I'm testing as many MacBooks as possible. Here are the results.

macsforme This is the post from you I remembered

Oh yes that.

I see two possibilities here.

1) It's for later desktop Mac hardware.
2) It's for later laptop Mac hardware (as well), because as my later understanding indicates most laptops store the VBIOS as part of the system firmware and not on a separate flash like a desktop GPU.

So far I have not found good/bad machine differences that I can confidently attribute to firmware (my research continues). If I discover anything, I would be happy to collaborate over analyzing the differences.

If you PM me we can discuss analysis of firmware. Door's always open

Lauda89 You can try the BetterDisplay method. Mirror your screen to your monitor to see if you feel relief

Hunter20 The betterdisplay app helps a bit with the build in monitor, instead i don't see any difference with the external one.
I've ordered a new USB C display port cable let's see if it will fix the problem...

Sonnis Just a curiosity: how did you manage to try so many macs? Bought in apple store and returned? I thought you got banned the acount with so many returns..

I never owned any old Macbooks (2010-now) and only have M1 and I would say that eye strain starts to kick in after just 40 minutes or so. What I did is that I changed color profile to sRGB to limit the color space (so it would not use fake colors to emulate P3), changed color profile to sRGB in Firefox as well (there are settings in about:config starting with gfx), disabled dock (it appears only when I move cursor on it) and its animation (as well as lots of other system animations), enabled contrast, disabled transparency. Only after all these manipulations the laptop is somewhat bearable to use.

Still it is years behind my old but still working iMac 2012 which I find the most comfortable computer to use as it does not cause any eye strain at all. Whats important to note is that I use multiple Mac OS X versions on it, each on different SSD – original 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.10 Yosemite and 10.12 Sierra. Was thinking of updating it to Mojave but I don't like the performance, still I need it for some software that is no more aupported (and I cannot find old versions of it)

GBowler Hey! Im really curious how the Dasung display is working for you? Is it a gamechanger for your eye? How is it like using the mouse? Is it fine or too much of a lag to be usable? Thanks

d_slettebakken it is really impressive what they've managed to do and if I worked with code or was a writer it would probably be perfect, but most of my work is video editing… my idea was I can get a clean AV feed out of the editing software using Blackmagic Hardware, this bypasses the GPU so doesn't suffer dithering or whatever other rendering issues… so I can see the output of what I'm doing perfectly on say a 5" video monitor and then the idea was my editing timeline is on the eink… it honestly does work well… but I do still have one comfortable MacBookPro so I just can't bring myself to faff with the eink when I have a comfortable MBP, once that MBP is toast though…. I'm very reassured knowing I have someway of working once I am forced down that route..

GBowler I also have the Eazeye and the weather is just too overcast to get a sense of that yet… I do look forward to putting it outside in summer and seeing if there's any chance of that working… feels like it could.

Thanks for checking.

Lauda89 Seems almost the same to me. This can confirm that in my case is not the PWM but something else that triggers my migraine..

I can't remember who on this forum has said this, but I think some people get more sensitive over time. So that's maybe another possibility.

Lauda89 Seems almost the same to me. This can confirm that in my case is not the PWM but something else that triggers my migraine..

For what it's worth, any led light source (light bulb, car dashboard, TV, etc.) can cause headaches for me. So it might be worthwhile to use your Opple around your house and workplace looking for flickering.

GregAtkinson
It may be. Because the MAC was not 100% perfect... a little headache would come but with a break every two hours it would go away, as opposed to PC gaming where I get a migraine and it doesn't go away without the use of medication.
Maybe I have become more sensitive as you said.
I'm thinking of trying to upgrade from MACOS 13 to 14...I don't think it can get worse than that anyway

GregAtkinson On March 1, I will have my first injection of CGRP inbitors against migraine. I will let you know if they solve the problem or not
By now I'm tired of living with migraine, so I've accepted that I have to switch to medication and stop wondering why some devices don't make me sick! I can't lose my job, hoping to understand why..

Lauda89 I will let you know if they solve the problem or not

I think a lot of us would like to know whether those work. Good luck!

Lauda89 Something to try with your M2: https://ledstrain.org/d/2686-i-disabled-dithering-on-apple-silicon-introducing-stillcolor-macos-m1m2m3

I've tried it with my M2 Air and it doesn't seem to help me, but you may get better results. Good luck!

Vip what symptoms still persist for you ?

GregAtkinson Sorry for the delay but I have bad news. Two days after the injection I woke up with migraine (pressure in my head and great dizziness, as if I had a fever of 39°C) and it is still there WITHOUT using any PC.
Apparently I am part of the "lucky ones" to whom the drug brings out new and worse migraines.
With this I don't want to discourage you from trying-it is usually a drug that works very well against migraines, I guess I am very unlucky. Hopefully it will pass as soon as possible.

Vip
I tried the app (before the injection) but didn't notice any improvement. I remind you that my problem is not eye strain but migraine.

Lauda89 Apparently I am part of the "lucky ones" to whom the drug brings out new and worse migraines.

Yikes. I'm sorry to hear that!