Extremely Blurry Screen M1 MacBook Pro 16

I have the exact same problem. I signed on to tell others about how I was able to solve it myself. Since I could not see the screen, I connected an HDMI cable to my TV. I booted into recovery mode, which required, closing the screen, which would not let me access the keyboard and mouse, of course. I was able to use a Bluetooth mouse that I had paired while I had access when the TV was connected this let me select the first option in the recovery screen, and then I was able to open the screen and use the keyboard and mouse, to erase the partition and reinstall OS X, I did this in preparation for sending the computer in for service as I did not want to have my proprietary data at risk, but I was surprised to find that once the installation was complete, the screen came back. I’m completing the reinstall now, but the fact that the screen is back on likely means it will stay that way. Fingers crossed…

Today I had the EXACT same thing. I was working and then my laptop went black. Tried every trick online, and when it would start up it was extremely blurry and all I would see is the blurred Apple logo.

After seeing this thread, I really hoped it wasn’t the same problem I was having.. but it was.

I got a diagnostic from Apple Genius Bar, and was told that because it was out of warranty by 2 months that I would need to pay £700+ to get it fixed.

Absolute joke, after buying a laptop that cost £1700, it shouldn’t be breaking like this after 2 years.

The Apple tech told me that it’s a hardware issue, and that other than that my machine was working completely fine.

So now I need to buy a new computer/laptop, or use an external monitor. Never buying an Apple Laptop again !

Just wanted to let others know who have the same issue, that I saw someone’s message on here about consumer law today and realised I could file my own claim. By the end of the day was offered a FULL refund for my faulty device.

I posted on this thread last month when my laptop screen went blurry/black, and after going to the Genius Bar was told it would cost my £700 to fix.

Today I realised that if you can prove the laptop has a fault that wasn’t due to personal damage (get a Genius Bar Diagnostic for this) you can claim on Consumer Law.

In the U.K., you have 6 years to claim under this law, and essentially weighs up what’s a fair amount of time you can expect a device/object etc to work.

Thankfully I bought from Costco, and today started a complaint through Resolver. Within 12 hours I had a call from the warehouse manager at the Costco I bought the laptop, and after hearing everything and seeing the Genius Bar diagnostic report, offered me a full refund.

Very thankful for the amazing retail workers/managers out there!

Just wanted to let everyone else on this thread know, so that you can hopefully get the same outcome.

If you need more info, in the UK you can call Citizens Advice, and they’ll explain Consumer Law to you and help!

Hope this helps someone out there!

*Background Info : Device is 2 years and 3 months old. Issue happened out of warranty*

*To do this I had an Apple Diagnostic Report, all my receipts / evidence of purchase*

An update to this. An Apple Authorised Service Partner (MacForum AB) took in the machine and asked for 12,000 SEK (at time of writing 1,163 USD) to replace the screen (and the Lid Angle Sensor), plus an additional 800 SEK examination fee (78 USD).

I asked if it was covered under consumer protection laws in the EU, they asked for the original receipt, I gave them that and then they ultimately replaced the screen for free and repaid the examination fee!

So all is well in the end, but I am now mourning the loss of the pretty stickers I had on my lid 😭

I'm experiencing the same dark and blurry display issue after 18 months of ownership. I will add that I noticed some screen flickering a few weeks before, and a few instances where the screen went out but came back after closing and re-opening a few minutes later. Then it became a permanent problem.

Apple support referred me to a local authorized Apple Service Provider. I told him I tried all the tests and tricks without success, but that I've been using an external monitor without problems. He checked for physical damage, but saved me the $35 intake fee for them to run the same tests I've already done. He said that the graphics card is fine if it worked with my external monitor. Basically, I would be charged $925 for a full screen replacement. He said he had not heard of any widespread display issues since the 2016 models.

Those of us with this issue may be on the early end of something that points to a larger manufacturing issue, or we are just an unlucky batch. Either way, no recalls or warranty extensions have been offered by Apple to resolve this yet.

A 16-inch M1 Macbook of the same age without screen issues is valued at $1.5-2K. So, spending nearly $1K for a replacement screen is unreasonable. Plus, how long would a replacement screen last? Another 18 months?

For anyone needing a ray of hope, my Macbook Pro M1 began suffering from this exact same blurry and dark monochrome screen problem just prior to the holidays. My screen very closely matched the photos that I see everyone posting, so I am positive it is the same issue. Nothing I tried could make the problem go away. I even took it to the Genius bar at the Apple store. They ran various diagnostics and replaced the firmware, but couldn't solve the problem. They said that it would cost $1,000+ to repair.

Today, I booted it up after two months of not using it to find that the problem had disappeared! I saw the little white house-shaped icon and the progress bar which I think indicates that it was trying to restore itself from hibernation. The display was sharp and full brightness. I did not do anything to the machine between the time it wasn't working and the time that it was, except for letting it sit for an extended period (approximately 2 months).

Upon first powering up, the boot process did not complete normally, but I could see a normal non-blurry mouse pointer on a black screen. I then forced a power-off by pressing and holding the power button. When I powered on, everyone came up normally. I was able to login and see my desktop in full, sharp color. I only hope that it stays this way and that the problem does not return.

The machine ran completely out of power when it was sitting for two months. It wouldn't start without plugging it in. When I powered it on using the power cord, I saw the progress bar which seems to indicate waking up from hibernation. One other thing is that the temperature in the room where the machine sat was around 50 degrees for most of the time it sat there. I doubt that matters, but perhaps.

So... my advice is to try running your machine completely out of power and let it sit for a while (maybe in a cool room just in case). I doubt that the full two months is required. You could try various periods of time to see if it helps.

