The Surface Laptops have an issue with palm rejection with the trackpad.
While you're typing, the cursor will jump somewhere else. I eventually learned to live with it, as I don't think there is a fix.
Even turning down the trackpad sensitivity didn't solve the problem. Also, now the laptop won't print unless I reboot it.
Just typical Windows annoyances that you never see on a Macbook.
I use the laptop exclusively with an external monitor, as I can't comfortably use the laptop's screen.
Coming from a surface pro 4 m3 version that just died a few weeks back I purchased a surface book 3 base model no nvidia card and MacBook Air M1.
Two things I wanted in a laptop was fanless and no PWM. Don’t know yet about the MacBook Air having no PWM most likely will. But the surface books are good according to notebook check.
Using the surface book 3 for about a week now ive noticed my eyes feeling similar to looking at an iPhone 7. My eyes feel dry, blurry and have to blink a lot after use. I have also noticed it has this reddish ghosting when night mode is on and scrolling and using certain applications, which my surface pro 4 apparently did not have. It also seems blurrier when scrolling than my surface pro 4.
I had to download intel control app from Microsoft store because it was constantly doing adaptive constant adjustment shifting which happens with my surface pro after every update until I make the reg tweak.
Hoping to try ditherig on this machine and see if that helps. But so far would rate it a 3/5. My surface pro 4 was a 4/5. Could use it up to 5 hrs without affecting my eyes or brain.
Waiting for my MacBook Air M1 to deliver and will update but don’t have high hopes for it.
I found a solution to my problems for my laptop woes at long last! It took a bit of a process but I weeded it out.
I heard a lot of good things about the Razer Blade Pro. I decided a 17" would be good as I wouldn't have to scale the font. I had heard the screen was overwhelmingly good on the eyes and they didn't have any flicker issues.
At least kind of. I bought a 2060 one first and that one came with a different display than was on the reviews (normally it has an LG display but I ended up with the cheap Chinese BOE display that flickered). Even then it was the easiest display on my eyes up to that point. If I turned the brightness up it didn't bother me at all, but it did on lower brightness levels to a mild amount.
I returned it and got the 2070 RTX Razer Blade PRO here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087M5LXYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It always comes with a high quality 300hz refresh rate screen which makes it smoother and easier on the eyes. It has a great form and good specs. It is a bit pricier than I wanted to initially spend but it was worth it for the comfort and no headaches. It apparently always comes with the better display as there is no cheap Chinese version of this display. This means I didn't have to play the screen lottery with it.
This is the easiest one I've had on my eyes yet. A good bit more than even the Dell XPS 15 9500. I even tested video games on it (the most strenuous activity for me along with digital art) and it caused me very very very mild pressure.
This one is a winner in my book and highly recommended. I would also recommend getting a extended warranty on such a pricey laptop and Razer can be... meh in terms of service based on what I heard. That said I called them to ask them about something this past weekend and they helped me quite a bit.
Bottom line If you are having issues with a lot of laptops, this one will likely be your best bet. It is a bit pricey but if you're willing to pay a premium for comfort give it a shot. The good news is that you can you use it for basically any task. It has a great screen, awesome speakers (I can hear them all over my place) and is a quality device!
ThaCMaster Thanks for this, do you know if Razer makes 32gb ram laptops? if so will try
ThaCMaster Razer Blade Pro up and running, using the RTX 2080 with the same Discrete mode so it only uses NVIDIA and disables gsync. Will also do the regedit hack to turn off any potential dithering.
Very similar configuration to the Razer - has anyone tried https://rog.asus.com/uk/laptops/rog-zephyrus/rog-zephyrus-s17-series/ ? Asus Rog series
I'm glad you found something that fits your criteria. I tried the Rog last year, but it hurt my eyes. That said I have a HUGE announcement and a quality of life increase that worked for me and I'm now able to use more and more devices as well as eat foods I couldn’t previously. I don’t know if it will work for everyone, but it is definitely working for me.
Long and detailed post below on my progress and what has allowed me to use more devices again without eye strain.
First, a little background.
I have had issues with food sensitivity for many years (since around 2012-2013) or so. At that time, I started getting bad joint pain and inflammation from eating certain foods. Over it got so bad that I couldn’t even bend over to pick up things and even walking hurt. I had to eventually cut out sugar, corn, dairy, and wheat. From there I even had to cut out rice and a huge number of foods until I was just eating eggs, turkey, and chicken.
