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Anybody getting eye strain on M1 MacBook Air?
- Thread starter flowave
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I found a solution for headaches on MBA M1. If you are so eager for the solution start reading from 2nd paragragh.
I generally cannot use PWM flickering phones. As it is mostly in the LED phones, I have avoided using LED phones and I can only buy non LED phones like LCD IPS. I came to know about PWM when I bought google pixel 3xl. It gave me daily(yes each and everyday) headaches. The headaches used to gradually increase to certain state where I am forced to leave the office work and goto home and sleep or take 2 pain killers at once and apply some balm on forehead. Saying all this to let you know my headaches and PWM relation. After learning PWM, I sold my pixel 3xl and buying only lcd phones since then.
So coming to MBA M1, I bought it last week, and for the first time usage, it gave me headaches. Generally I do not feel eye strain. I only get headaches. But that alone is nightmare in my life. I have very bad history with headaches. So, I tried to return the laptop but the Indian seller on Flipkart only gave me replacement option. I even tried to use the replaced laptop. This time I put the brightness to 100 and tried to use laptop using my sun glasses. But still I got headaches.
But, on the next day morning, I opened the laptop and disabled auto brightness and set the brightness slightly above 50%(generally you can't see percentage but I went by the placement of brightness cursor in control center). Means it should be somewhere at 60-65%. And also enabled night shift all the time. After more than 4+ hours also, I did not get headaches. Then next day I used completely with those same settings without headaches issue.
I read a review of M1 which also included M1 PWM information. Review link is provided below. In short the article is saying that, M1 has PWM at very high frequency(the higher the frequency is the lesser the issues to us generally but again for very sensitive people they get issues even at higher frequency like me) at upto 49% brightness. And also there is PWM with the same high frequency at very high brightness levels. So is why, I experimented with the above said brightness range(i.e at 60 to 65%). But even at 60-65% brightness, the screen will be very bright to look at, so for this I am using an app called Spf - Screen Polarizer. This basically provides a layer on the screen. This way the screen brightness will be shaded without actually decreasing the Mac brightness. Link is shared below.
I am not sure if this is just temporary fix or something happening in my favour because of some other unknown reasons. But just want to share my experience to fellow sensitive gadget lovers. I know how happy it feels to find a fix after suffering from long time
Also, there is another kind of solution according to one of the ledstrain forum member. He shared his experience - that after increasing the work hours gradually even he is facing headaches, one fine day the headaches are gone. He is saying that may be his brain has started adjusted the Pwm after repeated forcely using the laptop.
Lemme know if this worked to any of you or not. Would be happy if at least one person find it helpful.
Also I think, this brightness range fix only works on M1 Mac. If you check your device review on notebook check.net and see if the reviewer has mentioned the PWM absent range and try to experiment your device at that brightness range.
Article link - https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...le-M1-CPU-humbles-Intel-and-AMD.508057.0.html
App link - https://apps.apple.com/in/app/spf-screen-polarizer/id1463398888
I generally cannot use PWM flickering phones. As it is mostly in the LED phones, I have avoided using LED phones and I can only buy non LED phones like LCD IPS. I came to know about PWM when I bought google pixel 3xl. It gave me daily(yes each and everyday) headaches. The headaches used to gradually increase to certain state where I am forced to leave the office work and goto home and sleep or take 2 pain killers at once and apply some balm on forehead. Saying all this to let you know my headaches and PWM relation. After learning PWM, I sold my pixel 3xl and buying only lcd phones since then.
So coming to MBA M1, I bought it last week, and for the first time usage, it gave me headaches. Generally I do not feel eye strain. I only get headaches. But that alone is nightmare in my life. I have very bad history with headaches. So, I tried to return the laptop but the Indian seller on Flipkart only gave me replacement option. I even tried to use the replaced laptop. This time I put the brightness to 100 and tried to use laptop using my sun glasses. But still I got headaches.
But, on the next day morning, I opened the laptop and disabled auto brightness and set the brightness slightly above 50%(generally you can't see percentage but I went by the placement of brightness cursor in control center). Means it should be somewhere at 60-65%. And also enabled night shift all the time. After more than 4+ hours also, I did not get headaches. Then next day I used completely with those same settings without headaches issue.
I read a review of M1 which also included M1 PWM information. Review link is provided below. In short the article is saying that, M1 has PWM at very high frequency(the higher the frequency is the lesser the issues to us generally but again for very sensitive people they get issues even at higher frequency like me) at upto 49% brightness. And also there is PWM with the same high frequency at very high brightness levels. So is why, I experimented with the above said brightness range(i.e at 60 to 65%). But even at 60-65% brightness, the screen will be very bright to look at, so for this I am using an app called Spf - Screen Polarizer. This basically provides a layer on the screen. This way the screen brightness will be shaded without actually decreasing the Mac brightness. Link is shared below.
