Macbook air 2018 screen brightness

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I see a lot of people comparing the screens, both on full brightness. But, after dismissing the MBA because it's dim, they turn down the brightness on the new MBP when they go to work on the machine. Go figure.

This maybe lost in translation, but it's not the brightness per se. As I mentioned earlier, the brightness/nits on the MacBook is slightly lower than on the Air, but yet it's still more vibrant. And there is no preset or manual calibration on the Air that helps. There is a dullness in color when playing video on the Air, in comparison to the MB, MBP, and most PC laptops. And no it's not an auto brightness issue like previous versions of the Air.

Being that said, this has nothing to do with someone complaining about the MBA and using their MBP with lower brightness, cause even on the MBP on lower brightness, video colors would still pop vs looking dull on the MBA.

 

[jinnyman]

Because of my job change, I was in market for a portable mac labptop, and hence, I'd put a serious consideration in a new macbook air. However, the quality of screen and low brightness was not acceptable for the price level of Macbook Air. Regardless of its naming, Air is no longer a cheap laptop. You'd need to spend almost 2k in order to have 256 gb.

Very disappointing. Eventually, i've got 13" MBP hate the touchbar, but oh well.

 

[Macminds]

just received rMBA space grey 8/128
left rMBA 2018 right rMBP 15 2012
screen is very yellowish

https://imgur.com/q0oyduT

 

[auxbuss]

just received rMBA space grey 8/128
left rMBA 2018 right rMBP 15 2012
screen is very yellowish

https://imgur.com/q0oyduT

Is Night Shift on?

Either way, the colour profile of the MBA is different to the MBP – I have both too. It's noticeable side-by-side – as the specs of the displays indicate – but in use it not an issue, because our eyes adapt; as they do with internal lighting, whatever its colour balance might be.

I'd recommend just using it and seeing how you get on. I've had mine for weeks now and have no difficultly moving between machines. The MBP is undoubtedly "better" – it has better whites and overall colour depth (per specs) – but the MBA is no less usable for 99% of tasks.

 

[Kognitive Distortion]

Hi all

I bought an MacBook Air 2018. I really like this Computer. The design is dope, the keyboard is dope, it’s smooth and fast. I bought this Computer to replace my MacBook Pro 2010 model. I think the screen is bright enough and I am sure I will complete all my photo/video projects just fine. I did with my MBP 2010, why not with this one? A brighter screen or more vibrant colours etc. doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get a better result editing a picture for example, your skills does. The point is to be creative. I knew guys that have/had the “best” Computer just to brag about and do nothing with the power of it. Anyway, I think the screen is bright enough, if you asked me, if it went 2 tics more lighter it would be better, but if it was 2 tics lighter I would probably bring it down 2-4 tics. So far I use this display at 70,80,90,100% brightness.

Question 1:

The brightness doesn’t really concern me, what concerns me is that, if I use this display for ever at 100% brightness, this brightness will remain the same for ever? or it will lose it’s brightness after a few years? (For ever = 3,4,5 years for example) Do retina displays lose their brightness?

Question 2:

If I open a white safari page, a blank page. Or a white color, on full screen. I NOTICE that as I look, the right side is a bit dimmer than the left side. I noticed that after 3 days of use, and I immediately went it to the local apple store (not official), the employee couldn’t see the difference. I saw it and I am sure? about it. I left the MBA to the store and he said that he run the official apple diagnostics test and the computer appears to be fine so I took it back. It’s not that a big deal, the difference is very small, but I can see it. Besides that if you have a wallpaper or other colors, you can’t see almost a thing about that difference. So, if I open a blank white safari page, my right side is a bit dimmer than the left. I tested that with 1 eye open, 1 closed, both 2 eyes, just to make sure it’s not my eyes problem. I also took a picture of the screen with the cellphone focused on the center of the screen and used the color picker tool at photoshop. So I am kinda sure that my right side is a very bit dimmer than the left side. I also started watching reviews on youtube about MacBook Air 2018 just to watch the screen and I think I noticed the same thing on some of the reviews that had white element for a bit on their MBA. For example, if I am on my Desktop, and open a new finder window and move it from the right side to the left side, on the whites or gray, I can see the difference. Small difference but I can see it. I think I am right and it’s not my eyesight fooling me.

