Best advice to fix eye strain on Macbook Air M3 15,4"?

[swealpha]

Hello!

I just ordered a Macbook Air M3 15,4" 16GB 512GB SSD with a 14 day return policy.

Sadly I have the diseases multiple sclerosis and astigmatism. I use glasses all the time.
And I have read that alot of people have been complain about dizziness, eye strain etc on the new m1,m2,m3 macs. Someone said that Apple is using crap Chinese manufactorers for the displays, that could be why. Not LG/Samsung like in the old good days.

What is the today best settings or apps to use to fix this issue? What do you guys recommend?
Maybe using a hachintosh laptop if not possible to fix?

I have found this things to try:

1. Turn off Font Smoothing ( https://www.fontsmoothingadjuster.com/ )
2. Disable dithering with StillColor ( https://ledstrain.org/d/2686-i-disa...e-silicon-introducing-stillcolor-macos-m1m2m3 )
3. Test sRGB IEC61966-2.1.


Thank you for more recommendations.
(Before this I have been using Macbook pro mid 2014 15,6 for 10 years and it was great).

 

[za9ra22]

The stuff about 'crap Chinese display panels' is nonsense, but even if true, wouldn't help you decide if you have a problem or not. Personally, I've used a 13-inch M1 MBA for 3 years, and an M3 15-inch model for a month, I use glasses and have eyesight issues, but never experienced a problem.

My advice to you is very simple: when you get this MacBook, set it up exactly as you plan to use it in terms of screen resolution, brightness etc, and then see if you have problem with it or not. If you do, they'll be apparent in a day or so of moderate use, and if you experience this, you should return it in the 14 days available.

If you don't, then in all probability there isn't an issue for you to deal with, even though some options are possible as you describe.

 

[halledise]

i'd suggest a visit to your optometrist, taking the Air with you, and he or she will prescribe the correct anti-glare scrip for your eyes

 

[smooth0906]

i'd suggest a visit to your optometrist, taking the Air with you, and he or she will prescribe the correct anti-glare scrip for your eyes

Very good advice.

 

[Buadhai]

One thing that I found odd about using the 15" M3 MBA is that I need reading glasses when using it in the default display resolution, but I do not need reading glasses when using my iPhone 14 Pro or my iPad mini 6.

 

[swealpha]

Thank you guys for your answers!

Here is 2 videos showing how much the new displays is flickering. Compared to old Macbooks. It dont look good at all.
Recorded with Iphone in slow motion 240 FPS.

I know I am asking about this before I got the MBA, but it only have 14 days return policy. Thats why.

 

[za9ra22]

You can't tell from videos what your eyes will actually see in practice. The human eye works in vastly different ways to a video camera, and has far more flexibility in dealing with things like refresh rates, resolutions, brightness and color balance.

The only way to know is to actually sit and use the system and see what happens. And it won't take 14 days to experience the problem if it is something that will impact you.

For example, I can use my iPhone to create a video of my 13-inch MBA which shows it flickering, simply because the phone's refresh rate isn't synched to the screen's. The video looks fairly bad, but I don't actually see it at all in real life, and have used the machine for 3 years.

 

[High IQ Person]

Hello!

I just ordered a Macbook Air M3 15,4" 16GB 512GB SSD with a 14 day return policy.

Sadly I have the diseases multiple sclerosis and astigmatism. I use glasses all the time.
And I have read that alot of people have been complain about dizziness, eye strain etc on the new m1,m2,m3 macs. Someone said that Apple is using crap Chinese manufactorers for the displays, that could be why. Not LG/Samsung like in the old good days.

What is the today best settings or apps to use to fix this issue? What do you guys recommend?
Maybe using a hachintosh laptop if not possible to fix?

I have found this things to try:

1. Turn off Font Smoothing ( https://www.fontsmoothingadjuster.com/ )
2. Disable dithering with StillColor ( https://ledstrain.org/d/2686-i-disa...e-silicon-introducing-stillcolor-macos-m1m2m3 )
3. Test sRGB IEC61966-2.1.


Thank you for more recommendations.
(Before this I have been using Macbook pro mid 2014 15,6 for 10 years and it was great).

For me, stillcolor (Disabling dithering) worked for me. I only tested it for a few hours on my friend’s, but I could tell the eye strain was gone when I used that app.

 

[Torty]

Did you try the MBP? Like I wrote somewhere else: I found the display so smooth to my eyes.
“crap Chinese manufactorers“ sounds like someone read too much MSM.

 

[High IQ Person]

Did you try the MBP? Like I wrote somewhere else: I found the display so smooth to my eyes.
“crap Chinese manufactorers“ sounds like someone read too much MSM.

There is something strange going on with those Chinese panels.

 

[DisplaysShouldntBeTVs]

Thank you guys for your answers!

Here is 2 videos showing how much the new displays is flickering. Compared to old Macbooks. It dont look good at all.
Recorded with Iphone in slow motion 240 FPS.

I know I am asking about this before I got the MBA, but it only have 14 days return policy. Thats why.

I experienced the same exact thing with the M2 Air! I recommend you return the MBA and get the M2 Touch Bar MBP instead — yes, the more obscure 13" model with the "old school" design. It's available refurbished with the same 14 day return policy.

(Unlike the mini-LED MBPs, this MBP has a standard IPS LCD display that is also noticeably better than the Airs.)

Unlike all of the Airs I tested (I even tried multiple M2 Airs...), the 13" Touch Bar M2 doesn't have this flicker issue on camera at all and feels way more comfortable on my eyes.

The Touch Bar M2 also works perfectly with the Stillcolor app for disabling temporal dithering, also much better than it did on the Airs. It's the only Apple Silicon Mac I've tried out of all of them that feels entirely still to my eyes after disabling dithering with Stillcolor.

The only issue with the Touch Bar M2 is that the Touch Bar keyboard strip itself is a flickering OLED — but you can turn the Touch Bar off in Keyboard Preferences, or create a custom BetterTouchTool setup with invisible (black) volume and brightness buttons.

 

[raythompsontn]

There is something strange going on with those Chinese panels.

It has nothing to do with Chinese panels. LEDs cannot be driven at high levels continuously without self destructing. Even LED lights in vehicles flicker.