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engseng

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 15, 2016
36
18
Malaysia
Does the MacBook Pro uses PWM (pulse-width modulation) in the display? I am using a late 2013 MacBook Pro... I couldn't find any definite answer on whether this model uses PWM or not.
 
Your model probably does use PWM. Later models reportedly use it in the following way:

"I have a friend who works in R&D for Apple in California and he got me in contact with the head of displays for Apple. The jist of it is that 2015 MacBook Pro 15inch use no PWM until 50% brightness, at which point they use a 100Khz PWM frequency, which is well above the migraine threshold and is "undetectable" to most tests (even some cheap oscilloscopes)"

https://ledstrain.org/d/6-laptops-and-you
 
Your model probably does use PWM. Later models reportedly use it in the following way:

"I have a friend who works in R&D for Apple in California and he got me in contact with the head of displays for Apple. The jist of it is that 2015 MacBook Pro 15inch use no PWM until 50% brightness, at which point they use a 100Khz PWM frequency, which is well above the migraine threshold and is "undetectable" to most tests (even some cheap oscilloscopes)"

https://ledstrain.org/d/6-laptops-and-you

Sanpete, since your chatting to the head of displays, can you go ahead and tell them to make a standalone display again? That would be great. ;). Third party offerings are just meh. I want an  sitting on my desk...
 
Sanpete, since your chatting to the head of displays, can you go ahead and tell them to make a standalone display again? That would be great. ;). Third party offerings are just meh. I want an  sitting on my desk...

Ha, that's not me chatting with Apple, just someone at the link. I doubt they'll go into the display business again anytime soon. The release of the new MBPs would have been a great time to do that, and they chose not to.
 
Ha, that's not me chatting with Apple, just someone at the link. I doubt they'll go into the display business again anytime soon. The release of the new MBPs would have been a great time to do that, and they chose not to.

Oh I know, they're done, I just don't want them to be. Next time you're on the horns with the chief of displays, yah know... ;)
 
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Bump for the new 2017 models.

I have a 13" and have not had any issues...I'm sensitive to this. Notebook check did not find any PWM in this model either. But they did in the 15". Does anyone have issues w/ their 2017 15"?
 
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