Is this normal ? Or the screen had to be identical dim on both sides? For example dimmer on the left, dimmer on the right, brighter at the center? I believe my screen brightness is not symmetrical. Not a big deal, but I would like to know if other MacBook Air 2018 users have the same monitor as mine, and if that “a bit dimmer on the one side” is normal. I don’t know if people noticed this thing I am mentioning, I have a real OCD and this thing is bugging me a bit, but hopefully I will accept it soon and don’t care. I am also new to the Retina display since my old Mac was 2010 model. I am still not sure if it’s my eyes or the monitor tho. But I think is the monitor Ouf!! Anyway!

And another thing I noticed 3 or 4 times is that a "GLITCH of graphics" appeared on the bottom of the screen and left immediately. Just mentioning this.

THANKS for reading my message and happy new year !!!

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Question 1:

The brightness doesn’t really concern me, what concerns me is that, if I use this display for ever at 100% brightness, this brightness will remain the same for ever? or it will lose it’s brightness after a few years? (For ever = 3,4,5 years for example) Do retina displays lose their brightness?

I guess over time the backlight could get dimmer. How long it takes? I have a 6 year old Alienware that still looks the same as the day I bought it though. I typically keep my screen at around 70% brightness.

Question 2:

If I open a white safari page, a blank page. Or a white color, on full screen. I NOTICE that as I look, the right side is a bit dimmer than the left side. I noticed that after 3 days of use, and I immediately went it to the local apple store (not official), the employee couldn’t see the difference. I saw it and I am sure? about it. I left the MBA to the store and he said that he run the official apple diagnostics test and the computer appears to be fine so I took it back. It’s not that a big deal, the difference is very small, but I can see it. Besides that if you have a wallpaper or other colors, you can’t see almost a thing about that difference. So, if I open a blank white safari page, my right side is a bit dimmer than the left. I tested that with 1 eye open, 1 closed, both 2 eyes, just to make sure it’s not my eyes problem. I also took a picture of the screen with the cellphone focused on the center of the screen and used the color picker tool at photoshop. So I am kinda sure that my right side is a very bit dimmer than the left side. I also started watching reviews on youtube about MacBook Air 2018 just to watch the screen and I think I noticed the same thing on some of the reviews that had white element for a bit on their MBA. For example, if I am on my Desktop, and open a new finder window and move it from the right side to the left side, on the whites or gray, I can see the difference. Small difference but I can see it. I think I am right and it’s not my eyesight fooling me.

Is this normal ? Or the screen had to be identical dim on both sides? For example dimmer on the left, dimmer on the right, brighter at the center? I believe my screen brightness is not symmetrical. Not a big deal, but I would like to know if other MacBook Air 2018 users have the same monitor as mine, and if that “a bit dimmer on the one side” is normal. I don’t know if people noticed this thing I am mentioning, I have a real OCD and this thing is bugging me a bit, but hopefully I will accept it soon and don’t care. I am also new to the Retina display since my old Mac was 2010 model. I am still not sure if it’s my eyes or the monitor tho. But I think is the monitor Ouf!! Anyway!

When I had the 18 MBA, I did not notice any screen brightness differences. Seemed to be uniform. On the subsequent 2 replacements, not so good. There were areas that seemed brighter and dimmer. In the end, we threw the towel in on the MBA and just bought a 18 MBP when Best Buy had them on a 1 day sale for $1499.

And another thing I noticed 3 or 4 times is that a "GLITCH of graphics" appeared on the bottom of the screen and left immediately. Just mentioning this.

THANKS for reading my message and happy new year !!!

My original 18 MBA was returned for not coming on when opening the lid nor pressing any keys (even though the key backlight would turn on). Tried resetting the PRAM, SMC, reinstalling Mojave. Even Apple couldn't figure it out and asked for the for the computer back. When the screen would finally come back on, it looked like a TV station that got no signal in green and pink. If I was tripping, it would have been a wild ride. Maybe a bug in the Mojave drivers?

