Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by prmph on Thursday June 19, 2025 @09:04AM
(#44318337)
Does this also affect Macbooks?
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Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by vitaflo on Thursday June 19, 2025 @09:18AM
(#44318445)
In my testing no, the MacBooks are fine. It’s the phones that are a problem. Easiest way to tell is get a camera app you can set the shutter speed to 10,000 fps and point it at a screen. If there are black lines across the screen there is a PWM issue. The thicker and darker the black lines the worse it is.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by bayindirh on Thursday June 19, 2025 @09:48AM
(#44318668)
10,000fps, or 1/10,000 of a second?
Asking because I don't have a Phantom at home.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by vitaflo on Thursday June 19, 2025 @11:45AM
(#44319727)
The latter. But it’s the preview you’re looking at. You’re not actually taking a photo.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by bmacho on Thursday June 19, 2025 @11:58AM
(#44319873)
A camera app can't set a phone camera to 10,000 fps. So the question is what does it do?
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by bayindirh on Thursday June 19, 2025 @12:30PM
(#44320170)
Due to rolling shutter, you take a “progressive” photo. As a result, if the screen flickers during that time, you see this change in light intensity as horizontal bars.
Thicker bars means a lower PWM frequency, hence lower quality light/brightness control.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by leakycap on Thursday June 19, 2025 @02:52PM
(#44321402)
I think it varies by model. The 14" & 16" MacBook Pros with the miniLED give me and many others PWM issues. On the other hand, the MacBook Air models with the notch don't seem to bother most people.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by vitaflo on Thursday June 19, 2025 @08:45PM
(#44323835)
I have an Air and agree these are great for people sensitive to PWM like myself.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by leakycap on Monday June 23, 2025 @09:32PM
(#44362028)
Yes, the Air with the notch (M2, M3, M4) is specifically PWM free. There is some sort of display issue with the "OG" M1 Air screens for many.
Re:The Invisible Light That's Harming Our Health
by leakycap on Thursday June 19, 2025 @02:54PM
(#44321425)
Yes, some MacBook models are affected.
The MacBook Air displays with the notch do not have PWM and do not seem to bother people. The 14/16" Pro models seem to be quite bad for most people (I had to return my new 14" model, it was rough).
The first PWM MacBook I bought was the 16" MacBook Pro from 2019 (the last Intel model). I'd had a 2018 MBP 15" and couldn't figure out why I just couldn't stand looking at the new 16". I thought I had a bad display but ended up learning about PWM.