I saw that but as you can see it is not straight in the middle (looks at the shape display appear in the photo). I know it take some work to find camera angle where is it in the middle as well as possible and from straight angle to screen in every way. So if you just find some time to try again, it would be very nice to see if they looks the same when you in worst case photo still from correct angle taken photo.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
M1 MacBook Air black uniformity (red glow)
- Thread starter 0906742
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Here's it in a pitch black room. I would just add that I didn't notice the red until I took that photo. I did notice the splotches near the top though.
Pretty similar to me, yes I can see a very slight warm glow at 100% brightness, but the iPhone is making the making the image much brighter (and exaggerating the red glow effect) than it is to get what it thinks is an average exposure for what should be a black screen image.
Almost bought my new MBA M1 but now randomly seeing tons of issues with the screens being brought up. Red glow, brightness issues, much lower contrast than the MBP screen despite having P3 now, not sure if it'd even be decent enough for grading photo and video anymore may need the MBP after all. (Was so excited to try a new chassis better for typing too)
This is really getting blown out of proportion in my opinion. If I photograph my screen in pitch black at 100% brightness I can see some red in the photo. Its barely noticeable to the naked eye though and the camera just exaggerates it. I would never look at my screen in these conditions and as James_c previously said its like listening to a speaker at 100% volume and wondering why its distorted. My MBP M1 had more screen issues, Uniformity issues and backlight bleed.
read this review https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...mbles-Intel-and-AMD.508057.0.html#toc-display
"The color accuracy of the panel is excellent in our tests. The color tests as well as the grayscale are significantly better than with the Windows competitors. The display is therefore very well suited for photographers and others using applications that are dependent on color accuracy"
I don't doubt 0906742 might have a slightly worse case possibly but I don't see this as a wide spread issue and not something that should put you off trying the Air. The MBP has screen issues and as most people have already mentioned the LCD lottery isn't just Air related. Its any device that uses an LCD screen.
Last edited:
True, definitely seems weird to test things by blasting them into conditions that would never be used just to find small issues in ways that'd never be seen. Plus just out of curiosity I grabbed my relatives old 2012 MBP a few mins ago and compared them side by side (I believe it was 100-200 lower contrast ratio than even this M1 MBA) and it looked about the same in the few videos I watched full screen outside of some color differences due to the P3 display. Black and whites looked about equal tho. My Samsung monitor has had some pretty intense glow especially in the right side ever since I had it as well, but it's never bothered me when in use and never negatively effected my content creation either so...there's that.
Honestly I would not worry, the Screen in my MBA is better than my old 2016 15" MacBook Pro. The Airs now have a P3 screen, basically no review I have seen says the MBA screen is poor. I am a serious amateur photographer and I am more than happy with the quality of the MBA screen. Most of the issues people are seeing in this thread is because they are using it in extreme situations ( Manually setting to 100% brightness in a dark room), and then using an iPhone in auto exposure mode to take a picture of a dark screen.
Well that's a bit reassuring since i'm also coming from the 2016 15" model that was like 900 higher contrast ratio. Perhaps after a certain point it has diminishing returns unless you move to an OLED type screen or this Mini LED tech coming soon? (which is one reason I wanted an Air, to hold me over for a year till those are out for a bit)
The key aspect for my is for the first time the Air's have a P3 display. The contrast ratio may be better on the MBP, but a couple of things I noticed about the Air's screen compared to my 2016 MBP is the viewing angle is much better and is not as reflective as my old MBP screen.
It affected my workflow. When I had the MBA M1 for a few weeks before I returned it, the screen on it had a reddish tint in various degrees. The red tint was showing in all light conditions from dark to dim to natural light. I never used full brightness on the MBA. I used only from 60% to 70% brightness levels. The red tint display got worse last week that I returned the MBA and got a MBP.
I was actually curious so I did what others did, cranked the brightness in black screen test and used my phone to expose...red growing in all 4 corners like a disturbing fungus lol but it's never effected my work and I never even noticed until just now so perhaps this sounds worse than it is unless you're in a really professional case use scenario.
Yes. At first when I got the MBA, the red tint was barely noticeable but within a few weeks of using it the red tint got worse.
This is on my current 2016 15" machine, I didn't check the 2012 cuz that person is using it right now...and they have a temper when you take it from them while in use lol
? Its good to know its probably there on most machines if tested in that environment
Oddly enough my corners are super red but when I tested by moving those programs into the corners I still didn’t see any red even at full brightness. Very weird not sure what’s going on.
Its one of those issues that aren't really issues unless you go looking for it. It just doesn't appear in real world use. I can't get mine to show this red issue unless I take a photo of the screen and look at the photo. apart from that its just not really visible.
Don't get me wrong, im not saying everyones is like that, It sounds like there are some people with red issues but I really don't see this as a problem that means people shouldn't buy the Air.
This!
If you spend enough time with a magnifying glass looking for imperfections you will find them pretty much on anything.
I give a fast run over to make sure nothing wrong is screaming on my face and I move on to enjoy it...