Eye strain from LED backlighting in MacBook Pro

An article typical of this genre. scientists develop new light bulb, and they have one ten years old still working?? And a gain of 75% power per lumen over incandescents will not do much for battery life in a macbook pro, which lest anyone forget is supposed to be the topic. Face it LEDs are here for the long run. Automobile headlights, rear lights, dashboards, street lights, household bulbs, all led by 2020 latest.

From that list, I tried the BenQ EW2440L. I got terrible eye strain and pain, and headaches. I also saw some visible flicker without attached devices. I don't know what exactly is supposed to be "flicker-free" in this monitor, but it didn't help me.

peter_watt, the only thing I have seen you do is bait people into arguments. You yourself have stated your not experiencing the same issue everyone else is here so you cannot possibly understand but I will respond to a couple of your points as a good sport anyway.First, the topic is completely related by the possibility this lighting development might be flicker free, hello!? The Automobile lights very likely could change, LED is expensive because of the fact it runs with circuitry like a computer, there is also more carbon foot print with LED therefore it is not a smart choice in anyway except for it's energy consumption. If the Finally technology lasts 15 years it is an improvement over LED in Automobiles as their energy is self sustained by the vehicles electrical system. Also, please explain why consumer choice is not a reason alone to produce new forms of lighting? Obviously with 19 million in pre-orders the finally light bulb company is going to be successful whether you think so or not.

I know you have complained about receiving these notifications for this thread and how that is the only reason you come back here to comment, basically because these notifications leave you feeling annoyed. We'll I am going to do exactly what you should do and never respond to your comments again, they have been the least helpful to the discussion anyway.

Sincerely,

Jesse

If "Finally" is a pseudo incandescent using activated or electrically excited copper wires and uses 25% of a normal incandescent power there is no way they will ever go into a computer display. Too power intensive, too hot. Period.

By the way LEDs only need a 4.5 volt power source and a resistor, no computer circuitry necessary.

That is only true of the most simplistic of LED lighting however we are not making them simple we are making them dimmer capabilities and with other added technology to help the bulb save energy. There is circuitry in most LED lighting, some of them are all but computers in manufacturing plants. Last time I engage you on this, you are spouting information as if it is fact when you clearly have no clue. It is not even a discussion with you because you obviously have all the answers already.

Oh sure, no circuitry inside there!

LED dimming needs circuitry, of course. That is not what you said.

Information of a very dubious nature has been spouted here for 136 turgid pages. 90% or more off topic. You are abusing Apple's hospitality. I don't give a fetid dingo's kidneys what you think, but I wish you really would stop replying when you promised several times not to, and take your sh1t to another forum.

On a more positive note, I just bought a 2014 Macbook Air 11.6". I'm very excited to say that I can use this for very extended periods of time with no eye strain. The screen manufacturer appears to be Samsung LTH116AT01A04. My wife's macbook pro retina with the LG screen still hurts my eyes. So far I've been OK with my Samsung backlit iPad 3, Samsung SmartTV, iPhone 5, and now this Macbook Air. I still have no idea what all this means, but I'm very happy to have (an excellent) laptop again. There likely are variations between LEDs from different companies, but I don't know if this translates to different color temperature, dithering, etc.

The harmful blue light (wavelength from 450–495 nm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue) emitting from the Macbook screen can cause eye strain, even increase the risk of eye disease lik exerophthalmia.

This research from The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/blue-light-sleep_b_3900607.html) claims blocking blue light not only reduce eyestrain but also helps sleep.

I use a pair of yellow lenses(http://www.halovis.com) which can block 97% of blue light. That makes me feel really comfortable when at my computer or using my phone.

Here is the video on YTB describes how it work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUebEu3GzE

Hi Tight_eye,

at some point you commented on the Toshiba Z30 laptop screen. I am about to give it a go but would like to hear from you. There is a new model with full HD screen that looks appealing.

if you could give any comments that would be great. BTW, is the screen mate?

thanks and regards

what an interesting thread. and at an apple forum!

i tried to read the whole thing but it's huge now!

i have been interested in eyestrain and EMFs for some time. I highly recommend you guys look into EMFs. many of the symptoms described here can be from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. every screen i've tested emits a good deal of EMF. it's easy to test. any portable am radio makes a rough test. tune it to static. then start moving it toward things. dimmer switches, screens, CF lights, lots of stuff will send a signal. what i notice with my monitor is the signal is pulsing. not good.

some of you could test this out. just have the device close to you and don't read from it. keep your eyes closed. do you still feel sick? bad?

