Portable Monitor for MacOS Suggestions

lukeb

I am interested to hear if anyone who is sensitive to the entire range of Apple Silicon MacBooks (M1 through M4 air and pro models) currently has a usable setup.

Even with a Dasung e-ink monitor hooked up to an Apple Silicon Mac I still feel dizziness and brain fog with an inability to focus on text. Similarly, using an LG OLED TV which is otherwise fine, creates symptoms when connected through an Apple Silicon Mac.

I have tried every variation of Stillcolor, Better Display, Font Smoothing and Iris. Nothing makes it usable.

So for anyone who is quite sensitive, have you found any combination of Apple Silicon Mac and an external screen which you can work on? I am close to giving up so I am checking here before I do.

Thank you!

AshX

What computer are you using (model, specs, OS)? Are you using an external monitor that perfectly scales with MacOS? There are very few external displays that scale perfectly with Macs - specifically 27” 5K displays like the Apple Studio Display. Anything else will cause blurry text, icons, shimmer, etc.

Donux

AshX Scalling performance lag has been improved in latest Mac os versions, at least I did not see any mouse lag.

For non portable, I have used QHD (2k) resolution on 27 and it was very good, no scalling needed, just native resolution. I would say 32 QHD (2k) would be even better running native without scalling, slightly larger letters. These are best, but somehow people make mistake and buy 4k.

For portables, I would put in top list this one:
ASUS ZenScreen MB16QHG (Did not test it yet myself, but signals about it on Amazon reviews, Asus support, and overall specs are good. This should be flicker free device). Plus it has good mounting design, meaning you can put it on small tripod without adaptors and it would sit stable. So you fix posture problem at the same time. I am looking for genuine feedback on this specific from ledstrain people, but on Amazon I found few comments where people say - they are happy with it because it solved eye stran problem. Others complain about stuff I do not care personally.

I would avoid anything:
OLED
Arzopa (it is utilising PWM)
and many others - as there are lot of small solopreneurs selling their own portable bundles with stands, but its all cheap chinese imports IMO. They can not compete in any reasonable sense with big companies who know ins and outs of Asian technology suppliers/manufacturers.

lukeb

Donux these were great insights thank you. I had never considered the scaling implications and it clearly makes a big difference.

ASUS ZenScreen MB16QHG has 120hz and 100% DCI-P3. I normally try to avoid both P3 and high refresh rate displays so it would be interesting if that is a good display.

Rowe

I'm on the latest MacOS. The internal M3 MacBook screens give me eyestrain and nausea. I've had 3 different e-ink monitor and they've all been fine for me:

Dasung Paperlike HD-F (died within a couple of years)
Boox Mira (use at work)
Dasung Paperlike Color (use at home)

I get eyestrain from their internal lights though, so use a Benq Halo lamp which is fine for me.

lukeb

Rowe It's have two different Dasung monitors and I can't use either with macOS. They are fine with a windows 10 computer though. Which is your favourite out of those displays?

Rowe

lukeb surprised they're not working with MacOS. With some optimisation I've always got mine to be ok. You're using Stillcolor?

The paperlike color is better, but much more expensive. Ideal for me would be a cheaper 17" but I don't think it exists.

Donux

I have bought Asus ZenScreen MB16ACV, but it will only be delivered next month so would be able to update about it. This is actual what chatGPT suggested 🙂. And also I did a bit of thinking that all Zenscreens are not equal, because manufacturers are in the dead end when it comes to trying to build 4k or QHD screen with high refresh rate with only usb-c power. Generally the way I understand - there is no way to achieve it without using PWM, which is also a battery optimization trick.

And there are reports online by users who have used this one with macbook air m2 and it worked out well for them. And they did suffer from major eye strain with native laptop screen.