What Refresh Rate Does a Mac Laptop Support?

If you've ever noticed your screen looking unusually smooth while scrolling or watching video, refresh rate is likely the reason. Mac laptops have evolved significantly in this area over the past few years, and understanding what your machine supports — and what affects it — makes a real difference in how you use your display.

What Is Refresh Rate, and Why Does It Matter?

Refresh rate refers to how many times per second your display redraws the image on screen, measured in hertz (Hz). A 60Hz display updates 60 times per second. A 120Hz display updates twice as fast.

In practical terms, higher refresh rates produce:

• Smoother scrolling through web pages and documents
• Reduced motion blur in video and animation
• More responsive cursor tracking
• A generally "snappier" feel, even outside of gaming

For everyday tasks like writing or browsing, the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz is noticeable but not critical. For creative work, video editing, or anything involving fast motion, it becomes much more significant.

Refresh Rates Across Mac Laptop Models

Not all Mac laptops support the same refresh rates. Apple has shipped multiple display technologies across its lineup, and the specs vary meaningfully depending on which generation and tier of machine you have.

The dividing line is clear: MacBook Air models across generations have remained at 60Hz. MacBook Pro models with ProMotion — starting with the 14-inch and 16-inch M1 Pro/Max redesign — support variable refresh rates up to 120Hz.

What Is ProMotion, and How Does It Work?

ProMotion is Apple's adaptive refresh rate technology. Rather than locking the display at a fixed rate, ProMotion dynamically adjusts the refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on what's happening on screen.

• Watching a static document? The display might drop to 24Hz or lower to save battery.
• Scrolling quickly through a webpage? It ramps up toward 120Hz for smoothness.
• Playing back 24fps video? It syncs to a multiple of that frame rate to avoid judder.

This adaptive behavior is one reason MacBook Pro battery life holds up well despite supporting 120Hz — the display isn't always running at full speed.

macOS handles ProMotion automatically. You don't need to manually set the refresh rate in most cases, though some apps and games can request specific frame rates when it's relevant.

Does macOS Let You Manually Control Refresh Rate?

In some cases, yes. 🖥️

On MacBook Pro models with ProMotion, you can go to System Settings > Displays and see options for resolution and, on some configurations, frame rate preferences. However, for the ProMotion display itself, Apple largely manages the refresh rate dynamically rather than exposing a simple slider.

Where manual control becomes more relevant is when connecting an external display. If you attach a monitor to your Mac laptop via Thunderbolt, HDMI, or USB-C, the refresh rate you can achieve depends on:

• The cable type and version (HDMI 2.0 vs 2.1, Thunderbolt bandwidth)
• The external monitor's supported refresh rates
• The Mac's GPU capability at that resolution
• The macOS display settings for that output

A MacBook Air at 60Hz internally can drive certain external displays at higher refresh rates — but the specifics depend on that exact hardware combination.

Variables That Determine Your Real-World Experience

Even knowing your Mac's rated refresh rate doesn't tell the whole story. Several factors shape what you'll actually experience: ⚡

1. The application you're using Some apps are optimized for ProMotion and benefit noticeably from 120Hz. Others are not, and may render at lower frame rates regardless of what the display supports.

2. Battery vs. plugged in macOS may throttle certain display behaviors when running on battery to preserve charge. High-performance display modes may behave differently when plugged in.

3. Resolution and content scaling Higher resolutions demand more from the GPU. At native Retina resolutions, modern Apple Silicon handles this well, but scaled resolutions or high-resolution external displays can affect how consistently the system hits peak refresh rates.

4. Third-party tools and accessibility settings Some users run utilities to influence display behavior. macOS accessibility settings like "Reduce Motion" don't change the refresh rate directly, but they do affect how animations behave, which changes the perceived smoothness.

5. Display age and condition On older machines, display panel behavior can shift over time, though this is more of an edge factor than a common concern.

The Gap Between Spec and Experience

Understanding a Mac laptop's refresh rate spec is straightforward — the number is either 60Hz or up to 120Hz with ProMotion. But how much that number matters to you depends entirely on what you do on the machine, which display you're looking at, whether you're on battery or power, and what software you're running.

A 120Hz ProMotion display on a MacBook Pro is genuinely impressive for the right workflows. A 60Hz MacBook Air is completely capable for tasks where fluid animation isn't the priority. The spec is only part of the picture — your actual use case is the other half.