I am not sure if this is just temporary fix or something happening in my favour because of some other unknown reasons. But just want to share my experience to fellow sensitive gadget lovers. I know how happy it feels to find a fix after suffering from long time
Also, there is another kind of solution according to one of the ledstrain forum member. He shared his experience - that after increasing the work hours gradually even he is facing headaches, one fine day the headaches are gone. He is saying that may be his brain has started adjusted the Pwm after repeated forcely using the laptop.Lemme know if this worked to any of you or not. Would be happy if at least one person find it helpful.
Also I think, this brightness range fix only works on M1 Mac. If you check your device review on notebook check.net and see if the reviewer has mentioned the PWM absent range and try to experiment your device at that brightness range.
Article link - https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...le-M1-CPU-humbles-Intel-and-AMD.508057.0.html
App link - https://apps.apple.com/in/app/spf-screen-polarizer/id1463398888
Hi. I found a solution for this on my MBA M1. If you are so eager for the solution start reading from 2nd paragragh.
I generally cannot use PWM flickering phones. As it is mostly in the LED phones, I have avoided using LED phones and I can only buy non LED phones like LCD IPS. I came to know about PWM when I bought google pixel 3xl. It gave me daily(yes each and everyday) headaches. The headaches used to gradually increase to certain state where I am forced to leave the office work and goto home and sleep or take 2 pain killers at once and apply some balm on forehead. Saying all this to let you know my headaches and PWM relation. After learning PWM, I sold my pixel 3xl and buying only lcd phones since then.
So coming to MBA M1, I bought it last week, and for the first time usage, it gave me headaches. Generally I do not feel eye strain. I only get headaches. But that alone is nightmare in my life. I have very bad history with headaches. So, I tried to return the laptop but the Indian seller on Flipkart only gave me replacement option. I even tried to use the replaced laptop. This time I put the brightness to 100 and tried to use laptop using my sun glasses. But still I got headaches.
But, on the next day morning, I opened the laptop and disabled auto brightness and set the brightness slightly above 50%(generally you can't see percentage but I went by the placement of brightness cursor in control center). Means it should be somewhere at 60-65%. And also enabled night shift all the time. After more than 4+ hours also, I did not get headaches. Then next day I used completely with those same settings without headaches issue.
I read a review of M1 which also included M1 PWM information. Review link is provided below. In short the article is saying that, M1 has PWM at very high frequency(the higher the frequency is the lesser the issues to us generally but again for very sensitive people they get issues even at higher frequency like me) at upto 49% brightness. And also there is PWM with the same high frequency at very high brightness levels. So is why, I experimented with the above said brightness range(i.e at 60 to 65%). But even at 60-65% brightness, the screen will be very bright to look at, so for this I am using an app called Spf - Screen Polarizer. This basically provides a layer on the screen. This way the screen brightness will be shaded without actually decreasing the Mac brightness. Link is shared below.
I am not sure if this is just temporary fix or something happening in my favour because of some other unknown reasons. But just want to share my experience to fellow sensitive gadget lovers. I know how happy it feels to find a fix after suffering from long time
Also, there is another kind of solution according to one of the ledstrain forum member. He shared his experience - that after increasing the work hours gradually even he is facing headaches, one fine day the headaches are gone. He is saying that may be his brain has started adjusted the Pwm after repeated forcely using the laptop.
Lemme know if this worked to any of you or not. Would be happy if at least one person find it helpful.
Also I think, this brightness range fix only works on M1 Mac. If you check your device review on notebook check.net and see if the reviewer has mentioned the PWM absent range and try to experiment your device at that brightness range.
Article link - https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple...le-M1-CPU-humbles-Intel-and-AMD.508057.0.html
App link - https://apps.apple.com/in/app/spf-screen-polarizer/id1463398888
There are two apps that have helped me with eye strain since being on the Mac. They are Screen Tinter and Screen Colors Filters.
