An frequently overlooked point is the display brightness. The pro models offer 1600 nits peak brightness, which makes these good units for looking at HDR content, especially if you like to take photos or edit videos. Meanwhile the Air maxes out at 500 nits, so the effect and contrast is drastically reduced for those models.

▲

nwienert 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Not just that but you can use Brightentosh to force it on.

I live in a sunny place with big windows and basically use it all day every day. When it turns off my screen feels broken I so prefer the brightness.

	▲	sufehmi 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Hi thank you so much ! I live in the tropics and often works outdoor and THIS is a lifesaver !! Thanks again! https://www.brightintosh.de/

▲

ricardobeat 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Normal content is still limited to 500 nits, and these being mini-LED displays, contrast is already infinite.

Unless you’re making Instagram content, very few photographers use HDR. Everything else will look the same on both screens.

▲

wtallis 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

> and these being mini-LED displays, contrast is already infinite.

I think you may have mixed up mini-LED backlighting with OLED and microLED displays. mini-LED backlights merely allow for better local dimming of the backlight behind an LCD, but the number of independently variable backlight zones is still orders of magnitude smaller than the number of pixels. Over short distances, an LCD with local dimming is still susceptible to all of the contrast-limiting downsides of an LCD with a uniform static backlight (and local dimming brings new challenges of its own).

OLED is the mainstream display technology where individual pixels directly emit their own light, so you can truly have a completely black pixel next to a lit pixel. But there are still layers and coatings between the OLED and the user, so infinite contrast isn't actually achievable.

microLED is an unsuccessful technology to provide the benefits of OLED without as many of the downsides (primarily, the uneven aging). But nobody has managed to make large microLED displays economically yet, and it doesn't look like the tech will be going mainstream anytime soon.

	▲	RulerOf 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		> but the number of independently variable backlight zones is still orders of magnitude smaller than the number of pixels The appearance of a lone mouse cursor on a black screen in the dark is mildly amusing for exactly this reason. You can watch as the ghostly halo of light follows it around the screen as you move the cursor. I'll upgrade my machine when they put an OLED display in it.

▲

quitit 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Normal content is 1000 nits, peak is 1600 nits.

Contrast is significantly poorer on the Air display, and HDR is already in your own photos if you have a modern smartphone, so the idea that it’s niche or irrelevant is a naive take.

The perceptual difference between sdr and hdr isn’t a minor bump, it is conspicuous and driver of realism.

If one cares about the refresh rate of their screen, then they’d trivially notice the improvement that high nit displays provide.