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For those questioning the screen quality difference between the MBA & MBP ...

Do you guys not calibrate your screens? A yellowish tint? It's probably True-tone.... It's supposed to look like that! True-tone cuts down on the cold blues, increases warm yellow/orange/reds ect... easier on the eyes in low light. Of course, you can always create your own colour profile.
 
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kp98077 said:
yeah that's a tough one.. but 16 can't be taken out of the house!
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I take it with me whenever I go out for work (3-4 days a month) and I carry it in a tomtoc sleeve that has a handle. No issues since I dont carry much else with me besides a small notebook and charger. All in total prob like 6-7lbs.
 
Isamilis said:
MBP to MBA is INDEED a downgrade. Similar screen dimension didn’t make them the same league. It‘s unrealistic to complain and compare MBA to a (much) more expensive MBP.
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the MBA15 I have (16GB/512) is only $270 cheaper than the MBP14 M2 I'm looking at. Thats one of the main factors for my change. If I was comparing the base model MBA to the base MBP thats a $600-700 difference which wouldnt be a good comparison.
 
Question. I have MBP 13 2019 model. Does new MBA 15 have better or worse screen than my MBP? Because I was thinking about upgrading to MBA 15 at some point.
 
Isamilis said:
MBP to MBA is INDEED a downgrade. Similar screen dimension didn’t make them the same league. It‘s unrealistic to complain and compare MBA to a (much) more expensive MBP.
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its very realistic, m1 pro 16inch going for 1900 on sale, price difference is only 200 bucks, m2 pro 14inch on sale for 1800, price difference is 100 bucks. i wouldn't call that much more expensive when you BTO the 15inch mba to 16gb 512gb config.
 
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Sami13496 said:
Question. I have MBP 13 2019 model. Does new MBA 15 have better or worse screen than my MBP? Because I was thinking about upgrading to MBA 15 at some point.
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its definitely not better, same or probably worse since apple been pretty slacking on the mba panels lately. there is a thread here somewhere, where folks are complaining about how apple is laminating the display module against the case.
 
Isamilis said:
MBP to MBA is INDEED a downgrade. Similar screen dimension didn’t make them the same league. It‘s unrealistic to complain and compare MBA to a (much) more expensive MBP.
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I know I keep driving my self nuts reading document on the 14 MBP vs 15 MBA and for someone who has bad eye sight its just easier on the MBP as much as I LOVE the 15 Air! What a deilima!!
 
Saturn007 said:
And, you might not even notice how blue-white that MBP is if you turned down the brightness to a usable level, one easier on the eyes! 😁
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The point was the far superior brightness available on demand with the MBP. The MBP has a far superior display, even if you personally for some reason prefer warm yellow in displays. Both MBP and MBA can be color managed but MBP has more brightness available, which is a huge deal for many folks.
 
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It's the display backlight uniformity / viewing angle that bugs me. Every MBA 15" I've looked at in the store and at home has had the same issue that the right 1/4 of the screen looks darker than the left 3/4. For some reason the MiniLED displays don't seem to have this issue. (... but it does seem very common with LCDs, maybe a limitation of the display technology)
 
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The only thing to remember about side-by-side comparisons like this is that after a short time of using one laptop or the other, that screen just becomes the norm for you. So unless you're doing something which needs the max brightness of the MBP (HDR colour grading or using it outside a lot), give it a couple of weeks and I bet you'll be happy with either one.

If you swap from one to the other regularly, of course you're going to notice the difference, but most people just don't work like that.
 
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I don't understand - "Promotion" has been a differentiator of "pro" devices for Apple for several years. iPad Pro has a better screen than iPad/iPad Air. IPhone Pro has a better screen than iPhone. Pro XDR is a better screen than Apple Studio Display/iMac. MacBook pro will have a better screen than Macbook Air. This isn't controversial
 
kp98077 said:
Is there more reflection between two screens if near a window? Which is worse for that?
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From what I've seen the screens have the same AR coating (update: checked these out again the store, the Pro has maybe 5% better reflection handling than the Air, it's close but the Pro is very slightly better). In any case the Pro will always win in bright environments with reflections because the XDR display can run SDR at an insanely high 1000 nits sustained using apps like TotalXDR, Lunar, Vivid, etc., vs. 500 nits on the Air. The only other laptop that can do that is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i which has a MiniLED display that reaches 1400 nits in HDR mode on a completely white image.
 
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The MacBook Air screen is really bad in comparison to the MBP.

Was trying to watch a HDR movie on Netflix on the M2 MBA, only to see big grey bars on the top and bottom. Grabbed my M1 12.9 iPad Pro instead, and it is much better with the entire screen being black expect for the movie content.

Also the MacBook Air screen cannot do HDR.
 
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CloudsNeverDie said:
From what I've seen the screens have the same AR coating. But the Pro will always win in bright environments with reflections because the XDR display can run SDR at an insanely high 1000 nits sustained using apps like TotalXDR, Lunar, Vivid, etc., vs. 500 nits on the Air. The only other laptop that can do that is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i which has a MiniLED display that reaches 1400 nits in HDR mode on a completely white image.
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yes good point, not very familiar with the Lenovo Pro 9i - but, looks nice
 
Zest28 said:
The MacBook Air screen is really bad in comparison to the MBP.

Also the MacBook Air screen cannot do HDR.
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“

Mac models that support HDR​

These Mac models support HDR video on their built-in display (if applicable) and external HDR10-compatible displays.
Reference https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210980

The MBA 15 is a still fantastic screen and one of the best, and this whole trashing seems to have gone off the rails.

No, you should buy one to color-grade the next Marvel film. Small, low budget? Calibrate and get on with your work.

Spoiled to a MBP and have the eyesight to edit and thoughtfully create an a NOTEBOOK screen? Well, I’m truly jealous. 😝
 
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