Eye strain - Returned my 2019 16" Macbook Pro

[groove-agent]

I went from a 2015 15" MBP to a 2019 16" and didn't have any issues. Plus I have visual snow syndrome and am sensitive to glare but didn't have any issues with this screen.

Did you try scaling the display so the objects and text is larger? If the text is set too small your eyes could have been straining trying to read objects on the screen. I typically can't use the default settings because it's too hard to read.

 

[lgjay]

Telling people to see a doctor in this kind of situation is just bluntly rude.

 

[avocado_]

I just found this post on google and have identical symptoms as the original post describes.

I have been a lifelong windows user. I was issued a 2013 MBP retina through work years back in 2014, and used it without too many issues. I would get bad eye strain when it was plugged into an external monitor, which I attributed to the fact that OSX does hardcore font smoothing, so text is somewhat blurry at lower DPIs.

Due to that small amount of eye strain, I saw an optometrist who said I have perfect eyesight, but gave me a weak 0.25 prescription to help. Didn't help.

Work issued me a new 2016 MBP 15", and the eye strain is worse. I have a nice new 4k monitor (using macos and windows at "looks like 2560x1440"), but the monitor on macos only still gives me eye strain. It really makes me feel like I am going cross-eyed, almost. The panel on the laptop is not as bad, but still gives me a headache.

I've seen two more optometrists in the meantime who have also said my vision is fine, but gave me different prescriptions to try to reduce the eye strain. I'm up to +0.5 now, still 20/20 vision. The glasses hurt more than they help I think.

Still zero eye strain in windows with my desktop PC, my 2017 surface pro, or the yoga c940 I recently bought to see if that relieved anything. After putting the pieces together that the mac seems to be the issue, i've just been using my own personal windows computer for work instead.

I really just want to be able to use the mac, because I love the OS and the ecosystem (especially for my job), but I'm at a loss for what to do as well. Since I have issues with an external monitor that I also use in Windows, it has to be something at the OS level, I would think. I've tried all sorts of viewing distances and resolutions and such as well to no avail.

I guess this is not helpful since I don't have any answers, I just wanted to share my experience as well and maybe answer the "you need to see a doctor". Been there, done that, spent about $1000 on glasses so far.

 

[Sanpete]

spent about $1000 on glasses so far.

Sounds like your optometrist has taken advantage of you. Just a side note.

 

[avocado_]

Sounds like your optometrist has taken advantage of you. Just a side note.

Haha! 3 different ones in different states! I wish I realized it was just the computer sooner and I didn't really have a "general" eye strain issue that needed to be solved somehow.

 

[mastercheif91]

I just found this post on google and have identical symptoms as the original post describes.

I have been a lifelong windows user. I was issued a 2013 MBP retina through work years back in 2014, and used it without too many issues. I would get bad eye strain when it was plugged into an external monitor, which I attributed to the fact that OSX does hardcore font smoothing, so text is somewhat blurry at lower DPIs.

Due to that small amount of eye strain, I saw an optometrist who said I have perfect eyesight, but gave me a weak 0.25 prescription to help. Didn't help.

Work issued me a new 2016 MBP 15", and the eye strain is worse. I have a nice new 4k monitor (using macos and windows at "looks like 2560x1440"), but the monitor on macos only still gives me eye strain. It really makes me feel like I am going cross-eyed, almost. The panel on the laptop is not as bad, but still gives me a headache.

Change your 4K monitor to "looks like 1920x1080" and the MacBook Pro to "looks like 1440x900" (or similar, I don't have either). You want true 2x scaling instead of the non-native but more screen real-estate option.

 

[MacGekko]

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 work out for me.

I must be in some minority group here because I know a lot of people love their new 16". But if you're a long-time user of the older generation pros (2015 and before), it might be hard to adjust, depending on your age / vision. I'm guessing it has to do with the backlight being wide gamut (GB-R instead of WLED?), as the whole screen seemed to have an extra reddish haze over it. While it certainly gave photos a real nice pop, my eyes had the hardest time focusing on text. By the end of the first night, I was rubbing my right eye incessantly from the soreness.

