screen-Induced Brain Fog & Eyestrain – CCFL + Blue Light Glasses Seem to Help

@evthelegend

1 week update:

AUO B140RTN03.0 + ThinkPad T480 (UHD 620) + ditherig + Basic Display Driver is still working great!

I've been able to transfer my general workflow (schoolwork, note-taking, writing a few longer documents, some photo editing, web browsing, responding to emails, texting, reading long PDFs & articles, music production, watching long videos, NoMachine to remotely use Mac apps) from my old "safe screen" to this LCD very smoothly.

I'm consistently NOT getting strained!

I literally haven't touched my old laptop in a week. First time I've EVER been able to say this.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is long coding sessions, but I've edited some small code files and it felt nice.

Edit: tried coding on it now (via NoMachine into an M1 Mac) and it's also very comfy. With colorful highlighting too! Only thing I had to "go out of my way" for was modifying my editor theme to increase contrast since it's a TN. If someone wants the VSCode appearance settings I'm using let me know!

In fact there is even an improvement for anything involving motion (scrolling is way better and doesn't cause any dizziness on this screen) and any images with high contrast/"strange perspectives" (which don't cause any weird "additional" strain, which was still actually somewhat of an issue on my old safe screen).

@jordan @photon78s Since I wasn't able to find an second identical safe laptop with the same screen, I actually recommend this screen more now, as it seems much more likely to be reproducible + is better in some ways!

The only noticeable flaws IMO are:

• pixel inversion: it's sometimes visible, especially in the top right corner for some reason, but I can read text totally fine on this panel so I don't think it's much of an issue. However, sometimes flickering can be seen in dense line/checkerboard patterns. (Overall though, I experience much LESS "pattern glare" on this LCD compared to most screens, so "stronger than usual pixel inversion" here is an OK compromise IMO).

• TN white color: I've noticed that with (all??) TNs, the very brightest shades of white are treated differently than other colors -- if you look at the screen from above, they uniquely "invert" to a strange "blue" shade instead of just washing out like other grays. I've noticed that these whites appear more red and more "harsh" compared to other colors.

• Fortunately, there is a precise "cutoff point" where the "weird" whites instantly become "normal" when slightly dimmed. The workaround is software dimming, e.g. with NegativeScreen app. (My favorite color adjustment app since it avoids possible "side effects" of color profiles by using Windows Magnification API instead).

• 100% backlight is better: Although it's not bad at all at 50% (default backlight on boot) I did notice a slight headache each time I tried 50% that simply doesn't happen if I switch to 100%. Doesn't change based on content onscreen, so probably PWM-related. (Interestingly, camera still detects mild flicker at 100%, but in that case the depth is small enough to not "feel"/bother me at all and IMO shouldn't be a dealbreaker for most.)

• I can only confirm it's comfortable with Basic Display Driver. (The only time I enable Intel is a quick toggle on/off to raise backlight to 100% after reboots) — YMMV whether it stays good or not with Intel UHD drivers enabled — I won't be testing this

Here are custom NegativeScreen presets I created to prevent the TN white color issue:

TN-Dim=
{ 0.9,  0,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0, 0.9,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0, 0.9,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  1,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  0,  1 }

TN-MoreDim=
{ 0.8,  0,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0, 0.8,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0, 0.8,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  1,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  0,  1 }

TN-ExtraDim=
{ 0.6,  0,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0, 0.6,  0,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0, 0.6,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  1,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  0,  1 }

TN-Dim-Grayscale=
{ 0.3,  0.3,  0.3,  0,  0 }
{  0.3, 0.3,  0.3,  0,  0 }
{  0.3,  0.3, 0.3,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  1,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  0,  1 }

TN-MoreDim-Grayscale=
{ 0.266,  0.266,  0.266,  0,  0 }
{  0.266, 0.266,  0.266,  0,  0 }
{  0.266,  0.266, 0.266,  0,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  1,  0 }
{  0,  0,  0,  0,  1 }

TN-ExtraDim-Grayscale=
{  0.2,  0.2,  0.2,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.2,  0.2,  0.2,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.2,  0.2,  0.2,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0 }

TN-Dim-Red=
{  0.3,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.6,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.1,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0,  0.0 }
{  -0.15,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0 }

TN-MoreDim-Red=
{  0.3,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.6,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.1,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0,  0.0 }
{  -0.25,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0 }

TN-ExtraDim-Red-LowContrast=
{  0.25,  0,  0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.25,  0,  0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.25,  0,  0,  0.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0,  0.0 }
{  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  0.0,  1.0 }

^ I usually hover around the "MoreDim" and "ExtraDim" presets depending on time of day.

The "red" variants are really useful when I'm reading/writing text for hours, since they eliminate subpixels, giving a true "physically grayscale" screen

P.S. I'm using Firefox 115.12.0 ESR on Windows (ClearType enabled with default settings). Using latest Chrome on the Mac NoMachine server (Mac font smoothing disabled). IMO these combos = best text rendering per each platform

simplex

Yes, please. Ideally portable but not deal breaking. I know their is a 22 inch 2k portable monitor form uperfect but of unknown panel details. As you know, I've tested multiple monitors and panels over the past year but lost almost everything in listed in that discussion due to a lithium battery fire (very bad stuff) but that is off-topic on this forum. So I'm basically starting fresh.

@evthelegend @jordan

FYI — I bought a second AUO303E panel that was manufactured in "18th week of 2018" instead of "29th week of 2015" like my first one. The 2018 one is different.

The 2015 one is still working very well for me on Windows 10 with Basic Display Adapter for a few weeks now (at this point I've entirely switched to it as my main display!)

