What works for you, what do you use now without problems?
Just wanted to bump this to ask if anybody has tried any recent (last 6 months) laptops/graphics cards?
I'm eyeballing the new Dell 'eyecare' laptops - great spec and discreet Nvidia graphics but I just know that either a) it will have PWM or b) Nvidia driver dithering or c) W10 rendering issues. 
Hi everyone,
this is my list of devices that works for me:
- Gaming monitor: Allienware AW2518HF FULL HD 25" TN 240hz
- Work notebook: Dell Latitude E5550
- TV: LG B8 OLED
- Phones: Iphone X and Iphone 6S (i had also iphone 3g, galasy s2, nexus 4, galaxy nexus and nexus 5. All witout problems).
- Tablet: Ipad Air 2
And this is my list of devices that din't works:
Monitor: LG 27UD68 4K 27" IPS LED, AOC I2481FXH FULL HD 24" IPS LED and all dells from P23XX series.
Notebook: Macbook air 13" 2017 and i think also all the new macbook pro but i din't try it. I would try but i am scared so i want to wait the OLED MBP.
Tablet: Ipad pro 10.5 2017. also in this case i want to change my ipad air 2 but i'll wait the OLED ipad.
I am sure that in my case it's not a flickering problems but somethig about the led tecnology.
cdprice Did you experience Eizo IPS panel monitor?
No, not yet.
cdprice Is there any chance that just Eizo monitor is good for eye strain?
I am not sure what could make only Eizo monitors be ok. The manufacturers are also bound to the available display technology out there. So Eizo e.g. does not produce their own panels but gets them from Samsung, LG, ... , then adds their own bezel, software etc. .
Unfortunately I have not gotten a second VA panel yet to prove my claim. But I will update as soon as I get one 
Lauda89 This is a big list of devices you can still use that I cannot. Happy for you!
I also had an iPhone X but had to return it after around 2 months because of the OLED PWM flickering (and maybe also dithering, not sure).
Which iOS version do you run on your 6S? In my experience it got worse with iOS 11 (10 was really good)
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deepflame Which iOS version do you run on your 6S? In my experience it got worse with iOS 11 (10 was really good)
Sorry for jumping it. I just got my 6s with iOS 10 and had three bad days following 20 minute usage. Sticky eyes and a very annoying neck tension causing enormous difficulties to work with laptop and PCs which are normally fine. It could be that my eyes are not in the best shape to tell what is causing what, but it is quite obvious that the 6s is not for me. I also asked the office who lent me the iPhone last year. They could not tell me its OS version but it was a 6 and not a 6s. So it is not the 6s worked earlier and does not now, as I initially speculated.
I am pretty sure that flickering is not an issue for me. I tryed a lot of monitor flicker free that killed my eyes.
My problem it's really strange because i have never had any problems with TV and phones. But i had a lot of problem with monitor pc, notebook and now with the last ipads.
I think that my problem is related to the light emitted by the LED and/or the coverage of the monitors. With the ipad pro 10.5 i feel like i can see the glass reflection. But it's strange because i feel like the screen it's not fused well with the glass.
My iphone 6S is used by my mother now, but i've never had any problems with IOS update or software update in general.
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Lauda89 I tryed a lot of monitor flicker free that killed my eyes.
What are your symptoms? How long do they take to develop? In particular, do you get immediate neck tension? How long does it take to recover?
I remember the iPhone X gave problems to many, and on forums fingers were pointed at the 240 Hz PWM. If you can stand that, it looks like PWM is not your problem?
However, I do not recall all members' stories and issues. I guess you know that a flicker-free monitor can give troubles if connected to "bad" hardware, do not you? That is something I was not aware of until I found this forum an year ago, so I am not the expert for sure.
I can use most computers but I can't find a smartphone that does not make huge damages. I owned only one so far, which worked beautifully until an year ago. I had no chance but to re-sell the other three phones I recently bought. Impossible to use them.
I too do not think PWM is my problem. In the recent past I used devices at very, very low brightness, and could watch as long as I wanted. I am clueless. And demoralized. I can only say, the newer the technology, the worse.
AGI Sorry to hear this. Strange. I can recall a forum post where a person bought multiple iPhone 4s and said that only 1 of 3 (do not remember the exact number) iPhones worked for him. Maybe Apple uses different screens for their phones like for their laptops?
deepflame I did not read that post, but I think someone, probably @KM, mentioned he had two nominally identical monitors, only one giving eyestrain. Of course when connected to the same computer.
I have no idea what display specs are. One would expect them to be pretty stringent, given that soon it will be cheaper to buy a second-hand car than a new iPhone.
However, since almost all modern phones induce strain within seconds, I think it is not a faulty component but the technology which my body cannot cope with.