It got to the point that when I was eating foods about 3-4 years back, I would get nasty headaches more and more. I did have a few foods removed from my diet but then it got worse. This was beyond what was giving me joint pain. I had no idea what was causing it but I did try probiotics and other things like bone broth, but I still got headaches (I had a histamine intolerance as well and probiotics tend to have a lot of it as they are fermented).
Eventually, one day in 2018 around July or so I started getting bad eye strain when playing a game on my phone, the LG G6. I had a Samsung Galaxy 4 for many years but had to swap it because I couldn’t use it to collect payments for my business as the OS was too outdated. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a one-time thing and like many of you my eyes just hurt more and more from more things. It got to the point where something wouldn’t hurt (like my old laptop) and then eventually start to hurt. It felt like I was just delaying the inevitable no matter what I had.
I had a feeling that my headaches with my diet and with the screens were linked as I’ve always been a firm believer in fixing myself from the inside first. There have been many links with gut health and inflammation and overall health, and I wanted my life back. I often tried supplements, but I would get headaches from using them over time too.
When I went to the doctor at the end of last year, I saw something that I could take for my gut health called Ion Gut Health/Restore Gut Health (both are the same) that was supposed to help repair your stomach and immune system. I asked my doctor about it and he said it was essentially to heal the damage to your stomach by introducing certain minerals into it slowly while healing the lining in your gut. I thought it was interesting, so I gave it a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained. This was a small office so I ordered it from Amazon so I could return it if I had a bad reaction to it.
I’ve been using it right at a month now and I can say this works wonders for me. The first 10 days or so I had to take less. The recommended amount is 1 teaspoon 30 minutes before eating 3 times a day. I started at ½. I tried 1 teaspoon and had some light headaches and my stomach had to adapt. I then went from ¼ up to 1 teaspoon a day. I added other foods in at the end of the first week. I started with oatmeal, and then avocados and grapes. Foods that I couldn’t eat for years I was now able to eat again which gave me more flexibility.
What was also noticeable was my screen usage. When I had the Razer, I was able to game to about 30 minutes before my eyes got slightly irritated. After using this I noticed I could play multiple hours with no eye strain. From there it went to 5 hours and eventually I could play as long as I wanted with certain games (some games are harsher on my eyes than others) a few weeks in.
About two weeks ago I wanted to give my older Eluktronics laptop another go because I was curious. My Razer laptop had until the 31st to return and while it was good, I always loved my old laptop and I absolutely liked the keyboard on it much better. So, I took it out and tried it. I had wiped everything, so I had to start on that god-forsaken blue screen but I as able to tolerate it much better. My eyes were somewhat irritated by it still but not to instant day ending headaches like before. I had to turn the night light up to about 65-70 but it was a big improvement!
Over the past two weeks I have adjusted to my laptop more and more and I’ve eaten more foods. I also returned my Sony TV monitor and I’m using my old 55-inch TV that I had before that was irritating on the eyes.
Right now my diet is increasing and I have now eaten brown rice, peanut butter, grapes, salad, avocados, tortilla chips, plain fries, and turkey bacon. Before I could only eat eggs, turkey, and chicken and anything else would give me a headache. I'm eating basically everything although new foods make my body adapt a bit. I also read on the site I could go up to 3 tablespoons a day which would be a triple dosage. I don't think I'll take that much but I will do 1.5x and see how that works. I don’t want to burn through my supply too fast as they are pretty pricey $70 for a large bottle (32 oz is a 6-month supply) and overtaking something can be just as bad as not taking it at all.
I'm also still lowering the "night light" on my laptop and when I first started using it I had it at like 65-70 or so and now I'm at about 40 and I lower it by 1-2 each day. I did have some hiccups where I had my blue light lamp glare in my face or when I turned off my graphics card and my “night light” went off. Now it just irritates me some instead of being an instant day ender knockout headache like before. I also dropped my desktop to 10 (it’s a BenQ at that was at 25%) on the nightlight and my eyes are fine.
Who knows maybe I can even use it without glasses down the line? I have been able to take my glasses off around my phone for short periods (in the bed and checking a text or shaving and listening to the radio). If I could do that with no filters, then I know I'll have come a super long way.
I will keep you guys updated but for me this has been a huge revelation. The product is below for anyone interested. Feel free to read the reviews on it. That’s what I did before I bought it.:
or this (they are the same).
Best of luck with your journey guys!
