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Eye strain

O

otherguy5

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 2, 2015
94
7
Does anyone else get eye strain with their MBA (specifically, the M1, 2020 version)? And anyone found a solution?

The type of eye strain I get is pretty strange. It feels like the muscles behind my eyes are sore.

Moreover, I found a bit of relief by toning down the brightness (all the way down to one to three bars (?) not sure how to describe it).

Has anyone else noticed a different with different devices? Say the eye strain going away when you use another type of non-Apple laptop?
 
Have you tried turning on Night Shift and/or True Tone? I don't have any of those on because I do a good amount of video work and I need my colors to look accurate, but it's worth a shot.

Also, have you tried taking a break every 20-30 minutes? Maybe that would help, I have no idea.
 
Will try turning on Night Shift.

I have True Tone turned off. Is turning on True Tone preferable?
 
Same Mac, similar symptoms. I never found a workaround for mine, so it sits unused for now. It's more than just the screen, for me anyway, as I tried connecting it to two monitors, and the same or similar symptoms developed in under 10 minutes. I hope you have better luck!

Oh, there is a lengthy thread around here somewhere about this very problem.
 
Sierraexplorer said:
Same Mac, similar symptoms. I never found a workaround for mine, so it sits unused for now. It's more than just the screen, for me anyway, as I tried connecting it to two monitors, and the same or similar symptoms developed in under 10 minutes. I hope you have better luck!

Oh, there is a lengthy thread around here somewhere about this very problem.
Click to expand...

Do you get the same symptoms in other devices (like other non-Apple laptops and PCs)? I'm thinking about switching to Windows (ugh) because of this.
 
otherguy5 said:
Do you get the same symptoms in other devices (like other non-Apple laptops and PCs)? I'm thinking about switching to Windows (ugh) because of this.
Click to expand...
I didn't have issues with my Windows laptops (primarily work use) until I got the Mac M1, now Windows PCs are only really usable with an external. At some point, I will go look at some Windows laptops in person and see if I can find one that works well for me, but until then, I make it work with external monitors. Don't assume that Windows alone will solve the problem. That wasn't the case for me, anyway.
 
Sierraexplorer said:
I didn't have issues with my Windows laptops (primarily work use) until I got the Mac M1, now Windows PCs are only really usable with an external. At some point, I will go look at some Windows laptops in person and see if I can find one that works well for me, but until then, I make it work with external monitors. Don't assume that Windows alone will solve the problem. That wasn't the case for me, anyway.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity what monitor are you using? I'm having the same issue with laptop screens. Probably need to go back to a desktop of some sort.
 
kiddlattimer said:
Out of curiosity what monitor are you using? I'm having the same issue with laptop screens. Probably need to go back to a desktop of some sort.
Click to expand...
I don’t recall specifically as I’m not near the monitor for the next few days. It’s a Samsung 24” business model. TN panel. S24D300 maybe? I do know it’s discontinued. I’ve had it for a number of years.

Recently I connected my work laptop to a 4k Samsung panel at home (originally purchased for my Mac M1) and it gave me a tension headache that lasted for days in varying levels of severity. Not fun.
 
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Sierraexplorer said:
I don’t recall specifically as I’m not near the monitor for the next few days. It’s a Samsung 24” business model. TN panel. S24D300 maybe? I do know it’s discontinued. I’ve had it for a number of years.

Recently I connected my work laptop to a 4k Samsung panel at home (originally purchased for my Mac M1) and it gave me a tension headache that lasted for days in varying levels of severity. Not fun.
Click to expand...
Thank you. There seems to be something to the TN vs IPS thing (not sure where VA falls). My old AF MBP is a TN screen I can (and do) stare at for hours. That said my phone is an OLED Pixel 4a that gives me no problems either so who knows. This stuff is so darn confusing.

Hope you feel better, mine last a while too plus my left eye feels like it doesn't work for a few days. Not fun!
 
kiddlattimer said:
Thank you. There seems to be something to the TN vs IPS thing (not sure where VA falls). My old AF MBP is a TN screen I can (and do) stare at for hours. That said my phone is an OLED Pixel 4a that gives me no problems either so who knows. This stuff is so darn confusing.

Hope you feel better, mine last a while too plus my left eye feels like it doesn't work for a few days. Not fun!
Click to expand...
I have a similar issue with my left eye. Too much screen time and it’ll feel as if my left eye is working harder (dry, mildly achy and a mild sense of wooziness) than the right. Quite frustrating, especially when I’ve seen an ophthalmologist, neurologist, and two different optometrists who tell me that all is well, aside from some left eye astigmatism. Unfortunately, correcting the vision issue makes things worse.
 
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There are so many folks with problems with the M1 and M2 Airs but no solution so far that I am aware of that addresses the problem for everyone. Some folks seem to get by with adjusting the display settings and for some folks the M2 seems to work better. But there are folks like me where neither M1 nor M2 not playing with settings on either one works.
 
ghanwani said:
There are so many folks with problems with the M1 and M2 Airs but no solution so far that I am aware of that addresses the problem for everyone. Some folks seem to get by with adjusting the display settings and for some folks the M2 seems to work better. But there are folks like me where neither M1 nor M2 not playing with settings on either one works.
Click to expand...
Have you tried the newest M2 Air? I thought, according to 'notebookcheck' it was PWM free and shouldn't give any problems.
 
That's very discouraging to hear - it basically means all current Macbooks (Pros & Airs) are not suitable for people who are sensitive to either temp. dithering, or PWM related eye strain.
 
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