I have now experimented with that wallpaper. I am sure the lines in that wallpaper cause headache. I don't think that watching Netflix after having that wallpaper in the background will cause any problem. When my eyes got used to the small 13 Inch screen of m1 then I again put that wallpaper to check whether the wallpaper was the culprit for headache and eyestrain during the first few days with the m1 and second time around again I had little headache type of feeling after putting that wallpaper. Its not as bad as it was initially but it is there. Try looking at the lines or waves in that wallpaper. It gives me a headache. But to be very sure I will experiment once again and update my experience. I was so frightened with PWM that I think my problem was more psychological. Initially I was having eye strain but that was because of small screen as I was coming from a 15.6 inch laptop. My eyes adjusted to the small screen in few days and I stopped having any problem. Also because I have read so much on PWM that I was not looking at the screen normally but was focussing on every detail which by itself can cause headache. Once I was sure that there is no PWM or if it is there it is not causing any problem, I am experimenting with the wallpaper to find if there is some problem in the wallpaper. I have worked and seen movies in this laptop for whole day without any issues. so initially all my problem were more psychological than anything serious.
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I specifically came here to check what's going on with new M1s, since I can report this:
Macbook pro 2016 15 inch - severe eye strain
Many PCs with intel GPU - severe eye strains on Linux, but not Windows
I have bought lenovo carbon X1 7th gen WQHD display, and there is no eye strain on Windows. But, I would like to come back to mac, and actual quality of lenovo carbon built is total garbage, body finish started to flake after slight scratches.
Regarding M1, I went to the shop and spend some considerable amount of time with macbook Air, to see if I get an eye strain. And just after few minutes of use, I definitely get very noticeable tension. This forum proves that there was no significant improvement in this department.
According to my research these are all possible causes:
1) LED Strain (or temporal dithering) - Intel has dismissed this, as it could not find objective means to establish a hardware / software bug.
2) PWM frequency - some people are sensitive to PWM frequency and this is an issue. Note, when I bought WQHD screen lenovo carbon X1, I specifically chose a screen which sure does not have PWM.
3) Wifi / Bluetooth EMF caused strain. When you work closely with the laptop watching videos or other data intensive task (some tasks can be data intensive running in the background also, e.g. apple pulling updates etc.), your head is exposed quite a bit of EMF. I have carried out a bit of subjective tests on this, but using windows laptop, not apple, since in that environment I can still control WIFI transmit power. Interesting thing that I found was - I have set transmit power to lowest 1 dB (suprisingly it works all the time, except cases where wifi router is far away, or area is overloaded with users) and used it for a while (months). Then on one occasion I needed to take zoom call, and due to wifi router being far away with many users and I have increased to transmit power to full again (~30 dB) and forgot about it. Then during one evening whist watching a video, with my head being at normal working proximity to the laptop screen, I have noticed sudden head strain. I know it was not placebo, since I did not think about wifi transmit power, simply forgot that fact that it is running on full. Then after setting it back to lowest, I had no head strains whatsoever. So this is food for a thought .
4) Glossy screen. It definitely ads up.
5) TrueType fonts. Someone has mentioned TrueType fonts. I do not even have this option on older macbook, so I think it is irrelevant, or it somehow affects how some of the above points impact your screen.
In any case, i Like aestethics of apple devices, but, I need apple to fix these issues. And objectively speaking there surely are issues, the question is whether it makes sense from bottom line perspective to deal with those, since this is a by-product of cost saving.
Macbook pro 2016 15 inch - severe eye strain
Many PCs with intel GPU - severe eye strains on Linux, but not Windows
I have bought lenovo carbon X1 7th gen WQHD display, and there is no eye strain on Windows. But, I would like to come back to mac, and actual quality of lenovo carbon built is total garbage, body finish started to flake after slight scratches.
Regarding M1, I went to the shop and spend some considerable amount of time with macbook Air, to see if I get an eye strain. And just after few minutes of use, I definitely get very noticeable tension. This forum proves that there was no significant improvement in this department.
According to my research these are all possible causes:
1) LED Strain (or temporal dithering) - Intel has dismissed this, as it could not find objective means to establish a hardware / software bug.
2) PWM frequency - some people are sensitive to PWM frequency and this is an issue. Note, when I bought WQHD screen lenovo carbon X1, I specifically chose a screen which sure does not have PWM.
3) Wifi / Bluetooth EMF caused strain. When you work closely with the laptop watching videos or other data intensive task (some tasks can be data intensive running in the background also, e.g. apple pulling updates etc.), your head is exposed quite a bit of EMF. I have carried out a bit of subjective tests on this, but using windows laptop, not apple, since in that environment I can still control WIFI transmit power. Interesting thing that I found was - I have set transmit power to lowest 1 dB (suprisingly it works all the time, except cases where wifi router is far away, or area is overloaded with users) and used it for a while (months). Then on one occasion I needed to take zoom call, and due to wifi router being far away with many users and I have increased to transmit power to full again (~30 dB) and forgot about it. Then during one evening whist watching a video, with my head being at normal working proximity to the laptop screen, I have noticed sudden head strain. I know it was not placebo, since I did not think about wifi transmit power, simply forgot that fact that it is running on full. Then after setting it back to lowest, I had no head strains whatsoever. So this is food for a thought .