Another strange issue is that I got serious headaches watching YouTube videos on this thing, like there was some serious ghosting going on. I double checked that the refresh rate was set at 60Hz, and even tried other refresh rates, but nothing helped. 60fps video was bearable, but the standard 30fps videos made me feel queasy for some reason.

Being the first Macbook that I've purchased since the 2016 redesign, I also found the lack of MagSafe and USB-a ports a straight up negative. Had no way of connecting my iPhone to the machine. Nothing new here, I read all about this before, but it really is an inconvenience for what seems to me like no real benefit in the general case.

The only thing that really impressed me about the machine were the speakers, which seem to be using some kind of DSP to provide really clear bass.

I really wanted to replace my aging 2015 15" Pro and was ecstatic when I heard the butterfly keyboard was ditched, but unfortunately it seems I have to stick with the 2015 for the next two years until Apple utilizes a different screen tech than their current wide gamut LED panels.

I had a problem many years ago going from a matte screen to a glossy. I was worried when my matte Macbook Pro died as they stopped making those around 2012. The mid 2015 Macbook Pro I'm using now with the anti glare screen did not cause any issues in the initial weeks but I still put a Moshi Ivisor protective matte screen covering over it, to this day, no issues. Could a Moshi Ivisor matte screen covering solve your issue?

Also I probably keep my screen way darker than the average person, if you look at system preferences, the brightness level is at the first "m" in the word "automatically".

 

[Nobreus]

I am having huge troubles with the newest 16" MacBook Pro, not much fun at all, especially when I'm writing. Not much of a problem when I'm editing in Premiere, but horribly hard to read and write. It is difficult since I am a writer. Now I have to use glasses to not be uncomfortable in front of the screen, something that is completely new since I got the computer, about a month ago. Not sure what Apple did to mess this up, but something is awry, that is for sure.
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And it did get a bit better when I changed the settings in System Preferences, but it did not take away the problem. My eyes still can't seem to figure out what to focus on.

 

[Sanpete]

Now I have to use glasses to not be uncomfortable in front of the screen, something that is completely new since I got the computer, about a month ago. ... My eyes still can't seem to figure out what to focus on.

What kind of glasses? What were you using before you got the 16"?

 

[Nobreus]

What kind of glasses? What were you using before you got the 16"?

I was not using glasses before, and now I got myself .75 readers that seems to help a bit.
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I was not using glasses before, and now I got myself .75 readers that seems to help a bit.

And I was on an older MacBook Pro, 2011

 

[Hexley]

It might be the default resolution used on the 16". It isn't pixel doubling and it is slightly blurry. Your eyes might be trying to focus on something intentionally out of focus.

 

[Nobreus]

I tried to change the size of the lettering, which worked and it got a little bit better, but my eyes are still really uncomfortable with the screen, especially when writing. Do you have a suggestion for what resolution works better?
And thank you for the answer!

 

[Hexley]

I tried to change the size of the lettering, which worked and it got a little bit better, but my eyes are still really uncomfortable with the screen, especially when writing. Do you have a suggestion for what resolution works better?
And thank you for the answer!

Change from "Default for display" to "Scaled".

From "Default" select the one at the middle to do pixel doubling.

As for "Refresh Rate" switch it to the one that feels good to you.

I would turn on "True Tone" as well as the color temp change may make your eyes tired.

 

[Nobreus]

Thank you, I will try that! Thanks for the great advice!

 

[Sanpete]

I was not using glasses before, and now I got myself .75 readers that seems to help a bit.
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And I was on an older MacBook Pro, 2011

Just a half-baked theory, but it looks like your previous screen didn't have as much resolution. It may be that the resolution matched your eyes' resolution in a way that it didn't make any difference if your eyes tried to focus better. Now with higher resolution your eyes may be trying to focus for best sharpness and straining in the process.

