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Is ProMotion actually meaningful in everyday use?
- Thread starter woolypants
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This shows quite nicely how irrelevant these numbers have become.
Loved it on my iPad pro, wasn't sure if it would be a big deal on the iPhone 13 pm, but turns out... I love it so much. I notice the buttery smoothness all the time.
I've been thinking about getting an iPad Mini as well, and when I played with it in the store, it felt like my in laws og iPad Air. It felt really slow. I then realized my wife's iPhone 8 feels slow to me for the same reason, the 60 Hz.
I've been thinking about getting an iPad Mini as well, and when I played with it in the store, it felt like my in laws og iPad Air. It felt really slow. I then realized my wife's iPhone 8 feels slow to me for the same reason, the 60 Hz.
Correct. If it needs more bandwidth than the Mac can provide. It doesn’t even support HDMI 2.1 which is capable of higher bandwidth than DP 1.4.
But nothing supports DP 2.0 at the moment so this is all speculation.
Here are my thoughts on the ProMotion displays (I have the MBP 16, and iPhone 13 Pro Max). While there is a noticeable difference compared to 60hz, it's not a great as it could be.
ProMotion is adaptive, meaning it can go up to 120hz; it’s not running at 120hz (for obvious reasons like battery life). However, I don’t believe we get full 120hz most of the time. If you guys ever get a chance, look at the screen of something like the Sony Xperia Pro, which enabled 120hz only mode. The motion is buttery smooth for anything you do on the phone. Yes it eats up battery life, but it’s smoother than the iPhones ProMotion adaptive display.
Same for the MBP. While I love the MBP screen with smoother scrolling than at 60hz, it could be smoother if we could lock in the full 120hz.
It would be great if we had an option to force 120hz somehow (like when it’s plugged in). This would unlock the full potential of the 120hz display.
ProMotion is adaptive, meaning it can go up to 120hz; it’s not running at 120hz (for obvious reasons like battery life). However, I don’t believe we get full 120hz most of the time. If you guys ever get a chance, look at the screen of something like the Sony Xperia Pro, which enabled 120hz only mode. The motion is buttery smooth for anything you do on the phone. Yes it eats up battery life, but it’s smoother than the iPhones ProMotion adaptive display.
Same for the MBP. While I love the MBP screen with smoother scrolling than at 60hz, it could be smoother if we could lock in the full 120hz.
It would be great if we had an option to force 120hz somehow (like when it’s plugged in). This would unlock the full potential of the 120hz display.
I think it depends on the user. I don’t want to invalidate anyone else’s experience.
However, for me, no it does not make a difference. I use my 14” MBP on low power mode on battery and regular mode when plugged in. So I am constantly switching back and forth. I don’t notice a difference.
I also have an iPhone 13 Pro Max and on that device I immediately notice ProMotion and hate when it is disabled. So it isn’t that I don’t notice this type of thing. It is just not something that adds value when doing regular office tasks with a keyboard and mouse input at the normal sitting distance most people use a laptop.
However, for me, no it does not make a difference. I use my 14” MBP on low power mode on battery and regular mode when plugged in. So I am constantly switching back and forth. I don’t notice a difference.
I also have an iPhone 13 Pro Max and on that device I immediately notice ProMotion and hate when it is disabled. So it isn’t that I don’t notice this type of thing. It is just not something that adds value when doing regular office tasks with a keyboard and mouse input at the normal sitting distance most people use a laptop.
How do you do this? I thought it was always on.
I just figured out how to do it. It does make a difference! Animations seem to stutter without it on, like there's dropped frames.
For those that don't know, here's what Google says
> In the settings menu, scroll down and tap on “Accessibility.” Now, select “Motion” located under the Vision category to proceed. Here, you'll find the “Limit Frame Rate” setting, which is the last in the menu. Simply use the toggle to enable the limiter, which will lock the maximum frame rate to 60Hz.
