MacBook Pro M4 warm reddish screen query

[colinw123]

I recently got a MacBook Pro M4 and noticed the screen has a warm reddish tint, its most noticeable whenever the brightness is below say 50%.

Not totally sure what I'm doing but I went into the accessibility, display section and have enabled colour filters and tweaked the RGB values to get it to my liking. So a more cooler looking display.

Is it normal to have to do this on a new MacBook Pro, are there any better options for tweaking the display so the whites and greys look more like I expect them to look.

I understand its subjective to me, I tried taking a photo using my iPhone but it does not highlight I'm seeing by eye.

See screenshots showing how I had to set it for my liking.

 

[MaximTV]

Hmm, it's hard to say what's considered normal and what's not, since the screens can vary very slightly.

Did you have the True Tone feature enabled or disabled?

 

[colinw123]

Hmm, it's hard to say what's considered normal and what's not, since the screens can vary very slightly.

Did you have the True Tone feature enabled or disabled?

Hi, no sorry forgot to say they are both off.

Yeh I understand it is difficult especially when I can't seem to show a photo of it.

 

[MaximTV]

Hi, no sorry forgot to say they are both off.

Yeh I understand it is difficult especially when I can't seem to show a photo of it.

Okay. I recommend checking if the issue persists when True Tone is enabled.

If it does, it might be best to compare it to other MacBook Pro M4s in a store near you.

Or you can just exchange it
(in some cases, Apple will even let you keep your current Mac until the new one arrives).

 

[colinw123]

Okay. I recommend checking if the issue persists when True Tone is enabled.

If it does, it might be best to compare it to other MacBook Pro M4s in a store near you.

Or you can just exchange it
(in some cases, Apple will even let you keep your current Mac until the new one arrives).

Ok will do, cheers for the reply anyway.

 

[alfogator]

Usually they are well calibrated from the factory so it's strange you feel the need to tweak it. I'd check it out.

If you have an iphone you can download a white balance kelvin meter app, open a full white page on your macbook screen and read its value with the app (better to do it in a dark room to be safe), you can see the kelvin point and eventual tint of your screen.

 

[colinw123]

Usually they are well calibrated from the factory so it's strange you feel the need to tweak it. I'd check it out.

If you have an iphone you can download a white balance kelvin meter app, open a full white page on your macbook screen and read its value with the app (better to do it in a dark room to be safe), you can see the kelvin point and eventual tint of your screen.

Ok thanks for that I will give it a go.

 

[colinw123]

ok so here are my screenshots using the white balance app. the brightness was just under 50%

the 5350 is default out of the box value and 6100 is my tweaked adjustment.

 

[colinw123]

I have found another setting now instead of the colour tint option, visual fine tune, so I might adjust it using this method instead.

 

[alfogator]

it should be 6000 out of the box so something is not right

 

[jabbr]

isn't 6500K the usual target?

 

[alfogator]

isn't 6500K the usual target?

6000 is what that specific app reads for a stock display.

 

[colinw123]

Oh ok so I'm not going mad then and it seems I did coincidentally adjust the colour tint to a value it should be out the box?

Using the fine tune option above I got this value now.

Is there some way of reseting the white balance maybe.

 

[alfogator]

Just to be sure, what's your preset in the Display pane in System Settings?

 

[colinw123]

this preset here, I've now adjusted the display for 6000 Kelvin.

 

[bedubodoh]

did you try updating OS?

 

[colinw123]

did you try updating OS?

yes i did that a soon as i got it out of the box, so its all up to date. Although it said it was on 15.1 out of the box and updated to 15.1, did not seem to take long either. maybe just an incremental update.

 

[MrGimper]

Wasn't aware of the iphone app, that's useful, thanks.

For a reference point, my 16" MBP M3 Max at 54% brightness and TT off is 6100

 

[colinw123]

Wasn't aware of the iphone app, that's useful, thanks.

For a reference point, my 16" MBP M3 Max at 54% brightness and TT off is 6100

View attachment 2451240

ok nice one, thanks for that, I will bear that in mind.

 

[colinw123]

So from a display reset which reads 5450 Kelvin I have to adjust the visual fine tune to this position to just about make 6000 Kelvin, sometimes it drops to 5950 Kelvin, right on the outer limit, I can't go any further. Weird display.

 

[alfogator]

If you still can I'd return it and get a new one.

 

[colinw123]

If you still can I'd return it and get a new one.

Yeh I could do that's true, I have until 8 Jan 2025 to return it instead of the usual two weeks due to the festive period.

 

[MaximTV]

Yeh I could do that's true, I have until 8 Jan 2025 to return it instead of the usual two weeks due to the festive period.

Then I would definitely exchange it.

 

[colinw123]

I replaced my laptop today and went for a 16" this time, straight out of the box its the exact same colour temp as the 14" I had, 5400 Kelvin so either this is the norm or I'm doing something wrong ?

 

[MaximTV]

I replaced my laptop today and went for a 16" this time, straight out of the box its the exact same colour temp as the 14" I had, 5400 Kelvin so either this is the norm or I'm doing something wrong ?

Did you set it up as a new Mac or did you restore it from a Time Machine Backup?