Terrible eye strain on MacBook Air M1 but not on iPad 7th Gen?

[saturnloki]

If I use (mainly when reading) my MacBook Air M1 I almost immediately get terrible eye strain, headaches and tired eyes. Text feels like it has an aura or shadow and white blocks of colour (even with dark mode on) feel like staring into the Sun! I have been to an optometrist and use computer/reading glasses, but still experience these issues.

In contrast, I am much better when using my iPad 7th Gen - I do not get the same 'symptoms' even after lengthy use.

I have considered whether it could be PWM (I don't believe the iPad 7th Gen has it) but I get the same symptoms even with higher brightness on the MacBook Air M1. I have considered whether my eyes just prefer the smaller screen, but holding them together the text is a similar size.

I can't use the iPad 7th Gen all the time (due to work) so any help in what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated! I would like to save for the MacBook Air M2 (I understand there is no PWM), but if this is not a PWM issue then I don't want to buy another MacBook just to be in the same situation.

 

[Ruggy]

I don't know what the problem is but it might be worth calibrating the display and see if that helps?
You can change a lot of things like gamma, white point, contrast...
I've had to look up how to do it on Ventura as they've changed it, and on older OS if you held the option command down when clicking on some commands you got advanced features so it might be worth trying that.
Edit: it won't let me post the link. You'll have to do a search for calibration
Hope it helps

 

[Technerd108]

If I use (mainly when reading) my MacBook Air M1 I almost immediately get terrible eye strain, headaches and tired eyes. Text feels like it has an aura or shadow and white blocks of colour (even with dark mode on) feel like staring into the Sun! I have been to an optometrist and use computer/reading glasses, but still experience these issues.

In contrast, I am much better when using my iPad 7th Gen - I do not get the same 'symptoms' even after lengthy use.

I have considered whether it could be PWM (I don't believe the iPad 7th Gen has it) but I get the same symptoms even with higher brightness on the MacBook Air M1. I have considered whether my eyes just prefer the smaller screen, but holding them together the text is a similar size.

I can't use the iPad 7th Gen all the time (due to work) so any help in what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated! I would like to save for the MacBook Air M2 (I understand there is no PWM), but if this is not a PWM issue then I don't want to buy another MacBook just to be in the same situation.

I was just on another thread and another person who just picked up a M1 MBA and had problems with the screen too. His assessment was the temporal dithering found on M1?

I have heard people have problems with the MacBook Pro 14/16" mini led screens which seems to be more common.

The newer M2 MBA as reported by notebook check doesn't have temporal dithering or PWM so that might be the only option available on a new MacBook.

Unfortunately I have heard some people still have eye issues even with that display.

I don't know what it is Apple is doing with their screens but a certain percentage of people seem to be really affected in a negative way with issues like headaches, migraine, dry eyes, and the issues that you have mentioned.

Some people theorize it is an issue with the way MacOS renders a screen. I know this is a real problem and seems to be getting more widespread.

 

[jm31828]

If I use (mainly when reading) my MacBook Air M1 I almost immediately get terrible eye strain, headaches and tired eyes. Text feels like it has an aura or shadow and white blocks of colour (even with dark mode on) feel like staring into the Sun! I have been to an optometrist and use computer/reading glasses, but still experience these issues.

In contrast, I am much better when using my iPad 7th Gen - I do not get the same 'symptoms' even after lengthy use.

I have considered whether it could be PWM (I don't believe the iPad 7th Gen has it) but I get the same symptoms even with higher brightness on the MacBook Air M1. I have considered whether my eyes just prefer the smaller screen, but holding them together the text is a similar size.

I can't use the iPad 7th Gen all the time (due to work) so any help in what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated! I would like to save for the MacBook Air M2 (I understand there is no PWM), but if this is not a PWM issue then I don't want to buy another MacBook just to be in the same situation.

Your iPad 7th gen does not have PWM, and it also doesn't have temporal dithering because it doesn't have the wider P3 color gamut- on iPads and Macs, to achieve that wider color gamut they use temporal dithering from what I understand- which is another source of eye strain/headaches for a minority of us.

The MacBook Air M1 has PWM below 50% brightness as it sounds like you know, and Notebookcheck.net states there is no temporal dithering according to their tests- but it has the P3 color gamut, and almost certainly does not have a rather expensive 10 bit display panel, so that would mean it would have to use temporal dithering to achieve that higher color gamut- as others on other threads have speculated.

I bought an Air M1 last week as well and am having similar issues- no headaches, but within minutes my eyes feel really dry, a slight burning sensation and get a bit watery. It's not severe, but it's enough to be annoying and to make me concerned that I should not be using this device long term, so I am going to return it.

Others have said the M2 might be better, as it has no PWM at any brightness level, and seemingly no temporal dithering (again according to Notebookcheck.net's testing), but there are people saying they don't believe those findings from what they are seeing, and those people are having discomfort with the M2 as well... but to be fair there are others who are saying they had trouble with the M1 but have no trouble on the M2.... those might be people who were mostly sensitive to the PWM?