4) Glossy screen. It definitely ads up.
5) TrueType fonts. Someone has mentioned TrueType fonts. I do not even have this option on older macbook, so I think it is irrelevant, or it somehow affects how some of the above points impact your screen.
In any case, i Like aestethics of apple devices, but, I need apple to fix these issues. And objectively speaking there surely are issues, the question is whether it makes sense from bottom line perspective to deal with those, since this is a by-product of cost saving.
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Note, flicker only comes bellow certain level of brightness (<= 49 percent). There might be something else. I was actually using intel based macbook pro 13 inch from work, model just before M1, and I was all good with it.
Test with various scenarios to identify the issue, for example, have you tried using for a while cable internet connection, or disabling wifi whilst working?
I'm running at about 60-70% of max brightness. But I've been noticing a variation in the white balance. I'll try and see if I get used to it, but for now I find it very distracting. Also, not sure what to do if this is normal. This machine flies compared to the 2019 MBA, so I don't want to go back.
Right now I'm trying out static nightshift with the color temp at about 15%, but I'm still noticing the variability.
I would post tweet with #apple #timCook and other hashtags. See if you get their marketing team interested in this subject. This issue will only be solved if people shout loud. So far I can see most folks that spend a lot of time generally just get external screen and kind of leave it there. But this is unfair, since apple advertise themselves as top premium brand.
I don't use social media. Even where I have accounts, I don't post/like/etc.
Since the M1 Air has been around a while, my guess is that if the issue were widespread, Apple would have already heard about it. If there was some way to demonstrate what was happening, at least I could show it to the sales folks at the store, but I can't think of a way to do it.
Well the issue is actually very old, and Apple did complain a lot about intel bugs and poor communication with them. I assume this spans accross CPU, GPU, chipset issues. Regarding this topic, there is special website dedicated to it which got official intel attention. Its called LEDStrain. Intel response was clear, they said they did not find any objectively measured issues so they will not continue with any further investigation. However, I'm sure this strain issue was a result of some technology introduced within past 10 years. As before I was using linux and could stay on it full day, but then all of the sudden new hardware started to have real issues. Even after taking a break of week or two from the laptop, comming back to it, strains comes back in about 10-15 min.
Changing the white point so that I have a yellower screen seems to have helped.
Interesting is there the same issue with MacBook pro M1, as it seams pro has better screen?
That is an interesting thought. The only way to really try one would be to buy one, not sure I am up for that just because of hassle, not to mention that I'm not a fan of the touch bar. I'm thinking I just live with this and hope the next machines are better.
An active thread in the pro forum
forums.macrumors.com
Looks like this is an issue with the panels that are being used. There's also a suggestion there about changing the white point.
Eye strain - Returned my 2019 16" Macbook Pro
The display, for whatever reason, caused so much eyestrain for me that it really made the computer unusable as a work machine. I tried to power through the discomfort on the first night. But the next morning, I literally found myself dreading opening the lid. That's when I knew it would never...
forums.macrumors.com
Looks like this is an issue with the panels that are being used. There's also a suggestion there about changing the white point.
I made an appointment with the Genius Bar today. The guy looked at the machine and said something didn't look right. He was going to run diagnostics and as he was trying to get to the menu the whole screen flashed pink/purple. He said that's not normal and recommended a return/exchange. Since I didn't have the box with me, I have now made a shopping appointment for Saturday to get it exchanged. Hopefully, I will have better luck with the next unit.
With so many issues with the MBA (bent chassis, screen), is it worth just going with an M1 MBP? I would really hate the extra weight and touchbar, but at this point not sure I'm tired of exchanging units.
Edit: Looks like people have been having eyestrain issues even with the M1 MBA.
Edit: Looks like people have been having eyestrain issues even with the M1 MBA.
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Huh. I've been using mine for a few days and everything was perfect… until today. Basically, all of the above is happening, including slight dizziness. I added the SPF app, will see if that helps. Dark mode looks good, but the white colour in particular hurts.
Careful update: SPF + changing the white point + disabling TrueTone + disabling automatic brightness seem to have helped.
Careful update: SPF + changing the white point + disabling TrueTone + disabling automatic brightness seem to have helped.
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