Retina Display MacBook Pro eye problem and strain

I experienced the same problems. Bought the new macbook 12 retina , and eyestrain is gone. Can sit for endless hours without any strain. Go and buy!!!

Justmeyes, I have a mid 2012 MacAir and a 15" MacBook Pro (2014) with Retina. I hadn't used the MacAir in awhile and I am finding it causes a lot of eyestrain, much more than the retina display. I also have difficulty with my iPad Mini. I want to upgrade to either the MacbookAir (11") or the MacBook but I can't decide which display would be easiest on my eyes. I don't live near a store so I can't compare the two. Are you saying that you found the new MacBook with retina display to be easier on your eyes than earlier models?

Yes, I think you should go for the macbook 12 inch with retina and hd5300. I had no eyestrain with that.I tried the macbook air 2015 model which gives me eyestrain.

Hey guys. I've been a internet developer for over 13 years now and never had any issues with my eyes. I always used 24-25 inch matte screens + owned a 15 inch matte notebook.

1 month ago I decided to switch to a 2015 Macbook Pro Retina 15'. What a poor decision on my part 😟

I've started to notice huge eye pain. Now I can't focus clearly on objects at dusk/night time.

It just feels like that I'm starting to loose my sight.

I was always against Apple products all my life and now, when I decided to switch to one, it fired back at me.

Lowering the resolution, lowering the brightness didn't help.

I would not recommend anyone to switch to a Macbook Pro.

hix. I 'm having problems about my eyes when I bought a new MacBook Air 1 month ago . I do not understand why the best PC in the world give it back then . Previously I used each dell PC and work at many times with this computers but wasn't so. Now how I can do for my eyes ???? 😟😟

This really is the best explanation of the problem I've read.

It really makes sense to me in the light of what I have felt.

I struggled a long time ever since I used Macbook Pro computers, unable to fix the problem for quite a while.

I believe it has damaged my eyes.

First thing that had bothered me : the reflection of the light in the metallic shell of the Mac and the metallic keys with the letters grey-whitish. My eyes would work harder as I typed to see the letters so badly defined.

After I figured it out, I covered all metallic surfaces with colored adhesive plastic (it didn't look bad at all!).

I also bought black letter stickers (white letters on a black background) for computers, and that really helped too.

That was a few years ago, and when my Macbook Pro died on me, I gave up on Apple for a while for financial reasons, and used an Asus computer, and had absolutely no eye strain the way I did with Macbook Pros.

Then just recently I got a new Macbook Pro, very happy to get into Mac again, but realized that the retina screen just annoyed me incredibly, and almost instantly!

I found this link and your post, and the question of the focus really makes sense.

I haven't bought a screen protector yet, but I tried an emergency solution : I simply laid a kitchen plastic film on the screen, roughly enough so that I can see wrinkles here and there catch the light, and it actually stopped the eye strain!

So I'm totally convinced that the problem is about focus.

Now I'll have to find a nice screen like you describe, with tiny imperfections on the surface so that the eyes have something to know at what distance to focus, and so that I can enjoy the beautiful Mac display.

Anyway, thanks for your contribution, it was really helpful to me!

Actually my answer was intended for NickP64...

Same here. I've noticed my eyes get extremely tired whenever I use my MacBook Pro. I always adjust the bright level and even use an application that turns the display into yellowish tone, thinking blue light from the screen would cause the eye strain. But my eyes are just way too tired regardless of those efforts. I've recently figured out the hard truth: a 12 years old, old school LCD monitor delivers much comfortable display. I'm using the old monitor connected to the MacBook for reading PDF documents these days.

Sue Apple. We all should.

Mikedave9 wrote:

Sue Apple. We all should.

Or even better, see an eye specialist and have him diagnose your issue.

Go see your doctor. There is nothing we can do here for medical problems.

(removed because of wrong Reply button)

@Tingtao Wang, if you try 1400x900 is it any better? That would be exactly 1/4th of the pixels (of 2800x1800).

As to what monitor, try BenQ (eyecare/flickerfree line) or LG. I am not affiliated. I found that they do not use PWM anymore for few years now.