Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

M1 Max vs M4 Max display quality is... interesting!

W

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,036
3,951
Seattle
So, I'm not sure why this isn't made more of, but there's a really obvious difference in screen quality between the M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro and the M4 Max 16" MacBook Pro. Pixel response time is far quicker, and this makes a really significant difference when scrolling up and down web pages etc.

Anyway, this was a really pleasant surprise, as the M1 Max display has never been great in terms of responsiveness, despite being 120hz.

Really pleased with the M4 Max. It's so fast!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Falhófnir, Hitmanbbq59, shurcooL and 7 others
WilliamG said:
So, I'm not sure why this isn't made more of, but there's a really obvious difference in screen quality between the M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro and the M4 Max 16" MacBook Pro. Pixel response time is far quicker, and this makes a really significant difference when scrolling up and down web pages etc.

Anyway, this was a really pleasant surprise, as the M1 Max display has never been great in terms of responsiveness, despite being 120hz.

Really pleased with the M4 Max. It's so fast!
Click to expand...
I picked up the M4 Max with nano texture as that reflects exactly how I've been looking at windows external monitors for decades; a matte screen. Glossy was too crisp for me and not eye-friendly. Nano - game changing on Mac. won't be surprised if it makes it way into iPhone haha to combat reflection/glare.

Super impressed with how crisp it looks. They did mention Q-dot technology has slightly made its way into these panels so that could be an attestation to that difference you might be picking up. Some reviewer has mentioned it briefly and I picked it up in a Youtube video but I forgot the name.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hitmanbbq59, Analog Kid, throAU and 1 other person
"I'm not sure why this isn't made more of..."

I agree, though in my case it's the inability of the M1 (16GB) to refresh an external 5K monitor at 60Hz.
I reckon it can only manage about 30-40Hz if most the screen image is changing each frame.
The panel is still being refreshed at 60Hz according to software monitoring, but to the eye there is definitely a lag.

Of course this doesn't matter as computer images are for the most part fairly static, and movies are only 24 or 30fps,
so it's quite liveable with.
Mostly people aren't using 5K external monitors, and at 4K or lower the problem is hardly visible.

But with the M4 everything is as it should be - the problem is gone. 👍
 
  • Like
Reactions: Allen_Wentz and UnifiedMelody
WilliamG said:
So, I'm not sure why this isn't made more of, but there's a really obvious difference in screen quality between the M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro and the M4 Max 16" MacBook Pro. Pixel response time is far quicker, and this makes a really significant difference when scrolling up and down web pages etc.

Anyway, this was a really pleasant surprise, as the M1 Max display has never been great in terms of responsiveness, despite being 120hz.

Really pleased with the M4 Max. It's so fast!
Click to expand...
THIS 1000% I thankfully RETURNED my M3 MacBook PRO due to bad Pixel Response time, or Text Smearing as I refer to it or ink smearing when scrolling. This is gone in the new Quantum-Dot M4 Pro MBP Displays I can't notice any.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hitmanbbq59
Agreed the M4 MBP screens are excellent, my only qualm is minor PWM noise which is mainly only visible to me in dark mode, and I doubt most people notice it I think it’s an eye genetics thing, I notice it most in my peripheral vision. I also get this on the Studio Display (but not iPad or iPhone).

I really wish there was a way to force full 120hz constantly, otherwise I’m very happy with the MBP display as well as the antiglare, Apple is best in class for bright rooms and the diffusion is spectacular. When the display is off it’s like looking into a black void, I hope those engineers got a bonus.

Looking forward to the larger display updates with similar technology, and am glad I didn’t wait for OLED which is probably 2+ years away. It’s a great computer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: souko, Allen_Wentz and TheRealAlex
novagamer said:
Agreed the M4 MBP screens are excellent, my only qualm is minor PWM noise which is mainly only visible to me in dark mode, and I doubt most people notice it I think it’s an eye genetics thing, I notice it most in my peripheral vision. I also get this on the Studio Display (but not iPad or iPhone).

I really wish there was a way to force full 120hz constantly, otherwise I’m very happy with the MBP display as well as the antiglare, Apple is best in class for bright rooms and the diffusion is spectacular. When the display is off it’s like looking into a black void, I hope those engineers got a bonus.

Looking forward to the larger display updates with similar technology, and am glad I didn’t wait for OLED which is probably 2+ years away. It’s a great computer.
Click to expand...
Yeah people have different sensitivities to PWM. I do occasionally notice it on my iPhone at low brightness, but then seem to tune it out.