 

[lambertjohn]

Pretty sure the MBP has the same exact keyboard and some models might still be on the older one that has issues. Good screen is subjective. There are dozens of user reviews on Best Buy and most of them are very positive without mentioning a bad screen.

The reason there are dozens of positive reviews on BB website is because most of those purchasers are first-time Macbook owners or people upgrading from the old MacBook Air (or something even older.) Obviously, screen brightness won't be an issue for those folks.

 

[Joe Cookie]

Hi all


And another thing I noticed 3 or 4 times is that a "GLITCH of graphics" appeared on the bottom of the screen and left immediately. Just mentioning this.

THANKS for reading my message and happy new year !!!

Was that "glitch" something like the "problem" reported here?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-macbook-air-screen-issue.2162680/

 

[SpunZ]

Played with the rMBA at Best Buy this weekend while waiting for my battery replacement service on my phone. Overall seemed snappy and responsive. The screen looked good in the well lit store, but I will say anything below 100% brightness almost appeared unusable. Are the people reporting good battery life on this machine using it at 100% brightness?

 

[0014]

I’m getting around 9-10hrs use out of it before charging. This is running down to around 15-20%.

I haven’t had a situation yet, even in a well lit room, that has required max brightness. At most I’ve been 3 notches from full. But generally I’m at half or just over. I don’t however use mine outside.

I had a 2015 rMBP prior to this and when I got the MBA I changed the white point to 7250. Screen on the MBA has been fine since for me.

Currently with 36% remaining I’ve got about 4hrs use left and you can see how long it’s been on battery, some of which is overnight and travelling to/from work and meetings when lid is closed

 

[Wags]

The reason there are dozens of positive reviews on BB website is because most of those purchasers are first-time Macbook owners or people upgrading from the old MacBook Air (or something even older.) Obviously, screen brightness won't be an issue for those folks.

They also give out gift certificates for reviews. Seems like the ‘verified purchaser’ reviews are mostly highly favorable with all their product reviews.

 

[Kognitive Distortion]

Was that "glitch" something like the "problem" reported here?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-macbook-air-screen-issue.2162680/

Not exactly, the whole screen was OK, just a glitch popped from the bottom end and disappeared after a second or less. But the color glitch looked a bit like that small color glitch down-right I think on the first picture on the post you told me. It looked something like this in that pictures I uploaded.

I also run apple diagnostics and it says the system is fine.

I don't really have a problem with that glitch, at least so far, it just popped 2-3 times. My screen looks OK, but as I said on my before post, I think the brightness on the right side is a bit dimmer than the left. Also at the local apple shop I checked the MBA that was for the customers to see and the screen was exactly like mine. I think it's how this monitor is. But I don't know too. It's not very noticeable, but it is to me.

I would appreciate if someone with MBA 2018 open a blank white safari page and see if his right side of the screen is a bit dimmer than the left side. Thanks and happy new year to all !!

 

[KB23]

Not exactly, the whole screen was OK, just a glitch popped from the bottom end and disappeared after a second or less. But the color glitch looked a bit like that small color glitch down-right I think on the first picture on the post you told me. It looked something like this in that pictures I uploaded.

I also run apple diagnostics and it says the system is fine.

I don't really have a problem with that glitch, at least so far, it just popped 2-3 times. My screen looks OK, but as I said on my before post, I think the brightness on the right side is a bit dimmer than the left. Also at the local apple shop I checked the MBA that was for the customers to see and the screen was exactly like mine. I think it's how this monitor is. But I don't know too. It's not very noticeable, but it is to me.

I would appreciate if someone with MBA 2018 open a blank white safari page and see if his right side of the screen is a bit dimmer than the left side. Thanks and happy new year to all !!

I think that the left side is a bit brighter.. strange I never noticed it before you pointed it out.

 

[Kognitive Distortion]

I think that the left side is a bit brighter.. strange I never noticed it before you pointed it out.

Thanks for letting me now!

