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Would you replace your M1/M2 Mac when an OLED Mac comes out?

Would you replace your Apple Silicon Mac when an OLED Mac comes out?

  • Yes

    Votes: 38 25.2%

  • No

    Votes: 113 74.8%
  • Total voters
    151
L

Longplays

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Original poster
May 30, 2023
1,308
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I read that further R&D for LCD TVs and displays have halted.

This does not mean making them have stopped but miniLED, microLED and OLED will continue R&D spend.

If you have a M1/M2 MBA, MBP & iMac would you replace it with a OLED Mac?

If I had any 2020-2023 Mac I'd probably hold onto them until 2030-2033.

iMac M1 is 11.5mm thin since 2021... I can see that becoming ~6mm with a OLED display.

iPhone-Slimmer-Header.webp


189533860_1410596275975057_1600623208169232187_n.jpg
 
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No, but I don't currently have a Mac laptop, only a Mini Pro and a 27" iMac.

If they made a 27" iMac with an M2 Max and OLED, I would certainly think about it!!!
 
Longplays said:
I read that further R&D for LCD TVs and displays have halted.

This does not mean making them have stopped but miniLED, microLED and OLED will continue R&D spend.

If you have a M1/M2 MBA, MBP & iMac would you replace it with a OLED Mac?

If I had any 2020-2023 Mac I'd probably hold onto them until 2030-2033.

iMac M1 is 11.5mm thin since 2021... I can see that becoming ~6mm with a OLED display.

iPhone-Slimmer-Header.webp


View attachment 2221044
Click to expand...
I don't think your logic holds up when it comes to "iMac M1 is 11.5mm thin since 2021... I can see that becoming ~6mm with a OLED display." or any thickness changes.


Look how thin the display is on the M2 MacBook Air. I don't have a micrometer, but it's not the majority of the overall thickness. The aluminum is thicker around the border of the display than the actual display thickness. Probably to improve structural integrity. I suspect they could've made the base thinner if they used a keyboard with shorter key travel. We all know what happened when Apple did this the last time.


I don't think it's going to make a difference with the iMac because there's just no reason to make the iMac thinner than it already is. Even if they could make it half as thin, 6 mm isn't going to make any difference when it's sitting on a desk. It needs to have structural integrity plus airflow. If they gave it a thinner frame people would be bending it... I can imagine iMac bendgate.

I suspect that maybe in five years all displays will all be micro LED, but who knows. I guess it depends on what you're using the computer for as to if that means anything. I picked the MacBook Air even though some people that swear the display/ computer is completely unusable. I looked at the Pro and the Air when I went to the Apple store. I did think the Pro display was slightly better but it wasn't this huge difference. I was more concerned about light weight.


I don't think this is going to be something to be concerned with in the near future. Maybe the MacBook Pro will have an improved display but who would spend another 2k+ just for an upgraded display. I think this is one of those things that people will benefit from when their Mac reaches end of life and they upgrade. If next year they came out with a brand new MacBook Air that had a micro LED display I wouldn't get it. I was tempted with the 15" Air, but then realized I'm perfectly fine with what I have and it's just spending money to spend it
 
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russell_314 said:
I don't think your logic holds up when it comes to "iMac M1 is 11.5mm thin since 2021... I can see that becoming ~6mm with a OLED display." or any thickness changes.


Look how thin the display is on the M2 MacBook Air. I don't have a micrometer, but it's not the majority of the overall thickness. The aluminum is thicker around the border of the display than the actual display thickness. Probably to improve structural integrity. I suspect they could've made the base thinner if they used a keyboard with shorter key travel. We all know what happened when Apple did this the last time.


I don't think it's going to make a difference with the iMac because there's just no reason to make the iMac thinner than it already is. Even if they could make it half as thin, 6 mm isn't going to make any difference when it's sitting on a desk. It needs to have structural integrity plus airflow. If they gave it a thinner frame people would be bending it... I can imagine iMac bendgate.

I suspect that maybe in five years all displays will all be micro LED, but who knows. I guess it depends on what you're using the computer for as to if that means anything. I picked the MacBook Air even though some people that swear the display/ computer is completely unusable. I looked at the Pro and the Air when I went to the Apple store. I did think the Pro display was slightly better but it wasn't this huge difference. I was more concerned about light weight.


I don't think this is going to be something to be concerned with in the near future. Maybe the MacBook Pro will have an improved display but who would spend another 2k+ just for an upgraded display. I think this is one of those things that people will benefit from when their Mac reaches end of life and they upgrade. If next year they came out with a brand new MacBook Air that had a micro LED display I wouldn't get it. I was tempted with the 15" Air, but then realized I'm perfectly fine with what I have and it's just spending money to spend it
Click to expand...
The display lid of the MBA M2 does not contain the logic board, batteries, speakers and other parts.

Portions of the OLED TVs that do not contain the I/O, logicboard, speakers and power supply located on them tend to have to be ~5mm thick.

I have yet to hear of any incidents of bendgate considering you dont sit on most TVs most of the time.

The thinner iMac would result in a lighter & more compact product to ship. Resulting in more iMacs per shipping pallet for logistics cost savings.

