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My 14" doesn't seem that bright

B

badsimian

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 23, 2015
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I know that it is 500 nits for SDR but I don't even think HDR videos like on Apple TV+ look all that great either...anyone else experienced this. SDR doesn't look any brighter than my MBA (400 nits)


UPDATE I’ve changed my mind
 
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badsimian said:
I know that it is 500 nits for SDR but I don't even think HDR videos like on Apple TV+ look all that great either...anyone else experienced this. SDR doesn't look any brighter than my MBA (400 nits)
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Check some tests like at notebook check. They measure brightness and homogeneity. Subjective impressions might be...well subjective.
 
badsimian said:
HDR videos like on Apple TV+ look all that great either
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Not my experience. I usually keep my brightness around halfway and whenever I accidentally play an HDR video I get blinded and have to turn the brightness down.
 
Things like auto-brightness, Night Shift, True Tone, and so on can affect how bright the screen looks, if you have any of those on.
 
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bsamcash said:
Not my experience. I usually keep my brightness around halfway and whenever I accidentally play an HDR video I get blinded and have to turn the brightness down.
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Lol, same. I was watching Foundation last night on my new 16" and I had to lower the brightness to like half or less than half because my eyes were freaking out. Granted, I was watching in a dark room.
 
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BB8 said:
Lol, same. I was watching Foundation last night on my new 16" and I had to lower the brightness to like half or less than half because my eyes were freaking out. Granted, I was watching in a dark room.
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Impressive...and that's not even HDR. I have a 14" and HDR content you really need to lower the brightness it just punches you in the face.
 
Actually just looking at it in the car waiting for my daughter and it is bright...I think I was just in a really bright room earlier - loft room with two large skylights in it.
 
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badsimian said:
I know that it is 500 nits for SDR but I don't even think HDR videos like on Apple TV+ look all that great either...anyone else experienced this. SDR doesn't look any brighter than my MBA (400 nits)
Click to expand...
400 to 500 nits is not much of a visible difference. If I turn up an Eizo from 100 candelas to the maximum 350 candelas the difference is tiny.
 
I also think a lot of my testing of HDR in YouTube is actually not showing HDR at all. I realise I should have been seeing a little HDR symbol. I assumed the safari issue wasn't happening on FF but I wasn't getting HDR there either. Using the user agent in the developer menu, I am now seeing HDR properly. As for AppleTV+, maybe I just chose some poor demo videos.
 
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I can say that in store I didn't find the 14" screen to look all that much more impressive than the 13" air.

The 16" did look slightly brighter to me as well. Not sure if it's just an illusion based on the size though.
 
Might be a silly questions but, how do you tell if what you're watching is in HDR? Ie I just went into Apple TV+ and clicked Finch. It doesn't say anything about HDR only 4k? Is there a way/setting on the Mac to tell you if what you're watching HDR content?
 
kart said:
Might be a silly questions but, how do you tell if what you're watching is in HDR? Ie I just went into Apple TV+ and clicked Finch. It doesn't say anything about HDR only 4k? Is there a way/setting on the Mac to tell you if what you're watching HDR content?
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You can check Stats for nerds (^ [control] click on a Youtube video), and see what color code is listed - bt709 is SDR. Or you can watch the first 5 seconds of this video, at 50% screen brightness or less, and see if the logo looks several times brighter than everything else. It's really obvious when it's playing as HDR.

 
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I have a 14 and 16 side by side at the moment. The 16 is clearly brighter.

The 14" is disappointingly dim for most tasks, in my opinion. It's equally as bright to my gaming laptop, which is rated at 350nits. I'm always tapping the brightness up key hoping to find more juice.
 
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SDR brightness measurements (nits) by Notebookcheck:

14" MBP:

Screen Shot 2021-11-19 at 4.23.13 PM.png


16" MBP:

Screen Shot 2021-11-19 at 4.22.47 PM.png


So yes, the 16" is slightly brighter. (Of course, the total light (candelas) emitted is much greater simply due to the 30% larger screen area.)

Sorry to derail a good impending rant with some facts :)
 
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Panels vary though

i saw a 16” at the Apple store that was notably dimmer than the 14“ beside it.
 
A lot of this is perception. I’m coming to the conclusion that my expectation before receiving it is partly to blame. The SDR being very similar to the MBA actually I probably shouldn’t be surprised about as when the M1 machines came out I at the time argued that the MBA and MBP were so similar it wasn’t worth worrying about. The other aspect is that once HDR starts playing you get used to it very quickly and going back to SDR can suddenly make that look flat and dim. Having played a sample HDR clip in a window next to a web site with a white background makes the web page look grey! Whereas I’d have said the web page was a lovely and crisp white before the video came up.

I think the size of screen makes a difference as well. I’ve got yhe LG 5K ultra fine which seems really bright but I think it’s just down to the amount of display outputting.

Finally the safari issue with HDR YouTube means I wasn’t always seeing HDR either. The settings cog actually says HDR on it when it’s working. I’ve just watched a video of Vegas and it looked stunning. Also next to an MBA and the contrast is clearly much better on the new machines too.
 
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