ThaCMaster Really really interesting. Thank you for sharing. Keep us informed with how it goes. Gut health is connected to everything!
ThaCMaster Great story. How Kong are you planning taking those pills?
That product has red flags all over it, despite it working. One of the reviews mentions its made with coal. That might be acting like activated charcoal, which at a guess could have this effect, activated charcoal is certainly good for digestion problems, though not without harm. I would recommend you try activated charcoal, or probiotics, or other things where you actually know what's in the product rather than gamble with the mystery juice.
I've had good results with it so far, as long as you take your time with it the product works fine for the vast majority of people. I've been slowly reducing my yellow light too.
It's a liquid you take that tastes like water. I do 1 teaspoon 3 times a day. It will be ongoing as I'm into maximizing my health and I'm seeing great results from it. Being able to eat a normal diet again without joint pain, headaches, and intolerances has been life changing on top of the benefits.
I read the reviews and spoke to someone else about them as well as well as my doctor in the office where I saw them. The results have been overwhelmingly positive for the vast majority of people in general. I've tried many products and probiotics over the years. I've even done home made probiotics (sauerkraut and kombucha). I also tried Greek yogurt. I either got joint pain or headaches from them.
I even had histamine free probiotic pills and those gave me headaches and hurt my joints. My doctor was saying this heals your gut so that you can tolerate probiotics a lot better. I've had Greek yogurt now with no problems as well as many other foods. I'm increasing my diet and my eyes hurt less and less every day. I have been doing this since right after Christmas (on the 28th)
The bottom line is you'll always have negative reviews on any and every product. Even on probiotics. The issue I had with probiotics is that I have a histamine intolerance and probiotics are high in histamine because they are fermented foods. I tried them for years and they just ended up giving me headaches and other than making me less hungry when I was on them didn't help my problem.
My body adjusted to this in 10 days and I've had much better results like most people. I'm a big skeptic who has a lot of food sensitivities and allergies. The best thing to do is to do as much research as possible before trying something (which I do). At the end of the day to know for sure you will have to try it and see if it works for you and if it doesn't, return it. That's why I bought it online first and not at my local office because you couldn't return it to them. It also cost more (which I didn't mind supporting local business, but it was the return policy)
No matter what product exists there are always people who have bad reactions to it, myself included. I wouldn't recommend anybody dive right in. Just take it in small steps and see if it helps and it doesn't, send it back. I started with small doses and increased them. The ingredients are on the product. Gut health is a new territory that is still being heavily explored. Some doctors often disagree with others on many things with the body.
I have often found that my own care and eating healthy worked much better than what many doctors tried to suggest over the years, which was taking as many pills as possible. Weigh out different products and see what works. I wouldn't suggest this as a miracle pill for everyone but it did work for me and many others so it is worth a look. In my case I think it had to do with my stomach and overall inflammation.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
I don't doubt that it works, just be careful: Coal can be carcinogenic; Terrahydrite is a made up name and doesn't tell you what's actually in it; it mentions probiotics but never says which ones. I strongly suspect you'd get the same results with a high quality activated charcoal and one of the more psychoactive probiotics like lactobacillus rhamnosus or Bifidobacterium longum BB536.
Its also worth keeping in mind that just because it helps, doesn't mean its not harmful.
From the research I've done and read it says that coal that is inhaled is carcinogenic. I haven't heard about activated charcoal being carcinogenic but I have heard some people have issues with it. There are doctors on both sides of the issue from what I've seen. The difference with this product and the probiotics is that it is designed to help your body build it's own defenses and restore itself versus simply introducing something new in your body.
That said I agree that many things can harm you. I've tried supplements and even those can be harmful and damage your body if you take them too often as you can throw your other vitamins and minerals out of whack in your system.
I'm more than happy to look into what you mentioned or any other reasonable suggestions that people might have though. Keep in mind that I have a bad histamine intolerance and that trying probiotics before gave me bad side effects. That said I'm introducing them into my body slowly now as I can actually start eating different foods again.
Some of the ones you mentioned have low reviews with people having bad side effects due to other additives in them too so I would suggest anybody who is putting something into their body to look into it and start slowly.
Thanks for the feedback!
Edit: This is something I found on the coal issue.
Q: Is this product coal based?
