I'm testing as many MacBooks as possible. Here are the results.
- Edited
I've bought and returned numerous laptops due to eye strain among other things.
M1 Macbook Air: eye strain, also a burning smell. I was using macOS.
M2 Macbook Air 13: not much eye strain. I was running Asahi Linux.
M2 Macbook Air 15: enormous eye strain. Returned it after only 2 days. I was using macOS. Also, the SSD produced a whine sound when accessed.
M2 Macbook Pro 13: probably the least eye strain. I was running Asahi Linux.
2015 Macbook Pro 13: some eye strain, using older macOS.
Asus 24" monitor: no automatic brightness control, so I have to change brightness level 10x per day. Lots of eye strain due to excessive brightness.
LG ultrawide 29" monitor made circa 2014: no eye strain at all, with automatic brightness control. Used it instead of looking at 2015 MBP screen.
Thinkpad X13 Gen 2: definitely eye strain.
Other Thinkpads: no much eye strain but lots of fan noise generally.
cyclops Could you tell the model name of the LG monitor that doesn't cause you eye strain?
Sonnis Have you considered using a light detector to see if there's a correlation between the amount of measured flicker and the severity of your symptoms?
- Edited
rpozarickij It was one that I bought in 2014, so it's probably impossible to buy today. It was probably this one: https://www.lg.com/us/support/products/documents/29UM55%20Spec%20Sheet.pdf
I would also mention I once tried the 13" Dasung e-ink display with Linux. The contrast was not great and the build quality was poor. I think I received a pre-owned screen sold as new. I returned it.
GregAtkinson The MBA 15" is flicker free and no one of us can use it! 
- Edited
Lauda89 One thing I'm finding is that the review sites seem to focus on PWM (which is a problem for me) but they don't focus on flicker (which is also a problem for me). Here's an image from a Benq monitor that has no PWM but does flicker. I had assumed since the monitor doesn't have any PWM that it wouldn't give me headaches. But unfortunately it does give me headaches and the flicker seems to be the smoking gun.
The flicker is difficult to see unless you're looking for it. This image is zoomed to 30 ohms (roughly 8x power) and on AC coupling so you can more easily see the flickering.
Yes, that is currently a big problem. The companies have finally started to care about PWM, but they don't care much about remaining flicker. It is as if they think that no one would be affected by smaller flicker. There is little effort to produce truly constant light output. They label their products as "flicker-free" when there is measurable ripple that still causes eye strain and headaches. The current flicker standards don't help, as their thresholds of both flicker frequency and flicker percentages are set way too low. Progress in this area is unbelievably slow.
For example, I see it on the current TV I'm using as a monitor: 22 kHz, < 1%* ripple, usable. But when I switch inputs, the backlight readjusts itself to 22 kHz, 3-5%* ripple. That's too much already - symptoms within seconds. The current flicker standards consider these values "safe" by a large margin. The research data the standards are based on must be completely wrong. It seems they didn't ask persons that are sensitive enough.
*(Flicker percentages only roughly measured, as "(a - b) / a", a formula which produces higher values than those found in the standards papers.)
Another problem is that some LED backlights (or even LED room lighting, while we're at it) may take several minutes to "warm up", during which they flicker much more than later on. If you come across a flicker review it is never clear if they took this into account. The problem here is that symptoms can be caused instantly and persist for hours. A safe LED (back)light needs to have instant stable light output.
If anyone wants to measure with equipment, have a look at our oscilloscope thread: https://ledstrain.org/d/312-homemade-oscilloscope-to-detect-pwm-diy-guide
- Edited
I tend to think the best solution is the disuse of LCD and OLED displays.
I recently had to sell my Samsung S21-FE because my eyes couldn't focus on the text on the OLED screen. The replacement phone, an iPhone 11, has an LCD that is comparatively easy to read.
But I think eventually e-ink displays will have to become the norm, driven by video cards that doesn't produce flickering of any kind.
Also, I just found this article: https://www.aelo.com.au/blogs/eye-health/digital-eye-strain-dry-eyes
cyclops Yeah, I've almost resigned myself to just limping along with what I have until the e-ink displays are a little better and a little cheaper. Almost. :-)
cyclops Thanks for the sharing the list. When you said other Thinkpad models works for you. Can you list the models?
Espers Do you have 2023 model of Thinkpad X1 Carbon?
Sonnis Doing some additional testing on my own. Gut feeling to start, for you was or MBP 16" M1 Pro Sonoma or MBP 14" M1 Pro Sonoma the best? Or both truly equal?
Or by chance have you found 1/10 option! Seems like we're all in the same boat, but I'm desperate to upgrade as my 2015 Intel MBP is perfect on the eyes though not cutting in on power/battery anymore.
Thanks!
Lauda89 wow! Are you sure it is a good idea to take this pretty strong medicine on a daily basis just to use the laptop? 
I just bought PWM free MBP 15” 2019 32GB RAM, 4TB SSD less than $1000 and I am absolutely happy with its performance.
Dithering can be disabled on the Intel as well as Radeon card. I prefer to use the Radeon card.
NewDwarf +1 on that, you said you bought a “PWM free MBP 15” 2019” - did you disable the dithering somehow (and if so please share!)?
I tried the 2019 MBP and it still strained my eyes a lot, but I had only fiddled withe the settings and hadn’t been able to disable anything.
Please let us know what you did.
This is interesting. I've tried a few and my results are pretty much inverse to yours. The M1 Pro 16" gave me terrible eye strain, the 15" M2 is all good and I didn't have any issue with the M1 Air.
I think for me it's the mini LED tech. OLED also doesn't agree with me, but if I plug away I eventually get used to it. Not sure how good that is for eye health, but eh.
One thing I did notice is that once I had eye strain, it took a while to go away, and depending on the day, any screen could upset my eyes for a while. So it can be really hard to know what's what.
I've still got the 16" in the closet, so while I've not got any strain issues, I'm going to upgrade it from Ventura to Sonoma, to see if that changes anything.
I've tried MacBook Air M2 15", but couldn't use it due to strain (for me around 8/10). I returned it soon after purchasing it.
Several months after that there was a chance to try out a MacBook Pro 14" M2 Pro at work and I was pleasantly surprised by how tolerable its screen was. It's not 0/10, but it's about 1-2/10 for me.
I actually got the same model for my personal use, because it was noticeably easier on the eyes than my old 2018 13" MBP (which I was using mainly with an external monitor). Interestingly, after turning on the new laptop I got worried because I felt more eye strain than with the work model even when I had both laptops side by side. Fortunately, the strain from the personal laptop subsided (my eyes adapted?) and they now feel identical to me. This might be evidence that even identical models aren't always truly identical (I've seen this already mentioned in the forum by someone).