Yesterday night I got rid of the iPhone. At least iPhones have a lot of sex-appeal so it is not so difficult to sell them. I placed an order for an "open box" OnePlus 3. I will try Paranoid Android. That is my last chance. Otherwise I will forget about smartphones and go ahead with my Nokia 3310.
deepflame I've read the same about my ipad pro 10.5:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-fatigue-on-my-new-ipp-10-5.2051665/page-8
"I wound up returning my first IPP 10.5 after a few days due to eye fatigue and headaches. Read somewhere else on these forums of others having the same issue, blaming it on faulty screens on random devices. Picked up another IPP 10.5 a month later to test that theory and have enjoyed the newer one from day 1. Have had it for over 5 weeks now without any eye or headache problems. Perhaps yours has a bad screen and simply needs to be returned and replaced?"
I would try to sell my IPP 10.5 e rebuy another one but i risk to lose over 200 euro..
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ok, thanks, that would support the theory. Maybe the manufacturer used different panels in their screens. This is also the case for Dell in some models. Do you remember if he used the same connectors? I currently feel better when using an old VGA cable with a Thinkpad W530 (NVidia Kepler GPU running Linux).
I used the same connectors, HDMI, and the only differences I found were that the monitors' backlight colors and flicker frequencies were slightly different. The findings didn't really help.
I tried taking off the lcd screen from the backlight and using it as a transparent display which seems to help a lot. I have a feeling that looking at what the eye perceives to be a light source for an extended period of time is a large part of eye strain, at least for me. This seems to correlate with the other posts on this forum about overloading/overstimulating the eye with light. The reflected light off the wall that is illuminating the lcd panel is much less harsh on my eyes. I also use the uvex sct orange glasses to block out anything in the blue spectrum or lower. Interestingly the raw color temperature of the backlight leds, according to my colormunki, are around 14000 kelvin, almost purple tinted. The lcd panel is also easier to focus on, which also coincides with many people having focus issues with their eyes on here.
Here's a picture of my ghetto fabulous setup. HP22es monitor. https://imgur.com/a/x8wqSgc
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Ok, for some reason my beloved Windows 7 machine started to dither again and thus made it unusable for me.
So here is my current setup which turns out to be even better than the Windows 7 machine I had before. Maybe it is the screen, maybe it is the VGA connection, not sure.
FWIW:
- Lenovo Thinkpad W530 with NVidia Quadro K1000M (Kepler based GPU)
- Ubuntu 19.04 with Nouveau driver and dithering turned off via "xrandr" for all applicable outputs
- Dell 2407WFP CCFL backlit screen (S-PVA panel) connected via VGA cable
So in this environment I hope to be able to control everything. I still cannot open VisualStudio Code or Firefox because of some weird OpenGL mode (I guess) but this seems better than uncontrollable Windows were everything is proprietary software.
I just fear upgrading some graphics libs at the moment and think I will get in touch with people at freedesktop.org to help me nail down the app specific problems (maybe there is a tool to output OpenGL state or something).
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deepflame Ubuntu 19.04 with Nouveau driver and dithering turned off via "xrandr" for all applicable outputs
I think I asked you this somewhere else, but is the internal display still ok for you as well? The TN/LED panel?
What exact xrandr settings/commands did you use? When I tried altering those before it either did nothing at all or broke things. Though to be fair I was trying to alter an Intel integrated device not one with Nvidia and Nouveau so that might be why.
If dithering does end up being a primary root problem, and Quadro in general allows disabling (some logic to that possibility given their application), then this could be huge. It would open up many laptops and desktops to us. I think @JTL has had good experiences with a Quadro as well if I am not mixing stories. Every other time I felt that twinge of hope was I was disappointed so cannot muster much atm...but its something.
*Also just noticed the Firefox comment. I have often wondered how much of a culprit the browsers are since we spend so much time in them. A device might otherwise be ok but we don't notice since a browser or particular application triggers us.
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hpst I think I asked you this somewhere else, but is the internal display still ok for you as well? The TN/LED panel?
The internal panel is better with dithering disabled but I cannot stand its LED light. So for me, I need to have the external screen attached.
hpst What exact xrandr settings/commands did you use?
Nothing "special" really. Just the settings that are actually described in this thread: https://ledstrain.org/d/413-disable-color-dither-method-collection
For me the line was like this xrandr --output LVDS-1 --set "dithering mode" off (LVDS-1 being the internal screen).
hpst If dithering does end up being a primary root problem
One primary root cause I think, yes. But not only. I also have CCFL backlit TN and IPS panels here and can say that the S-PVA panel is much easier on the eyes/brain.
Also the VGA cable makes a difference even though I turn off dithering for the miniDP port.
I think at the end it is currently any kind of weird flicker and LED light for me. I will get this photosensitive epilepsy test I think in the future as well to get this ruled out or confirmed. But this does not explain the LED discomfort I feel with any LED bulb so far.
Yes, you can read his story here: https://ledstrain.org/d/337-nvidia-quadro-k4000