if it is an EMF issue you have to consider a lot of other stuff that's near your screen....lights, dimmers, cell towers. it could be that stuff and not the screen much.

i've been researching lights lately. i have an audio studio where i work a lot. since we are basically talking about light here is my summery.

you want something close to the sun. continuous, not flickering. full spectrum, not spikey like CF bulbs. and low EMFs (contrary to what some people say the sun does not put out much in the way of our man made emfs. )

incandescent lights are so slow to react to AC current they are very continuous. good. they aren't full spectrum but they have a good deal of it. most importantly they have a smooth spectrum curve. no huge spikes here and there. these don't put out much or any emf from what i've seen. but add a dimmer switch and the whole circuit will.

CF bulbs are very responsive to AC and flicker. ever try and use a dimmer with one not rated for dimming? hello light show! (cheap dimmers, like the ones in everybody's homes, are just fast switches. they don't change the voltage) so if you want to dim them they need to convert the voltage to something lower and constant. CF bulbs are super spikey with the spectrum. forget it. and they put out emf. they also contain mercury. and ive read many have holes in the coating that filters UV. awesome. can i have my 100 year old incandescent tech back?

LEDs have a better spectrum. there is a peak in the blue range. not so great. but overall smoother then florescent. they are also crazy responsive to voltage. crap. but if you get the dim-able ones ,in theory, you should have less AC flicker. i'm working on that one. the LEDS in my house put out crazy EMF. bad.

so there you have it. a bunch of bad options. guess you need an old school and slow technology.

finding out (from this forum) that screens are polarized was surprising. i whipped out my sunglasses and there you have it. polarized at 45 degrees here. can't be good. the sun isn't polarized.

so is there any consensus here on monitors? this site: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/flicker_free_database.htm looks useful and has some of the monitors mentioned in this tread.

perhaps what changed in the last few years is the devices started emitting different EMF. new wireless connection technology? there are lots of electronic components that emit EMF. or maybe it is the flicker, polarization, wack spectrum.

i'm researching a new monitor and room lighting at the moment.

RMartin111 wrote:

interesting.


I also knew that I could easily see the "rainbow effect" in DLP televisions that many other people don't see.

you have a super power = super curse.

My research into LED technology turned up the fact that it is a bit of a technological challenge to dim an LED.

i thought all you needed was to change the voltage and not have it alternating. basically the LED follows what the voltage is doing. but that cost money i bet. too much money. which is why they use a cheapo switch. on. off. repeat.

Some people (myself included) are much more sensitive to these flickers.

i don't think it's necessary to preview it for it to be a problem. you can't see UV light. you can't see ionizing radiation. you can't see microwaves.

Either way, the extreme brightness is worlds better than the sickening flicker I saw with a lower brightness setting

is this something unique to laptops? perhaps it saves power? have you seen this site and flicker free ratings? http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/flicker_free_database.htm you might also try turning the wifi off (less EMF), and not having the laptop on your lap (less EMF)

Turn the screen brightness down, find a high contract area of the screen, and quickly move your eyes back and forth over the screen. If you can detect the flicker, you may end up with this same problem.

you can also turn all the lights off and twirl a cord in front of the screen. i just did this. at 100% the cord was continuous. at 0% brightness it was not. flicker.

cool topic russ. i suspect more people have issues with this then are known. they just write it off as simple eye strain.

sorry about the multiple posts.

have you guys seen this? http://www.eizo.com/global/library/basics/eyestrain/

basically it relates to what i was saying about voltage and responsive lighting technology. DC dimming (lowering the voltage and keeping it constant) is easier on the eyes and people feel better using it. what's interesting to me is DC in my experience also produces a lot less EMF too. and where are the DC dimming monitors? none?

Sony have new monitors with OLED thecnology that have no backlight. I would like to try one but they are very expensive. Any of you have tried the new line of sony monitors? A 17'' oled sony monitor cost around $4000! To find this monitors do a google search for sony oled monitor TRIMASTER.

Just want to report that with iOS 7.1.2 I can again use my iPad 4 all day long without getting headaches (as usual at 0% brightness), and even without having to set any of those accessibility options. I used it for 7 days now. The previous iOS 7 versions were pure pain and not usable for more than a few minutes. It's a clear difference. Even Safari is usable now.

I'm not sure if this means that Apple knows what's going on and that future iOS releases will always be eye friendly. Maybe I should never upgrade this device again.

I didn't try my iPhone 4 yet.