New Lenovo Legion Slim 5 unusable due to headaches

fishsoup

After using my HP from 2017 until it basically gave up I had to buy a new PC for studies and some gaming. I decided a Lenovo Legion Slim 5 was a good fit for me. I got the one with Nvidia GeForce RTX 7040 and an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS w/ and integrated Radeon 780 M Graphics Card.

I've never had any signiciant issues using a screen for a longer amount of time with ANY device before. But I just can't use the new Legion. It's giving me headaches after 10-15 minutes that won't go away. I've tried tinkering with blue light filters (f.lux), readjusting the color profile, just getting used to it for 3 months. I even went to the eye doctor who simply told me my eyes are fine, it's just that gaming laptops/monitors aren't made for office work and that might be the cause of my issues (is that true?)

Right now I'm using an external monitor and I can't even say the headaches are gone. My original seller won't take back the device because I've already had it for 3 months. I've tried selling it on ebay but no one wants it for the price I'm offering to sell (300 bucks less than the original price, the thing is BARELY used and I'm not willing to sell for much less, the thing was damn expensive).

I'm at a loss. I need good laptop for my studies, for prolonged reading and writing. Does anyone else struggle with this exact device? Does anyone know what else I can try to relieve my issues?

Edit: I want to add that I have quite sensitive eyes (I'm autistic) but again I've never had significant struggles with other devices before

Aquila

fishsoup Install win 10 1809.
It's a safe OS

simplex

fishsoup RTX 7040 and integrated Radeon 780 M

No chance, they both strain you

Reinhard62

fishsoup

I'd say your laptop is completely okay. The display is flicker free, i.e. without PWM.

See here: Link

My advice: Uninstall Windows 11 and install Windows 10. It will make all the difference.

Faham

Hi fishsoup, It's possibly the temporal dithering on the screen (pixel level flickering for faking more colors) you can see the videos on YouTube. Happened with me also, to completely free from the headache, you really need atleast a week days off from the flickering screen( my case ). If you can try a True 8 bit monitor from the store. They don't have the dithering. This is your only way out. Or you can use https://kawamoto.no-ip.org/henteko/myapp_en.html, the software to reduce dithering. It's effective till an hour, then your eyes will get tired again. 20 minutes screen, 10minutes break, get out, look far, wash your eyes closed. Back. This is the method that helped me. And one thing. If your devices are giving you headache and eye strain, get rid of them as soon as possible, they can cause weired looking eye floaters, that will wander around your vision.

And one important thing, please check your laptop screen, household Led bulbs for flickering, using slow motion video (1x and also 2x if available in your Smartphone) . If you find any flicker, get rid of them.

If you have any question, please let me know. I went through the same horrible situation.Hope you get out of it pretty soon.

fishsoup

Thank you all for your answers! I'm currently talking to Lenovo Customer Support Europe but they can't really help me either. I had hoped they would take it back since it's unusable but nope… The Lenovo has an IPS panel monitor, is this a good or a bad thing?

@Reinhard62

Can you tell if it uses temporal dithering or anything else that might contribute to the headaches?

What exactly makes Windows 10 more usable than Windows 11? Since Microsoft will end its support of Windows 10 at the end of this year, I'm a bit hesitant because of security concerns. What do y'all think?

@Faham

I'm already using a very old external monitor from 2010 or so. I have no idea if it's true 8-bit - how would I be able to tell?

Thanks again!

Reinhard62

fishsoup

Have you read the test by Notebookcheck.com? (I gave you the link.) If so, you already know that your laptop has one of the best displays around. It's without PWM, i.e. it's flicker free. To sell your laptop would be absolute nonsense.

If there is still something that hurts your eyes, it's dithering. And that comes from Windows 11.

It's the painful way I had to go myself. I also have a Lenovo laptop, also flicker free. Nevertheless it hurt my eyes. In the end I uninstalled Windows 11 and switched to Windows 10. Since then I can look at the display for hours without any problems. The picture is as still and unmoving as a piece of paper.

I use Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC (Version 21H2). This version has extended updates until 2032.

Vedic-Dance

What makes a big difference for me is setting the screen to 60 Hz on the Legion Slim 5.
I have an Intel 10th gen with iGPU and Nvidida 4060.