  We study macroion correlation effects on the thermodynamics of highly charged
colloidal suspensions using a mean-field theory and primitive model computer
simulations. We suggest a simple way to include the macroion correlations into
the mean-field theory as an extension of the renormalized jellium model of
Trizac and Levin [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 69}, 031403 (2004)]. The effective
screening parameters extracted from our mean-field approach are then used in a
one-component model with macroions interacting via Yukawa-like potential to
predict macroion distributions. We find that inclusion of macroion correlations
leads to a weaker screening and hence smaller effective macroion charge and
lower osmotic pressure of the colloidal dispersion as compared to other
mean-field models. This result is supported by a comparison to primitive model
simulations and experiments for charged macroions in the low-salt regime, where
the macroion correlations are expected to be significant.
