Mac display screens: Pro Display XDR – Apple

Pro Display XDR – Apple

Believing is seeing.

The first 32-inch Retina 6K display ever. Up to 1600 nits of brightness. An astonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and superwide viewing angle. Over a billion colors presented with exceptional accuracy. And dynamic range that transforms the professional workflow. Introducing Apple Pro Display XDR, the world’s best pro display.

XDR. Dynamic range to the extreme.

The contrast your eyes see between brightness and darkness is very challenging to reproduce in a display, leading to the development of High Dynamic Range (HDR). With breakthrough backlighting technology, Pro Display XDR takes brightness, contrast, and color to a new level. Far beyond HDR, it’s Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR).

A brighter idea.

Typical desktop displays have sustained brightness around 350 nits. Some pro displays exceed this, but most can only sustain it for short periods of time. Pro Display XDR produces an industry-leading 1000 nits of full-screen sustained brightness and 1600 nits at its peak.¹ It gives you the power to maintain extreme brightness without ever dimming. Along with efficient backlight control, this delivers outstanding contrast between the brightest brights and the blackest blacks. The result is an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and stunningly real XDR imagery.

1000 nits
full-screen sustained brightness

1600 nits
peak brightness

1,000,000:1
contrast ratio

Show your truest colors.

Pro Display XDR always gives you the truest representation of your work. A P3 wide color gamut provides a color palette capable of creating the most vibrant imagery. With true 10-bit color, Pro Display XDR can produce more than a billion colors with extreme accuracy. State-of-the-art calibration and a sophisticated algorithm ensure that you get the highest-quality color possible.

10-bit
color depth

P3
wide color gamut

LED in a whole new light.

True-to-life imagery requires having extremely bright areas of the screen right next to extremely dark areas. Without precise backlight control, this can cause an unintended glow called blooming. Pro Display XDR is able to dramatically reduce blooming using advanced LED technology, light shaping, and intelligent image processing.

LEDs

Light mixing and shaping

Color transformation sheet

Micro-lens array

TCON

Innovation in every layer.

Every aspect of the light imaging system in Pro Display XDR is crucial to the overall quality of what you see onscreen. Each element builds on top of the last to create a display with unbelievable brightness and contrast.

576 blue LEDs work together.

Typical LCDs are edge-lit by a strip of white LEDs. The 2D backlighting system in Pro Display XDR is unlike any other. It uses a superbright array of 576 blue LEDs that allows for unmatched light control compared with white LEDs. Twelve controllers rapidly modulate each LED so that areas of the screen can be incredibly bright while other areas are incredibly dark. All of this produces an extraordinary contrast that’s the foundation for XDR.

Light is mixed and shaped.

For even greater control of light, each LED is treated with a reflective layer, a highly customized lens, and a geometrically optimized reflector that are all unique to Pro Display XDR. Through a pioneering design, light is reflected, mixed, and shaped between two layers to minimize blooming and provide uniform lighting.

Color is transformed.

Converting blue light to white is a difficult process that requires extremely precise color conversion. It’s why most display makers use white LEDs. Pro Display XDR accomplishes this conversion with an expertly designed color transformation sheet made of hundreds of layers that control the light spectrum passing through them.

Brightness is taken to the edge.

Pro Display XDR extends exceptional image quality to the very edge. To ensure that LEDs along the sides of the display mix well with adjacent ones, a micro-lens array boosts light along the edges. This creates uniform color and brightness across the entire screen.

One chip makes it all possible.

With a massive amount of processing power, the timing controller (TCON) chip utilizes an algorithm specifically created to analyze and reproduce images. It controls LEDs at over 10 times the refresh rate of the LCD itself, reducing latency and blooming. It’s capable of multiple refresh rates for amazingly smooth playback. Managing both the LED array and LCD pixels, the TCON precisely directs light and color to bring your work to life with stunning accuracy.

Superwide viewing angle.

