We’re going to take an in-depth look at the different generations of Apple MacBooks and their screen brightness, measured in nits. For those who don’t know, nits is a unit of measurement for the brightness or luminosity of a screen. The higher the number of nits, the brighter the screen. Let’s take a look at how MacBooks have evolved over the years in terms of screen brightness.
MacBook (First Generation)
- f(2006): About 200 nits
- MacBook 13-inch (2007): About 200 nits
- MacBook 13-inch (2008): About 220 nits
MacBook (Second Generation - Aluminum Unibody)
- MacBook 13-inch (Late 2008 - Aluminum unibody): Approximately 220 nits
MacBook Pro (First Generation)
- MacBook Pro 15-inch (2006 - 2008): About 200 nits
- MacBook Pro 17-inch (2006 - 2008): About 200 nits
MacBook Pro (Second Generation - Unibody)
- MacBook Pro 13-inch (2009 - 2012): Approximately 250 nits
- MacBook Pro 15-inch (2009 - 2012): Approximately 250 nits
- MacBook Pro 17-inch (2009 - 2012): Approximately 250 nits
MacBook Air (First Generation)
- MacBook Air 13-inch (2008 - 2010): About 300 nits
- MacBook Air 11-inch (2010): About 300 nits
MacBook Air (Second Generation)
- MacBook Air 13-inch (2011 - 2015): About 300 nits
- MacBook Air 11-inch (2011 - 2015): About 300 nits
MacBook Pro with Retina display
- MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina (2012 - 2015): About 300 nits
- MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina (2012 - 2015): About 300 nits
12-inch MacBook with Retina display
- 12-inch MacBook (2015 - 2019): About 350 nits
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
- MacBook Pro 13-inch (2016 - 2019): About 500 nits
- MacBook Pro 15-inch (2016 - 2019): About 500 nits
- MacBook Pro 16 -inch (2019): About 500 nits
MacBook Air with Retina display
- MacBook Air 13-inch Retina (2018 - 2021): About 400 nits
MacBook Pro with Apple M1 chip
- MacBook Pro 13-inch (2020 - 2021): About 500 nits
MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Pro and M1 Max chips
- MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021): About 1000 nits (peak brightness for HDR content)
- MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021): Approximately 1600 nits (peak brightness for HDR content)
