GregAtkinson Huh, I'm also a programmer but I can't stand any monitors with 6bit+FRC for programming. Even with an old CCFL TN at 100% backlight to avoid PWM and a safe old Windows 8.1 laptop connected I can still notice the FRC (especially when moving my head). It feels like the background of the code editor is distracting me away from the text.
6bit on Windows laptops is a lot more manageable because usually on Intel graphics laptops you can disable FRC entirely with ditherig.exe which will reduce it to true 6 bit with tons of banding.
6bit on laptops vs. monitors:
Since I don't care about seeing banding, a panel on a laptop that only claims to be 6bit on Panelook is sometimes even a good sign, because it reduces the chance that a claimed "8bit" panel is actually doing FRC anyway through its TCON chip etc.
On the other hand, when I get around to finding a good external monitor though, I instead prefer to actually seek out "true 8-bit" - - because contrary to laptops where the GPU often does the FRC, on external monitors it's almost always "built into" the panels themselves.
I basically have the opposite situation because playing games (e.g. connecting a Nintendo Switch) is actually fine on that same CCFL TN monitor! This is mostly because games are usually in constant motion anyway and most of my FRC problems happen on still or mostly text-based content.
However, regardless of panel, any Windows version after 1809 is unusable for me (at least on laptops) for some reason on many devices, seemingly due to a strange subpixel rendering technique where I can notice some red and blue subpixels emphasized when I look very closely at the screen. See my T480 thread where I actually confirmed this on two separate laptops.
This is only semi-related, but I figured I'd drop this general word of advice here:
- Win10 1809
- Windows and driver updates disabled (with Winaero Tweaker)
- oldest Intel integrated graphics driver possible
- all available Intel video enhancement settings disabled or set to lowest value
- ditherig.exe (dithering will disable immediately after launching)
- (if it's a laptop) DPST disabled in addition to whichever ones of these show up for your device: Panel Self Refresh, Dynamic Refresh Rate, Enhanced Battery Life for Gaming also all disabled
is a great "safe" test combo for displays that is really effective for nailing down which issues are truly the panel's fault instead the software's fault.
It helped me narrow down my Lenovo T480's issues to simply "the Innolux panel has very intense and noticeable PWM that shows up on camera, even at max brightness" instead of all of the even worse disorientation/tiredness/nausea/depth perception issues I was having on "current" Win10 and Win11.
Downgrading to 1809 and applying the steps above, shockingly, basically fixed or at least significantly reduced all of those deeper issues.
Now, only the "really annoying eyestrain and pressure" symptom remains, which from my consistent experience, I can tell is directly associated with that laptop panel's PWM.