You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

RMartin111 Author

Level 1

14 points

Eye strain from LED backlighting in MacBook Pro

There is one relatively serious con of the new LED backlit displays in the new MacBook Pros that seems to not get too much mention in the media. About a month ago I bought a new MacBook Pro to replace my standard white MacBook. One feature of the MacBook Pro that I was unaware of was the introduction of the LED backlit display to replace the CCFL backlight.

Once I started using my new laptop for long periods of time, I noticed severe eye strain and minor symptoms almost similar to motion sickness. After 20 or 30 minutes of use, I felt like I had been looking at the screen all day. Much longer and I would get headaches. If I used the old white MacBook (with its CCFL display), I had no eye troubles at all. Moreover, I could detect a distinct flicker on the MacBook Pro display when I moved my eyes across it - especially over high contract areas of the screen. White text on a black background was virtually impossible for me to read without feeling sick to my stomach because of all the flickering from moving my eyes over the text.

The strangest thing about all of this was that nobody else I showed the screen to could see these flickers I was seeing. I began to question my sanity until I did a little research. Discovering that the MacBook Pro introduced a new LED backlit display started to shed some light (so to speak) on what might be going on. I had long known that I could see LED flicker in things like car taillights and christmas lights that most of my friends could not see. I also knew that I could easily see the "rainbow effect" in DLP televisions that many other people don't see.

My research into LED technology turned up the fact that it is a bit of a technological challenge to dim an LED. Varying the voltage generally doesn't work as they are essentially designed to be either on or off with a fixed brightness. To work around this limitation, designers use a technique called pulse width modulation to mimic the appearance of lower intensity light coming out of the LED. I don't claim to fully understand the concept, but it essentially seems to involve very briefly turning off the LED several times over a given time span. The dimmer the LED needs to appear, the more time it spends in the off state.

Because this all happens so very quickly, the human brain does not interpret the flickers as flickers, rather as simply dimmer light. For most people that is. Some people (myself included) are much more sensitive to these flickers. From what I can tell, the concept is called the "flicker fusion threshold" and is the frequency at which sometime that is actually flickering is interpreted by the human brain as being continuously lit. While the vast majority of people have a threshold that doesn't allow them to see the flicker in dimmed LEDs, some people have a higher threshold that causes them to see the flickering in things like LED car tail lights and, unfortunately, LED backlit displays - leading to this terrible eye strain.

The solution? I now keep my screen turned up to full brightness to eliminate the need for the flicker-inducing pulse width modulation. The screen is very bright, but there are no more flickers and I love my MacBook Pro too much to exchange it for a plain MacBook with CCFL backlighting (which will also supposedly be switching to LED backlighting in 2009 anyway.) The staff at my local Apple store was of course more than helpful and was willing to let me exchange my glossy screen for matte even though I was beyond the 14 day return period. I knew that wasn't the problem though as my old MacBook was a glossy display. I've decided to stick with my full brightness solution. Sitting in a brightly-lit room tends to help alleviate how blinding the full brightness of the screen can be. In a dimly-lit room I guess I just wear sunglasses. Either way, the extreme brightness is worlds better than the sickening flicker I saw with a lower brightness setting

I would caution anybody considering buying a product with an LED backlit display to pay careful attention to make sure you don't have this same sensitivity. 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.

I have no idea what percentage of the population has this sensitivity. I imagine we will hear more about it as more and more displays start using this technology. Hopefully the Apple engineers will come up with a way to eliminate this flicker some of us can see.

Russ Martin

15-inch MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 23, 2008 8:25 AM

2,489 replies

upriver

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2009 8:51 PM in response to gpzbc

Thanks gpzbc. I have posted my experience with the MBP on another thread ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1852329&start=120&tstart=0 Posted: Jun 27, 2009 5:03 PM). Agree that the problem seems to be the LED backlighting.

Ironically I was really worried about the glossy screen on the MBP prior to purchasing. In the end however I actually quite like the glossy screen, it's just the backlighting that makes me ill. Unfortunately all Mac laptops now have LED backlighting.

cyvi937

Level 1

104 points

Jul 2, 2009 11:50 PM in response to upriver

The white MacBook isn't LED backlit according to the Apple Store comparison table.

upriver

Level 1

0 points

Jul 3, 2009 3:50 PM in response to cyvi937

Good point. I stand corrected. The Macbook does not have LED backlighting.

calbryan

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 2:05 PM in response to RMartin111

I can also attest to having severe eye strain from LED displays.

I have spent countless long days staring at many types of monitors (CRT, LCD, Plasma) with no problems. Then, in January, I purchased a new Macbook Pro with an LED display only to realize that after about an hour I would get headaches and my eyes felt severely strained.

