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iPad Pro PWM sensitive people: how is the m5 iPad Pro affecting you?
- Thread starter erkanasu
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I always get some sort of eye strain, headaches, nausea side effects from a new screen (lcd and oled). I persevere, and it usually gets better after about 2 weeks.
The new m5 iPad isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I am getting side effects (mainly headaches, eye strain and my tinnitus is worse).
This started about 10 years ago when I purchased a MacBook Pro retina. Ended up sending it back as the nausea was really bad. Before that, I was never affected by screens.
The new m5 iPad isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I am getting side effects (mainly headaches, eye strain and my tinnitus is worse).
This started about 10 years ago when I purchased a MacBook Pro retina. Ended up sending it back as the nausea was really bad. Before that, I was never affected by screens.
I just got back from Best Buy. The effects of eye strain and discomfort appear to be similar to the M4.
For me, the MacBook Air has the least eye strain of any Apple device, similar to the LCD iPad Pro like the m2, the MacBook Pros with their mini-LEDs are slightly worse, and then the OLED iPad Pros are by far the worst.
on the plus side, the iPhone 17 pro oled does not bother me at all, the 16 and 15 pros were very bad for me.
For me, the MacBook Air has the least eye strain of any Apple device, similar to the LCD iPad Pro like the m2, the MacBook Pros with their mini-LEDs are slightly worse, and then the OLED iPad Pros are by far the worst.
on the plus side, the iPhone 17 pro oled does not bother me at all, the 16 and 15 pros were very bad for me.
Thanks for the report.
According to the NotebookCheck review, they changed some things around and there shouldn’t be any PWM above 88% brightness. The waveforms also look more stable than the M4 ones when PWM is present. Still, I put more stock in real-world experiences like yours.
Personally I went to an iPad mini 7. Not at all the same thing, and may not cover your use cases, but for me it has been so much easier on the eyes. For me there’s basically no strain at all. I can now spend hours on the iPad and not get a splitting headache, dizziness or nausea. I definitely miss some things from the 11" Pro like the speakers and the Magic Keyboard but overall it’s a night and day difference.
I am exactly the same. New iPhone Air and new M5 iPad (coming from M4) giving me headaches but it will pass.
the issue is >88% is bright AF, blinds you indoors lol. it was blinding at Best Buy even.
good call on your mini.
are you sure you want to experience some level of eye strain for so long when you can get a refurbished m2 pro?
I would have i eye strain for a short time with that too. For me it happens anytime I change screens.
I’m very glad my PWM sensitivity isn’t as severe as some of you.
I definitely have it, but probably at lower frequency. I’m not bothered by M4/M5 iPads, but certain computer screens are unusable for me. I can spot bad PWM from 20ft away - the flicker is insane. There are coworkers with certain LCD monitors with known-bad PWM and I want to tear my eyeballs out after even a few seconds of viewing if they ask my to come look at something. Rtings is your friend.
I don’t know what I would do if my iPads bothered me. I often use it with brightness all the way down in pitch black settings (like now.)
I definitely have it, but probably at lower frequency. I’m not bothered by M4/M5 iPads, but certain computer screens are unusable for me. I can spot bad PWM from 20ft away - the flicker is insane. There are coworkers with certain LCD monitors with known-bad PWM and I want to tear my eyeballs out after even a few seconds of viewing if they ask my to come look at something. Rtings is your friend.
I don’t know what I would do if my iPads bothered me. I often use it with brightness all the way down in pitch black settings (like now.)
That was super interesting to hear. Thanks for sharing your experience. I currently own both (13" iPP M5 and Mini A17 Pro) and what I've noticed so far is that OLED screens have become somewhat more eye friendly to me even though I think I'm slightly affected by the PWM. It all started with iPhone mini 12 which I got accustomed to after a year or so. I think OLED's contrast ratio is helping here.
However, what I can't stand are the beloved glossy screens. So I always put a satin (clear or half-matte basically) screen protector on my iPads and that measure alone reduces eyestrain instantly for me.
Exactly. What I've noticed is that when I put the brightness up the screen feels so much better. When I saw notebookcheck's graphs it all made sense to me. The amplitude is relatively low and the waves are not as severe as on other devices. Screen that bothered me the most to this day was the one on the 16" MBP M1 Pro. That thing had the mini-LED and if you look at the latest 14" M5 MBP it gets even worse (constant PWM flickering at all brightness levels). My own experiences taught me that I should never go for the in-between tech, so mini-LED screens are ruled out for me. And from what I can read this is a good thing since new MBPs will have an OLED screen (if I add the nano texture this could be a match made in heaven for my eyes). So, it's either LED IPS or OLED for me. It took me five years of constant experimenting with various devices to come to this conclusion. My battle (or fighting the tech so to speak) is finally over and now it's time to enjoy these little beasts!
Hope this helps anyone and wish you all the best in finding a solution that works for you.
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Interesting. The M5 iPad Pro was my first OLED tablet and the first week I wondered if I might be PWM sensitive as I just had this vague sense of discomfort using it late at night at low brightness.
And then that feeling completely went away and I don't experience any of it anymore. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones after all.
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It might be just for the reasons I've mentioned in my previous post. Check out the notebookcheck's review of the PWM (especially the visual charts).
Apple iPad Pro M5 (2025) tablet review - An extremely fast M5 SoC and Wi-Fi 7
Hard to tell what's going on. Interesting that you had issues with the mini LED MacBook Pros.
I've got two of them (M1 Pro 14" and M3 Pro 16") and never experienced any issues, however I did test out a mini LED iPad Pro and I felt like that thing was searing my eyes out of their sockets. Maybe you and I both had a bad panel?
Could be. I can't really tell. If I had the option to test out the new mini LED MBP with nanotexture ... only then could I really tell how persistent a PWM flickering as an eyestrain problem really is. Maybe I'll try to use a mac through the iPad via LunaDisplay.
ZERO oled and in this case Tandem-OLED is a life saver. I can’t go back to LCD displays.
Not really. He's claimed to have PWM sensitivity for years but uses all of the devices with the worst ones so he probably has minimal issues or is constantly on medication. He doesn't even do any testing.