Two 15” M4 MacBook Airs, exact same settings, very different white points

[helloapple1]

(Images attached below)

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed display colour differences between 15" M4 MacBook Air units.

I have two 15" M4 MacBook Airs side by side:

- Left: base model

- Right: 24GB RAM / 512GB storage model

Both are using the exact same display settings:

- True Tone off

- Night Shift off

- Default Color LCD profile

- No custom colour profile

- No colour filters

- Same white page/document open

- Same brightness level

The issue is that the base model on the left looks noticeably warmer/yellower, almost cream-coloured, while the 24GB/512GB model on the right looks much more neutral white. It is especially obvious on white backgrounds.

I know some amount of panel variation is normal, but this looks pretty noticeable to me. In person the model on the left looks like it has a piss stain filter on it making it really uncomfortable to work on. The base model only has 6 battery cycles and still has warranty until March 2027, so I’m trying to figure out whether this is normal “panel lottery” or something worth bringing to Apple for inspection.

Has anyone else seen this with the M4 MacBook Air displays? Would Apple consider this within spec, or does this look like a display calibration/panel issue?

 

[FrozenDarkness]

while weird, you can just calibrate your display quite easily usign the built in calibrator.

there's probably no chance apple takes this as a defect.

i'll be honest, teh variation doesn't seem that bad. if anything, i'd rather have that panel on the left because it looks more uniform while the one on the right looks blotchy and red.

 

[flowrider]

Can't really comment. I just upgraded my M2 MBA to an M4. While I had them side by side, the screens, when adjusted to my liking, appeared to be the same to my eyes. Yours seems to have a very different white point. Maybe manufacturing tolerance❓

Lou

 

[1BadManVan]

probably a different panel supplier, pretty common to find variance since they use different suppliers for their panels.

 

[helloapple1]

while weird, you can just calibrate your display quite easily usign the built in calibrator.

there's probably no chance apple takes this as a defect.

i'll be honest, teh variation doesn't seem that bad. if anything, i'd rather have that panel on the left because it looks more uniform while the one on the right looks blotchy and red.

In person, the panel on the left looks like someone took a piss on it. LOL. The panel on the right is very visually clear and easier to look at, to be honest. If Apple doesn't fix the panel on the left I'm going to sell the device. It looks really bad in person.

 

[benholt]

different panel suppliers is almost certainly what's going on - saw this exact same thing a couple years back when I had two M2 Airs side by side for a work setup. the built-in calibrator nudges it but won't close the gap entirely. for anything color-critical the only real solution is a hardware colorimeter (I use an X-Rite i1Display for calibrating before client work). if it's just daily use and not color work, you'll probably stop noticing after a week - but if you can swap the base model for another unit, there's a decent chance you'd pull a different panel result.

 

[helloapple1]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What I just did was put a black screen on both screens (https://www.whitescreen.online/black-screen/), and look what I found: such a huge difference.

 

[Royksöpp]

It really shouldn't matter what configuration you get. A few years ago I had a base 16 Inch 2019 MacBook Pro that had a perfect screen, I returned it to upgrade to 32GB and that screen had light bleed and dead pixels! It's the luck of the draw when it comes to LCD screens.

 

[conmee]

Apple won't consider that a defect, but won't hurt to take both down to the store and talk with a manager to see if you can get a replacement. It's likely just different display suppliers. Everyone can see the noticeable difference and it would definitely bother me as well. I remember way back in 2010 I tried two different 13" MBPs that had the same kind of warmer tone than my 2009 13" MBP which was cooler/bluer. I tried 2 different 2010's but due to restocking fees back in the day, I gave up and waited until the 2011 models to try again, at which point I was able to get a 2011 that had the cooler/bluer tone. Moral of the story, if it is going to bother you (and it bothers you enough to post a topic with a bunch of photos), you're going to have to sell that bad boy on the left and get a new one. 🙂

 

[thadoggfather]

return the garbage panel, classic panel lottery.