MBP M4 screen a dealbreaker?

[Ries]

Kind of need a new laptop. Got an office MBP with own installations on it, but for security and independence reasons, I guess it's time to have an own machine again.

A MBA is out of question. The differences to the MBP are just too obvious, only to mention sound and screen quality.

But here's the catch: How much "better" is the iPad Pro M4 screen compared to the same Liquid Retina XDR display that the new MBP M4 will have again.

Dealbreaker?

The redesign of the meanwhile about 5-year-old current MBP should come sometime end of 2025 or early 2026, with the Ultra Retina XDR display.

The iPad Pro screen is really nice. I want it on the MBP. But worth the wait?

Was going to buy an M4 this year, but now OLED is in the picture, im going to wait until it comes or my current 2019 MacBook Pro dies.

Also was going to try out AirPods Max if they updated them, had my credit card out when I saw the picture of them in keynote and then it was just a port change. Going to wait for them too or buy the sony or Bose if my current one craps out.

Almost bought an Apple Watch for the health sensors, but in the end decided against it, because it would be another device juicing my brain with dopamine hits, by constantly gripping my attention.

Apple just doesn't want me to buy their stuff

 

[Tdude96]

Was going to buy an M4 this year, but now OLED is in the picture, im going to wait until it comes or my current 2019 MacBook Pro dies.

Also was going to try out AirPods Max if they updated them, had my credit card out when I saw the picture of them in keynote and then it was just a port change. Going to wait for them too or buy the sony or Bose if my current one craps out.

Almost bought an Apple Watch for the health sensors, but in the end decided against it, because it would be another device juicing my brain with dopamine hits, by constantly gripping my attention.

Apple just doesn't want me to buy their stuff

I've found my watch to be just the opposite. It frees me from feeling anchored to my phone and is way less distracting.

To the point of the thread, I'm not sure a screen would hold me back from making a new laptop purchase if I really needed one. But if I had something I was happy with I'd absolutely hold onto it until it's not satisfactory anymore before upgrading, unless there was something super exciting. At this point, Apple seems to have lost all momentum with M4. There doesn't seem to be anything exciting about it, even for Apple Intelligence features, all of which are compatible with all Mx computers. M4 seems like a "replace if you have to, otherwise wait" generation where no one's missing out on anything by holding off on a purchase.

 

[PotentPeas]

Almost bought an Apple Watch for the health sensors, but in the end decided against it, because it would be another device juicing my brain with dopamine hits, by constantly gripping my attention.

You can absolutely manage this. I have most app alerts disabled (on my phone and watch both), or at least set to "no noise" so I can just look at them when I feel like it; I have very little tolerance for a device trying to grab my attention "right now". I also have "do not disturb" set to activate automatically in the evening with a small set of people allowed to "break through" it.

I do like getting text message notifications on my watch. It "frees" me from having to locate and futz with my phone; many times I can reply to the text with a one-word reply (OK/Yes/No/thumbs up) and you can actually configure such replies for easy one-touch access on the watch.

 

[cyberone]

Since seeing it clearly in the showroom was difficult: how about the current MBP's blacks?

 

[macjoshua]

In my opinion, the current Mini LED display on MBP's is great, and comparable enough to OLED that I wouldn't stress over it. You also don't have to worry about burn in with Mini LED, so you might get more longevity out of it.

 

[PotentPeas]

Since seeing it clearly in the showroom was difficult: how about the current MBP's blacks?

It's as black as it gets, just like OLED. There is no backlight when a black image is being displayed.

The only thing is you might notice a "glow" if you have something really bright (and relatively small) in an all-black area. (The LED backlight dimming zones are not small enough to exactly cover the light object in a case like this.) I can easily see this when putting the cursor in an all-black area ... but really, it hardly ever pops up "in practice" if you are not specifically looking for it.