MacBook Pro Liquid Retina XDR display hurts my eyes

zoosh2 wrote:

• yegor78 - I'm having the exact same trouble with a new 2021 MBP 16" and am totally baffled by this given my lack of trouble with other Apple displays.

Per screen size, I used a 16" MacBook Pro from 2015-2020. No eye trouble.

•

Per screen type, I've used an iPad Pro 12.9" w/ "Liquid Retina XDR display" about two years. No eye trouble. I'm using it along with the new MacBook. My eyes still feel fine with the iPad Pro, sore and strained with the MacBook.

I've set the monitor present to P3-500 nits and reduced the screen resolution to the smallest preset, to scale the fonts larger, to no avail.

I assume there's some significant difference between the MacBook and iPad Pro displays, though they use the same technology.

If I can't figure it out within the next few days, I'll have to return the MacBook.

I believe there are two differences between the 14"/16" MacBook Pro displays, and other recent Apple Retina displays (such as those on the 13" M1/M2 MacBook Airs, the 27" 5K Apple Studio Display, and 27" 5K iMacs).

The first is that the 14"/16" MacBook Pro screens have higher PPIs than the other Retina dispays. This means that at the default/ideal 2:1 Retina setting, you get more workspace, but text strings and objects are physically smaller. If the physical size of text causes eyestrain, you can compensate by setting the Displays "resolution" one notch towards Larger Text.

The other, less obvious cause, is the use of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to implement the screen brightness control. PWM brightness controls work by turning the backlight on and off (flickering the backlight) many times per second. The flickering rate is usually too high for people to consciously notice, even if they are staring right at the screen, looking for it. But some people are sensitive to low PWM flicker rates, and if the flicker rate is too low, they'll get eyestrain and headaches from using a display – and maybe never even have thought cross their mind that there is flickering or that it is the cause of their misery.

Most computer and monitor manufacturers don't include PWM information in their technical specifications, and most review sites don't test for PWM, either. One site that does is NotebookCheck (www.notebookcheck.net).

NotebookCheck – 14" Apple MacBook Pro (2023) review

If you scroll down to the section titled "Display – Mini LED panel at 120 Hz", and look in the table, in the row for PWM Frequency, you'll see some interesting data points.

• The 13" M2 MacBook Pro has a PWM frequency of "117,780?" Hz.
• The 14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro has a PWM frequency of "14,880" Hz.

Although they say that "The frequency of 14880 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering," they also say that "Flickering occurs even at high brightness settings and may have an effect on the user during everyday use."

The 14"/16" MBP screens are superior to the MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro ones in that they have mini-LED backlighting which lets them potentially offer greater dynamic range when playing HDR content. But it looks like in this one respect (suitability for someone who is very sensitive to PWM), the 13"/15" Air and 13" MBP screens might be better.

yegor78, Google "Stillcolor for macOS."

Stillcolor is uploaded to Github and licensed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is free.

Stillcolor disables temporal dithering. Temporal dithering might be triggering issues for you and others currently using Apple's XDR display.

I have not found a solution for newer iPhone models with XDR (iPhone X and higher).

On Stillcolor's Github page, there is a link to a YouTube video to test sensitivity to temporal dithering. WARNING to anyone with light sensitive migraines or a light sensitive seizure disorder. The YouTube video may trigger your disorder.

yegor78, you are definitely not the only person experiencing some type of issue with XDR. XDR is OLED (narrow band LED). I hope Stillcolor is a solution for you.

mini-led displays from apple utilize a relatively low frequency pwm for brightness control.

Some of us are more sensitive to pwm.

I m fine with the high frequency on 2019 MacBook Pro 16.

But the pwm frequency on MacBook Pro 14&16 & iPad Pro 12.9 2022 hurt my eyes.

Using dark mode will help a bit.

It's a hardware issue, can't be fixed by software.

So turn to another device would be better solution, or use an external display.

