M4 chips as it was on the M1-M3 generations.

I think the Asahi team could do something, but without an reproducible cause and effect relationship, rather than just vague symptoms I believe they won't investigate further. From the perspective of an engineering team that's not an unreasonable position to take. Just one reason why investigating this issue is so difficult.

bpo19

Alikhan Can you share how you got to the custom mode in the Display settings? I can't find that or anything related to white point. Thank you!

Alikhan

bpo19

At the moment, I'm out in nature. I don’t have my laptop with me, so I'm replying from my phone and relying on memory.

If this answer isn’t enough, I’ll be sure to provide more details as soon as I’m back in the city with my laptop.

Keep in mind that menu settings may vary depending on the OS version. For example, I have the latest updates installed.

So, in System Settings, find the "Display" section and go there. Inside, there’s a "Color Profile" option where you can choose one of Apple’s preset color settings. None of them worked for me because the white color was too bright and "burn" my eyes.

If you click on "Color Profile," you’ll see an option at the bottom of the list to add a custom profile. Click there. Then, by pressing the "+", you can create your own color profile. Play around with the calibration settings.

Personally, I set the blue value to the highest level on the calibration scale. It made things much better for me.

If you couldn't find it, let me know. I’ll send you a more detailed answer.

parawizard

AshX It's Midnight. That thing destroys me very quickly even using it with one eye closed. I just received my Light Phone 3 which uses an LG OLED and I think it's also bugging me but nowhere near as bad as a Pixel 6a or a MBA M4.

AshX

parawizard

Have you tried Stillcolor or BetterDisplay? My theory is that they re-used hardware from previous versions. The MBA’s also have a backlight PWM-style flicker issue. I have yet to receive mine to test but I did notice it at 240 fps slow motion in M2 and M3 models I tested. I’m assuming your mother’s MBA is the base model? People are having success with the M4 13” on Reddit, but I’ve noticed they’re all spec’d above the base model.

I will receive mine this coming week and intend to exchange it if I find the screen is a bad one. I believe @DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs proved over a year ago that many of the M2 MBA’s had a backlight PWM-style flicker visible on camera in slow motion. I found this same flicker on a 2015 15” MBP and my iMac 2019 4K 21.5” developed it after a move. I believe this to either be a defect on certain screens or a very poorly implemented backlight PWM for IPS LCD panels.

jordan

parawizard Can you get a photo of the light phone 3 display on white and with a high shutter speed camera? im curious to see how it looks. I havent got mine yet

parawizard

AshX I tried Stillcolor but I am not sure it had any effect. It was brand new hardware. It said it disabled dithering but I couldn't tell a difference. I am pretty confused about bothers me about screens. It doesn't seem to add up to me. I know that blue light bothers me and some flickering but for instance the LG G8X flickered quite a bit but it didn't bother me at all. I bought a HOPOOCOLOR OHSP350F for like $2000 and I have been checking flicker and color but it doesn't seem to match up with what I am experiencing so far.

Phones:
LG G8X OLED OK
ZTE Axion 7 Mini AMOLED OK
Samsung Galaxy S7 SAMOLED OK
LG G7 One IPS OK
Fairphone 4 IPS OK
Moto G Play 2024 IPS OK
Pixel 6a VERY BAD

TVs:
LG 48CX OLED OK
LG 65C7 OLED OK

Laptops:
Alienware 13R3 OLED OK
Surface Pro 8 IPS OK
Legion 7 Pro IPS OK
Framework 13 2K IPS OK
Macbook Pro 16 2019 IPS OK
Macbook Pro 13 2015 IPS OK
Macbook Air 13.6 M4 MiniLED BAD
Macbook Pro 14 2021 MiniLED NOT GOOD

parawizard

jordan I put a screen protector on it and it made it quite fuzzy. I looked at it under my microscope and it has that weird diamond subpixel layout.

simplex

parawizard bought a HOPOOCOLOR

Ca you show spectrums results for each device you checked…? Very interesting

AshX

parawizard I tried Stillcolor but I am not sure it had any effect. It was brand new hardware. It said it disabled dithering but I couldn't tell a difference. I

If you get to use the machine again, try taking it in a dark room with no lights and open up a grey image, then record at 240 fps slow motion on your phone. If you see flickering then the MBA probably has the same backlight flicker as my Intel iMac and MBP. This was visible on the M2 MBA and could be the cause of your issues.

