MacBook Pro's glowing logo is white only, and iFixit shows why RGB was possible

The logo that stole the show

When Apple chief executive John Ternus unveiled the first touchscreen Mac last month, the loudest reaction in the room was not for the PROLED MacBook Pro's OLED touchscreen or its thinner, lighter body. According to The Verge, it was for the illuminated lid logo.

The glowing Apple mark is a throwback to the light-up logos on older MacBooks. Apple began phasing those out in 2015, and they had disappeared entirely by the 2018 MacBook Air redesign. The Verge describes the return as a nostalgia play that clearly worked.

How the new light works

The old logo was lit by the screen's backlight. An OLED display has no backlight, so Apple took a different route. A teardown by iFixit found the new logo is lit by four white LEDs, with software syncing their brightness to the screen.

That detail matters, because it means the hardware choice was Apple's own. As The Verge points out, RGB LEDs, which can produce any colour, could have been used instead of white ones.

The case for colour

In an opinion column, The Verge argues Apple missed an opportunity by sticking to white. The writer had hoped users could customise the lit cutout in the way Microsoft allows on the Xbox logo of its Elite Series 2 controllers.

The column notes that Apple says it remains serious about gaming, a market where multicolour RGB lighting is a familiar signature. It also suggests the logo could have been a playful Easter egg, pointing out that few people expected a touchscreen MacBook either, and that products such as the iPhone Duo and HomeView suggest a more experimental phase in the early Ternus era.

What owners can actually do

Out of the box, the logo lights up only in white. The Verge reports that the illumination can be switched off with Terminal commands, or controlled with third-party software.

A free app called LogoLight can make the logo pulse, breathe, flash in time with music, or show Morse code. Colour, however, is not on the menu.

Why mods are unlikely

Anyone hoping for a colour-changing modification faces steep odds. iFixit's teardown showed how hard the LEDs are to reach, with the screen delaminating and breaking during the process.

The Verge concludes that RGB mods are unlikely unless someone is willing to void the warranty and risk an expensive screen repair on a laptop it prices at $3,000. If the light-up logo ever spreads to future MacBook Air models or a rumoured MacBook Neo, the column suggests Apple could loosen up then.