MacBook Air panel differences

[garrel]

New MacBook Air m4 here. Has anyone noticed any difference between this panel and older models?
Comparing to my air m2, colors seems a bit more washed out in m4. Especially blacks and greys. Like they have a bit of a yellow tint. It's not something you would notice without comparing the two. Also a bit more straining I think. Panel lottery? Raw panel serial number starts with GMGH, which I never heard of before. On m2 is FP1, which is fine but not super fine. But manageable, at least for me. Could be also related to new OS update? On m2 I'm still with 15.0.1. Thanks.

 

[DHagan4755]

There's going to be some variance with LCDs. You'll need to narrow down more specifics for us. There was someone here recently with a panel issue on the 15", I believe.

 

[edubfromktown]

Have you tried disabling True Tone?

I was dealt an M4 Air 13" as my new work system. When sitting side by side next to my (personal) Pro M3 14" MBP the display did not look so great. I initially chalked it up to the lower screen resolution of the Air.

Then I realized True Tone was enabled and killed it. Much improved viewing quality and brought it somewhat closer to what I see on the M3 Pro.

 

[helloapple1]

I experienced this EXACT same thing mind you with True Tone/Nighshift both off. I've had various M4 MacBook Air's, both 13" and 15", and there has been a variance with all of them. I definitely noticed a yellow / warmish tint to them compared to older MacBook Air models like M2. I even brought it into the Apple Store for a Genius to look at it. I had called into Apple Support and sent it in for repair which they ended up replacing the entire screen on a 15" M4 MBA, but the new replaced screen ALSO has a yellow / warm / washed out look. So thinking it's just bad luck. Even looking at the models in the Apple Store they looked washed out. I'm learning to just live with it, but for the price of these devices I'm not happy.

 

[edubfromktown]

I experienced this EXACT same thing mind you with True Tone/Nighshift both off. I've had various M4 MacBook Air's, both 13" and 15", and there has been a variance with all of them. I definitely noticed a yellow / warmish tint to them compared to older MacBook Air models like M2. I even brought it into the Apple Store for a Genius to look at it. I had called into Apple Support and sent it in for repair which they ended up replacing the entire screen on a 15" M4 MBA, but the new replaced screen ALSO has a yellow / warm / washed out look. So thinking it's just bad luck. Even looking at the models in the Apple Store they looked washed out. I'm learning to just live with it, but for the price of these devices I'm not happy.

That sucks. I would continue hounding them to deliver what you expect (these things are not inexpensive!).

My work MBA is now color correct, similar to my late 2022 Pro M3 MBP (which was in for service recently).

My MBP developed an odd boomerang shadow in 3 or 4 colors on the display (from what a dead pixel test and blank all white background in notes clearly showed). AC+ expires in December so I figured it was best to get it addressed (sort of fearing I'd end up worse off with a display that had bad pixels lol).

The 1st send off to a southern US repair facility resulted in the entire lower parts being replaced. During my Carbon Copy Cloner restore from backup, I detected the same pattern on the display. Setup a 2nd genius appointment. They concurred and fortunately, had the replacement parts on hand. A few days later I got it back after they swapped the two remaining original components (display and angle/proximity sensor).

Can't complain that I now have a 100% hardware refreshed MBP but it took a couple of weeks and hardware swaps to get there.

 

[edubfromktown]

Just for fun I put the same web page on four displays:

Lower left (MBA), upper left 21.5" LG 22MD4KA-B UltraFine, middle/lower (MBP), right upper, Display Port connected (via CalDigit TS3+) AOC 27" U2790 4k.

Hands down, the MBP has the best display super dark. Next in line is the old 21.5" and MBA is close to the same. The AOC is not too shabby for $200 lol (lighting in the photo appears to have overexposed it).

If anyone is wondering... that is a daskeyboard. My all-time favorite in ~4 decades of banging away on them during my m(miraculously still going at it) IT career

 

[DHagan4755]

I experienced this EXACT same thing mind you with True Tone/Nighshift both off. I've had various M4 MacBook Air's, both 13" and 15", and there has been a variance with all of them. I definitely noticed a yellow / warmish tint to them compared to older MacBook Air models like M2. I even brought it into the Apple Store for a Genius to look at it. I had called into Apple Support and sent it in for repair which they ended up replacing the entire screen on a 15" M4 MBA, but the new replaced screen ALSO has a yellow / warm / washed out look. So thinking it's just bad luck. Even looking at the models in the Apple Store they looked washed out. I'm learning to just live with it, but for the price of these devices I'm not happy.

From my experience over the years this issue afflicts not only Apple but Dell, HP, and Lenovo. At one point I figured it out to be a panel supplier issue. I can't remember who was the culprit (LG or Samsung, although I think it was LG). Needless to say I haven't experienced this issue with the Apple silicon MacBook Pros probably because they use mini LED backlighting requiring a different type of panel instead.

 

[filmbuff]

Not really the same issue but I just noticed a small white spot on my M4 MBA display. It's only a month old so I have an appointment to take it in. This is the first time I've ever had a screen issue with a Macbook and it's making me regret that I traded in my perfectly good M2 MBP (downsizing).

 

[edubfromktown]

I hadn't had a single display issue through owning 15-20 Mac portables since OS X Kodiak G3 Pismo days up to now.

This rotated "V" discoloration was very subtle though clearly visible in brightly lit areas. The pattern was detectable only in certain solid background colors and grayscale gradients.