Intel HD graphics hurt eyes, not LED displays

Actually, the output of an Intel and 3rd-party card should be pixel-identical. I noticed no difference moving from the GT550M-driven HDMI port to the HD3000-driven DisplayPort connector on my laptop.

More likely you don't like some part of Windows. Or this is a serious case of confirmation bias.

Have you considered that it might be something else, e.g. room lighting, software running on the machine (e.g. different version of windows), etc.?

I find it very hard to believe, largely because it's near impossible for them to introduce something into the mix, unless it's stutter, or changes in colour.

I just recently bought a laptop with Core i3 and HD 4000. There was a compatibility problem with a few codecs where the colors would get huge distortions when a video is played, including flash video. That color distortion would strain your eyes in a minute.
If you mainly watch flash or other videos, try disabling hardware acceleration, then the codec will play without distortions.

Placebo effect. Or the old ones are on VGA vs DVI/HDMI. Or you've turned on/off something you didn't realise, or you've set the refresh rate differently.

If you have a preconceived dislike of one thing, it's very easy for that to manifest.

Tried checking you have the right drivers installed?

In what way does it make your eyes hurt? Fuzzy? Too small text? Stutters? Colours wrong? Does it do it on a static image, or only if something is moving? In another OS?

What I meant was what is it that causes them to make your eyes tired?

I doubt there's any mechanism short of atrocious drivers that could cause this. Are all the resolution/refresh rate settings set correctly? Are the drivers up to date?

Sorry, but I simply don't see any way this can cause it. There's simply no real way it can do anything that actually hurts your eyes, without adding extra frames that shouldn't be in there. And that's one hell of a bug; not just one person.

It's amazing the amount your brain can cook up off subconscious prejudices, which this might be.

Have you bought another grahphics card yet?
How do your eyes feel now?

Trust me, you are not the only one who suffers eyestrain/headaches with IntelHD drivers. To make a long story short, about 2 years ago I purchased a late 2011 Mac mini (2nd generation i5, HD 3000 graphics) and for some reason, with DVI/Displayport, it kept giving me unusual eyestrain/headaches with both OS X and Windows 7 (Bootcamp), within 5-10 minutes of use (both at native 1920x1200 resolution and lower resolutions), on an LED-backlit monitor (100% hardware brightness to eliminate PWM but offset by low-contrast settings to lower effective illumination) whereas my previous PC (using a ATI 3870 DVI connection on the exact same monitor) caused absolutely no issues; I believe even an earlier (2005) Mac Mini caused no symptoms with a DVI connection to the same monitor.

However, when I connected the late 2011 Mac mini through an analog VGA cable, the symptoms disappeared with both Windows 7 and OS X. In fact, my main desktop computer is this 2011 Mac Mini running through a VGA cable at 1920x1200 and I have zero eyestrain.

More recently (since Dec 2013), I have tried several laptops with Intel i5 or i3 displays (HD4000, HD4400, or even Iris) and they all cause me eyestrain with Windows 7 or 8/8.1, regardless of the hardware brightness settings I use or the usage of software brightness/color-temperature control problems such as f.lux. I have tried a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, Dell Vaio Pro 13, and Haswell (late 2013) Macbook Pro Retina and they each caused similar symptoms, although the Vaio Pro 13 was the best of the bunch. More recently I resigned myself to a low-brightness (250-nits or lower) lower resolution laptop, so I bought a refurbished Acer S3 (i3, HD4000) running Windows 7. I noticed that if I use the Intel HD drivers a similar eyestrain/headache occurs, but if I use the "Standard VGA driver" in Windows 7, although I no longer have any control of gamma or software colors/brightness, the system is much more comfortable to use (the fact that peak brightness is 250 nits means that I don't really need to lower brightness from this level using software or hardware) and there is practically no eyestrain/headache. I also installed WinXP on this Acer S3 and while functionality is more limited (i.e. I haven't found drivers for the Wifi/Bluetooth), the Intel HD drivers do not appear to cause eyestrain in Windows XP. I also have an older Acer Aspire 1410 (2010-11), which also running Windows XP and IntelHD drivers, again is very comfortable to use.

