ALL macs besides old 2012 matte MBP cause eye strain/headaches

[bm303]

I've tried them all. Every release, including the one that just came out. I have hypersensitive eyes and chronic headache issues from many screens. I get eye strain by looking at any screen with reflections and glare. I wish Apple didn't discontinue the matte screen in 2012.

The issue is that I work in a very intense, high $ environment for a living and need to upgrade from this 2012 macbook pro. It's become a problem because I absolutely can't use any other screen, yet I need something a lot faster than this. I have gone through 5 of these things, I keep buying them off ebay and running them into the ground because I can use them for hours without significant eye strain.

What are my options here? Mac mini + some sort of small external monitor? I much prefer a laptop, but I don't think it's possible to get one that has a similar matte, anti-glare screen, certainly not a mac. I'm considering even buying the mac mini and hiring someone to take out one of these screens and build it into an external case. That's how desperate I am. I am so disappointed that apple discontinued the anti-glare screens back in 2012.

Does anyone know if software such as luna display could be used to use my macbook monitor + keyboard as the screen/keyboard for a mac mini attached to it running the brains?

 

[Sanpete]

If you're sure it's the glare, have you tried the matte screen films or filters you can put over the screen?

 

[bm303]

If you're sure it's the glare, have you tried the matte screen films or filters you can put over the screen?

Yes. The one I had made it look blurry to me on a 2016 mbp. This also still gave me headaches and eye strain. Maybe there's more to it than the antiglare coating?

 

[Cameraman12]

Totally agree. I plug into a PA242W when my eyes start to strain, then I'm fine.

 

[Sanpete]

Maybe there's more to it than the antiglare coating?

Other possibilities are discussed in threads here about PWM. Dithering is one possibility. PWM itself isn't the most likely reason, as it's at a very high frequency.

Blurry/Hazy screen on new MBP 14”

they use cheap displays with a ton of software tricks to make them "pop" this includes : color dithering, a ton of antialiasing, variable fresh rate (I hate it); crazy gamma settings, PMW and so on. Booting the OS in safe mode should turn off some of these tricks, try it and see if it gets better.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[SpotOnT]

Have you tried the "nano texture" anti-glare option on the 27" iMac? That might be a bit bigger than you were hoping for, but that is the smallest Mac that Apple currently offers with an anti-glare option.

The other solution I can think of is go with an external monitor with either a Mac Mini or MacBook Pro. There are a lot of anti-glare monitors out there. Some of the color critical, QHD monitors look very comparable to the built in screen on the 2012 Macbook Pro.

 

[ctjack]

I have disabled font smoothing and set it to 0 - helped by 50% i guess with the eye strain on new Mac displays.

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

 

[You’re not me]

How about an Apple Pro Display XDR w/nano-textured glass.

 

[monkeydax]

Ok. Get a matte display. E.g. Dell U2720Q.

 

[Fishrrman]

Get a matte display that you know will work for you.
Then get a Mac Mini to go with it.

If you need Intel-compatibility get the 2018 Mini, still a very usable Mac.

The 2020 m1 Mini is nice enough, but somewhat limited. DO NOT get any m1 Mac unless it comes with 16gb of RAM.

There will be a new m1pro Mini before too much longer (or so the rumors go), might be worth holding out for.

 

[bm303]

Get a matte display that you know will work for you.
Then get a Mac Mini to go with it.

If you need Intel-compatibility get the 2018 Mini, still a very usable Mac.

The 2020 m1 Mini is nice enough, but somewhat limited. DO NOT get any m1 Mac unless it comes with 16gb of RAM.

There will be a new m1pro Mini before too much longer (or so the rumors go), might be worth holding out for.

Alright. I ordered a mac mini m1 with 16gb. If new ones come out I have til jan 8 to return it. I'll try and figure something out, whether it involves software to use this as my monitor or finding a matte monitor I tolerate. Something small, like 15-18" and matte would be nice. I don't like big screens.

 

[ASX]

I will send my macbook pro m1 max back. Reason is the pwm flickering and the glare display. It disturbs me also in a dark room. I cant use it a long time. This mirror effect, bad focus and the pwm flickering is too much annoying.

Even my oled tv is much less reflective. Dont understand why apple is using glare displays.