To me, this result indicates that the problem isn't a display hardware failure. However, that leaves open the question of why replacing the display does solve the problem. It could be that the process of replacing it ends up triggering the same kind of reset as running it out of power and letting it sit for an extended period.

Or... maybe the problem is just intermittent and the 2 months of sitting had nothing to do with it? I'm open to theories.

I'll let you know if anything changes.

Macbook details:

16-inch Macbook Pro from 2021.

Apple M1 Max

32GB

macOS Sonoma Version 14.2

Built-in liquid retina XDR Display (3456 x 2234)

If you have any questions, let me know.

Same problem in 2024, unfortunate solution is to replace the screen.

My Macbook Pro 2021, M1 Max blurred out on me recently. At this point in time, the computer was 2 years old but had never been dropped once. I was just answering emails like normal and then boom, black blurry screen. There were no warning signs ahead of time, no cracks, chips or dents on my computer that would have caused it, it was just instant, unexpected and very frustrating.

For those of you with personal Macbooks that have had this happen, I'm sorry to say I unfortunately don't have a personal solution. In my case, my computer is a work computer and owned by the company I work for. My IT was able to help and they had to order in parts for an entirely new screen replacement. When I asked them what caused it, they had no idea.

This seems like a SERIOUS design flaw, as there was no reason to why my screen died on me. If I had dropped my computer right before it happened, sure that's my fault, but it was just sitting on desk behaving normally until boom, dead screen. If this has happened to you on a personal machine, I really hope your warranty covers it.

Hi all, just wanted to share.

I was able to log in somehow through the very blurry screen. I then connected it to an external monitor.

After hours of playing with the “display” settings, the screen came on unbelievably.

I believe now the issue is the “pro motion” option in the display settings. Changing it to 60hrz, and set the preset to HDR seems to have done the trick. (See pic)

FYI, I did update to Sonoma and had to go through the whole thing again, and it was more of a pain the second time because for whatever reason Sonoma removed the 60hz option, and was only allowing the “Pro motion”. (Thanks again Apple!!!) Eventually it resolved itself when connecting to a different, older monitor, which made it match the main display (the Mac display) to the monitors.

its been holding now for several days, though there is a line that appears at times in the middle of the screen. That tells me there is something broken with the monitor but the OS is making it worse.

Hope this helps.

Hey!

When this happened to me, I called up Apple and a technician went through all the different hard reset options etc, before I went to the centre.

None of these worked, and I suspect if you have the same issue they won’t work for you also.

Just a pre warning, if it is hardware and your laptop is out of warranty, without any AppleCare on your device you’ll need to pay atleast £700+ (UK) in order to get it fixed.

If you’re unable to afford that like I was, you can still use the laptop with a separate monitor. Since mine did this in January, I have been booting it up with the laptop closed, and using a separate monitor to do work.

Since it’s a hardware issue, If you have a separate monitor, there’s no reason you can’t keep using your laptop.

Hopefully you don’t have the same issue, and it’s able to be fixed! If not, I hope my reply helps :)

I had the same problem, even after a restart. I hooked up an external monitor, logged in, and used a tool I have called "Better Display" to turn off the built in LCD and turn it back on again. That worked for some reason.

So following up on this. Guy at Genius Bar in Shanghai did a diagnostic on my laptop and taught me how to do data backup on an external drive, so I can wipe the drive and reinstall the software from scratch. But in his personal estimate, which he based on the results on the diagnostic test he did in store, it’s a 90% chance it’s a hardware issue and the disk wipe is not likely to fix the problem. But I will go on with it anyway just so that when I call Apple to appeal I want to be able to say that I’ve done all I could.

as noted by others here, this does not appear to be a user problem. I don’t even bring m my laptop to work, I’ve never dropped it or spilled anything on it, nor is there any physical evidence of damage. I was using the laptop when t suddenly and inexplicably went dark. My laptop is less than two years old, as I bought it in August 2022. My previous MacBook Pro, which I used much more often, lasted for seven years, and I sold it (or traded it in, don’t remember). So I’ve been buying apple products for 13 years and as a loyal customer this 2 year failure is disappointing.

as another noteworthy thing, the Genius service guy advised me to buy Apple products in China next time. Local laws here mandate laptop and other electronic sellers to provide two year hardware guarantee. Canada does not mandate such thing. Some provinces in China even mandate 3 year guarantees. So folks, the days of China being mocked for selling fake products that fall apart by the time you bring them home are over. Today, China has better consumer protection than the collective “West”.

So, no reinstall helped. The problem just kept coming back. I contacted Apple and they replaced it for free (2 months out of warranty, props to Apple) I just had to pay for the labor because I was using one of their approved service centers since I'm not close to an Apple Store, but since I'm in Thailand at the moment the labor was like $20 lol. Oh, and they did confirm it was a hardware issue.

Same issue happened before a week

I took it to service center they said display has to be replaced.

It's cost around 85k inr.

So I decided to to get back and work with external monitor

When I bought new monitor and plugged in type c again my laptop 💻 display started working.

I don't know what happened.

But again in night it went to black and blurry

One interesting finding I had was that when getting the MacBook into diagnosis mode and running the offline tests (by using an external mouse, keyboard & display to get through the dialogs while having the notebook closed), the screen works perfectly fine. But only during testing. So it seems weird that it is something with the screen or the lid angle sensor.

Maybe some others with the same problem could confirm whether this works on their machines or not? Then it would be something completely different (and I am not sure why replacing the screen would fix the issue as the screen is working perfectly fine).

Maybe something on the motherboard on the path to the lid angle sensor? Diagnosis says "everything works fine"...