Some M1 Air also had that flickering. How do you solve it? It is better to return it to the store.
Videos of MacBook Air M2 flickering
insta42014 Do you remember which charger you were using with it and if you had it plugged in while you recorded these?
the123blackjack I just asked them with a comment about why they didn’t see a flickering even though insta42014 was able to record some.
If you guys could also comment under the newest Macbook Air M2 review at notebookcheck or ask the author of it on twitter we could potentially get some insight!
Are the M2 air and 2018 MBP running the same version of Mac OS?
One possible explanation might be the use of display panels from different vendors. I first noticed eye strain /pain from a Macbook Air in 2012. It had an LG display. I ordered another and got one with a display made by Samsung. That one was okay. No eye strain or pain. At one point I remember getting one with a display made by AUOptronics, which also gave me eye strain / pain.
There used to be a command that would show which display panel a macbook had. It seems apple has disabled command that in Monterey.
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asus389 Yes
caboy My MacBook Pro 13 2018 has a LG panel and I had severe eyestrain before using Iris to avoid PWM and disabling dithering, now it's okay. I think that disabling the touch bar which has PWM also helps (I use the Hide My Bar app). I also calibrate my display to 6000K using i1 Display Pro colorimeter and it makes the display nicer to look at and less agressive
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insta42014 interesting thanks. I can use my 2017 on default settings except I turn off the keyboard backlight which I think flickers. Mine doesn’t have a Touch Bar. If I upgrade the OS past Catalina I start getting eye strain they are doing something different with graphics in the newer OS versions I think.
What is Iris? Would be interested in checking that out.
My work macbook is a 2019 mbp. It was good until Big Sur. Upgrading to Monterey hurt immediately. I think you are correct. It seems like in the new OS versions this is the default.
caboy https://iristech.co/, it allows you to change the brightness of the display while keeping the real brightness at 100% to avoid PWM
You can also disable dithering using this method: https://ledstrain.org/d/268-osx-dithering-help-wanted/171, you have to enter the command line in recovery mode
Let me know if it helps
Thanks
insta42014 was there an improvement on your MacBook Air M2? I got one delivered yesterday and the screen felt uncomfortable to me. When I was on the shop I had a first bad reaction to the screen and the one on a MacBook Pro 14 inch M2 looked much better, but I thought to get the Air at home and have a proper look. I also made yesterday a 240 fps video for both the Air and a MacBook Pro 15'' 2015 and both showed artefacts blinking but much more noticeable on the Air.
Also anyone that has been able to compare the screen on the MacBook Air M2 and the MacBook Pro 14'' M1/M2? I'm thinking on getting the latter but it has PWM
Alfort I tried MBP 14 m2, its still bad unfort well its better than MBP 16 m1, but still giving me brain fog which is not acceptable to use on a daily basis. There is a guy on youtube who is using some interesting device to measure PWM, here is a video for MBA m2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urB2xtr3h3c It doesn't look that bad as iphone or especially as samsung s23, so I assume we getting problems with eyes because of FRC, i think current macbooks are using 8bit + FRC display, but i might be wrong.
madmozg this is abou as good as any display gets, it's very very low. Lower than the iPhone 11 which is frequently the 'go to' device for people suffering with PWM sensitivity (like me).
It seems this Air might have been faulty to me, as many many other people have commented it has no PWM/temporal dithering and is fine to use.
I can't believe that a device that costs that much isn't checked against flickering. What a shame.
Any Solution ?
I‘ve the same on my MBA M2, by iPhone 240fps recording (slow-mo)!
It's not caused by temporal dithering since i disabled dithering by using StillColor!
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So WTF is that ?
Same as the video shows, which provided by the Owner of this thread on the top.
Does the flicker only show up only for certain patterns? Is it certain colors, or is it all colors? Does it only affect darker shades? Is there a known website or image with the effect that I could test under slow-motion?
The answers to those questions could help narrow down the source of the problem.
Is that the backlight of the panel flickering?
I can’t believe a screen flickering like that is allowed to be sold on the market. The level of modulation seems to be very high. Do we know what frequency it is?
TemporalDithering I can’t believe a screen flickering like that is allowed to be sold on the market.
As I understand it, there aren't really any regulations for product safety in this department. And attempts at certification (i.e TUV) seemingly have glaring holes that make the certification not worth the paper they're printed on.
The level of modulation seems to be very high. Do we know what frequency it is?
I don't have the device at issue on hand, but at some point I might investigate how to measure flicker/modulation percentage and other aspects with waveform capture using an oscilloscope, but that's yet another project I potentially need to work on. I wouldn't exactly trust the Lupin and other portable flicker meters for accuracy.
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Maybe getting LG Gram laptop will surely at least make sure that panel is from LG. From notebook check it seams like their panels are of higher quality than the rest of Chinese factories. Regarding certification, I have come to conclusion its obsolete. Generally certification does not work, there needs to be actual QA stamp with flicker free test results in the similar fashion as colour grading is done. This will make sure every single unit is tested, rather then product line itself with one or two units actually tested.
Note however, problem probably is not PWM anymore. I picked up my old PWM laptop and it is easier on the eyes than modern laptops. The problem is - there is a big stack of various signal modulation techniques including temporal dithering, and to be honest there is such a mess that nobody knows anymore what is causing these problems. Need to undo the onion slice by slice in order to get to the bottom of it. Or at least find GPU that is transparent in providing full control of firmware controls to the user. Intel, AMD, apple silicon, they all copy from each other, generally the same boat full of crapware.