When multiple people review work together on a single screen, it’s critical that everyone sees the same thing. While most pro desktop displays claim a wide viewing angle, in reality, color and image quality become distorted when seen off-axis. With industry-leading polarizer technology, Pro Display XDR achieves a superwide viewing angle that maintains exceptional color and contrast.

Up to
25x
better off-axis contrast
than a typical LCD

Nano-texture glass.

Light scattered to further reduce glare.

Less glare.
And even less glare.

Every Pro Display XDR screen is engineered for extremely low reflectivity. And if you’re in an especially uncontrolled lighting environment, there’s an innovative matte option with nano-texture glass. Typical matte displays have a coating added to their surface that scatters light. However, these coatings lower contrast while producing unwanted haze and sparkle. The nano-texture on Pro Display XDR is actually etched into the glass at the nanometer level. The result is a screen with beautiful image quality that maintains contrast while scattering light to reduce glare to the barest minimum.

Goes with the workflow.

Professionals require a lot from their displays. But each person has different needs. Resolution, reference modes, reliable calibration. Pro Display XDR has everything you need in a modern workflow, bringing a new level of efficiency to every production. It wasn’t just made for the pro workflow. It redefines it.

Retina 6K. Expand your view.

Higher resolution means more than just a better-quality image. With a Retina 6K display, Pro Display XDR gives you nearly 40 percent more screen real estate than a 5K display. While most displays max out at around 150 pixels per inch (ppi), our Retina display has 218 ppi, providing astoundingly sharp and detailed imagery. It’s a massive creative canvas that easily fits 4K content, your tools, and much more all in one screen.

218 ppi
Retina 6K display

On location.

From the start of a shoot, Pro Display XDR reveals the content you’re capturing with incredible accuracy.

Post-production.

Image reproduction remains consistent across every point of your workflow, ensuring that everyone is always on the same page.

Reference modes.

It’s easy to adjust Pro Display XDR to match the requirements of HDR, HD, SD video, digital cinema, and broader uses such as photography, web development, design, and print. Just select a mode, and the display reconfigures itself to match a specified color space, white point, gamma, and brightness. You even have the ability to create custom reference modes.

True Tone.

The lighting around you can affect the way you see onscreen colors. True Tone on Pro Display XDR uses a breakthrough dual ambient light sensor design — with a sensor on the front and another on the back — to better gauge your overall lighting environment. This facilitates more exact adjustments to the color and intensity of your display, so you can have accurate viewing in all lighting conditions.

Expertly calibrated.

Pro Display XDR is optimized to more than meet the standards of creative professionals. Every display goes through our state-of-the-art color calibration. Each of the display’s 576 LEDs is also individually calibrated and has its light profile stored. An algorithm then uses this information to determine the exact light intensity at which each LED should be modulated to produce the best possible image.

A beautiful picture is only part of the story.

Pro Display XDR is stunning every way you look at it. Its screen stretches edge to edge with just a 9 mm border, so your work takes center stage. The aluminum enclosure is just an inch thick and features an innovative lattice pattern that reduces weight and increases airflow.

More air than metal.

The lattice pattern machined into the aluminum has many advantages. It more than doubles the surface area exposed to air, facilitating additional airflow and acting as a heat sink. This allows for fast and quiet cooling, enabling Pro Display XDR to sustain an extreme level of brightness indefinitely. Inlet and exhaust vents work through this pattern to draw in cool air and eject hot air away from the system, limiting the potential for hot air to be reingested.

Elevate your work. And rotate it, too.

Every aspect of Pro Display XDR was designed with pros in mind. Pro Stand is no exception. Height, tilt, rotation — it’s completely adjustable. It’s stable without taking up much space. And its ability to rotate to landscape or portrait makes it perfect for any type of work.

Fine-tuned fine‑tuning.

Pro Stand makes every adjustment of your display feel seamless. Precision tilting and 120 mm of height adjustment help Pro Display XDR adapt to any viewing condition. The angle of the display stays true even as you adjust the height. With Pro Stand, you get a display that feels weightless, moves effortlessly where you want it, and stays exactly where you leave it.

Every side is its good side.

