Temporal dithering issues with laptops

JonnyT sorry one more q- I also have a Zenbook Pro 15 OLED (UX535) that I haven’t sent back UStv with discrere nvadia graphics GeForce (not g-sync). Do you think I could have the same success disabling the integrated graphics there or is it specially a g-sync laptop that’s needed? I annoyingly had a ASUS Rog that was g-sync, as well but already sent that back before seeing your posts.

JonnyT When you say you can’t use any power saving method- are you still able to reduce brightness of screen as brightness is a bit trigger for me so I need it on a low screen.

Yes, you can still reduce brightness. All functions on the laptop work perfectly, it just uses more power by default because the screen is connected directly to the powerful GPU and not the integrated (power saving) GPU.

JonnyT Are you saying it’s the intel drivers that are the problem in terms of dithering and that’s why you are disabling them? In which case why would you not find an AMD laptop for example usable?

It's not as simple as that sadly, it seems most combinations of Intel / AMD / LED or OLED Panel cause people symptoms.

JonnyT I’m using an asus vivobook atm, my most recent purchase, with ditherig installed it seems usable but it’s only been 2 days and probably placebo! Is there any benefit to disabling the graphics card that appears in device manager so it uses older drivers? It’s intel iris grpahics - if I disable it, graphics still work it seems.

JonnyT Do you think I could have the same success disabling the integrated graphics there or is it specially a g-sync laptop that’s needed?

If it isn't broken, don't fix it…that's the golden rule! If it's working for you then touch nothing. This issue is neurological in nature and everyone's brain is different, hence one solution won't work for everyone.

JonnyT Do you think I could have the same success disabling the integrated graphics there or is it specially a g-sync laptop that’s needed?

What G-Sync does is give you the option to bypass the integrated (often problematic) graphics entirely and to connect the discrete GPU (often less problematic) directly to the laptop's display. Disabling the Intel graphics doesn't have the same effect, Windows will just use a basic driver for the Intel graphics to be able to output to the display. Hope that makes sense..

si_edgey

Thanks so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to all of this in such detail and helping me understand things a little better.

Right now, things to be working OK on this vivobook with Intel Iris. I did notice that when disabling iris and using the basic microsoft driver that there is less shimmering on a white screen, i.e everything is more still which I prefer and causes less sypmtoms, however for some reason I cant change brightness at all with that driver so its not really sustainable. It is a shame, unless anyone knows a hack or a driver i can download that will give me that stillness . It seems to me that these drivers and resulting movement/dithering seems to be the cause of the problem. Ditherig installed seems to help symptoms, though I can't see much physical change - except on temporal there is significant movement. Fingers crossed this keeps working. If it doesn't then my next step is definitely the Omen or the XPS.

On my old laptop, I simply enabled the Intel GPU, changed the brightness, then disabled it again and the brightness remained - is that a possibility? Otherwise you could try something like Iris:

Iris - Software for Eye protection, Health and Productivity (iristech.co)

This may let you change the brightness in software?

Your mileage with Linux will vary quite a lot. To be honest, I do not at all use Linux regularly because the video drivers on my system are not great. My system is integrated Intel, so my choices are twofold, I can use the modesetting driver, or I can use the x.org driver. Modesetting will work with both Wayland and X11, x.org driver works only with x.org. Neither of them are as good as the Windows driver in terms of rendering and on my system x.org renders better than Wayland (it was the same with the Videocore IV as well, the legacy x.org driver rendered better than the modesetting one for me). Additional complications are the compositors and font rendering settings. It's a shame the Linux desktop is such a problem. I should look into a dock for my steamdeck, but I want a good one not one made by the lowest bidder. It would be interesting to see how the AMD drivers render on my monitor.

There's something odd going on if you're having banding with that red image. It's not a gradient. It's just a uniform shade of red in 8-bit. You should not have banding at all. If you're having banding on an 8-bit image, you're outputting at a colour depth that is lower than 8-bit, or your panel is natively 6-bit.

Hello owmyeyes, I just bought this laptop based on your post above. For the moment looks like I have minimal symptoms if I work on it which is GREAT, but if I'm connecting it to my external monitor, the "nvidia GPU only" mode is grayed out and "optimus" is selected by default.

This is not good because I think the signal is still bypassed via the iGPU and I'm getting dizzy with eye strain.

Do you use an external monitor? If yes, how did you make sure the "nvidia GPU only" mode is active and survives after the laptop restart?

Thanks

necreatul I think the best mode is disable igpu on devices manager or connect tò external monitor by hdmi

owmyeyes Hello, yeah I also tried to make it bypass the iGPU but with no luck. The second display is giving me headaches so I think I'm gonna return the laptop. Although the screen is super nice, it is too small for my work as UX designer.