I have used a combination of full spectrum desk lighting and frequent breaks, but I still cannot work on my computer all day like I used to. I didn't fully understand that it was LED technology causing the eye problems until my Dad purchased a new LED television recently, and I immediately experienced the same eye strain within a half-hour of watching his television.

That experience led to more research and this thread, which confirms that at least some others are experiencing issues with this display type.

My advice to others is try out LED displays before purchasing because sensitivity can occur even if you've never had eye strain before. My only solution now is to either sell my Macbook Pro or buy an additional monitor, which will at least help with home work.

I wish Apple would have done more testing of this technology before making it standard.

Lizz

Level 1

14 points

Oct 16, 2009 5:48 AM in response to Ricktoronto

This is a problem whether it's blinding the masses or not. I am glad that other people have reported a problem because I thought I was losing my mind. Don't know what I'm going to do because it's taken me more than two weeks to get to the bottom of this problem. I love Apple, but I also hate them. You get a few choice and live and die by those choices. I waited on the non-glare screen, but still the LED seems to be causing me a problem. Grrrr. I feel trapped.

Oct 17, 2009 7:04 PM in response to RMartin111

I get sore eyes, But i thought this was just because i had glasses, and to speak, I never had this problem with my iBook. The way i found to fix it is to 1. Turn the Brightness Down, 2. Blink More (You have to think about this when you are concentrating).

Hope it helps

Oct 19, 2009 1:44 PM in response to RMartin111

Add me to the list of people strongly affected by this issue.

I've been using computers since the Apple ][ days and typically spend hours per day in front of screen displays. I have never experienced anything like the nausea and headaches I've been feeling since I purchased the new Macbook Pro.

It ranges from "unpleasant" to "completely debilitating". None of my other laptops or monitors have caused this problem before.

Like many of you, I'm reluctant to give up what is an otherwise nice machine (and I'm out of my 14-day return window), but this is not something I can live with.

If anyone has found anything that works for them, please share. I'm going to do some experiments over the next few days with brightness settings, but I am not optimistic at this point.

Lizz

Level 1

14 points

Oct 22, 2009 5:38 AM in response to Jinsai_SF

Well, I had to give up the MacBook Pro. I'm working on one of the last MacBooks with an LCD screen. I got it yesterday. You see, Apple just announced that even MacBooks are now coming out with LED Backlit screens. I feel fortunate that I figured this out before the LCD screen became extinct. Yes, I miss my MBPro, but in a few days I'll adjust to the slightly slower speed and the smaller screen. My eyes definitely feel better. I visited my eye doctor yesterday before I made the decision and took my computer. She said that she noticed my eyes tearing up from the strain of the looking at the screen in just a few minutes. This is a real phenomenon and I hope Apple will make note and provide the LCD screen as an option.

Having the non-glare screen on the LED seems to make no difference IF you are sensitive to the light generated by the LED technology. I had had my MBPro for about six weeks. It took time to identify what was causing the problem. I visited two Apple stores, taking material from the Internet, and managers at both places said they had "heard" something about this issue and would have no problem trading out the machine, in spite of the time.

I waited until I saw my doctor, hoping she could prescribe some special glasses, but no. I returned to one of the stores and hoped to get a hard drive larger than the 160, but I would have to get that online. The store manager said I could do the exchange online with no problem. NOT TRUE. I went to my car and phoned Apple and was told that I was outside of the 14-day window, there was no swapping, and was there anything else I needed help with. I didn't see the point in mentioning the letter I had from the doctor or anything since I was right outside of a store and could get the computer that day, rather than wait, after begging. The manager of the store could not have been nicer. I was impressed.

So, yes, I miss the MBP, but I've rationalized: My old iBook had 60 GB, so 160 is more than twice that. I had a 12" screen before, now I have 13". So, I didn't get to go state-of-the-art with the MBP, but my eyes aren't on fire.

This is a real problem that a few, very light sensitive people have. Blinking and dimming the screen did not help. Deselecting the ambient light option did not help. There were certain lighting conditions where it didn't hurt as much, but that was a moving target trying to combine time of day, position of window blinds, and position of desk---hard to hit with a searing headache.

Another option is to keep the MBP and get an external monitor. MBP works closed, a specialist told me, and you can sit the monitor on top of it. Get the magic and avoid the burn that way.

Good luck.