Pro Stand gives you the ability to move between landscape and portrait whenever you want. All you have to do is unlock the slider and turn the display. Whether you’re a developer, a photographer, or a composer, you can see more of your work without endless scrolling.

Detach. Move. Attach.

Having the freedom to move between being on set and working in the studio can make a big difference. The magnetic connector on Pro Stand makes it easy to attach and detach from its polar-opposite magnet on the back of Pro Display XDR. These magnets guide the connection while latches automatically engage and securely lock the stand to the display. Detaching it is as simple as unlocking the slider.

Available VESA Mount Adapter.

Many pros have unique mounting setups for their displays. The VESA Mount Adapter attaches to the display in a matter of seconds for quick and easy mounting.

Powerful partnerships.

Pair Pro Display XDR with Mac Pro to create the ultimate professional workstation. Or connect it to your MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3.²

Use AR to see Pro Display XDR in your workspace.

Open this page on your iPhone or iPad to view Pro Display XDR in AR.

View in AR

Power to change everything.

Learn more about Mac Pro

How to connect MacBook to monitor at your home or office

Every time Apple introduces a new MacBook, they improve the display. Whether it be the pixel density, brightness, or support for colors, the MacBook display gets better almost every year.

Many don’t bother with the built-in screen much, instead opting to treat their MacBooks as desktop computers tethered to an external monitor or two. Who could blame them? The MacBook monitor may be one of the best attached to a laptop, but even the largest size is underwhelming stacked next to a big desktop display.

Desktop monitors come in a ton of sizes, orientations, and support far more features than a MacBook screen can (or should). Depending on your use case or needs, connecting your MacBook to a monitor may be the perfect desktop environment for you.

How to connect an external monitor to a Mac

Before you connect MacBook to monitor, it’s best to know which MacBook external monitors you can use. Not all monitors work with all MacBooks, so arranging your perfect setup may require you to reconsider which monitor (or monitors) you use.

Here’s how to check which monitors your MacBook supports:

From your Mac menu bar, select the Apple logo at the top left corner
Choose “About This Mac” from the menu
Choose the “Support” tab from the top of the window that appears
Tap on “Specifications” next to Mac Resources

This opens a webpage with details on the number of displays your MacBook supports under the “Video Support or Graphics” section.

Apple notes that MacBooks with Apple Silicon chips are currently limited to one external display linked via one of the Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports; a happy feature for those who wish to connect MacBook Air to monitor as you can use any port. The Mac Mini can support a second external display via its HDMI port. (We expect this will change as Apple Silicon matures and finds its way to the MacBook Pro.)

Once you understand just which monitors – and how many – you can connect, simply make sure your external monitors are connected to a power source (if necessary) and connect them to your MacBook via the wired connection available to you depending on the year your MacBook was made.

Configure your external monitor

Whether you’re using an external monitor as your only monitor or in conjunction with your MacBook monitor, there are a few things to keep in mind:

You can arrange your MacBook monitors however you like. In the steps below, we outline how to arrange your MacBook and external monitors. Once you know how to connect a MacBook to a monitor, configuring them is the next step.
Close your MacBook and keep working. Once you connect MacBook to monitor, you can choose to shut its lid to make the external monitor your only display. This will keep your MacBook powered on and awake – just remember to make sure it’s connected to a power source, or is throughput charging via the monitors connected to power.
You will have the same options and settings. Display brightness, warmth, and Night Shift are all customizable when you connect an external display or two. Install DisplayBuddy to unify your settings across multiple monitors.

Here’s how to configure your external monitor for use with any MacBook:

Plug in your external display to a power source
Plug your external display into your MacBook
Ensure the external display (or both, if you’re able to use two displays) is active and on
Open System Settings/System Preferences
Access Displays.

This is where things get dynamic. With more than one external monitor connected, your MacBook screen will open multiple windows.

Your MacBook will always be the ‘main’ display when it’s open and available. If you have an external monitor connected, it will open up a second menu that is unique to that monitor; only your primary monitor will have the “arrangement” and “Night Shift” options available. Because a second monitor is how to extend screen on Mac, Night Shift settings will be reflected there as it’s a system wide feature.