NewDwarf

AshX is it an attempt to visualize dithering? I mean capturing the gray screen.

AshX

NewDwarf

To my understanding dithering is not visible without a microscope, correct? I don’t believe that flicker that is very apparent on grey is dithering, because when I booted my 2019 Intel iMac into Safe Mode and recorded it the flicker was even worse than when run normally. If it was dithering, then in theory Safe Mode should have turned it off, right? This computer was on Mojave and had not been updated since 2021 so there was no way a software update was the cause. I also was running SwitchResX to turn off dithering which was successful as I could see a difference immediately, yet the grey flicker was still present. The only thing that changed is I moved so the computer was put in a car and it’s possible something got knocked loose or damaged during the trip. Perhaps transistor leakage, a damaged connector, or just the computer being old made this worse.

The only other possibility is that this is actually dithering on a hardware level and for whatever reason I became sensitive to it. I suppose that theory could make sense and would explain why it’s present even in Safe Mode. But someone here with more expertise would have to clarify that. I still have the MacBook Pro 15” 2015 that flickers like this so I could test it if someone can tell me how.

The fact that this was seen on the MBA M2 machines and also the M1 machines to a lesser extent makes me think this is a hardware backlight issue either by design or laziness because some folks have had success with the MBA line. But again, I’m very new to all this so I wouldn’t presume to say with certainly one way or the other.

So no, I don’t know exactly what the 240 fps slow motion test is meant to find other than it finds this flicker. I have a Dell work laptop that is comfortable that does not have this flicker, so I do believe it is contributing if not outright causing symptoms on these Macs.

AshX

So, I just got my Sky Blue 13” 16/512. Things I’ve noticed so far:

Text is blurry. I’m trying to figure out how to turn off font smoothing. The bold text especially on the main menu bar is blurry.
BetterDisplay only turns off the first line of dithering, according to Terminal. Stillcolor turns off all 3.
BetterDisplay claims the MBA screen is 8 bit
The M4 Air has the same backlight flickering as my iMac 2019 and MBP 15” 2015. Same as the M2 MBA I believe was found before by other members
This model was assembled in Vietnam, not China

Any suggestions for some tweaks? I’m going to try to make this work but the text is so fuzzy I can’t really deal with this for a long time. If not I will try to exchange this. my iPhone 13’s text is crisp (what I’m typing this on).

JRUK

AshX your iphone 13 has a much higher 460ppi while the MBA13 has 225ppi. Your iPhone 13 is always going to look sharper.

Regarding font smoothing (from chatgpt)

As of macOS Ventura and later (which the MacBook Air M4 is likely running), Apple has removed the user-facing option to disable font smoothing via System Settings. However, you can still control it via Terminal.

Here’s how to disable font smoothing on a MacBook Air (including M4 models):

Open Terminal (find it via Spotlight or in Applications > Utilities).
Run this command to disable font smoothing:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 0

Log out and log back in, or reboot your Mac for the change to take effect.

VODabashyan

According to this website, MA M4 13/15 screen doesn't have PWM. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-15-M4-review-The-fanless-M4-SoC-is-years-ahead-of-the-competition.976933.0.html

Donux

VODabashyan They are probably testing a wooden sample without realising it.

AshX

VODabashyan

As many of us have proven, this is incorrect. They clearly did not test it on gray or other colors. It certainly has dithering and this appears to be a PWM-style strobing flicker that occurs on this color shade and others. It has also been found on iMacs and intel MacBook Pros. Not everyone will be sensitive to it, but it does exist.

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