Apple Says Pro Display XDR and 2021 MacBook Pro Can Experience Limited Brightness in High Temperatures

[MacRumors]

Apple today shared a new support document outlining a warning symbol that can show up on the MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR Display or the Pro Display XDR when the screen is running too hot, leading to brightness being diminished.

Apple explains that a caution symbol in the menu bar or Display menu in Control Center on a 2021 MacBook Pro or an Apple Pro Display XDR means the display is in low power mode and "using limited brightness."

This situation can occur if the ambient temperature of the room is high and if bright content has been playing for an extended period of time. Apple offer several solutions for those who see the warning, including lowering the temperature of the room and temporarily putting a Mac to sleep to allow it to cool.

• On MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display, quit any apps that could be consuming significant system resources.
• Use the Apple XDR Display or Pro Display XDR reference mode unless your current workflow requires a specific reference mode.
• Lower the ambient temperature of the room.
• Close or hide any windows with HDR content.
• Choose Apple menu  > Sleep to put your Mac to sleep. Let your display cool down for 5-10 minutes, then press any key on the keyboard to wake your Mac.

Apple says that users who see this problem continually when the ambient temperature of the room is under 77 degrees Fahrenheit should contact Apple Support for help.

Article Link: Apple Says Pro Display XDR and 2021 MacBook Pro Can Experience Limited Brightness in High Temperatures

 

[Dammster]

I do not blame them. Running something demanding for longer period of time and also watching some HDR content at 1600 nits and that thing will get hot The same as iPhone and everything else.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

So, the goal is to keep the room temperature low and not have a high brightness content running for a longer period of time.

 

[obamtl]

Only ever got the caution symbol on an Apple device once, and I knew I was torturing the device under direct sunlight in sweltering heat. This is a reasonable precaution for extreme situations, and it’s clear it doesn’t get triggered easily or often.

 

[ElRojito]

Same thing happens with iPhone. Makes sense.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

I have it much lower than maximum brightness most times anyway. Its blinding!

 

[Lestdog]

In a perfect world you should be able to use whatever setting you paid for, but blasting all those nits into your eyeball over a long periods is really a bad idea.

 

[MayaUser]

Makes sense

 

[StupidOpinion]

i wonder if this monitor is going to start having issues in the long run.

 

[Bandaman]

Same thing happens with iPhone. Makes sense.

And I hate it so much on the iPhone.

 

[haruhiko]

This thing nearly never heats up. I think unless it's put under the sun for an extended period of time, it will be fine.

 

[haruhiko]

And I hate it so much on the iPhone.

The iPhone 12 series overheats much and the screen always dims down. It doesn't happen as frequently as the 13. Max Tech did a test on that and even if the screen of the 13 dims down it's still much brighter than the 12.

 

[vmistery]

25 centigrade for anyone outside the US. Not particularly warm if you’re in summer with no A/C. Will be interesting to see how bad the effect is and how likely it is to notice, I guess those in the Southern Hemisphere might be able to give us some idea?

 

[7149041]

Living in a country where ambient temperature never drops under ~30 Celsius / ~90F this is a major PITA with the iPad Pro when trying to use it outside.

 

[KaliYoni]

Oh great, can't wait for an Apple "Genius" to tell me I'm looking at it wrong...

 

[adib]

So, 25ºC of expected room temperature. These devices definitely aren't for working at home in the tropics.

 

[Danfango]

Dude I know lives in Africa. He is dying to get his hands on a new MacBook Pro because his 16” i7 has to have the air con blown up it’s ass all day to stop it shutting down. I’ll send him this ?

 

[MJaP]

So Apple now run their processors cool but their screens hot! ?

 

[Basic75]

77F is what, 25C? That must be a joke! Hardware that doesn't work properly above 25 degrees?

Edit: I should have written "that is not guaranteed to properly work above 25 degrees". Still a joke.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Well, I'm curious to see how this is gonna behave here in the South of Spain in the Summer later this year lol.

Spoiler : Wasn't fun with the i9 16" back in 2020........

 

[szw-mapple fan]

77F is what, 25C? That must be a joke! Hardware that doesn't work properly above 25 degrees?

The support document is saying that if it's doing this constantly when ambient is below 25C it's faulty, not that it will always drop the brightness when it's above 25.

 

[Stuey3D]

This is just physics, those mini LED’s will generate a lot of heat when at a high brightness and could potentially damage themselves.

LG OLED TV’s are the same you could buy a cheaper model which would be dimmer, or you could buy the more expensive EVO models which have a heat sink attached to the back of the panel allowing the pixels to be driven brighter.

If Apple were to attach a heat sink to the screen the MacBook would probably be too thick and probably top heavy reducing it’s stability.

That being said I bet even at a dimmed brightness this thing is still brighter than most other laptops on the market.

 

[skipper63]

I had my iPhone 5s only shut down once because of heat, when I was mountain biking in almost 100 Farenheit and it was mounted in a water proof case on my handle bar.

 

[femike]

Apple designs their products to be used in 23°C despite mentioning the 35°C in the specs.

"..ambient temperature of the room is high"
So what is high ambient temperature? Every review of a product testing thermal performance I have seen does it in a air-conditioned room, and doesn't even mention ambient temperature, but I assume its around 23°C.

Its 37°C inside today and I expect products to be engineered with enough cooling to work at its best levels at up to, at least, 40°C.

 

[sguser]

Living in a country where ambient temperature never drops under ~30 Celsius / ~90F this is a major PITA with the iPad Pro when trying to use it outside.

My room temperature, as I type this message on Macbook Pro 14', is 33C. So far so good. But I never set brightness above ~60-70%. No problem thus far