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The next MacBook Air needs to be 120Hz screen

creamz

creamz

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 2, 2015
88
40
Seriously Apple. Not putting wifi7 on their new Macbook Pro’s range is a major disappointment on their part. And only recently acknowledging the fact that base finally needs a 16GB RAM.

So what do you guys think about 120Hz screen for the next M4 MacBook Air? It isn’t exactly new anymore as devices first came with the 120Hz screen has already been long overdue for an upgrade on itself.
 
Sirious said:
For Apple, a high refresh rate is called 'Pro-motion', therefore a 'Pro' feature. I dont think it will trickle down to the budget Mac notebook at all. Its one of the USP's of the MacBook Pro.
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The regular iPhone 17 seems to be getting ProMotion, so I'm sure the MacBook Air will get it eventually. Doubt it will be with the M4 version though.
 
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Rumors of the regular 17 getting 120Hz gives me hope that Apple will drop the ProMotion name and expand it to the non-pro lineup. What the actual timeline will be, who knows?
 
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Mike82 said:
The regular iPhone 17 seems to be getting ProMotion, so I'm sure the MacBook Air will get it eventually. Doubt it will be with the M4 version though.
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Well MR released the article yesterday that Apple is 'developing' a 90 hz screen for the next Studio Display and iPad Air, so this could be used with the next Macbook Air possibly, or it could get a Promotion screen in line with the iPhone 17 models as heavily rumoured.

One thing though, there is nothing 'Pro' about the current Promotion screen, its just a 120 hz screen with Variable refresh rate.
 
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snipr125 said:
Well MR released the article yesterday that Apple is 'developing' a 90 hz screen for the next Studio Display and iPad Air, so this could be used with the next Macbook Air possibly, or it could get a Promotion screen in line with the iPhone 17 models as heavily rumoured.

One thing though, there is nothing 'Pro' about the current Promotion screen, its just a 120 hz screen with Variable refresh rate.
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I do not agree that there is nothing pro about the pro screens on MBP m1 and beyond.

Mini LED screen tech is Pro level because it has better color accuracy and reproduction and higher brightness compared to the best OLED screens, and of course the variable 120hz refresh rate. The Pro screens are calibrated to be used in graphic arts and other media and the air screens are simply a 60hz IPS LCD and don't have the much higher contrast and deeper blacks that the pro screens have.

I do agree some type of variable refresh rate for the air would be nice but I don't really think it is as important as a lot of people on here think. Yes, 120hz would reduce blurring of text when scrolling and for gaming but otherwise there isn't much of a difference.

Personally I would rather have a higher contrast and deeper blacks than the current IPS LCD screen than high refresh rate???
 
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snipr125 said:
One thing though, there is nothing 'Pro' about the current Promotion screen, its just a 120 hz screen with Variable refresh rate.
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Basically this. I can't tell the difference between 60hz Air and 120hz MBP 14 because of the below:
1) IPS used in Apple devices have very slow response time coupled with ghosting, smearing and slow pixel color change.
2) Variable refresh rate kills the deal couple with point above. What is the point of 120hz if it starts scrolling at 30 then rams up to 60 and finally 120 but i am already done scrolling.

If anything at all, my lenovo legion 17.3 had 144hz IPS 1080P display with fast response times. That thing was mind blowing and moving from that smoothness to M1 Air was a real pain at the beginning. While i can hop all day between MBP 14 and MBA13 and not notice a difference.
 
Technerd108 said:
I do not agree that there is nothing pro about the pro screens on MBP m1 and beyond.

Mini LED screen tech is Pro level because it has better color accuracy and reproduction and higher brightness compared to the best OLED screens, and of course the variable 120hz refresh rate. The Pro screens are calibrated to be used in graphic arts and other media and the air screens are simply a 60hz IPS LCD and don't have the much higher contrast and deeper blacks that the pro screens have.

I do agree some type of variable refresh rate for the air would be nice but I don't really think it is as important as a lot of people on here think. Yes, 120hz would reduce blurring of text when scrolling and for gaming but otherwise there isn't much of a difference.

Personally I would rather have a higher contrast and deeper blacks than the current IPS LCD screen than high refresh rate???
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I was referring to just Apples marketing of Promotion, the 120 hz Variable refresh rate thats in iphone pro, ipad and macbook pros in general.

Screen tech like Tandem OLED and Mini LED can be seen as ‘Pro’ for the reasons you stated like colour accuracy, brightness, reference mode etc for sure.
 
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The new Mac Mini (non Pro model) allows 120hz via HDMI, and new iPhone models are rumored to carry that as well, so I feel like there is hope! If so, I will definitely upgrade from my M2 MacBook Air 15in.
 
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DeepSix said:
120hz on a laptop screen is greatly overrrated. It's not noticable like on a phone or ipad.
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Your right, but the 120 hz refresh rate on laptops is good for playing games at higher FPS so there is that benefit
 
ctjack said:
No, 60hz is fixed on airs.
And because mbp has variable refresh rate, it is hard to notice big difference between the two.
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Plus the mini LED screen's tear. They have a 20 millisecond delay. This gives the same experience as a 60hz screen because of the poor response time even with a higher refresh rate. People don't understand this fundamental difference.

I'm fact, I bet on a lot of cases that you would not be able to perceive a meaningful difference except in specific cases but again the poor response time also affects things like gaming.

I was really hoping that Apple would double down on it's tech instead of using OLED by making micro LED screen with a lower response delay would greatly improve the current MBP screens and in my opinion be superior to any OLED screen.
 
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ctjack said:
No, 60hz is fixed on airs.
And because mbp has variable refresh rate, it is hard to notice big difference between the two.
Click to expand...

My phone also has variable refresh rate when on 60Hz and 120Hz and I can easily tell the difference. I don't have an MBP, but whenever I play with one at an Apple store it doesn't feel as fast as smooth as my phone's 120Hz and to be honest I've never used one and thought to myself 'oh it's 120Hz'. If someone hands me their phone however it's immediately noticeable if it's on 120Hz or 60Hz.

Must be to do with this then:

Technerd108 said:
Plus the mini LED screen's tear. They have a 20 millisecond delay. This gives the same experience as a 60hz screen because of the poor response time even with a higher refresh rate. People don't understand this fundamental difference.

I'm fact, I bet on a lot of cases that you would not be able to perceive a meaningful difference except in specific cases but again the poor response time also affects things like gaming.

I was really hoping that Apple would double down on it's tech instead of using OLED by making micro LED screen with a lower response delay would greatly improve the current MBP screens and in my opinion be superior to any OLED screen.
Click to expand...
 
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I think it's purely marketing to push people buy Pro when they could just do with Air, cheaper windows laptops have 144hz even my cheap external portable display has 144hz, so there is little different in the cost for higher refresh rate. I think it will be like 8gb ram, apple only upgraded when everyone else have 16gb by default, so when 120hz will be just a default for everything else apple probably will follow as well, otherwise it will look like lagging behing too much.
 
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