04-25-2012, 11:59 AM

Hello,

Forgive me if this is not the right spot for this question, but I have run into a confusing, frustrating issue and need some help from someone with a bit of advanced knowledge on this issue. Lately I have been suffering from terrible migraine symptoms as a result of hours at the computer at my job. I've been told from other migraine sufferers that adjusting the VIDEO CARD's (not the actual monitor's, which of course I've tried) brightness and color settings could help. I know how to get into the color profile area from system prefs but have absolutely no idea how to change them once I'm in there, and I can't seem to find any resources on this issue. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this (or other settings I might look into)?

Many thanks,
adri

04-25-2012, 12:26 PM

The video chipset or GPU (video card) itself can not be adjusted. Any adjustments that are made are made to the monitor which is in turn controlled by the video card.

Generally, headaches are caused by an improper refresh rate, however, with today's modern LCD displays, the refresh rate is usually set at 60Hz. Older CRT monitor refresh rates could go much higher.

I have read that some folks who suffer from headaches while sitting in front of a computer monitor have been able to reduce the occurrence of headaches by wearing computer glasses. You might look into trying that. Good computer glasses are not those you pay $20 for at Office Depot, however. Be sure to consult your Optometrist or Ophthalmologist first before investing in computer glasses.

04-25-2012, 01:34 PM

Thanks. I have tried computer glasses that haven't offered much help, but there are others out there that I'm considering.

Regarding changing the monitor settings, other than the physical brightness and resolution, do you know if is there anything else I can actually manipulate, i.e. through the ColorSync Utility?

04-25-2012, 03:22 PM

Regarding changing the monitor settings, other than the physical brightness and resolution, do you know if is there anything else I can actually manipulate, i.e. through the ColorSync Utility?

Other than color calibration, no. There are several third party calibration tools available but they're really for the graphic artist or professional and again, are geared more toward color calibration. I'm not sure the refresh rate on Apple monitors can be changed. I believe that rate is fixed.