There is no quick-and-easy work around. These models use a different display technology where the backlight is turned on, then modulated by turning off at a very high frequency to produce varying levels of brightness.

For MOST people, the frequency is so high this is not an issue. On some other models, Turing UP the brightness helped a little. On these models it does not seem to.

If this is an issue for you, the real solution has already been pointed out multiple times. Stop using it and get one that does not hurt you.

Get rid of it.

One of the sleeper suggestions posted above was to turn off ProMotion, and use 60 Hz fixed instead.

ProMotion lets the display update faster if you are playing a game or doing full-motion video. But the OTHER side is that it lets the refresh rate DROP when you are not doing that, which could be making your crazy.

I have similar case. Started using MBP Pro in 2015th. No issues until I switched from my 2019 16" model to 2023 16" model. At the end of day I feel like somebody is pressing on my eyes. Switched for a week to another laptop - an old old windows thing. No issues at all with the eyes. Returned back to Mac - 1st day and same issue.

My plan is:

1. To read about similar cases (this one is the 1st I found) and investigate potential solutions.
2. To try to adjust brightness.
3. Try to adjust screen calibration (it looks too colourful to me)

What I already did:

Changed the lights in my room to smart ones to make sure that I can have proper color temperature and brightness. (by the way a simple test - record video on your phone - better in slow mo - if you see flickering - PWM is at too low frequency and it can harm your eyes. Another simple test - quickly move a pencil in front of your eyes - if it moves non smoothly - issue with PWM).

It helped noticeable, but did not resolve the issue entirely.

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.

soundsystem00, Google "Stillcolor for macOS."

Stillcolor is uploaded to Github and licensed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It's free to download and use.

I have found one caveat with Stillcolor. MacOS reenables temporal dithering when your Mac sleeps. You’ll need to restart your computer to disable temporal dithering, again. 

To verify temporal dithering has been disabled, use the terminal command located on the Github page.

Disabling font smoothing will also reduce eye strain. Apple’s font smoothing adds a layer of pixels to your text.

The terminal command to disable font smoothing: 

defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0

Then, restart your Mac.

Installing betterdisplay solved my eye strain problem, https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

¿have you tried setting a constant 60 Hz refresh rate, NOT variable (which can vary slower as well as faster) ??

I just got a 2023 Mac Book pro 14 as a gift for my birthday and having real issues with eye problems. I wear proper glasses and just had my eye exam so I know thats not it.

My very competent optometrist understood that I spend most of my day in front of a computer and she gave me a specific computer prescription and additionally, the eye glasses have an anti-glare coating too. I am in front of a 4K ultrafine display with very tiny text and due to this prescription, the text is sharp without any hint of eye strain.

As I spend hours in front of a browser, I use the free Safari Noir Extension that results in white text on a black browser background. This is a lifesaver for what would be otherwise eye strain and headaches.

I have the macOS Appearance mode set to Dark, and use a darker wallpaper to further reduce any possibility of eye strain.

Try to disable temporal dithering https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/discussions/1201#discussioncomment-8807481

Note that the Retina displays on the 14" and 16" Apple Silicon MacBook Pros have a higher PPI (pixels per inch) density than most other Mac Retina screens. This means that if you run them at the Default setting, the text will be a bit on the small side.

If that is part of the problem for you, you may want to go into Displays Preferences and change the "resolution" one notch towards Larger Text. You'll get less "stuff" on the screen, but it will be larger, and perhaps easier to read.

notebookcheck.net reviews seem to indicate that the 13" M1 and M2 MacBook Airs use PWM, but that they have a much higher PWM flicker frequency than the 14" Apple Silicon MBPs (the 2021 ones, anyway).

i don't know if that means that the original poster would be OK with a M1/M2 MacBook Air as opposed to a 14"/16" Apple Silicon MBP. Just that it might be possible that the MacBook Air screens would be easier on someone who was very sensitive to PWM.

I concur with others that we are not doctors or eye specialists (at least I'm not) and can't offer medical advice.