Hi, As it is already becoming a yearly trend, I will ask for anyone to share their feedback about Macbook air M3. Is it better than M2? Do you feel any eye strain with it etc?

Notebookcheck has now tested it: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-13-M3-review-A-lot-faster-and-with-Wi-Fi-6E.811129.0.html But as usual their flicker test is not done thoroughly enough for us to know if the backlight can be regarded as safe. The oscilloscope line seems unusually thick, perhaps it's a sign of a higher frequency that they haven't measured, and also there seems to be a brightness fluctuation. It is unclear at which brightness level the screenshot was made.

KM Yes I agree. I will be testing this weekend Asahi Linux on M2, to see if claims that it is purely OS software based strain is true.

Donux Looking forward to it. Perhaps with the GPU driver now implemented they also use some sort of dithering. When compare the MBA M2 vs M2 display measurements like color gamut etc. on the notebookcheck site you see very similar results. I am pretty sure the used the same display panel. This also lines up with the fact that this generally was an incrememtal update compared to the M3. Also Apple would advertise if the "improved" the display between the generations.

Not really display related, purely a simple fact about the software, but just putting it out there for people who are sensitive to this: Since the M3 Air only supports Sonoma and higher, the option to disable the blinking text cursor through a Terminal command isn't possible on the M3 Air. (It will still work on apps powered by Chrome, but not native apps, even in "legacy text cursor mode".) This doesn't bother everyone but I find myself so much more productive and relaxed when the text cursor is entirely still too, so I'm personally considering an M2 Air instead because it will let me install Ventura (the last version where it's possible to fully disable the blinking cursor) if needed. Sometimes I've thought I can deal with it, but the fact remains I get so much more done in the day when the cursor doesn't blink, LOL. After all, pen and paper doesn't have a "blinking cursor". (It's frustrating how macOS makes this so hard, because on Windows cursor blink rate is literally just a simple slider in Control Panel.) ——— However, if this is a non-issue to you, the M2/M3 Airs should probably(?) be equal. Although… the flicker graph just sent above is concerning, I don't remember seeing that little repeating fluctuation in the M2 Air's flicker graph, correct me if I'm wrong. At least it's not PWM though, so I probably wouldn't be sensitive to it. If the M3 Air gives you strain the culprit is 99% likely to be temporal dithering/FRC, just like the M2 Air. Of course, that means the main question is whether the Stillcolor app also works on the M3 Air.

Hey guys, I was in Apple store today and did some tests. Posted results here - https://www.reddit.com/r/PWM_Sensitive/comments/1babde4/macbook_air_13_and_15_m3_pwm_tests/ Also bought MBA 15'' M3 for myself to try it. Let me know if you want me to tests something specific.

madmozg How did you measure PWM?

NewDwarf with device opple lightmaster 4

Macbook air M3 Feedback request

NewDwarf

madmozg Understood.

…but, personally, I wouldn't rely on this device. I believe it is very inaccurate and suitable to measure PWM up to 500 Hz.

To measure PWM I use the oscilloscope with home made extension based on the photoresistor. If I will have a chance, I measure the screen of this laptop as well.

madmozg

NewDwarf It can detect 15kHz PWM in Macbook pros, the same as oscilloscope from notebookcheck, so I can trust this device easily.

osxcool22

madmozg how is the 15'' M3 for you? Are you sensitive to dithering too or only PWM

KM

I used the Fauser LiFli flicker meter to measure a 13" Macbook Air M3 in a store. I couldn't test it for long, because there was a store guy behind me all the time and he wasn't a fan of doing this at all. Surprisingly, there was backlight flicker detected even at 100% brightness. Around 6-10% [(a - b) / a]. And now the weird part: there was a specific area of the screen where the flicker went even higher. Of course this doesn't replace a thorough test at home (I'm not doing it), but I think for now it's safe to say there is indeed measurable flicker. The frequency could be anything from 50 Hz to 400 kHz and higher.

NewDwarf

KM Are you sure the source of flickering was not store's LED's? 😉

Ruoma

KM is there a way one could measure flicker in store without specialty tools? With an iPhone for instance? Certain app? Slow motion method?

KM

Pretty sure, but of course with all those store lights and perhaps reflections and whatnot there is room for error.

madmozg

The flickering in one of the Apple store I visited was very bad, its was so dim.

