PWM is controlled by screen or motherboard?

BorealMind

Honorable
Mar 1, 2015
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Hi, i intend to replace my stock screen on an Asus Zenbook 303LN with another one due to PWM being present at all brightness levels tiring my eyes excessively.

The thing i want to inquire about is - what if the PWM controller is present on the motherboard and not the screen, making any screen flicker at a given pre-set frequency?

Thank you.
 

Lutfij

Splendid
Moderator
I think I mentioned it on your previous thread, unless you're going for another panel that Asus claims is not affected by the PWM flickering issue, then you're landing into the same issue again albeit with resources being spent.

Did you locate a screen that's meant for your notebook and doesn't have the PWM issue? Since the screen comes off an assembly line, it's hard to gauge which batch you have and if that batch was affected by the issue.
 

BorealMind

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Mar 1, 2015
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10,590


I have found an AU Optronics display that's installed both in some Acer and Asus computers and doesn't seem to have PWM in either of the reviews.

Asus doesn't produce LCD screens of this size, it's either LG, AU Optronics, Samsung etc...
 

BorealMind

Honorable
Mar 1, 2015
31
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10,590


To all whom it might concern.

I decided to look at the problem from another angle. The PWM frequency on this computer is quite high (1000-1400mhz) depending on reviews. I remembered myself looking at a Lenovo computer recently with 350 PWM frequency that was clearly visible with pencil test (here it's not) and it gave me no headaches or eye-strain whatsoever. The noticeable issues would be under 200hz (vomiting sensations, motion sickness etc).

So i assumed this all might be due to colours. As it appears, this 'top-notch' screen from Samsung is severely uncalibrated and several manufacturers needed to issue Bios updates to address that (Lenovo Yoga Pro 2/3, Samsung ATIV 9...). Asus didn't. So what i did i downloaded a colour profile from Lenovo 320 (the 350hz computer that was giving me no headaches) as a trial.

As it appear, i didn't have the white colour on my system at all (the screen is notorious for not having yellows). Everything was with a greyish and rosy tint. That can also be found on many Asus laptops. So far as long as the brightness is set right i don't see or notice any eye-strain at all.

Asus has been known to make wonderful computers and be pioneer in many areas but more often than not that comes with blunders that are difficult to forgive at their price range and brandname. Here that's the total lack of screen calibration besides the obvious hinge issue on Asus Zenbooks which doesn't seem to apply to this one.

So for all the users facing similar issues i recommend downloading and installing some other colour profiles.