Eye strain from Intel Graphics

[JKill4]

MacBook Pro 2018 is causing eye strain both on its native retina screen and on all the external monitors I could test it with (that are fine to look at for me with ThinkPad T440s and Dell Inspiron)

Symptoms: hard to focus, pain at the back of the eyes, head strain - (also feel it in my hands -it's weird i know)

Computer usage patterns: normal 10-6 usage, ergonomically lit room, no windows behind monitors or reflections on screen.

Monitors I tested my new MacBook 2018 with:

Older monitors:

Fujitsu Siemens - Scaleoview L22W

Samsung Syncmaster 205BW

Newer monitors:

Dell U2518D

BenQ BL 3200 - my main daily monitor

LG 27UK850-W

All of the above monitors caused eye-discomfort and strain with my MacBook Pro 2018.

All of the above monitors did not cause my eye discomfort when using them with:

ThinkPad T440s - my main daily machine

Dell Inspiron 15r

Self built PC with display driven with NVidia 1050Ti

I also have 13" MacBook Pro 2011 - and that does not cause my any eye strain (both good with native screen and with external screens)

My Macbook Pro display driver specs:

Intel UHD Graphics 630

Radeon Pro 555X

What could be the cause here, I'm really at my wits end here.

I've been googling around and some say it's the dithering from Intel chips - could it be it?

Thanks,

Janno

[idata]

Hello JannoKilling

Thank you for joining the Intel® community, allow me to help you with the case. After reviewing the information that you have provided I have found the following thread "eye strain" (/thread/53309 https://communities.intel.com/thread/53309) please reviewed and see it is the same issue that you are having. Bear in mind that Apple* has requested that all inquiries related to their products need to be referred to them. The best option would be contacting Apple* so they can provide proper troubleshooting steps for this issue. This link will give you their contact information https://support.apple.com/contact https://support.apple.com/contact. Hope his help. Regards,Leonardo C.

[JKill4]

I have now learned from my local Apple premium shop that if a persons eyes are sensitive to low frequency LED backlight PWM flickering, then there is a high chance that your eyes will be affected by the dithering on the new 2018 MacBook Pro. So far I have not found a way to disable the dithering on OSX.

So I'll be returning my new machine and trying out the 2015 model as people have found it does not cause eye strain as much.

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

Happy Autumn!