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poliakov

  • Joined Nov 5, 2018
  • In MacOS Monterey Discussion

    I’ve seen Monterey on friend’s M1 air for few minutes. It looked calm for me. So you’re probably right, it’s always os+device combination.

    I can add more more messiness if you like:

    • external qhd monitors (both dell ultrasharps, one 10 bit one 8 bit) connected via display port (but not hdmi) saved me from eye problems with all macOS versions from Sierra to Big Sur. Monterey broke this workaround, so I had to downgrade to Catalina
    • I’ve tried changing color profiles and resolutions on my mbp pro 15’ 2017 with Monterey — no positive effect
    • I also have 2019 mbp pro 13’ at work. If set to precisely half resolution and not so wide gamma it gives me zero problems (it runs Catalina)
  • In MacOS Monterey Discussion

    It is clearly worse, mbp 15 2017

    I was able to use Big Sur for an hour or two with mild symptoms. It’s max 15 min for Monterey.

    Fonts look worse, a step towards Windows.

    On a plain fill, like Notes app, screen flickering is visible to the naked eye (it’s not so obvious with a photographic image).

    Given amount of bugs Monterey has, it seems that it’s just a poor engineering.

    • In Dell XPS 13 & 15

      I do not know what is the main issue. PWM affects me. Dithering — probably, but I do not know how to turn it off to test. Any UI scaling (like default 125% on windows) gives me severe strain, maybe that is some kidn of dithering used for antialiasing.

      • In Dell XPS 13 & 15

        I think I'm almost OK with this machine after some tune here and there. And I'm using all latest drivers ON and latest windows update also.

        1) Use ONLY native screen resolution and no UI scaling (are we speaking about HD version here?)
        2) Turn off Clear Type
        3) Never use Chrome, Firefox or Edge (give me strain in any case). I'm fine with Vivaldi and Opera browsers
        4) Never use dark theme.
        5) Never use plain wallpaper, use bright detailed photo instead
        6) Never go to bottom 30% of brightness range — this is where PWM starts to work
        7) Never use keyboard backlight. Even worse PWM.
        8) Play with color profiles/video settings to reduce contrast a bit and maybe add some yellow tint (but not with windows night light, use dell utilities).

        May sound like nothing big, but it went from heavy strain to usable for me this way.

        And any use of HDMI cable gives me severe problems anyway.

        • In Macbook Pro 2015 is perfect but Macbook Pro 2016 and after cause problems

          HAL9000 no, if it's already on millions — that's it. you will get nothing new. I guess the more important part (at least for me) is setting the resolution to exact half of native

          • In Macbook Pro 2015 is perfect but Macbook Pro 2016 and after cause problems

            AGI

            Yes, I think that "decreasing the resolution helps because it reduces dithering". But I have no knowledge in the area, sorry. I just turn the switch and feel less pain. All people here have very different health conditions and I cannot guarantee that my solution will work for anyone else. But give it a try, SwitchResX has 10 days trial.

            What do you mean with "not scaling ratio"? — When you change resolution in macOS Settings app, you change only the size of elements on the screen. It is always 2880x1800 native retina resolution.

            • AGI likes this.
            • In Macbook Pro 2015 is perfect but Macbook Pro 2016 and after cause problems

              I have MacBook Pro 2017. It causes severe symptoms with default setup in 20 min. Now I have it almost usable — not as easy for eyes as old laptops, but tolerable.

              1) Main tune is SwitchResX app (20$). It allows you to set screen to "Million of Colors" (instead of billion) and 1440x900 resolution (not scaling ratio, but real 2x resolution reduction: you will see pixels again). Laptop is still absolutely usable for any kind of work with these settings (I'm designer). Without this app next 6 items make not much difference.

