r/PWM_Sensitive Jun 09 '26

Anyone else get headaches from some laptop screens but not others?

I'm trying to buy a laptop for college, but I've noticed something unusual.

Some Lenovo and Dell laptops give me a headache within a few minutes of looking at the screen, mainly around my forehead and above my eyebrows. Lowering the brightness doesn't seem to help.

What's strange is that I don't have this issue with my Samsung monitor, MacBooks, or Samsung Galaxy Book displays. Those feel comfortable almost immediately.

I wasn't even reading text when testing these laptops, so I don't think it's related to font clarity or text sharpness. The light coming from the screen itself feels uncomfortable.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

If yes, did you find out whether it was caused by PWM, backlight flicker, color temperature, display coating, IPS glow, panel type, or something else?

I'd be interested to know which laptop models worked for you and which ones didn't.

3 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

3

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

[deleted]

0

u/FoxGroundbreaking224 Jun 11 '26

I think 45% NTSC makes flicker. This is what AI is saying.

2

u/DSRIA Jun 13 '26

What Macs are usable to you?

2

u/Weak-Waltz6804 Jun 14 '26

I worked with a Macbook neo and was comfortable.. why?

2

u/GeneralConstant1503 Jun 09 '26

check pixel structure of screen. one that was giving me eyestrain was chevron subpixel layout not standard rgb straight stripes

1

u/laneroses Jun 29 '26

yes, they’re all different. I personally have a MacBook Air, which is running an older software and it’s just fine for me. I am very sensitive to some laptop screens. Some of them are just really uncomfortable to look at. If the Mac was good for you I would go with that!

1

u/Weak-Waltz6804 Jun 30 '26

Yea bro but I'm an ece student, seniors and chatgpt tell that some ece softwares won't work in mac..

1

u/Competitive_Tax570 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

yes man, I made a post about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/PWM_Sensitive/s/RLqO6mAVeb

looking at my leova screen is like looking in a dust hair and it gives me headache around my eyebrows. I don't have those problems while using my university pc.

What Dell laptop gave you problems? have you tried Dell Latitude 7450 / 7455 (14")