LOL – I just figured
Interesting, thanks. But if there's one device where low-power mode is surely not needed then it's the 13 Pro Max. The battery life is bonkers. I've not yet got below 50% across a full day before recharging, even if I play hours of games.
It's surprisingly lacking in impact on my M1 MacBook Pro 16.
I had a Razer Blade 15 for a bit with a 144Hz display and the high refresh rate was a delight and very noticeable.
On the MacBook Pro it doesn't feel appreciably better than the 60Hz screen on my Air. I do think that the refresh rate benefits are being held back by a slow pixel response time on the panel. It's a stunningly good screen in other respects.
I had a Razer Blade 15 for a bit with a 144Hz display and the high refresh rate was a delight and very noticeable.
On the MacBook Pro it doesn't feel appreciably better than the 60Hz screen on my Air. I do think that the refresh rate benefits are being held back by a slow pixel response time on the panel. It's a stunningly good screen in other respects.
For me, the smaller the screen, the more I feel I benefit from ProMotion. I definitely notice it's there on my iPhone and definitely noticed it was there on my iPad Pros when I had those devices. I do NOT notice it on either of my MacBooks to the degree where I usually forget they even have it.
That being said, when I go from my 13 Pro Max to my iPad mini 6, I don't remember ever thinking, "Wow, what a crappy screen." I adjust pretty quickly.
It's definitely noticeable when comparing iPads with and without, but on iPhone I have never noticed the lack of it on my iPhone 13 Mini, which feels just as smooth as the 13 Pro - I think the OLED panel is so responsive that it does a lot of the heavy lifting in making things feel smooth even without ProMotion.
I find high refresh even more important on large screens - my 34 inch ultrawide at 100Hz is great but feels almost unusable at 60Hz due to the slight flicker in my peripheral vision.
A visit to the Apple Store is a pretty easy way to see the different refresh rates side by side. I definitely noticed it, but HDR was a bigger "wow" factor at the store. If you open Photos and start viewing some of those HDR videos on different displays, you can really see a massive difference.
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No HDR is a bigger deal breaker for me on a display or TV. Once you have it, it's hard not to have it.
I had a visit to the Apple Store today to take a look for myself.
In my eyes, it's feels exactly the same as the iPhone 13 Pro Max:
In my eyes, it's feels exactly the same as the iPhone 13 Pro Max:
- Animations like Expose or resizing window look eerily smooth. It's quite odd to experience, having used macOS now for 20 years on 60Hz or lower displays.
- Scrolling is smoother. But it's a mess. For example, scrolling in Safari isn't like you're watching a piece of paper being rapidly raised and lowered. The text smears badly just as it does on a 60 or 30Hz display.
- That's it. It seemed more noticeable to me on the 16in MBP compared to the 14in.
I think this is why I don’t notice it as much on Mac. I spend a LOT of my day in Safari.
In theory, yes. But ProMotion is actually disabled when low power mode is on. Constantly switching refresh rates appears to require more resources than just leaving it fixed at 60 Hz.
It's a huge difference. First I thought the M2 MBA was thermal throttling or not having enough CPU power to do basic light tasks, but it was simply that 60hz display that makes the M2 MBA feel so sluggish.
However my TV, iPhone, Mac and iPads are 120hz, so I guess I'm used to 120hz and 60hz just looks weird to me.
Best is for you to test it out yourself. If you are lucky, you don't see the difference between 60hz and 120hz. For me, it is a huge difference.
However my TV, iPhone, Mac and iPads are 120hz, so I guess I'm used to 120hz and 60hz just looks weird to me.
Best is for you to test it out yourself. If you are lucky, you don't see the difference between 60hz and 120hz. For me, it is a huge difference.
My M1 12.9 iPad Pro feels so sluggish in low powered mode, because it is being forced to 60hz instead of 120hz.
I was thinking at first to keep it low power mode on all the time on the 12.9 M1 iPad Pro, but I didn't think this sluggish feeling was worth the increase in battery life. 120hz is just too good. I will take the hit in battery life for a more enjoyable user experience.