Arrangement is controlled via the primary monitor because how you arrange monitors is always dependent on their relationship to that primary monitor. You can have them side by side, or stacked. If you drag one monitor over the other in the arrangement field, it will mirror the displays.

However you arrange them, know your mouse or trackpad cursor will follow that arrangement; a side by side arrangement, for instance, will allow you to drag your cursor off one screen and onto the other arranged next to it. This helps an external monitor feel like a true extension of your MacBook screen, or for two external displays to work in unison.

Tip: Want your display brighter? You can always double display brightness with Vivid! It works like Magic with M1 MacBook Pro and Pro Display XDR.

Using an external monitor can cause your MacBook to work harder than it’s used to. All the pixels being pushed around and colors changing can be taxing on your machine. This is why you need iStat Menus.

iStat Menus for Mac makes its home in your Mac’s menu bar, only appearing when you click on its icon. From there, it surfaces a handy drop-down menu that gives you details on your network, CPU, memory, and sensor performance. Hover over any section and iStat Menus will provide even more detail on what’s happening with your Mac.

Which port to use on my Mac

This is dependent on both your Mac and the monitor you have.

Modern MacBooks use Thunderbolt connections, which have the USB-C connection. Any monitor that works via a USB-C cable should work with your MacBook.

To connect to your MacBook, a good rule of thumb is to use the port (or ports) closest to the rear of the MacBook. These are considered ‘power’ ports and were designed to support external displays. Some lower-end displays may work on the other ports as well.

For a Mac Mini, iMac, or Mac Pro, other connection types like HDMI may be available.

Adapters to use to connect the monitor to a Mac

There are a wide variety of adapters that may be available to you. HDMI to USB-C, USB-C to DVI, VGA to USB-C, USB to USB-C, USB-C to DAV – the possibilities seem endless.

Be sure to purchase any adapters from respected retailers. Read the reviews; someone may note their adapter wouldn’t work for the same purpose you need it for. Not all adapters are created equally, so try to find one with great reviews and user feedback that’s positive.

You may want to try a different cable, too. Instead of an adapter, search for cables that may work for your monitor to Mac setup instead.

Common problems

There are a few common issues with using an external monitor with your MacBook:

The monitor doesn’t turn on. Remember to try different ports, and default to the ones at the rear of your MacBook.
The monitor isn’t where you want it to be. If your monitor physically sits to the left of your MacBook and you want to extend the display in that arrangement, remember to follow the steps above to get into System Settings and arrange your displays properly.
The MacBook won’t work when you close the lid. Remember that your MacBook only supports an external monitor being the only display when it’s connected to a power supply. You may be able to keep it connected to power via your monitor, but that’s not a sure bet.

There may also be some settings keeping your external monitor from working properly. This is why it’s a great idea to download CleanMyMac X.

CleanMyMac X keeps your Mac working in perfect condition, and has a deep clean function that resets system settings for you. If there’s something blocking your monitor from working with your Mac, chances are CleanMyMac X can find and fix the issue.

Beyond monitor settings, CleanMyMac X is excellent at ensuring your Mac stays free of unwanted or unnecessary files, provides a way to delete apps from your Mac completely with a few taps, identifying and removing malware, viewing your storage in a visual graph, and optimizing your Mac for speed. It’s the app every Mac owner should have.

No matter how many monitors you have, the menu bar will display on each screen. Why not keep it nice and tidy with Bartender?

Bartender hides your menu bar icons behind a single three-dot menu, allowing you to rearrange those icons however you like. If you’re a keyboard warrior, Bartender supports hotkey switching, and the ability to navigate through apps using the keyboard arrow keys. You can also set commands to launch your favorite apps with a few keystrokes!

Grab every helper tool on Setapp

CleanMyMac X, DisplayBuddy, Vivid, Bartender, and iStat Menus are just five of the over 240 great Mac apps available for free during a week-long trial of Setapp.