 

[bearinthetown]

I would like to understand what happened to the battery here. Before I got mine MBA 2018, I was like „why people complain about the brightness, how often do you use max brightness anyway?”. But now I’m curious why does MBA 2018 eat the battery like that. If maximum brightness is about 2/3 of previous generation’s maximum brightness, why is the battery so bad on „maximum” level? I used to have my previous MBA set to 4 blocks under maximum brightness and it was still a sacrifice to my liking. I like bright colors and these were dull in a room with a daylight. But with the new MBA, I’m getting around 6 hours of battery life on auto brightness, which is usually one or two steps from max in my bright room. I mean, should I make the screen lifeless and ugly to make it have a decent battery life or what? How did Apple advertisecit as 12 hours is beyond me. It’s like that in the dark only and with everything disabled I guess. Old MBAs were the case of 10 or 8 hours instead of 12 and that’s on a bright screen. The new one is 6 hours on a darker screen and Apple still calls this battery an improvement. I mean, wtf?

 

[jpn]

my own unscientific comparison between the display of the new 2018 macbook air, and, the display of an older macbook air (specifically 2015 macbook air)

the new macbook air display is right there at the point where any less bright would be a major problem.
it is a little less bright than the older model i reference. maybe one click less bright (using the increase/decrease brightness button).

so, in this respect, apple did a a spot on job of ensuring that anything more than a minimally acceptable brightness level, as it was probably seeking to do. it knew what it was doing.
this machine is supposed to be able to have longer battery life, and sip power.

no one could say this machine has a bright display.* it would be untrue.

but it is acceptable for me (and probably for most people) although you do find yourself hitting the increase brightness button a lot, only to find it already is at max.

i love it. (and the keyboard (3rd gen butterfly) is wonderful as well)

*just as it is not a speed demon either. but that's a different matter. definitely max out RAM on this one.

 

[Wags]

I would like to understand what happened to the battery here. Before I got mine MBA 2018, I was like „why people complain about the brightness, how often do you use max brightness anyway?”. But now I’m curious why does MBA 2018 eat the battery like that. If maximum brightness is about 2/3 of previous generation’s maximum brightness, why is the battery so bad on „maximum” level? I used to have my previous MBA set to 4 blocks under maximum brightness and it was still a sacrifice to my liking. I like bright colors and these were dull in a room with a daylight. But with the new MBA, I’m getting around 6 hours of battery life on auto brightness, which is usually one or two steps from max in my bright room. I mean, should I make the screen lifeless and ugly to make it have a decent battery life or what? How did Apple advertisecit as 12 hours is beyond me. It’s like that in the dark only and with everything disabled I guess. Old MBAs were the case of 10 or 8 hours instead of 12 and that’s on a bright screen. The new one is 6 hours on a darker screen and Apple still calls this battery an improvement. I mean, wtf?

Ya. Test and claims are never based on real average user experience. The redesign was for the MBA to be just good enough with maximum profit in mind down to the cents.

 

[NW_Islander]

Any new owners want to comment on the 2018 air screen brightness. Is it an issue as some reviews have pointed out (doesn’t get bright enough).

I picked mine up on Sunday morning (Space Gray, 16GB, 512GB SSD), upgrading from an early 2011 13.3" MBP with 2.3ghz i5, and 4gb of 1333Mhz ram, 384MB integrated graphics. Anything is an improvement upon that artifact.

The old MBP display is a bit dimmer than the new MBA, and I was initially worried based on reviews, but I thought back on how often I wished I had a brighter screen over the past 8 years, and it was probably less than 5 times.

3 days in, and I'm still in the honeymoon phase. Light-years faster, crisper display, 4x the ram. I'll report back once the sparkle wears off.

 

[nartycrem]

my own unscientific comparison between the display of the new 2018 macbook air, and, the display of an older macbook air (specifically 2015 macbook air)

the new macbook air display is right there at the point where any less bright would be a major problem for me.
it is a little less bright than the older model i reference. maybe one click less bright (using the increase/decrease brightness button).

so, in this respect, apple did a a spot on job of ensuring that anything more than a minimally acceptable brightness level,
as it was probably seeking to do. it knew what it was doing.
this machine is supposed to be able to have longer battery life, and sip power.

no one could say this machine has a bright display.* it would be untrue.

but it is acceptable for me (and probably for most people) although you do find yourself hitting the increase brightness button a lot, only to find it already is at max.

i love it.

