Maxx Kray, please report back how it goes with the FHD panel. I'm getting some mild eye strain from the Surface Laptop, too, so my quest to find a non eye straining laptop continues.
I have my new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon laptop, 5th generation (2017), which I am happy to report I can use it (almost) without any eye strain. The specs:
- Core i5-7200
- FHD display 1920x1080
- Intel HD Graphics 620 (Driver Date: 8/29/2017, Driver Version: 22.20.16.4785)
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD HDD
- Windows 10 Pro (version 1511, auto-update blocked)
This laptop has no PWM, as also verified by notebookchek.net:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-2017-Core-i5-Full-HD-Laptop-Review.229966.0.html
Finally I have a laptop that I can increase and decrease the brightness of the screen (in my old Lenovo T420s laptop, I had to set the brightness at 100% all the time to eliminate the PWM). So with this laptop, one major source of eye strain (PWM) is already eliminated.
Next, is the eye strain caused by Intel graphics driver. I purposedly asked my company's IT department to install version 1511 of Windows 10, as users have reported that newer versions after this version, especially the Anniversary version and onwards, causes eye strain.
Even with Windows 10 version 1511, I still get some eye strain - mild eye strain when using the laptop for long periods of time while connected to AC power. Fortunately there is a workaround (as suggested by a forumer in the intel eye strain thread), that is, if I use the laptop on battery, the eye strain would disappear almost completely. It is still not 100% eye strain free, but it is very close to eye strain free, and I am fine with that. At least I can use this laptop to do my office work from 9am to 6pm every day, that is the most important part.
I have been using the X Carbon for a week now as my daily work laptop in the office. The way I use it, is with the workaround, I would use the laptop on battery from 9am to 1pm. During lunch break, I would connect the AC power to charge it, and when I am back from my lunch break, I would unplug the AC charger and use it on battery until 6pm. Its a good thing that this laptop's battery can last for 8-11 hours, so no problems there.
Anyway, I have only been using this laptop for a week. So far I can use this laptop for my daily work. Hope it stays this way.