And I’m still really surprised not more is made of the M4 line 16” screen. It’s such a different experience compared to the M1 line 16”. I have both side by side and it’s uuuuugly scrolling on the M1 Max MBP and really nice (not quite OLED nice like on my M4 iPad Pro, of course) on the M4 Max. Means I don’t jones as much for an OLED MBP like I used to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheRealAlex
novagamer said:
Agreed the M4 MBP screens are excellent, my only qualm is minor PWM noise which is mainly only visible to me in dark mode, and I doubt most people notice it I think it’s an eye genetics thing, I notice it most in my peripheral vision. I also get this on the Studio Display (but not iPad or iPhone).

I really wish there was a way to force full 120hz constantly, otherwise I’m very happy with the MBP display as well as the antiglare, Apple is best in class for bright rooms and the diffusion is spectacular. When the display is off it’s like looking into a black void, I hope those engineers got a bonus.

Looking forward to the larger display updates with similar technology, and am glad I didn’t wait for OLED which is probably 2+ years away. It’s a great computer.
Click to expand...
100% Yes Tandem OLED is 2 years away. So I feel "safer" my M4 Pro 14" is MiniLED LCD I'd feel more worried about a Tandem OLED Display.
 
TheRealAlex said:
100% Yes Tandem OLED is 2 years away. So I feel "safer" my M4 Pro 14" is MiniLED LCD I'd feel more worried about a Tandem OLED Display.
Click to expand...
The iPad display is incredible but it sounds like it’s not ready for MBP usage which is a rather more aggressive style (on more) for most.
 
@novagamer "M4 MBP screens are excellent, my only qualm is minor PWM noise... I also get this on the Studio Display."

Not sure what effect it has on you, but the Studio Display doesn't use PWM.
Quote RTINGS:
"Flicker-Free Yes
PWM Dimming Frequency 0 Hz
The Apple Studio Display has a completely flicker-free backlight at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to it."
www.rtings.com

Apple Studio Display Review

The Apple Studio Display is a 27-inch, 5k display. It competes with the LG UltraFine 5k and is one of two monitors from Apple. Meant for personal use, it's a low...
www.rtings.com www.rtings.com

However being an 8 bit panel, it uses FRC (temporal dithering) to operate at 10 bits, so if you are affected by this, then it can be disabled using Better Display.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: shurcooL, Asthmatic Kitty, Allen_Wentz and 2 others
PaulD-UK said:
@novagamer "M4 MBP screens are excellent, my only qualm is minor PWM noise... I also get this on the Studio Display."

Not sure what effect it has on you, but the Studio Display doesn't use PWM.
Quote RTINGS:
"Flicker-Free Yes
PWM Dimming Frequency 0 Hz
The Apple Studio Display has a completely flicker-free backlight at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to it."
www.rtings.com

Apple Studio Display Review

The Apple Studio Display is a 27-inch, 5k display. It competes with the LG UltraFine 5k and is one of two monitors from Apple. Meant for personal use, it's a low...
www.rtings.com www.rtings.com

However being an 8 bit panel, it uses FRC (temporal dithering) to operate at 10 bits, so if you are affected by this, then it can be disabled using Better Display.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I’ll look into this I didn’t realize it wasn’t a 10-bit panel. :)

It’s more of a problem on the MBP since it’s off to the side (but isn’t when I use it standalone since I’m staring straight at the display), there’s an old thread about people running an animated ‘applet’ to keep the display locked at 120hz but outside of that I don’t think any tool has ever come out to do it – I’d love to find out one exists.

I’m just guessing a higher refresh may alleviate whatever I’m noticing and wish I could force it to check, I have an ultrawide PC monitor I run at 120hz and don’t get any noticeable flicker from. I wish high-power mode forced the display to max refresh, but alas.
 
I keep my iphone forced to 60Hz to extend battery life. My old macbook looks fine with 60hz too.

But it's a real shame the latest macs do only 120hz, when we now have 32" 240Hz gaming monitors and 480hz 27" OLED monitors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL
oink_oink said:
I keep my iphone forced to 60Hz to extend battery life. My old macbook looks fine with 60hz too.