During your trial, you can use all of the apps in the Setapp catalog for free. When your seven day trial period ends, continued access to the massive (and growing) Setapp suite is only $9.99 per month. It’s an amazing deal, so don’t wait – try Setapp now!

FAQ

How to connect MacBook to monitor without HDMI?

You can buy an adapter from Apple or any other trusted retailer. For example, you can get a MiniDisplay-to-DVI, MiniDisplay-to-VGA, or HDMI-to-DVI adapter.

How to connect a second monitor to MacBook?

You should plug in your second display to a power source, then connect it to your MacBook using a cable and, if necessary, an adapter. You can check the connection in System Settings > Displays.

How to connect MacBook to monitor and close laptop?

On macOS Monterey and earlier, open System Preferences on your MacBook and access Energy Saver > Power Adapter. Set “Turn display off after” to Never. On macOS Ventura, open System Settings on your MacBook and access Lock Screen. Set “Turn display off on power adapter if inactive” to Never. After that, you can use your laptop with a lid closed.

Change display settings on Mac

In Displays preferences on Mac, you can adjust resolution, brightness, and other display settings.

Not all of the options described here are available for every display model, and some of them only appear when a Mac is connected to an external display.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Displays in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down the menu.) Once your Mac is connected to the display, click its name on the right to select the options you want.

Open display settings

Parameter				Description
9 0002 Arrange				Drag the displays to the desired location. To enable video mirroring for displays, hold down the Option key and drag one display onto another. To change the position of a menu bar, drag it to another display. This option only appears if an external display is connected to the Mac. Extended Mac desktop and image mirroring across multiple displays.
Pop-up menu				Select display for mirroring or desktop extension.
Use as				Select whether to use the display as a mirroring or desktop extension, or as the primary display. This option only appears if an external display is connected to the Mac.
Optimized for				Select to optimize for external display or desktop. This option only appears if an external display is connected to your Mac.
Resolution				Select the amount of detail on the display screen. Choose Default to automatically use the best resolution for your display, or choose another option to manually set the resolution. Mac screen resolution selection.
Brightness				Select how light or dark the image appears on the screen. To make the image brighter, move the slider to the right; to make it darker, move the slider to the left. Change the brightness of your Mac screen.
“Auto adjust brightness” or “Ambient light compensation” (depending on the display)				The brightness of the display will be automatically adjusted based on ambient light. This option is only available if your Mac has an ambient light sensor.
True Tone				Display colors will automatically adjust based on ambient light.
Color profile				Change the color profile used by the display. Detailed information about all the color profiles installed on your Mac (and used by connected cameras, printers, and displays) can be viewed in the ColorSync Utility (located in the Applications > Utilities folder). See ColorSync Utility User’s Guide. You can also create your own color profile by calibrating the display.
“Rotate” or “Rotate” (depending on the display)				Rotate the image on the display screen by the specified angle. Rotate an image on a Mac screen. This button appears only when a supported external display is connected to your Mac.
Refresh rate				Adjust the screen refresh rate. If the frequency is set too low, the screen will appear to flicker. If the frequency is set too high, a black screen may appear when the corresponding frequency is not supported. See your display documentation for the best refresh rate setting. On a supported display, you can set the refresh rate to dynamically adjust using the Adaptive Sync feature. This option appears only if an external display is connected to the Mac that supports changing the refresh rate.
Show Sidebar				Choose how the sidebar appears on your iPad: it can be displayed on the left, right, or not displayed at all. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Display Touch Bar				Choose how the Touch Bar appears on the iPad: it can be displayed at the top, at the bottom, or not at all. When you use an application that supports the Touch Bar on iPad, the Touch Bar appears in the location you choose. The buttons available on the Touch Bar vary depending on the current application and task. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Enable double-tap on Apple Pencil				Check this box to allow you to double-tap the bottom of your Apple Pencil to switch between drawing tools in some apps (if the Apple Pencil supports it). See Apple Support article Connect Apple Pencil to iPad. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Overscan				Select this option if you are using a TV as your display and the menu bar is not displayed. This option only appears on supported TVs.
Underscan				If you are using a TV as a display and do not want vertical black bars to appear on the sides while watching movies or TV shows, select this option. This option only appears on supported TVs.
Extras				Adjust settings to connect to a nearby Mac or iPad and save power. Mac or iPad connection. See Use your keyboard and mouse or trackpad to control multiple devices with Universal Control. Battery and power. Dim the screen slightly when on battery power, or disable the Mac from auto-sleep when the computer is connected to a power source and the display is off.
Night Shift				Bring the display color closer to the warm tones of the spectrum. The warm colors of the screen make your eyes less tired when you use your Mac at night or in low light. See Using Night Shift.
Search for displays				The system will search for displays connected to the Mac. Press and hold the Option key to show this button instead of the Night Shift button, then click the Search for Displays button if your Mac doesn’t recognize the newly connected display.

