My work issued me with a Thinkpad laptop that I have found unbearable to use. After using for less than a day, I developed nausea, dizzyness and migraine. The laptop has an Intel Iris Xe GPU and what looks to be a low-end panel. As its a work PC, its very locked down but I could request corporate IT to install ditherig. It looks like v2.2 lists Iris Xe as supported - I wanted to check others experience as to how effectively it works with Iris Xe on a 12th gen chip?

    a month later

    Thanks and apologies for the very delayed reply! Unfortunately, the information security team would not allow ditherig to be installed and I had to stop using the laptop. I have since tested various Intel powered laptops with 11th, 12th and 13th gen chips and each of them have the same effect on me.

      SeekingGoodTech I wonder if they'll allow you to edit the registry? I think that's all that ditherig does.

      • JTL replied to this.

        Thanks for the ideas - unfortunately anything downloaded and run seperately will be picked up by the endpoint security solution and blocked. I've got a temporary exemption to use my own device at the moment but will be getting another corporate laptop shortly. Interesting to me, I have an AMD Ryzen 5 laptop runnig Windows that gives me mild eye strain by the end of the day but doesn't give me nausea / motion sickness so I am pushing for corporate to issue a laptop with AMD Ryzen CPU/Radeon GPU.

        One of my clients requires all work to be done for them on an issued device. Their issued laptop has an 8th gen Intel i7 and I get the same nausea / motion sickness on that. I've turned on dark mode, turned off HDR etc but just can't get rid of the "shimmer" even on an external monitor.

          Hi, I have the same issue with intel Iris Xe, it makes me feel sick and gives me horrible eye strain if I look at Lenovo laptop screen or if I connect it to any monitor. I tried it with 5 different monitors that don’t give me any issues with intel 620 gpu.

          As I cannot install or run any third party applications on my work computer, I have been unable to install anything to see if it would help me. As it stands I am not able to use any current intel based laptops.

          I’ve tested an AMD based laptop which was better but still had an impact on my daily wellbeing. For my personal use I have amd based desktop and laptop that are 2-3 years old and I have no issues at all.

          Good luck!

            SeekingGoodTech For working on shimmer especially on an external monitor using something that won't be blocked, go into the graphics drivers settings and learn how to set custom resolution/timings. It's ok to set 60 Hz or whatever, it will override until you chose to reset back. Multiple different timings are available using standards. GTF, CVT, OVT, CTA, etc. as well as manual choices. For a quick choice to test with, just start with CVT-RB (reduced blanking).

            Just stick to the options on the "Basic" tab. You can also manually adjust pixel clocks on the advanced tab once you understand how timings and modelines work and an example of how you might do that, if you want 59.940 Hz but have the pixel clock for 60.000 Hz, then you divide that by 1.001 and that value is the new pixel clock to enter. For now, stay out of the advanced tab and just stick to the basic tab.

            SeekingGoodTech Intel powered laptops with 11th, 12th and 13th gen chips

            can you list detail of CPUs you tested?

            GZunit I have amd based desktop and laptop

            Can you share your safe hardware - CPU, GPU…?

            SeekingGoodTech

            Hey, I am in the same boat. Work laptop with Iris Xe that is not usable whatever I try. With the difference that they do not care and would not do anything to propose an alternative.

            For the dithering - it might not be the thing that is bothering you. If you have an access to a personal laptop with that card, try it.

            What I can offer is the following - try with eGPU. If you have a GPU that you are sure you do not have any issues with, it is possible to "attach it" to your working laptop and let it do all of the rendering fully bypassing any video cards the laptop has. For this to happen, you need your laptop to have thunderbolt ports. Also, you need IT to allow you to use PCIExpress (in a corporate environment this is generally forbidden for obvious reasons - you can essentially connect any external hardware to your motherboard). But since they actually understand you have issues and are willing to cooperate, they might give you an exemption. Also, you'll need to install drivers for your external video card but this isn't a shady unlicensed software so it shouldn't be a problem either.

            Before going to the eGPU route, make sure you have full authorization from IT. For example, I did it without asking IT and realized it is forbidden but I have already spent a bunch of money on an eGPU enclosure. Also, keep in mind setting this up is tricky and will require efforts. Having an eGPU isn't so streamlined and OSes need some tweaking - you'll have issues with bitlocker and other stuff. Once you set it up though it's not a big issue.

              4 days later

              As a temporary solution, you can install the Microsoft Basic Driver instead of the current video adapter driver, if this is allowed by the security policies in Windows. Ideally, a resolution of 1920x1080 should work with this driver, but there will be no hardware acceleration for graphics and no vertical synchronization. There is a chance that it might be easier on the eyes, as the Microsoft Basic Driver should not use dithering. You can install it through Device Manager. The Microsoft Basic Driver is included with Windows, so there is no need to install anything from external sources.

              Firemaker could you please give details of your set up, I’m interested in re-creating what you have done as I’m in the same boat as you. Thank you!

                7 days later

                GZunit

                I bought Razer - Core X Mercury. But you can use another enclosure. The important bit is the video card you are going to put in it. Pick any video card you have no issues with. Also, the laptop should have a thunderbolt port. And most importantly, IT should authorize this.

                This will resolve your issue given it is related to the video card you are currently using.

                dev