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).
rpozarickij I've wondered about this. I think that within the same laptop model they can use different panels (or even different batches of the same panel) that have some variance. And also, there are different configurations of the CPU/GPU combo within a product lineup. On the surface it doesn't seem like it would make a difference, but maybe somehow it does.
MAS-76 MBP 15'' 2019 has two graphics cards. Depending of what graphic card you use, choose the option (I would suggest to permanently switch on the Radeon card):
To disable the default Intel graphics card, enter the recovery mode, open the terminal app and then enter the command nvram boot-args="dither=0". Reboot your laptop. To verify the dithering is disabled, enter the command log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither
Expected result is the string
Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelICLLPGraphicsFramebuffer) [IGFB][LOG ][MODESET ] Dither is disabled in pipe misc
in the log.
To disable the Radeon card you have to install the kernel extension. Download it from here https://filebin.net/0wf82zq95cn01kx2, double click the dmg file (it will be mounted). Open the terminal app and run the command sudo cp -r /Volumes/AHKinject_SCN078/ahkinject.kext /Library/Extensions
The cp command will ask the password, enter it. The pop up window should appear to confirm loading of the kernel extension. Please, confirm it. Reboot the laptop.
To verify the extension was loaded, enter the kextstat | grep ahkinject
The expected output
176 0 0xffffff7f9720e000 0xff6 0xff6 com.amulethotkey.driver.ahkinject (1.1.1d1) C89AB321-97E6-3C86-ACBA-6498B6DCC100 <6 3>
I just wanted to just say thank you so much for sharing your findings. I know it takes a lot of time to test and report back with such great detail. This is extremely helpful. I can’t figure out what is going on with me, but it is nice to know that I’m not alone in this.
rpozarickij I am so glad you said that! My company found one identical to my personal (which works great but I am not supposed to use) after two failed attempts with new models - pro and air. The only difference between the laptop they sent me vs my personal is that it is running Sonoma. My personal is on Ventura. I have them side-by-side and there is a difference. I talked to Apple Store in Denver and they said that the OS shouldn’t matter, and that I was the only one that has reported any vision issues at all to them. They weren’t denying I had issues, I don’t mean to suggest that, but they were confused as well. They suggested I see an optometrist. I did that, and no issues. I thought I was going insane over here.
NewDwarf Wonderful!! I've actually run across that kernel and wasn't able to install before. I'm going to get my 2019 MBP back and try the above exactly as you write.
Question (sorry if this is obvious) - I though the MBP 15'' 2019 used both graphics cards, switching automatically as needed. Do I need to "disable" the Intel card entirely as I think you're recommending (and if so how?) or follow steps 1 and 2 above, that will disable the dithering on both cards, and I should be good to go?
Thanks again. If this can work you're a life-saver!!
MAS-76 The graphics cards are controlled by the commands
// Always use the integrated graphics card
sudo pmset -a gpuswitch 0
// Always use the discrete graphics card
sudo pmset -a gpuswitch 1
// Automatically switch between discrete and integrated graphics card (this is your laptop's default setting)
sudo pmset -a gpuswitch 2
From my experience, the best option for my eyes is sudo pmset -a gpuswitch 1
You can verify that the Radeon card is the primary card by Apple logo -> About this Mac
You should see something like:
BTW, you can apply both options to have dithering to be disabled permanently for both graphics cards.
Thankyou NewDwarf!!! can't wait to try this
I have two Vega 20 15" 2019 MBP identical as far as I can tell, one gives me symptoms, one is fine,
The one that is fine has never been past Catalina 10.15.6 and I won't update it for fear the update to the firmware will give symptoms.
The one that gives me symptoms I bought refurbished so although it's on the same OS it has much later firmware.
I really hope what you've detailed above is the answer for me.
massively appreciate the detailed explanation, I'll try this tomorrow afternoon.
Btw for the discrete graphics are the instructions to be done whilst in recovery mode?
Here's the output
175 0 0xffffff7f848c7000 0x2000 0x2000 com.amulethotkey.driver.ahkinject (1.1.1d1) C89AB321-97E6-3C86-ACBA-6498B6DCC100 <5 3>
I didn't get a pop up, but after restarting the security preferences popped up and asked if Amulet Hotkey can make changes
I'm not sure if this has worked, seems to have all loaded correctly? but the computer still feels symptomatic.