You can also use Control Center to adjust display brightness, control screen mirroring, and access Displays settings. Click Control Center in the menu bar, then choose Display or Screen Mirroring.

See also Accessibility settings on Mac

Set up multiple monitors with Mac mini

Set as primary display

When using dual displays with a Mac mini, you will find that the dock is always shown on one (primary) display. This will make you worry when you want to use the dock on another display (secondary display). Therefore, if there is a way to allow two displays to change their degrees back and forth (from secondary to primary), the dock can actually appear on the display where you want the dock to appear. Fortunately, there is a way – to replace the secondary display with the main one. By setting your non-primary display as your primary display, you can place the dock on the bottom screen of your Mac mini. Below is our walkthrough using a Mac Mini with two external displays as an example. As shown in the figure, the display on the left is configured as the primary display with a menu bar, dock, and Windows icons, and on the right is the secondary display.

Now let’s change the display on the right as the main display to the grt dock on the bottom screen by following the steps below.

Step 1. Go to Displays > Location.

First of all, with a Mac mini, to change the display on the right to the main one to the grt dock at the bottom of the screen, all you have to do is click on Apple Menu to enter System Preferences. Then, in the System Preferences interface, go to Displays > Location. On the Location tab, you can see the location and relative resolution of all the displays that are currently connected to your Mac mini. As you can see, the two blue rectangular icons actually correspond to two displays. The icon with the white bar at the top represents the main display.

Step 2. Click the blue icons on the Location tab to identify displays (if needed).

If you use multiple displays with your Mac mini and aren’t sure which blue icon actually corresponds to which display, you can identify them by simply clicking on one of the icons. For example, if you want to check which display on your desk is the one you want to change as the main one, just press and hold the blue icons one by one until a red border appears around the display you want to make. set as the main display.

Step 3 Drag the white bar from one icon to another.

As mentioned earlier, the blue icon with a white stripe at the top is the main display. This is because the white bar corresponds to the menu bar (dock). So to set the display on the right as your primary display, all you have to do now is click on the white bar at the top of the left icon and then drag it to the top of the right icon.

The two displays connected to your Mac mini will now dim temporarily when you release the white bar at the top of the right blue icon. When the screens get bright again, in our example, you have successfully set the display (right display) where you want the dock to appear as the primary display. You have docked on the bottom screen of the right display using your Mac mini.

Note:

This setting is reversible. However, you can go back to set your original primary display as primary again in just a couple of seconds if you want to keep the dock active on the bottom screen.

Move Dock

Changing the non-primary display as the primary also means that all items associated with it, including the menu bar, dock, and application windows, are also migrated. To place only the Dock on the bottom screen of a secondary external display connected to your Mac mini, there’s a new approach—move the Dock only without making any changes to the primary display’s settings.

Like this:

Step 1: Move your mouse or trackpad cursor to the bottom of the desired display where you want to place the dock.

Step 2: Then hold your mouse or cursor there and wait a few seconds until the dock appears. Normally, the dock will appear on the desired display when it slides down and disappears on the main display.

However, sometimes it may not appear.