However, the 2018 AUO303E (which I tried on the exact same computer) has slightly more "intense" colors to my eyes, the sense of motion/response times feels "floaty" while scrolling and sometimes makes me dizzy (which isn't an issue at ALL on the 2015 one!!) and I had to be very close to it in order to read small print -- unlike the 2015 AUO303E where I can read very clearly at a distance.

So there's definitely something wrong with the 2018 version. I felt kind of spaced out/disoriented after using it for a while and the shadows around windows looked way more intense or "contrast enhanced"…

I returned to the "2015 version", and it has none of those issues (and remains one of the best panels I've found to this day!!)

But (surprisingly) I can't recommend the "2018 version". The 2018 panel feels like a totally different LCD despite having same H/W F/W numbers and same panel ID.

If you want to try this panel, I still heavily recommend based on my great experience with the first one I bought!

However, you should ensure you are buying a version manufactured [at or before 15/29] based on the sticker -- and that you can return it if needed (e.g. to try another one from a different year).

Both are "H/W 6A" and "F/W 1".

reaganry Nope. The 2015 version of AUO303E is still working great though. One of the best screens I've ever used, I knew there was something "different" about it the first time it powered on.

And it got even better than it already was, after disabling Intel drivers, using ditherig.exe, setting it to 100% backlight and 40hz mode (important!), and using NegativeScreen to fix the "TN white color" issue as I mentioned earlier. Set the backlight and framerate by toggling drivers on, making the changes, then toggling back off.

And, unexpectedly, even better yet again when dual booting into 2015 LTSB to avoid the "composition layers" issues that started with 1607 (I use 2015 LTSB as a "thin client" OS basically since I only have NoMachine and RealVNC installed on it).

There was a very subtle "mesh pattern" I noticed on the screen while running newer versions even with Basic Display, especially on solid color backgrounds, that vanished on 2015 LTSB. It was something caused by Windows, different from dithering (since it's not visible on 2015 LTSB even when dithering is set to Spatial).

I reboot back into the newer Windows when I'm outdoors and want to use it as a standalone laptop.

Note that even on my initial setup (newer Windows version, Intel drivers disabled) it's still leagues ahead of other screens and is still "as good as when I started", but since I'm committed to "achieving the most comfortable laptop screen possible", I took it even further and it was able to get even better than that! I already knew it was great when I first got it though.

(However, avoid native Linux, I have NO idea how it does it, but it somehow makes this otherwise fine screen cause strain. There is some weird "contrast enhancement"-like effect that I can notice. The workaround is running a Linux VM within Windows, which works great.)

I kind of use it as "a monitor" since I'm using NoMachine on the T480 to remotely use/view a macOS machine without any strain.

But no, I haven't found any dedicated external monitors that are as good as this (including the 4 old CCFL TNs I own! even the oldest external monitor I have, from 2005, although "kinda" better than a typical modern screen, still causes some strain for me even if connected to "safe hardware")

Note that the "manufactured 2018" variant of AUO303E causes issues even when running with all of these tweaks AKA it has some sort of panel-level issue. Returned that one

It's specifically the "manufactured 2015" AUO303E that's this good

Just one update: even though all my positives about the AUO303E panel still hold true, I actually ended up swapping it for the earlier AUO 1366x768 panel I also discussed: B140XTN02.D (also manufactured 2015)

Initially, I thought the 900p one was better, bu the 768p is actually even more comfortable to me!

The pixel inversion is far less noticeable, and since it's glossy it doesn't have the rainbow/graininess issue that the 900p did (which had a pretty subpar matte coating). Black text contrast is better (in a good way — not too intense)

(It it a little bit worse "color accuracy wise" but that doesn't matter to me)

Also discovered that for both panels, running at 40fps feels even more comfy compared to 60fps

So now I'd say the AUO B140XTN02.D is my top recommendation

one bad news! All of a sudden my good setup (M1 Macbook + CCFL Dell U2410 + Blue light blocking Amber glass) is giving me neck pain and eye strains. I was using this for last 12 months without any issues.

What changed?

My work laptop Macbook Pro M1 recently updated to 15.2 (Sequoia). Ever since this update, I am facing this issue.

Previously it was macOS Sonoma. It was good and no issues with the setup - Dell u2410 + Amber glasses.

What's next?

Play with different settings and find optimum one.

Update -> My issue got fixed now. It was due to 5Ghz new wifi connection. Moved back to 2.4Ghz wifi connection. My issues got resolved.

DannyD2

For me, most blue light glasses don't work at all (for screens). However, there's one that actually works for me — these specific ones that are "pure red" and essentially function as "monochrome mode for the real world".

Ignore their marketing, I swear the page changes title every few months lol — the first time I personally learned about these was during a vision appointment where they happened to have a pair. I'm recommending this purely based on their functional properties and my experience using them for 2 years. Haven't found another brand that makes this specific shade of deep red, most lean more towards orange or "purplish" red in my testing.

While wearing them, almost everything becomes red or orange (except a few shades of teal).

Some screens that are otherwise unusable become much more tolerable for me with these (but as always, keep in mind that this is not a "fix"). Usually blue light glasses don't change screens at all for me so this is really unique. I use them all the time whenever I need to use devices I have issues with. They also seem to reduce my flicker sensitivity.

Still works just as well as when I got them 2 years ago.

I also use them with my good devices too, at night, instead of using a software filter. Even if the screen is already good I find that it creates a relaxing effect, due to how it makes everything "physically" monochrome.

Specifically the pure red one in the link has this effect. I also tried some of the other colors offered (like orange) but they didn't do anything for me. So there's probably something about this pure red that filters out something in the screen's light output?