Mac Studio M1 Ultra External Monitor Flickering
So tired of this....
Before anyone suggests that I read this or check that or change cable.... That has all been tried to death.
Apple M1 Macs have an issue with external monitor flickering. Period. Every OS update I wait in the hope that it gets fixed. Nope... Just did the update today and it flickered within about 2 hours.
In my situation I have 2 external BenQ monitors, 1 is 4k 32" PD3205U and the other (flipped sideways) is a 27" 1080p PD275Q.
The 32" is connected via a good HDMI cable and the 27" via a thunderbolt cable. Yes, I have tried MANY different cables)
I have a couple of external SSD enclosures in a Raid0 and another external SSD for backups. USB-C to DAC, and one or two other connections. Whether they are connected or not does not affect this.
Periodically, the 32" starts to flicker, mildly at first, then it may increase or stop entirely.
When you look closely at the pixels while this is happening you can see that alternate vertical rows of pixels are shifting. Reminds of old CRT monitors. It can flicker quite dramatically sometimes.
From what I can tell, this is NOT a 3rd Party hardware issue (cable or monitor). The issue usually happens when I am working in Photoshop or Illustrator and I am in the finder which usually consists of 2-3 large windows. The flickering comes out of nowhere. If I tab back to Photoshop the flickering may stop. Or, may not be as bad. Cycle through various apps and it usually changes. To me, the Finder is affecting this, or some part of the OS that is translating to the display.
BenQ have a page dedicated to the issue: https://www.benq.com/en-us/knowledge-center/knowledge/how-to-fix-mac-m1-m2-external-monitor-flicker.html
None of their suggestions nor anyone else have helped. There are tons of posts everywhere from Reddit to Macrumours to here that all raise the same issue (for the most part). Still.... no fix or no acknowledgement from Apple. Everyone says to change the cable or whatnot but it seems the issue persists for most of us.
I've been an avid Mac user since 1990 so I have an idea of how to troubleshoot these issues.
If anyone can give me any insight on how to resolve this I would be eternally grateful.
The odd thing is it tends to happen when I get very busy! Maybe it's picking up on my karma....
Mac Studio (2022)