.75 readers are great, by the way, my favorites for laptop use.

 

[Nobreus]

Thank you, I did change the settings so now the lettering is a lot bigger on the screen, it looks like the same size as the old computer and I don't need the glasses at the moment, my eyes are not in pain or feeling weird any longer so it seems like it's working. Thank you!
And yes, the .75s are great!

 

[Hexley]

Thank you, I did change the settings so now the lettering is a lot bigger on the screen, it looks like the same size as the old computer and I don't need the glasses at the moment, my eyes are not in pain or feeling weird any longer so it seems like it's working. Thank you!
And yes, the .75s are great!

Your welcome.

What are your settings now?

You can change the font size and turn off True Tone with iPad and iPhone.

 

[Nobreus]

I have not decided on the True Tone or not, for the moment it is on but I will have to see when I write tomorrow in daylight. Otherwise it is nice to have the lettering the same size as the old resolution on the other computer.

 

[Hexley]

View attachment 892333
I have not decided on the True Tone or not, for the moment it is on but I will have to see when I write tomorrow in daylight. Otherwise it is nice to have the lettering the same size as the old resolution on the other computer.

Ah you went the opposite and not pixel doubling.

So long as you're happy with your 16" then that is all it matters.

 

[Nobreus]

Thank you, but I don't understand the pixel doubling thing, could you expand on that?

 

[Hexley]

Thank you, but I don't understand the pixel doubling thing, could you expand on that?

Our 16" has a 3072‑by‑1920 native resolution.

When you select the "middle option" that is "left" of the "default" you will get a resolution of 1536-by-960. This exactly half of what the display can output.

The term I used of "pixel doubling" is actually wrong. It is more like "down scaling" by exactly half to avoid the blurriness that could attribute to your viewing discomfort. When the "down scaling" or "up scaling" isn't exactly half then there will be some noticeable & unnoticeable blurriness that your eyes/brain will try to resolve by focusing on. This causes your eye strain.

If you're at the "scaled resolution", refresh rate and "True Tone" that you are most comfortable at then that is all that matters.

I was reading up on how Windows 10 handles this and it appears not all Windows programs and even Windows 10 itself is 100% compliant.

 

[Evilxardas]

View attachment 892333
I have not decided on the True Tone or not, for the moment it is on but I will have to see when I write tomorrow in daylight. Otherwise it is nice to have the lettering the same size as the old resolution on the other computer.

Why did you use 59hz and not 60hz? is it one of the setting that helped you?

Thanks

 

[pragmaLT]

Obviously this doesn't affect the vast majority of people but it's like night and day for me. I don't have any problems with various iPhones (except iPhone X which also gave me trouble - switched to XR with no problems), iPads, previous MacBook, TVs, car screens, Kindles etc etc. I am inclined to think of it as an accessibility issue - although I'm not quite sure I'd simply call it "my" problem that I need to have fixed.

We must have similar eyes biologically, because I also felt discomfort on the iPhone X. On the X, I have to use the color filter feature in accessibility to make it bearable.

When you mention how your external display also gives you the same problem connected to the MBP16, it really makes me believe it's a display driver issue. It would be really interesting to see if the problem goes away if you bootcamp Windows on it.

 

[Nobreus]

Why did you use 59hz and not 60hz? is it one of the setting that helped you?

Thanks

I just tried it and it seemed to feel better. I don't know why actually. Sorry, not much help

 

[simonmet]

I wonder whether these issues are caused by the slower response time (and ghosting) that’s been reported.

Whenever anything moves, the blurriness caused by the slow response on these panels will look like you’ve lost focus, so your eyes are naturally working harder to try and maintain it (to no avail).

It’s frustrating to me that the panels haven’t matched the quality and capabilities of the iPad Pro from 4 or 5 years ago. A real disappointment.