MBP M1 Max w. Studio Display: Video Broken or Just Inadequate?

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2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max bought new in 2022, 64 GB RAM, Studio Display w. Tilt-and-height-adjustable stand, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1. AppleCare+

Please see the iPhone video at Vimeo. This problem is not new. The Studio Display flickers even when there is light demand on the video system. Running Lightroom Classic and editing a photo in one of the Topaz utilities is virtually guaranteed to cause severe flicker, sometimes more pronounced than what is seen in the video. The on-line Apple Store says of the Studio Display “Pairs perfectly with any Mac…”

The display has been tested with other Macs, and also by an Apple-authorized repair facility, and has not shown a problem. Various Apple-brand cables have been tried. That points to the MBP video system as the source of the problem. Do you think that it is broken, or merely inadequate for the task? I fear it’s the latter.

Many thanks!

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The M1 Max itself is more than capable of handling that 5K display. But it’s entirely possible there’s a problem with the Mac’s circuitry (since you say the display itself already checked out). It’s not uncommon for people to see such artifacts when the display cable is bad or damaged (recall MBP ribbon cable incidents a few years back) which you already checked, but upstream of that cable is more and there could be a problem there. Have you ever run Apple Diagnostics on this system?

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Something definitely up with the MBPro. My one, also M1 Max, has no issues at all with my Studio Display, I’m hoping to get another one to have two of them! You’ve swapped out the cables, the display is fine with other computers. Something up with the Mac so. Need to book a trip to the Apple Store.

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I have an M1 Max with 32GB RAM bought on release day, I have two studio displays connected to it and have never seen that happen.

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I thank you all for your prompt and useful assistance. (This question has been sitting on the Apple Support Page for two weeks without a response, further lowering my regard for that forum.)

Particularly interesting is @adieb relating that he has two Studio Displays connected to a Mac similar to mine, without problems.

@Simon I had not run the Apple Diagnostics. Now I have, thank you, and Apple Diagnostics shows nothing amiss.

I have made an appointment with the Genius Bar for Saturday afternoon.

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