Headaches and blurry vision - Is that just a phase or a problem for others?

Question

Headaches and blurry vision - Is that just a phase or a problem for others?

I bought a MacBook earlier this week. For some reason I immediately had headaches and a blurred view of the text. I bought this solely for coding for iPhone / iPad so the MacBook being easy on the eyes while doing XCode is vital. Anyway, I ended up picking up a MacBook Pro matte display (15") to try that out because of my earlier difficulty. No headaches, but still having trouble focusing on the text.

So this is my question. I paid over 2k for the MBP. I'm very tempted to go back to the MB since the display isn't much better and use it sparingly as a laptop, but otherwise shuttle it between external monitors. Does anyone else use their MB for this? Has anyone else had trouble with headaches or blurry vision? If so, did you eventually overcome it by merely sticking with it? Or did you have to bail?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jun 20, 2010 3:56 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 20, 2010 6:24 AM in response to prestoncrawford

Have you considered the possibility that you need glasses, or maybe a new prescription for your glasses? I could see maybe one system having a defective display that is kind of blurry, but when you throw in a second one and it's more or less the same as the first, it tends to suggest there's something wrong with you.

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 20, 2010 10:07 AM in response to Scott Billings

I have 20/15 vision and have my whole life. I got it tested last year just out of curiosity and it was the same. So while it may be me, and I'm 100% certain there is something different about me that makes this difficult, I'm not sure it's something an optometrist could help with. If I could think of a way they'd help me I'd go there today.

Reply

Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Jun 20, 2010 11:09 AM in response to prestoncrawford

I'll relate my experiences in the hope it might help you with yours: first, I have a problem with the glossy screens and get a headache within 5 minutes because of all the reflections - I use my Macbook only in a dim environment (no lights, windows, etc. behind me), so that has been working satisfactorily.

Second, I also have a problem with the - albeit beautiful - native resolution of the monitor/screens; the fonts are simply too small and I would catch myself squinting in order to see. I fixed that problem (on both my matte display iMac and the Macbook) by choosing a lower resolution (System Preferences - Display). The result is no longer as "crisp", but I don't have to squint to see everything clearly and comfortably. You might want to try adjusting the resolution to see if that helps.

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 20, 2010 10:26 PM in response to babowa

The 13" MacBook Pro ended up being the solution for me. I gave the MacBook Pro 13" a look. I had dismissed it as the 13" MacBook gave me headaches bit time. Then tried the MacBook Pro 15" matte display that strained my eyes because of the small fonts and higher res. The 13" MacBook Pro appears to be the sweet spot for me. Better display than the MacBook but a standard resolution comparable to my old laptop. And XCode does indeed comfortable run in it. Additionally, Ubuntu under VMWare (the server part of my app) runs great with that amount of memory. Wish it had a discrete GPU, but it will do for now.

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 20, 2010 10:28 PM in response to prestoncrawford

Solution is in my last reply. The answer for me ended up being that the MacBook white polycarbon had a different display and was thus hard on me. Similarly, the matte 15" MacBook pro gave me eyestrain from being too high res and the fonts, etc. too small. The 13" MacBook pro is working well, though.

Reply

Answer 6

Jun 23, 2010 11:51 PM in response to prestoncrawford

Weird. I have 20-15 vision also and my Macbook Pro 13 gives me blurry eyes after 15 minutes of use. I too bought it to program for the iPhone and having trouble because I cant stare at the screen for too long. It is not the resolution, I have 2 other PCs Laptops in the house that have much finer dpi and resolution (1920 wide) and I can look at those all day long without getting blurry.

Still not sure what I can do to deal with this other than remote to my mac, which is ********.

Reply