Is ProMotion actually meaningful in everyday use?

[Chancha]

Eye strains are introduced by choppy motions where your eyes expect some moving object to be in one place, but it isn’t, so you have to jump further to where it lands and it appear again. Here I am just describing an example of a jumpy cursor that moves a lot faster than the display refresh rate, so you get the idea.

Also the “ProMotion” feature is just a PR term for variable refresh rate + a ”high” cap of 120Hz. We could argue if 120Hz is high enough but at least it is a really great number since it is a integer multiple of 2/3/4/5/6/10/12~, so in practical terms you get less uneven frame insertion which is also important to prevent choppiness. AFAIK, the MBP screens can go as low as 10Hz, and as long as Apple’s algorithm is not too aggressive in when to “power it down”, you should get a smooth transition throughout the UI even with frequent transitioning between fast and static motions. Though I can see the rather slow grey to grey response could be a problem here. Apple clearly made a conscious choice to give up on that front in priority for other perimeters.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I notice the difference between my M3 Pro 14" and my M2 MBA's but I wouldn't call the difference meaningful in my day to day computer life.

 

[jm31828]

Keep in mind that we all have somewhat different perceptive abilities, what would go unnoticed for you could be very different to someone else.

Yeah, true- I was just curious what that poster's experience was.

 

[dmr727]

I definitely notice it while using my 15 Pro, and I'm guessing I'll notice it if I ever upgrade my MBA to a MBP. It's nice, but meaningful? Nah.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

Outside of letting it drop below 60fps when the screen isn't moving to save battery, I just don't need ProMotion much. Don't really care for the "smoothness" it doesn't add to the experience for me when scrolling or moving a mouse, even when gaming I can see it but it doesn't really do much to add to the experience for me like jumping from med to ultra does in comparison...even high to ultra.

 

[Ethosik]

That's fascinating- thanks for sharing! Interesting that your eye doctor even commented on that!
What about the fact that ProMotion is not fixed at 120 Hz, so you often have refresh rates that are below 60Hz depending on what is on the screen. Seemingly no concerns with that, I assume?

If it’s slow motion or a movie or something with baked in motion blur, I don’t have an issue. Even gaming at 60fps if it has some level of motion blur I’m fine with. And low fps in gaming is different as stuff typically doesn’t pick up right where it left off animation wise. You usually see large jumps in movement with low fps.

It’s fast movements where motion is choppy that get to me. Doom is a lot better for me at 120fps compared to something like Final Fantasy 7 Remake where 60 is fine. It’s quite situational. But base operating systems tasks, and animations with cursor movements are where I see it most.

 

[Appletoni]

The title says it all. Outside of video editing, is the 120Hz ramping up for scrolling on webpages or docs actually something you notice?

I can tell the difference between 30 and 60FPS videos within a split second of them playing, so I suspect I've the kind of eyes/brain that might notice this. That said, on my iPhone 13 Pro Max I don't really notice the Promotion at all.

Is ProMotion actually meaningful in everyday use?​

Yes it is. My friends and I are using MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 MAX maxed out. ProMotion is great for a lot of stuff and for games and for chess.