Eye strain/pain headaches with MacBook Pro 14 2023

Exactly. Not saying the MacBook was a direct cause. But my eyes were definitely feeling some type of strain that I haven’t felt before. I do automotive equipment sales from home and work on cars as my hobby so you can see how that adds up I guess. I snagged the m2 MacBook Air thinking it would be nice for workflow while I’m out and about. Maybe I’m getting old and need to look into getting glasses now who knows.

umnfan10 wrote:

Maybe I’m getting old and need to look into getting glasses now who knows.

Do you wear reading glasses? If so, they don't really work that well with a computer screen. You'll end up tilting your head and sitting at weird angles. Go to your eye care provider and get glasses specifically designed for computer use. I've worn reading glasses for about 10 years but only just got computer glasses (actually progressive lens that I can wear for both) and the difference is amazing.

If you're over forty and haven't had your eyes checked recently, try to do that.

I am presently encountering the same issue.

At my residence, I utilize my MacBook Pro 16” with M2 Pro (2023) in conjunction with an external display (49WQ95C-W), an IPS LCD screen, and encounter no issues. However, when working remotely, maintaining an 8-hour workday using the MBP display becomes challenging. Similar challenges are observed with my iPhone 15 Pro.

Contemplating reverting to a previous model, such as the iPhone 11 (base model with IPS LCD), for a more seamless experience. Any recommendations for earlier MacBook Pro models?

It would be advantageous to have the capability to disable PWM for brightness across all Apple devices in the accessibility settings, opting for software-based brightness dimming instead of hardware-based.

adjusting the brightness with software does nothing additional that you can not already do with the brightness slider.

I think you should contact Apple support. They have access to internal information and programs that we do not have.

You can disableTemporal Dithering in terminal. I found some Mac users doing this, and in turn doing so relieved them from eye strain and pain.

The issue is either or pwm/dithering due to 8bit +FRC panels, which is a common thing with TVs, cellphones and laptops. As well as flickering from LED lights, such as lightbulbs, sometimes strips, Philips wake-up lamps etc.

For PC screens it's easier. They generally are flicker free. TV and cellphones however is much harder. And even flicker free there doesn't always mean no issues. As LG OLED series as an example are flicker free for the most part, besides dips in brightness every X ms. The issue are other factors it seems, and size could also matter. Along with room brightness, having led strips on back as ambient light to diffuse screen brightness more, keeping screen at max brightness. Turn off all extra features, disable power saving and vari brightness etc...

I never had issue until I got OnePlus 7 Pro and OLED TVs. Now I'm very sensitive. On cellphone I use flux with specific color tones, keep phones om max brightness and use flux to lower brightness / overlay colors that help relieve the strain. Making sure not to have amber and other color tones which makes it worse. Using bright, not dark mode. PWM modulation increases with lower brightness on system level.

Google disable dithering Mac terminal. Should find the threads then.

R/Pwm_sensitive i believe it is on reddit for further knowledge. And lastly, I suggest seeing an orthodontist. Eye health is important. Maybe there is something else underlaying. I have lots of sight issues since childhood and wear glasses.

We all have different trigger and root causes. Making this challenging. I hope you figure it out!

Best of luck!

You bring up a really interesting point.

Information readily available online seems to say that Apple-Silicon MacBook Pro models do not use Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) backlight brightness control. That could explain why whacking at PWM solutions has no obvious impact.

But FRC temporal dithering (to simulate Billions of colors on an inherently Millions of colors physical built-in display) does NOT appear to be in use on Apple-Silicon MacBook Pro models either.

Some of the search items confirmed earlier suggestions that Brighter (i.e., Light mode) was less strain on your eyes than Darker (i.e., Dark mode).

ProMotion settings seems to be treated very differently from 60Hz setting. I suddenly get all the Scaling Options, that were never presented with ProMotion.

Color cast for Internet/Web is VERY different.

Try to use Photography color profile with Pro motion frequency.

Also in terminal:

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool 1

defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 1

I spent a lot of time to find this.

My eyes also hurt for a long time from the macbook pro 2019 15 inch screen, I tried many color schemes and my eyes stopped hurting on the sRGB IEC1966-2.1 scheme. Everything is individual, but maybe it will help someone

my eyes also hurt for a long time from the macbook pro 2019 15 inch screen, I tried many color schemes and my eyes stopped hurting on the sRGB IEC1966-2.1 scheme. Everything is individual, but maybe it will help someone

Same here. My solution so far are blue light blocking glasses. (red tinted lenses)

It works quite well, the eye strain goes away and I can work with no issues, but color related work is kinda impossible. :( Def a bummer with an otherwise really great machine.

The new MBAir models seem to have the old display tech, so maybe downgrading might be the move?

I have an older MacBook that I keep updating the system on.

If I spend more than two hours straight on it, I will spend the next 48 hours not sleeping extremely grumpy, angry anxious and with vision problems. This is happening for over a decade and people know this Americans don’t care about anybody but themselves And the buck

Not true. You don't know me.

You know what they say about those who assume.

I'm a musician of three instruments, have been a stock broker, designer, architect, and retired at 42.

My eyes have been used for plenty and I have 20/10 vision with a 160 IQ.

I also taught myself coding and developed some of the big websites you visit.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have exact same problem.

MacBook 2020 M1 and iPhone 13 mini did it to me. Extremely painful eyes, redness, itchiness, tiredness, heavy closing eyelids, puffiness and bags under eyes. Visited numerous ophthalmologists with no help. Having these devices removed helped.

So I now bought a 50$ 300 nits external display and Im fine with throwing this one over my built-in Macbook screen and connecting it via USBC

With the built-in screen, Ive noticed that I can work with it outside in the shade in strong sunlight (around the tropics), but not further up north where sunlight isnt as strong

I also tried my old MBP (2018) with 500 nits and that also seems to be fine

I guess the issue is just with the new 1600 nits 2023 MBP display brightness, and also maybe the newscreen tech is also an issue