I really have to use the ipad pro 2021 12.9" longer. In order to look for similar problems. But even if there are the same issues the price of 1350 Euro i justifying it much more than 3850 Euros .

Here is an interesting article about pwm and it's impacts on humans.

 

[bm303]

I will send my macbook pro m1 max back. Reason is the pwm flickering and the glare display. It disturbs me also in a dark room. I cant use it a long time. This mirror effect, bad focus and the pwm flickering is too much annoying.

Even my oled tv is much less reflective. Dont understand why apple is using glare displays.

I really have to use the ipad pro 2021 12.9" longer. In order to look for similar problems. But even if there are the same issues the price of 1350 Euro i justifying it much more than 3850 Euros .

Here is an interesting article about pwm and it's impacts on humans.

Exactly. The reflections drive me nuts. I like a "dull" matte screen that can be used with lights in the room.

 

[ASX]

Yesterday my eyes couldn't focus. All over the place this reflections and this flickering. If you try to focus on text the problems with this display are very obvious. The text is pulsing. Never have seen it on a display i used before.

MBP 2021:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/_processed_/7/3/csm_gg_new_0503bde0e9.png

This high pitching graphs are the annoying pulses (switching on and off leds very fast to adjust brightness cheaply)

Modern laptops like mine, using more expensive dc dimming without any flickering:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/Notebooks/Aorus/17G_YD/rigol_2.png

Matte vs Glossy Monitors | PC Monitors

The screen surface of a monitor is a keystone of image quality. Matte and glossy monitors are compared alongside novel compromises and future innovations.

pcmonitors.info

Strong ambient light levels and direct light falling onto the monitor can cause troublesome reflections and ‘bleaching’ of the image

Potentially increased eyestrain due to difficulty focusing on image through reflections

Apple is worth 1 trillion dollar and they are unable to evaluate a display correctly before production?
For me it's a very incompetent company. For a macbook the display is a key component. Nothing you can ignore.

 

[yesanton]

Yesterday my eyes couldn't focus. All over the place this reflections and this flickering. If you try to focus on text the problems with this display are very obvious. The text is pulsing. Never have seen it on a display i used before.

MBP 2021:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/_processed_/7/3/csm_gg_new_0503bde0e9.png

This high pitching graphs are the annoying pulses (switching on and off leds very fast to adjust brightness cheaply)

Modern laptops like mine, using more expensive dc dimming without any flickering:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/Notebooks/Aorus/17G_YD/rigol_2.png

Matte vs Glossy Monitors | PC Monitors

The screen surface of a monitor is a keystone of image quality. Matte and glossy monitors are compared alongside novel compromises and future innovations.

pcmonitors.info

Strong ambient light levels and direct light falling onto the monitor can cause troublesome reflections and ‘bleaching’ of the image

Potentially increased eyestrain due to difficulty focusing on image through reflections

Apple is worth 1 trillion dollar and they are unable to evaluate a display correctly before production?
For me it's a very incompetent company. For a macbook the display is a key component. Nothing you can ignore.

I have this will all Macs and with any connected monitors to a Mac. This is insane. If I go to a windows pc with a dedicated Nvidia graphics card - all good.

 

[You’re not me]

Yesterday my eyes couldn't focus. All over the place this reflections and this flickering. If you try to focus on text the problems with this display are very obvious. The text is pulsing. Never have seen it on a display i used before.

MBP 2021:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/_processed_/7/3/csm_gg_new_0503bde0e9.png

This high pitching graphs are the annoying pulses (switching on and off leds very fast to adjust brightness cheaply)

Modern laptops like mine, using more expensive dc dimming without any flickering:

https://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/Notebooks/Aorus/17G_YD/rigol_2.png

Matte vs Glossy Monitors | PC Monitors

The screen surface of a monitor is a keystone of image quality. Matte and glossy monitors are compared alongside novel compromises and future innovations.

pcmonitors.info

Strong ambient light levels and direct light falling onto the monitor can cause troublesome reflections and ‘bleaching’ of the image

Potentially increased eyestrain due to difficulty focusing on image through reflections

Apple is worth 1 trillion dollar and they are unable to evaluate a display correctly before production?
For me it's a very incompetent company. For a macbook the display is a key component. Nothing you can ignore.

Get a pc and move on with your life.