2011 15" MBP Pixel Walk and Eye Fatigue

[eeeechuta]

I just got a new 2011 15" MBP and I noticed just after a few hours I got serious eye fatigue from using it. Curious, I checked the panel maker:

LP154WP4-TLA1(9CA3)

I then checked the panel maker on my older 2010 15" MBP which I had no problems with eyestrain for almost a year now:

LP154WP4-TLA1(9CA3)

Exactly the same panel in both, yet eyestrain with the 2011, and a different white point to boot (slightly yellower, milkier, dingier).

I then went to
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/inversion.php

and discovered to my horror than the 2011 MBP has really *bad* pixel walk on 4a and 4b, whereas the 2010 MBP has virtually none!

Same panel model, but different pixel walk behaviors and eye fatigues.
I'm wondering if any other 2011 MBP owners get the same pixel walk on that page, and whether a replacement screen would help at all.

 

[DustinT]

I've spent many hours... make that more hours than I care to admit... starting at my MacBook Pro's 15" screen. I have not noticed the effect you are talking about nor have I had any issues with eyestrain. The best advice I can give you is that you might want to think about swapping for the high resolution and\or the antiglare screen.

 

[madonionrings]

I have the same problem and posted another thread about it. It seems as if there is blurring when scrolling up or down on text in a browser. Its difficult to describe. No headaches though.

My screen is 9CCD. Pixel walk on 3 and 4A.

 

[gofightlose]

are you certain no other factors have changed? I recently had to start wearing glasses while using the computer ( I feel old now). But I do notice some eye strain while scrolling a lot, the blur bothers me. Also, I usually have brightness on the lower half since that also hurts my eyes. idk,

 

[eeeechuta]

Well it's definitely there. When I put my 2010 and 2011 side by side I notice the effect completely. For me at least the 2010 display has a stabler image especially around the edges of anti-aliased text...

 

[Zeroh]

yep i get the fatigue issue on the high res anti glare screen, which for me is a first as i have no issues on my iphone or any other laptop.

 

[eeeechuta]

Got the screen replaced, and lo and behold the pixel walk from 4A was drastically reduced!
I still got some eye fatigue from the screen. I keep suspecting the new panel is using some crappy form of FRC (frame rate control) to achieve it's supposed "millions of colors"
I went into the Colors panel and I disabled the OSX color correction (which alters the LCD output with a color lookup table), and it did WONDERS especially when looking at pure white. I can stare at black text on white and it won't fatigue my eyes nearly as much.

My personal conclusion from all this is that the 2011 Macbook Pro uses a different, cheaper panel that seems to use FRC which causes eysstrain in specific individuals who are sensitive to it.

 

[jadaniels]

eeeechuta how did you disable the OSX color correction? Is this a display profile? (on my color tab in system Preferences the "delete profile" button is greyed out) -maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?

 

[Pentad]

I would have to agree with DustinT above. Are you sure its the panel and not the MBP? 1440x900 isn't the sharpest of resolutions for a 15" (no offense, honest) and that brand has a history of being so-so.

I'm very fond of 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 depending on the size (15" and 17").

IMHO, I think you can see the limitations of the 1440x900 by display very high resolution images (tiffs) on it and then on the HR displays. I always thought Apple kind of skimped on the 1440x900 panels for the kind of money we spend.

While the text is a bit smaller on 1680x1050 than I would like (now that I'm a bit older) I also believe the HR gives you a much crisper, dynamic image.

If you work a great deal on either HR display and then look at the standard display, the differences are dynamic.

Cheers!
-P

 

[eeeechuta]

@Pentad: I'm quite convinced that it has something to do with the LCD backlighting more than anything else. regardless of whether I'm reading text, glancing at the screen or watching a youtube video, just looking at the 2011 MBP 15" screen irritates my eyes in a bad way. my right eye tears up and I feel physically uncomfortable. I had a simliar experience before on a cheap TN ACER monitor - I attribute both to bad panel design.

@jadaniels: well it's not completely "disabling" the color correction, but if you hit calibrate with advanced options, keep the color correction point centered for every brightness level, and then check "native white point", and "native gamma" at the end, I think you reduce the amount of color correction that goes on. results tend to look pretty ugly though.

 

[shnn2011]

I just got a new 2011 15" MBP and I noticed just after a few hours I got serious eye fatigue from using it. Curious, I checked the panel maker:

LP154WP4-TLA1(9CA3)

I then checked the panel maker on my older 2010 15" MBP which I had no problems with eyestrain for almost a year now:

LP154WP4-TLA1(9CA3)

Exactly the same panel in both, yet eyestrain with the 2011, and a different white point to boot (slightly yellower, milkier, dingier).

I then went to
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/inversion.php

and discovered to my horror than the 2011 MBP has really *bad* pixel walk on 4a and 4b, whereas the 2010 MBP has virtually none!

Same panel model, but different pixel walk behaviors and eye fatigues.
I'm wondering if any other 2011 MBP owners get the same pixel walk on that page, and whether a replacement screen would help at all.

You should look at my thread the 2012 and 2013 models all have the same issue. Apple is calling it expected behavior and giving their customers the finger.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1735621/