But it's a real shame the latest macs do only 120hz, when we now have 32" 240Hz gaming monitors and 480hz 27" OLED monitors.
Click to expand...
I can't do 60hz anymore, especially not on the iPhone which is a scroll-fest compared to a computer (for me). Going to 60hz on the iPhone is so painful.
 
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL and Tyler O'Bannon
oink_oink said:
I keep my iphone forced to 60Hz to extend battery life. My old macbook looks fine with 60hz too.

But it's a real shame the latest macs do only 120hz, when we now have 32" 240Hz gaming monitors and 480hz 27" OLED monitors.
Click to expand...
Forcing 60hz on modern iPhone pro will not extend battery life due to LTPO display, you are just torturing your eyes basically.
MBP has horrible response time and ghosting even with 120hz thanks to using outdated LCD panel in 2025, and things won't change until M6 MBP with OLED. in fact it's even worse than some $100 IPS LCD monitor in this category. response time on that OLED monitor is something like 1ms, response time on M3 Max was 67ms (source : notebookcheck.net).
Not that it matters unless someone for some reason is trying to game on Mac, but something to keep in mind.
Screenshot 2025-02-18 013620.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL
novagamer said:
Thanks, I’ll look into this I didn’t realize it wasn’t a 10-bit panel. :)

It’s more of a problem on the MBP since it’s off to the side (but isn’t when I use it standalone since I’m staring straight at the display), there’s an old thread about people running an animated ‘applet’ to keep the display locked at 120hz but outside of that I don’t think any tool has ever come out to do it – I’d love to find out one exists.

I’m just guessing a higher refresh may alleviate whatever I’m noticing and wish I could force it to check, I have an ultrawide PC monitor I run at 120hz and don’t get any noticeable flicker from. I wish high-power mode forced the display to max refresh, but alas.
Click to expand...
I wonder if game mode forces 120hz?
 
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL
Smittywerben said:
Forcing 60hz on modern iPhone pro will not extend battery life due to LTPO display, you are just torturing your eyes basically.
MBP has horrible response time and ghosting even with 120hz thanks to using outdated LCD panel in 2025, and things won't change until M6 MBP with OLED. in fact it's even worse than some $100 IPS LCD monitor in this category. response time on that OLED monitor is something like 1ms, response time on M3 Max was 67ms (source : notebookcheck.net).
Not that it matters unless someone for some reason is trying to game on Mac, but something to keep in mind.
View attachment 2483235
Click to expand...
The latest M4 Pro/Max MBP screen is exceptionally nice compared to the prior years. Are there any response time measurements for this latest model?
 
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL
  • Like
Reactions: Hitmanbbq59, shurcooL and WilliamG
  • Like
Reactions: shurcooL and souko
WilliamG said:
The latest M4 Pro/Max MBP screen is exceptionally nice compared to the prior years. Are there any response time measurements for this latest model?
Click to expand...
Response time doesn't effect screen quality unless you are moving things really fast or gaming, it's about the same at 77ms.
SNsVfX8.jpeg
 
Smittywerben said:
Response time doesn't effect screen quality unless you are moving things really fast or gaming, it's about the same at 77ms.
SNsVfX8.jpeg
Click to expand...
That's the 14" though. I can see an obvious difference just scrolling down web pages, even more pronounced when it's white on black, with my 16" M4 Max vs my 16" M1 Max. It's so obvious it's going to be quite measurable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hitmanbbq59
WilliamG said:
That's the 14" though. I can see an obvious difference just scrolling down web pages, even more pronounced when it's white on black, with my 16" M4 Max vs my 16" M1 Max. It's so obvious it's going to be quite measurable.
Click to expand...
I think it was around 100ms on M1 Pro 16inch, that thing was just horrible and the new M4 uses QD so it makes sense, but it's nowhere near OLED's sub 1ms or budget gaming monitors at 4-5ms.
 
Smittywerben said:
I think it was around 100ms on M1 Pro 16inch, that thing was just horrible and the new M4 uses QD so it makes sense, but it's nowhere near OLED's sub 1ms or budget gaming monitors at 4-5ms.
Click to expand...
Oh no argument. I use OLED monitors and TVs on a daily basis, along with my iPad Pro M4, so well versed. However, the M4 MacBook Pro 16" screen is leagues better than its predecessor in the M1 Max, that's all I'm saying. But yes, it's not OLED good, but then again you can't expect that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Smittywerben
Did you check if it is M4 Max display only? So M1 Max to M3 Max 16“ MacBook Pro all have the same display?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back