              2) Turn off touch-bar: it has very low PWM frequency (I use free MTMR app instead. It allows you to use gestures for tuning brightness and volume with no display at all). Turn off keyboard backlight for the same reason

              3) I always have brightness on 70-100% to avoid main display using PWM (as per notebookchek.net tests). Not sure this really changes something, but I do it. For dimming display I use free QuickShade dimmer app

              4) I have matte screen protector for reducing glare

              5) I have "computer glasses" (Zeiss) for reducing blue light. The do it gently not making all your work yellow. Night shift is always off — I feel that it makes it worse for my eyes, not better

              6) Font smoothing is off

              7) Color profile is set to a bit lower contrast

              Hope this may help

              • In Eyestrain in Macbook pro 2018

                AGI
                So I can add that I have a Dell XPS 2016 (GTX 960M fullHD) which I can tolerate 2-4 hours a day, but, connected to the same monitor (HDMI) gives me an eye strain immediately

                  • In Eyestrain in Macbook pro 2018

                    I can stand my macbook pro 2017 one hour max.
                    And keep following this forum to figure out where's the problem.

                    It's not PWM:
                    100% of brightness does not solve the issue.

                    It's not the blue light:
                    Working under the bright sun outdoor or blocking blue light via apps or glasses does not help.

                    Font smoothing is turned off,
                    matte screen protector is applied,
                    resolution and bit depth are lovered by SwitchResX,
                    touchbar is off and taped,
                    keyboard backlit is off.

                    Intel/Radeon switch changes nothing.
                    Color profiles change nothing.
                    Sierra, high sierra, mojave change nothing.

                    What is left?

                    PS
                    When connected to external Dell U2716D (USB-C to mini DP dongle) — all symptoms are gone.
                    With windows laptops I have some strain, but different kind and not as bad.
                    With old computers of any kind have no problems at all.

                    • In I am the COO of Iris. A blue light filter that helps you have a better life

                      CareUEyes does more or less the same (windows only) but with more clear pricing policy and better interface.

                    • In Dell XPS 13 & 15

                      Hi, testing old XPS 9550 fullhd.

                      Dithering.exe does not show any difference. Am I doing something wrong?
                      Old Windows 10 with old drivers seems a bit more usable,.. but still bad.

                      What makes screen look better — disabling both Nvidia and specially Intel drivers.
                      But with drivers disabled I can't control screen brightness anymore.

                      Overlay screen dimmers kind-of help, but ignore pop-ups, which makes them not an option.
                      Does anybody have an idea how to control brightness with dedicated drivers disabled?

                      • In What works for you, what do you use now without problems?

                        Riva Does this mean intel HD only laptop, or intel HD plus any graphic card? I work with design and intel HD only laptops usually have poor color accuracy.

                        • Riva replied to this.
                          • In What works for you, what do you use now without problems?

                            Can anybody advice a usable laptop? Any year, any brand. But something that “works for you”, with all registry tricks or without.

                            • In What works for you, what do you use now without problems?

                              Hi. Yes, this model switches between graphic cards, but I see no difference with “switch graphic card” checkbox turned on or off.

                              I’m also very far from understanding nature of the problem, can only share my own experience. I literally see that the macbook screen (and all these modern windows screens) is not static. At some point I installed SwitchResX, lowered resolution and changed colors from billions to millions. And screen became almost static. As static as my external monitor. But “more static” mackbook screen keeps causing all symptoms just as fast. Since at 100% it should not have PWM, dithering/pwm strain theory falls apart.

                              • AGI replied to this.
                              • In What works for you, what do you use now without problems?

                                MacBook Pro 2017 15" Radeon pro 560 connected via display port to Dell U2717D or Dell U2713H works well. MacOS Sierra to Mojave.

                                Native screen of macbook feels offensive right away, I can't use it at all.
                                (I've turned off touchbar, added matte screen protector, changed white point to warmer, lowered resolution and changed billion to million colors with SwitchResX, bought glasses, run on 100% brightness only with screen dimmer — and nothing helps.)

                                iPhone 6S plus works just perfect for me.

                                • AGI replied to this.
                                • In Found a Method for checking for Dithering on Mac

                                  ryans Yes, sorry. Macbook Pro 2017, Radeon Pro 560/Intel HD 630, Mojave.

                                  • In Found a Method for checking for Dithering on Mac

                                    Have anybody tried SwitchResX app? It has the switch labeled "Millions of Colors/Billions of Colors". Should be a 8bit/10bit switch.

                                    When I set it to millions — screen starts to look much more "static" for my eyes and gradient banding appears.

                                    dev