iPad Pro Text Sharpness - iPad Pro M1 vs. M5

[usmaak]

I just replaced my and my wife’s iPad Pro M1 with the M5. For some reason that I can’t figure out, these are not bothering my eyes like the M4 did, even though it is the same screen.

One thing that I have noticed, however, is that text on the M5 does not look quite as sharp as it does on the M1. It’s like It’s kind of difficult to explain. It looks a bit more pixelated on the M5. These are both new and do not have the nanoglass.

Is there any reason why it would be this way? I’d expect the M5 to be better than the M1 in the display of text.

 

[01cowherd]

The M2 and earlier iPad Pros have an IPS LCD with a standard RGB subpixel arrangement (red, green, and blue subpixels are vertical stripes forming the square pixel like |||). The M4 and M5 iPad Pros have a tandem OLED with a different subpixel arrangement that looks something like ī| (minus the serifs). This tends to reduce clarity and introduce color fringing at the edges of lines and text. OLED also are more susceptible to “grain”, where solid colors have texture when they should be a single color due to slight variations among the pixels.

Grainy display on new iPad Pro M4?

Here a shoot from the iPad Pro 13“ Display. This is the same crap matrix from the „Nintendo switch Oled“ with two blue subpixels…

forums.macrumors.com

 

[usmaak]

The M2 and earlier iPad Pros have an IPS LCD with a standard RGB subpixel arrangement (red, green, and blue subpixels are vertical stripes forming the square pixel like |||). The M4 and M5 iPad Pros have a tandem OLED with a different subpixel arrangement that looks something like ī| (minus the serifs). This tends to reduce clarity and introduce color fringing at the edges of lines and text. OLED also are more susceptible to “grain”, where solid colors have texture when they should be a single color due to slight variations among the pixels.

Grainy display on new iPad Pro M4?

Here a shoot from the iPad Pro 13“ Display. This is the same crap matrix from the „Nintendo switch Oled“ with two blue subpixels…

forums.macrumors.com

I figured I was just imagining it but I spent some time with both and text on the old ones looked better. So these displays aren't as good with text but are better with images?

 

[01cowherd]

I figured I was just imagining it but I spent some time with both and text on the old ones looked better. So these displays aren't as good with text but are better with images?

It's not always clear-cut, but often yes. For example, in dark mode, you might find text looks better since there isn't mini-LED blooming – especially around subtitles/closed captions in videos. But, in general, for a given resolution, text still looks sharpest on your typical LCD display.

If you want to see more extreme examples, you can find plenty of discussion and videos about text clarity issues on QD-OLED gaming displays (especially the older ones with triangle RGB, yet another subpixel arrangement) compared to standard LCD displays.

 

[usmaak]

It's not always clear-cut, but often yes. For example, in dark mode, you might find text looks better since there isn't mini-LED blooming – especially around subtitles/closed captions in videos. But, in general, for a given resolution, text still looks sharpest on your typical LCD display.

If you want to see more extreme examples, you can find plenty of discussion and videos about text clarity issues on QD-OLED gaming displays (especially the older ones with triangle RGB, yet another subpixel arrangement) compared to standard LCD displays.

This is interesting. Everyone acts like OLED is the best thing to ever happen to screens. I do a lot of reading on my iPad and I prefer how text on the older one looks. The only reason I got a new one is the battery isn’t great anymore.

I might be better off returning this and getting an iPad Air when the M4 comes out. Though I would miss the pro motion and the iPad Pro M4/M5 magic keyboard is fantastic.

 

[01cowherd]

Everyone acts like OLED is the best thing to ever happen to screens.

It has some real advantages over LCD, especially for gaming and media consumption usage where the advantage is overwhelmingly for OLED. But then the hype gets carried away… Further reading, if interested: https://www.rtings.com/monitor/learn/ips-vs-oled