KM

Ruoma The flicker you could reveal with cameras is most likely only both strong and low frequency flicker. For example low frequency PWM, scan lines (OLED), or larger low frequency ripple. But for small ripple and/or high frequencies (both which are suspected to cause symptoms, too), you need something that is sensitive and has a very high sampling rate. There is a rule of thumb that for a given flicker frequency you need at least twice the sample rate.

Apple-Meta-USA

The LED in apple store especial Houston Galleries are pretty bad !

Flickers all day long.

Donux

Apple-Meta-USA True. In fact in every store the same thing, so measurement is tricky, unless you use some sort of black cover is in ancient photography 🙂 But I guess security would think you are trying to steal it. I can not even speak about these issues with store staff, they say to me - I own macbook air m2 and with standard settings I am fine. I think this is a form of corporate gaslighting 🙂

pavvell

Purchased MacBook Air M3, 13", what a mistake it was. It comes with Night Shift ON from the factory, so I did not not notice any problems in the first hour or two, but then my eyes felt a bit tired because of the low brightness in the night shift as I thought, so I turned that off. Got all the symptoms instantly: eyestrain, nausea, tension in the head, like somewhere inside of the head that I never felt before I guess, at least I do not remember having such thing ever, so may be just couple times in my life. And it is almost impossible to focus and think about something while looking at the screen.

so conclusion - the worst display ever, it feels like it is burning your eyes and the head. how come the engineers had passed it through quality assurance? like display is the most essential feature of all the MacBook's, you can buy other laptops that have same performance, but they all lack such displays. now, they've ruined it.

What I found that somewhat mitigates those problems, but does not remove them completely is to install StillColor (however, not sure if does the job, I just keep it enabled). sRGB profile (sometimes Generic RGB, during the day it works better, and in the night time sRGB is what I turn on). Enable dark mode, this one seem to be the biggest contributor to the overall relief, it feels like the menu bar on mac is really the burner of the eyes, which is interesting because it is not that bright actually. I keep all the other apps in the bright mode by the way, I hate the dark theme cause it is straining eyes just as well. So it seems like when the menu bar is in dark mode at least, that for some reason helps (knock on wood).

Still, with all these updates, it is not a usable machine. I can watch a video on it, for some reason it does not affects the eyes as much as reading text. I can work for ~ 4 hours, and I feel like I my head is just can't bear it for longer.

What a waste of money. Only hope is that they will release an update, but, if they have not fixed it by now, and they have this problem since 2021? This is does not give much hope.

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

pavvell

M2 13" Touch Bar Pro (with Stillcolor) is sooooo much better than M2/M3 Air, see my other threads where I compared a lot of really specific differences between these screens.

I agree that M2/M3 Air screen is still very uncomfortable even with Stillcolor.

I suggest you return and try the M2 13" Touch Bar Pro (which can be bought refurbished, you can still use Apple's 14 day return policy) instead!

pavvell And it is almost impossible to focus and think about something while looking at the screen.

Yeah same I felt this too using the M2 Air. It especially became really problematic when I started using the computer "faster", like once I was trying to move windows around and click on a bunch of things in a short time, it made me feel motion sick and I couldn't think. Huge pressure in my left eye too even with Stillcolor that always consistently started right when I looked at the screen.

However, 13" M2 Touch Bar Pro has none of those symptoms for me though. I can think while looking at the screen and no sharp pressure in eyes while using that laptop! I can even use the default Color LCD profile on it!

(Edit: although it is arguably the "most usable" apple silicon Mac, since this post I've found wayyyyy better screens compared to this)

JTL

Donux I can not even speak about these issues with store staff, they say to me - I own macbook air m2 and with standard settings I am fine. I think this is a form of corporate gaslighting

They either a) don't know bother or b) are trained to deny said issues.

In any case a waste of time.

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

Donux when returning a Macbook that didn't work for me the apple store staff I was talking to surprisingly actually knew about the issue and mentioned they had a friend that couldn't use any new Macs because of it

they might have been "breaking script" to say this but still interesting

Donux

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs If this is official apple store, they might have been a bit more free to say what they think. I was talking with premium reseller store. For them probably pressure is much higher to make sure you keep coming back.