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You will get screen burn in with OLED. Make sure to get auto insurance if you do buy it. Plus IMO OLED on a laptop is unessecary. On a tablet? I see an appeal but a laptop is different.
 
Let's say rumors are true. The M6 or M7 MBP will have a new slimmer and lighter design, OLED 120Hz screen (maybe like Tandem OLED with high brightness), touchscreen, cellular option (+110$), Dynamic Island, new stronger hinge to avoid wabble, TouchID, 24GB RAM and 512GB storage on the base model for 1899$ or 1999$.

Will you buy it?

No - because I would need a higher-spec model than whatever the base configuration would be.
 
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fwiw, chatgpt says oled has both burn-in and color shifts over time:
"OLED displays can experience both burn-in and color shift ... (regarding burn-in) OLED pixels are organic and wear out as they emit light. If some pixels work harder than others, they age unevenly → causing a faint “ghost” image.

"(regarding color shifts) Different OLED subpixels (red, green, blue) degrade at different rates — especially blue, which ages fastest. Over years of use, this can shift white balance or saturation ... usually not noticeable until several years in.)"

IMO, OLED is nice in that you get higher contrast due to the better blacks compared to regular panels. But OLED is just a stop-gap before the superior micro-LED panels are more common.
 
OLED color-drifts over time which could be a problem for anyone doing precise color work in a video editor or photo editor or in graphic design, etc.

OLED also has other potential issues, of course. I hope Apple maintains a selection of screen choices. Most compaines do this. No doubt, OLED will be a premium feature with a premium mark up.
 
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I get the fear about OLED burn-in. I'm wondering how big a risk that is... as I see my Apple Watch Series 8, which has an OLED display that is "always on", has been showing the same watch face with complications in the same place for three years and has no sign of burn-in. Still, I'm going to wait for M7 systems and not M6 before jumping on this upgrade, just to give time for issues to shake out and understand what is what.

I love my M2 Max system, but there are three things I want from a new MBP:
  • OLED display (the mini-LED is great but I definitely notice the "glowing" or delay in the zones keeping up with changes to the on-screen image, at times)
  • More storage (...yes, I have the 8TB, and it is over 80% full)
  • More GPU performance
OLED looks like it is happening in "a year or so" when M6 systems drop.
Hope more storage comes soon, they have had 8TB as the max since 2019. They did just start offering 16TB for Mac Studio, so I am hoping that comes to MacBook Pro in the next generation or two.
GPU power has been trickling up and it looks like M5 had a notable boost in this area, so I am not worried about this one.
 
I do not get it, as someone who's been using an OLED TV as my monitor for 1.5 years and has none of it.

Buy an extended warranty if peace of mind is a concern would be my recommendation.

If Apple ends up releasing an OLED Mac, they are telling us to not worry about it also.
agreed, get apple care if those are worried
 
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OLED is becoming mainstream in the Windows laptop market from $1,000 to $2,000 and I haven't heard reports of burn-in problems.

To the original question: I have an M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16/32 but I may wind up getting an M6 Air as I think that the performance would still be considerably better than what I have now, as long as I size the RAM and space appropriately.

I can't imagine my current workflow requiring an M6 Pro or M6 Max and I'd like to get a much lighter laptop.
 
re QDEL:

"Two factors that may accelerate this transition are QDEL's potentially lower production costs and reduced risk of screen burn-in—a persistent concern with OLED panels, especially for static content display applications ... OLED panels utilize organic materials that may degrade over time, potentially leading to issues such as screen burn-in with static content."

 
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Getting back to the original topic, if the OLED's can demonstrate lifetimes equivalent to standard LCD displays and if OLED's have lower consumption than the current crop of displays, then I would consider an OLED laptop. At the moment I am quite satisfied with my M3 Pro MacBook Pro - good performance, retina display and very good battery life.
 
MicroLED is essentially DOA. They haven't managed to shrink it to consumer friendly sizes even in the TV space successfully. Meanwhile OLED is getting better and RGB MiniLED backlit LCDs are even stealing focus from OLED now. QDEL is the next big thing.
I suspected as much. Because one NEVER hears of microLED anywhere.
 