Nov 6, 2009 5:33 PM in response to RMartin111

hey i bought my laptop from mac about a month ago
and since then my vision has become very shaky
and becoming worse and worse everyday
when i drive when i try to focus on cars infront of me
or to the left or right of me they seem to dissapear
for a second then reappear and sometimes
they seem to be doing a shutter movement
day or night its the same thing
i just got my eyes checked out to make sure it wasnt that
the doctor said my eyes are perfectly fine
i was doing some research yesterday
and found all of you out there with the same problems
im trying to return my macbook pro and they arent being coorperative
i cant drive anymore because of how bad my vision has gotten
and it doesnt seem like anyone at apple cares what so ever

Nov 9, 2009 10:13 AM in response to RMartin111

I purchased the new LED monitor for my MacBook Air and it works great.

However I have experienced severe headaches and feelings of nausea up to dissorientation. I am totaly confident that this is the monitor as my girlfriend and I were doing some work together on my monitor last night and she expereinced severe reaction with nausea and dizzyness. After 30 minutes away from the monitor she was fine. I have experienced this from the first day I got he monitor and it does this in any light conditions in the room, no matter how far I sit from it or light level settings.

I dont want to give up the monitor but I feel sick every time I use it. The previous monitor I was using was the LCD version of the same monitor and it gave me no problem whatsoever.

Apple - please address this - it is very real and people are feeling like they are getting the flu or sick.

Nov 19, 2009 12:03 PM in response to RMartin111

I found that changing the gamma setting (under Display> Callibrate display ...) helped a lot on eye strain.

I found that, for me, the Mac gamma (1.8) is too bright. Play with it and see what suits you.

Dec 26, 2009 9:28 AM in response to jasonfromsanantonio

Dear Jasonfromsanantonio, I have read all of your posts and I have exactly the same problem. Please tell me how it's working out for you. Are you keeping your Macbookpro now? Are you using it with the overlay? May I ask if this new one they gave you hurts your eyes WITHOUT the overlay? Mine hurts after 2 minutes I look at the screen.

Since you got an anti-glare film, I assume you've got a glossy screen as well, haven't you? Have you thought maybe it could be that? I have a glossy too but I don't think that's the problem. At the store, I've worked on a matt and my eyes still hurt. I really think it has to do with the LED.

I also must say that the technicians at the store changed my macbookpro last week already because the first one I bought let out a weird, continuous beeping like the ultrasounds dogs hear. I thought I was crazy because my mom didn't hear it but at the store they then said people older than 30 years could hardly hear it and it was a computer defect. So they exchanged it. WHat I'm really angry about is that the Mac that emitted the beeping DIDN'T hurt my eyes AT ALL! Does anyone know why that is? Also, do you think I should waste more time and go to the store again and try out another Macbookpro? (I have already brought home an IMac and then returned it because it make a summing sound and I couldn't concentrate.)

Thanks for your help,
PrincessSharpay

Jan 7, 2010 11:21 AM in response to RMartin111

Wow, I truly appreciate this post and all the people who have wrote back. I just bought the new 21.5 Imac and without realizing the screen difference between my March 2009 20"Imac and the new Nov 2009 21.5" Imac, I started to get a tense burning in my eyes the first few days of using it. I had never felt this before with the March 2009 20 inch Imac with the LCD screen that I had used for almost 1 year. I am now going to return the new one.

I want someone to tell me that there is a fix because the new machine is a bit faster and of course it is "newer". However, there is none and the trade off does not compare. I thought I may be over reacting, but now as I am using the old one again the screen looks much softer and not so sharp and my eyes are not hurting me any longer. Nothing more to be said!

Thanks guys and gals!

Jeffason

Level 1

40 points

Jan 17, 2010 7:26 PM in response to RMartin111

I also was wondering if I was going blind or something.

I used to have ccfl macbook pro but it got stolen.

After reading text on my recently purchased used macbook pro my eyes would shift out of focus and I felt like I was tripping on something for a few seconds. Then it goes away. And then it would happen again. Obviously some kind of sync or refresh issue. This doesn't happen to me viewing anything else.

Yeah so it almost makes the laptop useless for reading text.

One thing that helps is speed reading. If I read almost too fast it doesn't happen as much. But if I leisurely read it will go all unfocused.

I have a feeling newer versions have better technology and do not do it as much. Oh there it goes I'm going all cross eyed again or whatever. This is frustrating!

Jan 18, 2010 1:31 AM in response to Stefan Ro.

Ugh, I'm glad someone brought this up.

Other than the lack of a 2nd hard drive bay for RAID this is my No.1 gripe with my imac, I even went and paid for my eyes to be tested and asked the optometrist about how close I sit to the screen etc etc...

*He said he's had several complaints of iMacs hurting peoples eyes* even when used on the lowest brightness setting 24/7.

I've tried applications like shades that reduce the gamma but they mey everything look horrid.

Eye strain from LED backlighting in MacBook Pro