Apple has returned the glowing white Apple logo to the lid of the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR. It's not in Settings, but there's a way to turn it off.

You just can't please people. For ten years we've been denied the once famous glowing logo and as soon as we get it back, there are complaints.

There are people who want the newest iPhones to come in distinctive colors just so that everyone knows they've got the latest one. So you'd think there'd also be people who'd want you to know they've got — and could afford — the new MacBook Pro.

But whether it's they don't want to advertise Apple quite so visibly, or whether they want to pretend to be using Windows laptops, there is a solution. Actually, there are two solutions, where one is Apple just accepting the physics of the situation, and the other is it making you work for what you want.

The simple solution

The logo isn't how it used to be. The old version used the LCD backlight to illuminate a plastic cut out. OLED lighting doesn't work that way.

Instead, the logo is similar to how a smart light works. Brightness is tied to, but not because of, the main screen's brightness. So, Apple has set it up so you can reduce the glow of that literal back light, by dimming the display.

It's definitely a simple way to cut down the glow, but it's unlikely to be practical. You need to set the front screen's brightness to whatever it is you need, you don't want to be peering at it.

So the alternative it is to turn off the glowing logo in software. While that isn't difficult, Apple has no interest in making it a tick box.

Instead, as revealed in Apple's support documentation, the way to turn off the logo is to enter a Terminal command. Specifically paste this into Terminal:

sudo defaults write com.apple.CoreBrightness LEBacklightMode -int 0

You'll then be prompted to enter your Mac's password, but as soon as you've done that, the logo is off.

When you realize that you are missing out, though, you can go back to Terminal and instead paste in this:

sudo defaults delete com.apple.CoreBrightness LEBacklightMode

The change is persistent, and will span all accounts on the Mac. Additionally, Apple notes that reinstalling macOS will also re-light the logo.