Although the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros share the same mini-LED display technology as the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, reports indicate the new Macs are not suffering from the “blooming,” seen on the iPad Pro.
As reported by MacRumors, the new MacBook Pro models and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro use mini-LED display technology, which uses dimming zones. Local dimming zones allow specific screen areas to turn completely dark when they’re not needed, resulting in deeper blacks and improved energy efficiency.
While traditional displays control individual pixels, mini-LED displays with dimming zones control separate zones rather than individual pixels. If one dimming zone is lit up, artifacts from it may be noticeable in neighboring zones with a black background, in a “blooming” effect. That effect is usually only noticeable when viewing black content or text and when viewed from the side.
So far, users have reported that there doesn’t seem to be a blooming issue on the new MacBook Pro models.
Brian Tong, in his review of the new M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, said that while blooming is still present on the new displays, it’s only visible with “deep black backgrounds, and bright white text or a white logo is contrasting it.” Tong also said that the blooming effect is exaggerated when it is recorded with a camera and that it is much less noticeable when viewed with the naked eye.
One MacRumors forum user wrote:
Overall I think the IPP 12.9 display is awesome but the XDR on the mbp is even better because when I play HDR content only the window portion is super bright – on the iPad everything just looks bright. You’re not going to get gimped here on the display of the new mbp. well maybe the ghosting issue is annoying for some overall it is a fantastic display.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro includes 2,500 dimming zones, it hasn’t been published how many zones are in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