*just as it is not a speed demon either. but that's a different matter.

I'm curious to know what the serial number is on your MBA. I've read that the displays vary by serial number... I don't have the same brightness issues you are having--in fact, anything brighter than 50% is too bright for my eyes in most situations. My serial number starts with FVF.

 

[bearinthetown]

I'm curious to know what the serial number is on your MBA. I've read that the displays vary by serial number... I don't have the same brightness issues you are having--in fact, anything brighter than 50% is too bright for my eyes in most situations. My serial number starts with FVF.

Wow, anything beyond 50% is too bright? Man you love dull image.

 

[jpn]

I'm curious to know what the serial number is on your MBA. I've read that the displays vary by serial number... I don't have the same brightness issues you are having--in fact, anything brighter than 50% is too bright for my eyes in most situations. My serial number starts with FVF.

yr machine is the exception it appears: quote "anything brighter than 50% is too bright for my eyes" end quote

wow. walk into any apple store and shift the macbook Air display down to 50%.

unless of course you do yr work in a totally dark room.

my machine's number starts with FVF.

 

[nartycrem]

yr machine is the exception it appears: quote "anything brighter than 50% is too bright for my eyes" end quote

wow. walk into any apple store and shift the macbook Air display down to 50%.

unless of course you do yr work in a totally dark room.

my machine's number starts with FVF.

Interesting. For people who don't work in brightly lit rooms, I don't think the display is an issue. I agree that 50 percent is too dim and dull in the Apple store (anything below 2 notches from the max I would consider dim in that environment). I work at a university, and pretty much every room that I frequent is poorly lit.

Or, maybe I'm an exception and it's not my specific computer that is the exception--I've spent too many hours behind a computer screen (averaging 10-14 hours a day for the past 7 years) and perhaps my eyes are more sensitive to light now.

 

[Mackinjosh]

I was worried about the 300 nits being a problem until I looked up how many nits my 2014 13 inch has and it's maximum is 250. I never use my MBP above halfway on the brightness bar, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say 300 nits will be fine.

 

[revmacian]

One of my housemates just got a 2018 MBA. I was curious about the screen so I set his side-by-side with my 2017 MBP to compare the screen brightness. I found that his MBA was set at maximum brightness and my MBP was set to my normal/comfortable level.. and his 2018 MBA screen was actually brighter than my 2017 MBP screen.

Many people set both the 2018 MBA and 2017 MBP screens to max brightness, compare brightness levels and then complain that the MBA screen is dim - they never take into consideration that some people never use their MBP with the screen brightness set to maximum.

I feel this whole 2018 MBA screen brightness discussion may be a moot point for many people.

 

[nartycrem]

One of my housemates just got a 2018 MBA. I was curious about the screen so I set his side-by-side with my 2017 MBP to compare the screen brightness. I found that his MBA was set at maximum brightness and my MBP was set to my normal/comfortable level.. and his 2018 MBA screen was actually brighter than my 2017 MBP screen.

Many people set both the 2018 MBA and 2017 MBP screens to max brightness, compare brightness levels and then complain that the MBA screen is dim - they never take into consideration that some people never use their MBP with the screen brightness set to maximum.

I feel this whole screen 2018 MBA brightness discussion may be a moot point for many people.

These are exactly my thoughts, from my personal experience with my 2018 MBP 15 inch and my 2018 MBA. 50% brightness is too dim for me with my MBP, so I use it at 70% most of the time. On the other hand, I can use my MBA at 50% in the same lighting conditions.

So, even though in theory the MBP is more capable of being extremely bright (500 nits vs. 300 nits), side-by-side, 50% brightness on the MBP does not equal the same brightness on a MBA set at 50%. In my case, as I said earlier, 70% MBP = 50% MBA. And that 70% is killing my battery.