A: Humic substances/ lignite and coal are related in that they both contain carbon. Humic substances/ lignite begins as an accumulation of partially decayed plant material, or peat. Burial by other sediments causes compaction. Thus, humic substances/ lignite is a complex of trace minerals and carbon family molecules from ancient composted soil, naturally rich in a variety of humic substances. If geological events cover the material with layers of rock, then lignite would eventually form coal. Brown coal is further down the scale of compression and metamorphosis than our source, and this is an important difference between various materials in the humate category.
The gradient from peat moss to humus, to leonardite, to lignite, to coal contains a spectrum of compounds, and the metamorphosis of carbon materials from peat soils to humic substances to fossilized soil to lignite to coal takes millions of years. The pressures and extended time that form coal create unique chemical reactions that create aromatics, some of which are carcinogenic.1 The source, the location in geological strata, the possible exposure to Mesozoic volcanic ash, and countless other variables determine the quality and safety of the source. We have concluded that the best way to test the efficacy and safety of a product is regular cell culture studies on the product in question, in this case, ION*Gut Health.
We take the safety of our product very seriously and mass spectroscopy shows our US source of humic substances/lignite to be a very pure source. Our Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Team does regular testing for bacterial contamination, heavy metals, and overall product composition and strength. In compliance with California’s Prop 65 legislation, we test ION*Gut Health for levels of mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium. In addition, we continue to exceed all industry standards in the dietary supplement field with our own multi-specialty basic science laboratories onsite.
Beyond our scientific studies, ION*Gut's efficacy can be seen in its widespread use since its introduction in 2012 as RESTORE(TM). Today, over 1,500 global healthcare practitioners and many retail stores recommend it to their patients and customers.
Hi there guys. Hope you guys are all doing well. I was just giving you an update on my eyes with the stuff I have been taking for my stomach. The Ion Gut Health which is designed to heal your stomach and gut issues. As mentioned before I had issues with my stomach and food for many years to the point where I had many headaches (3 or more a week that lasted all day) and I couldn't eat anything but eggs, turkey, and chicken. I have had some large improvements so I'm listing them just as a record and to show my progress in case anybody is interested. I've also drastically lowered my "blue light filter" on my computers.
My desktop is now at 0 (normal light). I have a BenQ monitor with Eye care. I changed it from reading mode to office and later I will try multimedia. Before it was at around 27 or so.
My laptop is currently at 14 (light yellow filter). When I first started using it, I had it at 65-70! This is a very large improvement and I feel I will be at zero before the end of the month. I tend to go down 1 a day, occasionally two. Sometimes I won't lower it at all if my eyes hurt from it that day (about once or sometimes twice in a week). It's crazy how going down 1 too many can really make your eyes feel different but it does.
As of now I'm eating and can eat:
Chicken (far less now. I cook it about once every two weeks instead of two days because I'm eating less and mixing foods.)
Turkey (same with chicken)
Eggs
Turkey bacon (was giving me headaches at first)
Turkey dogs (same as turkey bacon)
Avocados (and guac obviously)
Tortilla chips
Carrots
Almond milk (and soon almond butter)
Peanut butter
Fries (and potatoes)
Broccoli
Green Beans
Brown Rice
Salad
Grapes
Olive Oil
Lemon and Lime water flavoring
Red meat (just trying for now, the verdict is out)
The only thing I don't really like is wheat and I've had issues with it for years and don't really need it. This is a huge help for me.
I still strongly recommend it and I will keep taking it as it is helping me get my life back.
Thanks and I hope you are staying healthy and safe. 
ThaCMaster Really interesting, thanks for sharing. I've also had success improving digestion and doing neti pot to relieve sinuses. Not perfect though.
What have you used for your digestive improvements?
I think I just had inflammatory issues due to issues with my gut. I think this just caused me to have more sensitivities overall.
I haven't heard of the neti pot. I did use a humidifier a lot in the winter when I used a small heater though as it dried me out badly.
I hope you keep improving.
Food allergy test and eliminating those mostly. Also Triphala
Awesome. I just came from the doctor today and got my epi pen. I might try eating fish again. He told me to start with Tilapia as it's the most mild.
What particular things were hurting your eyes before? Was your situation severe?
ThaCMaster almost nothing eyes. Almost everything head. Above my eyes or top of my forehead. Still have issue with some screens like iPhone and most monitors etc
That's what I found was an issue. I got more and more headaches from more and more things. Foods, stuff I washed my hair with, screens, etc.
Good to see you're improving in your condition.
I am on 5 with my laptop in terms of the blue screen filter. I imagine I will be at 0 by the end of next week!