MAS-76 There is an option to disable dithering, at least, for the integrated card. I already did it for my laptop and it really disables dithering. The PWM effect still remains. But it is, of course, much better than having the PWM + dithering screen.

I will share how to disable dithering on the Intel card soon.

    MAS-76 That's weird that you still feel eye strain. According to notebookcheck, MBA M2 doesn't have dithering but I tend to believe that human eye feels dithering better than their tests.

    Probably, they used 240 FPS camera to detect dithering but it can only be caught by 3000 FPS camera.

    How can it not have dithering? Is it a 10 bit panel? I kind of doubt it? But maybe?

    ryans You won't believe what's happening with me, I use windows laptop for work that is connected to two external monitors and I use an iPad Pro 11" all day too with no issues. When I connect my MBA m1 to my monitors after 30mins my eyes get really red and itchy, I can't focus on the screen when looking at text.

      @Moe3224 I have the same. I dont use Mac, but I have 2 windows computers that are OK, but have tried several which, when I connect to the same monitor, are not fine and my eyes go bloodshot in few hours. It is not the same as with PWM, a bit slower irritation, but if I use several days, my eyes are totally bloodshot and colleagues ask if I have been crying or have a hangover.

        Maxx That's bad, what I understood that if you connect different windows laptop to the same monitors, some laptops are causing redness to your eyes?

        Yes, recently this has been the case. Previously I was only sensitive to PWM and most modern laptop screens, but now they have made some changes to the software, so that the irritation comes through even with a display that is fine with other computers

        I've been using the M2 Air for about a week now, it's definitely easier on the eyes in my experience. I still get a little dizzy after prolonged use, but it doesn't cause the gritty eyes, migraine, lingering pain above the eyes, etc. I'm actually planning on selling my M1 and just keeping the M2.

        My setup is:

        • sRGB Color Profile
        • True Tone On
        • Auto-Brightness Off
        • Usually kept at 50% brightness

        I'd definitely recommend trying this one out if the M1 gave you trouble 😃

          bkdo Im curious which M1 you had, was it the air or the pro? How long did you use it when you felt the dizziness?

          • bkdo replied to this.

            Moe3224

            I have the M1 Air.

            As for the dizziness - Screen Time says I used it for 7 hours and 43 mins yesterday. At the end of that, I felt a little dizzy and unsteady, but no other symptoms. Not even a hint of a headache.

              bkdo How bad was the M1 compared to the M2? I have an issue with the m1 when I connect it to an external display, Im having the same symptoms even looking at that display too.

              NewDwarf I am looking forward to trying your method for turning off dithering on my MacBook Pro 2015 🙂

              @the123blackjack That's great news, and I hope the tests were not flawed. But we shouldn't have to wait and buy a second-hand device after someone with expensive equipment runs these tests. This information should be published in the specs for every device sold by every manufacturer. Blue light, PWM, temporal dithering, anything that might affect someone with a seizure disorder, migraines, or binocular vision disorder should be readily available for buyers to read. I've just received an M1 from my employer and will be stuck with the headaches and nausea. If I go to them and tell them I need a different device, they will say, "OK, what kind?" And what can I tell them? "Here are a handful of graphics cards which according to some people on a forum do not cause my symptoms"? Until this info is reported in specs that I can refer to when buying or requesting a device (or every manufacturer allows for these "features" to be turned off with simple UI settings) we haven't made enough progress.

              I've created a petition to ask Apple to implement some of these things. Please sign if you agree. Also open to comments if there's something about the technology that I've understood, but my focus for the petition is on the consumer experience.

              https://chng.it/zNsHDykzqk

                lougro Other companies such as Amulet Hotkey also acknowledge that dithering is used on MacOS. They have tools available to remove it but you need to be using their hardware (which is typically in the several thousands of dollars).

                Temporal dithering is a technique graphics cards use to generate intermediate colors, by rapidly alternating a
                pixel between two adjacent color values. The effect is not perceptible to the human eye. For any compression
                algorithm, such as that used by PCoIP, this results in a significant overhead when dealing with the increased
                pixel color activity.
                Enabling temporal dithering on a machine using PCoIP can result in high bandwidth usage and poor
                performance, even when the display is seemingly static. To resolve this, you must disable temporal dithering
                on the computer where the PCoIP host card is used.
                Temporal dithering is enabled by default on Apple Macs, with no user-visible option to disable it.
                To disable temporal dithering, you must install an appropriate macOS Kernel Extension (‘kext’). The kext
                disables temporal dithering on the local graphics card by changing internal driver settings

                  diop Good point. I have read through that resource. I'll include this info as a reference.

                  Can we conclude that M2 macbook air is the best Eye care apple laptop currently on sale?

                  I feel there is nothing to conclude that. The Temporal Dithering might not be detectable with 240Hz and there are reports at Macrumours the M2 still causing eye strain.

                  Even if there is one user who reports eye strain, I would have my doubts. A book does not cause eye strain, a laptop also should not. Like they did not 10 years ago.

                    I also have eye problems from macbook air m2, air m1 was much easier on my eyes.

                    • Maxx replied to this.
                      dev