It also means less BoM.

I am fairly certain that the 1st PowerBook 100 & iMac G3 users felt the same way when the successor designs started shrinking in dimensions and weight.

When Macs end up being as thin as A4 paper people who have been using them for half a century would claim that it is too thin or too light. Worrying that a gust of wind will push them off tables.
 
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Longplays said:
The display lid of the MBA M2 does not contain the logic board, batteries, speakers and other parts.
Click to expand...
But a latop lid still needs to be rigid enough to be opened and closed and withstand things being put on top of a closed lid.

Longplays said:
Portions of the OLED TVs that do not contain the I/O, logicboard, speakers and power supply located on them tend to have to be ~5mm thick.

I have yet to hear of any incidents of bendgate considering you dont sit on most TVs most of the time.
Click to expand...
You don't physically interact with ultra-thin TVs though.

Longplays said:
The thinner iMac would result in a lighter & more compact product to ship. Resulting in more iMacs per shipping pallet for logistics cost savings.
Click to expand...
The machine is already really thin. I doubt the changes you're proposing would result in a meaningfully smaller box since the stand is what dictates the depth of the box.

Longplays said:
It also means less BoM.
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Would it? OLED displays are generally more expensive.

Longplays said:
I am fairly certain that the 1st PowerBook 100 & iMac G3 users felt the same way when the successor designs started shrinking in dimensions and weight.
Click to expand...
I used a G3 iMac and can assure you that you're wrong. Those were very meaningful changes in size and weight.


EDIT: To answer the original question, I wouldn't upgrade for OLED. If my next Mac came with an OLED or QDOLED display, I'm sure it would be great, but none of the benefits of OLED are really anything I need or would justify an early upgrade for me.
 
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I don't care whether it's OLED or not, I want a 5K minimum resolution with deep blacks and a still photo color space (Adobe RGB, for example) that can be user calibrated for consistency. I do most of my work on a desktop machine, so I'm not interested in the thickness of the display. Whatever technology they use to get there, I'm fine with it.
 
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Not as far as I can imagine.

I am happy with my M2 MacBook Air and my Thunderbolt Display (has outlived both my 2011 mba and 2012 Mac mini).
 
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I don’t own anything with OLED except an Apple Watch. Honestly, I don’t get the orgasms people seem to have over OLED on these forums. I started out with a 19” B&W Zenith TV and rabbit ears as a kid, everything has been a step up since then. And I made it through the VHS years, so 1080p Blu-ray is like a dream to me. OLED, meh…
 
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Longplays said:
This does not mean making them have stopped but miniLED, microLED and OLED will continue R&D spend.
Click to expand...
Doesn't miniLED count as a kind of LCD display (despite what one would guess by the names given to the different types of displays)?
 
I’m a huge fan of OLED, but I don’t think I’d upgrade my MacBook Pro just for that alone. Everything else is just too good on the laptop, and I don’t use it heavily enough to justify another ~$2,500 upgrade just for screen. I already have an OLED TV for when I really want to enjoy content on a big screen in the best quality possible.

Also, the mini-LED screen on the MacBook Pros are pretty good as far as increasing contrast with minimal blooming. My 12.9” iPad Pro, on the other hand, has pretty bad blooming. For that reason, getting OLED on the iPad feels more important compared to the MacBook Pros. I would love to have the MacBook Air with an 120Hz OLED screen, but I doubt Apple will do that until maybe 5-10 years from now.
 
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I'm not totally sold on OLED technology. I've seen too many wicked and rapid burn-in issues on OLED displays. And even if burn-in isn't as big a problem on more recent OLEDs due to pixel refreshing strategies, the pixels will still burn out over time (and I'm not yet convinced pixel refresh will completely mitigate the burn-in problems when there are static elements on-screen for a long time, as is the case when rendering operating systems).

I'd rather wait for microLED displays, which have the same advantages of OLEDs and don't have the burn-in or burn-out issues. MicroLED displays are crazy expensive right now, but Samsung is going to be pushing microLED TVs in a big way soon, and we'll probably start to see more reasonably priced microLED computer screens in a few years.
 
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BostonQuad said:
Doesn't miniLED count as a kind of LCD display (despite what one would guess by the names given to the different types of displays)?
Click to expand...

It does. LCD is the type of display panel being used, while "miniLED", LED, microLED are terms which refer solely to how the panel is lit. OLED is different enough that it should be placed into its own category separate from the majority of laptop displays.
 
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No way. As long as Apple’s OLEDs have that headache-inducing PWM flicker, that’ll be a hard pass.

I upgraded to the 2022 iPad Pro specifically because I didn’t want to risk getting stuck with an OLED with the next refresh to come soon.
 
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Longplays said:
I am fairly certain that the 1st PowerBook 100 & iMac G3 users felt the same way when the successor designs started shrinking in dimensions and weight.
Click to expand...
Early laptops (with the exception of the sweet dockable Duos) were bricks and we users were constantly aware of it, so any size improvement was welcome. However performance changes were also substantial with each new device, and IIRC we welcomed those improvements even more than size reductions.
 
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