Apple's new $2,900 MacBook Pro is the first laptop to support a color method meant to make the same image look alike on different screens and to different eyes.
Apple's new MacBook Pro, which has an OLED screen and a touchscreen, is the first laptop to support a new Apple color method called CMF 2026. The aim is simple. A photo or video should look the same on any kind of screen and to any viewer. The laptop costs $2,900.
CMF stands for color-matching function. It is a math formula that describes how people see color. The long-time standard is CIE 1931, named for the International Commission on Illumination. Apple's CMF 2026 is a newer version. Before this laptop, only one other Apple product supported it, the Studio Display XDR monitor.
CIE 1931 was built on only 17 test subjects. It also does not handle small differences between human eyes, such as how sensitive the color-detecting cells are. Those differences can change with age.
Newer screen types make the gap easier to see. OLED and quantum dot screens produce very narrow bands of light. Two such screens can be set to the same white point and still look identical to one person and different to another.
The laptop also supports Apple Pro Display Calibrator. It offers three ways to adjust the reference modes or build a custom one. These include a full calibration, a fine-tune with measuring gear, and a fine-tune by eye.
This is aimed at people who edit photos or video for a living and need color they can trust. Until now, CMF 2026 required a desk monitor. The Studio Display XDR costs $3,300. A laptop that supports it lets professionals check color while traveling.
It could also reach more buyers. The reviewer at The Verge notes that more people will likely buy a touchscreen MacBook at $2,900 than a $3,300 professional monitor.
Apple is working with a technical committee at the International Commission on Illumination on a proposed industry standard. It is not a finished standard yet. The material does not say when the laptop ships, and it does not list other specifications. CIE 1931 is still the standard, and most of the laptop's reference modes still use it.
Apple's $2,900 MacBook Pro brings a new color method to a laptop, which matters mainly if you edit photos or video for work.
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