Hence, I can only conclude that there is something in the Intel HD hardware drivers (HD3000, HD4000, HD4400 or Iris) that must be causing some sort of invisible flickering (temporal dithering??) or something that is causing eyestrain/headaches, when installed in Windows 7 or 8/8.1. I haven't tried a dedicated Nvidia or AMD/Radeon graphics system with Windows 7/8.x, but that could be the next step - although its' impossible to find high resolution (above 1366x768) modern lightweight laptops that don't rely on IntelHD graphics.

I confirm the problem. I just got an HP Folio 9470m, with the HD 4000 graphic card, and I have the same problem. I use Linux. I tried by increasing the PWM frequency up to 6000 Hz, but the problem is still there. Even when I use a big monitor (connected through the HDMI port)... which I used to use with my old laptop without problems, now with this one I have the described effect.

I tried with a generic vesa linux module, but it did not make any difference. Moreover, the problem is there even when booting, so it has nothing to do with the specific driver.

Any advice? It is making me crazy. My best solution so far was to increase the brightness to the maximum and decrease it through xrandr, but it still hurts my eyes badly.

While I can't come up with a specific suggestion, I'm going to weigh in on the side of believing that this truly happens. Sometimes a very few people are sensitive to something that no-one else can see or hear. I once found a flaw in an entire run of A/B switchboxes that the manufacturer had missed and no one else had noticed.

JanusDC, try some other computers in a store. Even other units of the same model. If you find one that doesn't hurt your eyes, make the exchange.

And see an eye doctor, all of you with eyestrain problems. Just in case.

Thanks for answering. I do not need an eye doctor: I am using my old laptop now (with an nvidia card), until I can solve the problem, so the problem is not my eyes. Maybe the Intel card is defective. It is my business laptop, so I am writing to the IT department to see if there is any chance to change it, either because this card is defective, or because Intel cards are defective in general.

I remember when I use CRT monitors, I always had to set them to 75Hz, while most people was ok with 60. Maybe my eyes are more sensitive, I have no idea, but in any case, there is something with the Intel card, which is not there in the nvidia.

Intel gpu's are built into the processor so you will need something with a descrete gpu or an AMD APU.

I can confirm a similar issue, but seems driver related for me.
Up until last fall I was happily using various Nvidia cards with no issues. Then came a driver update and the eye pain and headaches started. I changed back to the previous driver and all was ok. New driver -> problems. It was as if the screen was somehow brighter and stinging my eyes after prolonged use. I can't explain it better and I couldn't fix it through any screen settings.
So I switched to AMD and was ok once again - until now. I updated my driver from Catalyst 13.12 to 14.4 and, lo and behold, eye strain again. Perhaps not as bad as last year on Nvidia, but this may be subjective. Again, switching back and forth between driver versions confirmed the issue.
Also tried integrated Intel HD 4000 - similar eye strain to new AMD drivers.
I in no way anticipated this situation, it's not placebo and I'm not imagining things. So now i'm using my R9 290 on older drivers which I don't know if I will ever update.

I have te same problem . when I install intel 4600 driver it hurts my eyes and If i uninstall the driver it stop bothering my eyes, I forgot my eyes while I am working. but in this scenario I cant use my laptops hdmi output or vga output which I need badly.

I need advice too. I am using windows 8.1 with 4th generation intel cpu

Hey. I have the same problem. I tried out two new Notebooks with Intel HD 4600 so far. Even when I connect the Notebook per HDMI with one external LCD (I used my monitors for years without any troubles or problems) I get eye strain and headache.
Do you have any solution for this? I can't purchase and setup new notebooks all the time and send it back then. Maybe it would get better with time - maybe some type of acclimitation.

Well. Do you guys really think that the Problem is the Display or Graphics Card?

Meanwhile I think that the Problem is the WLAN (but thats dubios) or just some plastic vapours when the notebook gets warm or maybe a ultrasonic sound out of the notebooks.

Cause I also have the same symptoms as you, but also when I'm next to the notebook and I'm not looking on the display.

Hi , try disabling the driver from device manager. then try for couple days, it worked for me, it didnt bother my eyes it used to be. may be it will work with you too but now I cant use a second display which is a very important for me.
I think the problem might be flickering even we dont notice anything.
when I disable the driver the card works on 64 mhz refresh rate, but when enable the driver it starts to work on 60 mhz. so this might be the problem . I tried overclocking the refresh rate but it didnt work . Now when I find a chance I will disable optimus then use nvdia always. This is very very hard thing to do for me because modding bios is very risky and I dont know anything about it.
But I will try
Because I cant work when the driver is enabled.
Good luck