Getting back to the original topic, if the OLED's can demonstrate lifetimes equivalent to standard LCD displays and if OLED's have lower consumption than the current crop of displays, then I would consider an OLED laptop. At the moment I am quite satisfied with my M3 Pro MacBook Pro - good performance, retina display and very good battery life.

We will find out in a few years. OLED is going mainstream on $1K+ laptops and we'll see how well they work. I bought one this past summer and it may wind up as a throwaway in a few years until the M6 MacBooks come out. The OLED volume should be huge for 2025, 2026, 2027, etc. Apple will have an idea as to the failure rate after three years around the launch time of the M6 MacBooks.
 
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OLED panels degrade, and they are also designed to use compensation techniques to try and hide the degredation. So wy some people may say, "I have an OLED and it's fine," what's really happening is it's degrading, and being compensated for, so the changes are minor enough and slow enough that they don't really notice. But it is happening.


"individual OLED pixels can degrade at different rates due to factors such as temperature, humidity, and usage patterns. This can lead to variations in brightness and color accuracy across the display, resulting in image retention and burn-in issues.

"To address this problem, OLED TVs use a technique known as "compensation cycling." A compensation cycle is a process in which the TV periodically adjusts the brightness and color of individual pixels to maintain uniformity across the display. This is achieved by running a series of algorithms that analyze the performance of each pixel and make adjustments as needed. By continuously monitoring and correcting for pixel degradation, compensation cycling helps to extend the lifespan of the OLED display and ensure consistent picture quality over time."
 
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OLED panels degrade, and they are also designed to use compensation techniques to try and hide the degredation. So wy some people may say, "I have an OLED and it's fine," what's really happening is it's degrading, and being compensated for, so the changes are minor enough and slow enough that they don't really notice. But it is happening.


"individual OLED pixels can degrade at different rates due to factors such as temperature, humidity, and usage patterns. This can lead to variations in brightness and color accuracy across the display, resulting in image retention and burn-in issues.

"To address this problem, OLED TVs use a technique known as "compensation cycling." A compensation cycle is a process in which the TV periodically adjusts the brightness and color of individual pixels to maintain uniformity across the display. This is achieved by running a series of algorithms that analyze the performance of each pixel and make adjustments as needed. By continuously monitoring and correcting for pixel degradation, compensation cycling helps to extend the lifespan of the OLED display and ensure consistent picture quality over time."

In the Windows world, laptops are often more consumable items than Macs. The pandemic years were a disaster on hinge issues and I see a ton of people complaining about failures on gaming laptops - you put a lot of heat in a small, enclosed area and stuff breaks. If that happens, so be it. I usually keep using Macs far longer than Windows PCs though.

I could always just replace the screen if it became a problem.

I assume that Apple will get the display tech right when they launch it.

The old CFCL backlights on the 2006-2010 MacBooks had the problem with the backlight getting weaker over time or resulting in stage lights. That technology had a given lifetime too.
 
OLED color-drifts over time which could be a problem for anyone doing precise color work in a video editor or photo editor or in graphic design, etc.
So did CRTs, and they were the gold standard for years. Professionals that need color accurate monitors calibrate them frequently.

If its TANDEM QD-OLED
You can have one or the other, not both. Tandem OLED is an LG tech, and QD-OLED is a Samsung tech.
 
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You will get screen burn in with OLED. Make sure to get auto insurance if you do buy it. Plus IMO OLED on a laptop is unessecary. On a tablet? I see an appeal but a laptop is different.
I got burn in on my 2007 iMac. Apple Care + is an absolute must at any time with anything. It's taken care of me beyond what anyone realizes.
 
So did CRTs, and they were the gold standard for years. Professionals that need color accurate monitors calibrate them frequently.


You can have one or the other, not both. Tandem OLED is an LG tech, and QD-OLED is a Samsung tech.

The big difference is that while Tandem OLED is for all practical purposes iPad exclusive at this time, QD-OLED is not. Jayz2Cents just released a video this week showing an MSI 32" QD-OLED display he was purchasing for his home gaming rig.
 
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