What Screen Size / Resolution Do You Use

[jimmy5L]

Just a question, what’s the best for your eyes! And what’s the worst?

I have a 17 inch LCD and have my resolution on 1280X1024, but my eyes hurt after a while!

[bkk_mike]

Just a question, what’s the best for your eyes! And what’s the worst?

I have a 17 inch LCD and have my resolution on 1280X1024, but my eyes hurt after a while!

In general, LCD will be better for your eyes than CRT (mainly because of the loss of flicker - even if you adjust the refresh rate on a CRT high enough that you don't see it consciously, your brain is still having to cope with it).

Also, you should use LCDs at their native resolution (Scale up the font size if necessary, rather than dropping the resolution). Running a 1280x1024 monitor at 1024x768 is just asking for dodgy fonts.

However, the biggest problem with eyestrain is simply focussing at the same distance for an extended period of time. Every so often, you should look up, and focus on something in the distance, just to get your eye muscles moving again. (just like stretching your legs if you've been sitting for a long time).

[penguin]

Something to consider if you you spend a lot of time viewing computer screens is glasses. If you wear them, try getting a separate prescription for computer use. I have such a pair now and it makes a big difference.

The ones l have are tinted a faint shade of green and having used them for a few months the difference is fantastic. I wasn't sure at first if it was some sort of scam when the salesman suggested them but from the first day my eyes no longer felt sore after a few hours. If you go to any optical shop and ask about lenses for computer use they will know what you mean and probably have a catalogue with different tinted lenses for different uses. The lenses cost about 50% more than regular lenses but well worth it.

Any eye doctor will confirm that LCD is better for your eyes than CRT, part of the reason l upgraded.

On my 17" CRT l run 1024 x 768 @ 85Hz.

[Artcoder]

Just adding my resolution to the equation.

1680 by 1050 on 22 inch (using digital) LCD and 1024 by 768 on my second monitor which is a crt at 85 refesh rate.(This is analog)

Regards eye strain. Glasses helped me plus upgrading my video card.

Edited April 3, 2007 by Artcoder

[Firefoxx]

I really disagree on the flicker thing. It's more marketing hype from the LCD manufacturers. Set your CRT correctly, and you'll love it more than your LCD.

[wpcoe]

I have a wide-screen 20" LCD (Samsung SyncMaster 203B) which has native resolution of 1400 x 1050. I use it in portrait mode at 1050 x 1400, and am very pleased!

The only negative about using it in the pivoted mode is that the backlighting on the left is brighter than on the right (intended to normally be brighter on the bottom when not pivoted, which I think is standard?), so I have it turned slightly toward the left to have uniform lighting. Even at that I *like* being able to see full pages in a readable resolution in word processor, and being able to read longer pieces without scrolling in a browser, like in a forum such as this.

[nikster]

1680 x 1050 on a 15.4" laptop screen is ideal for me. I need each pixel.

Gharknes I finally understand, 1900x1200 on a 17" is totally fine.

My friend had 1900x1200 on a 15.4" laptop and that was really crazy - need a magnifying glass for that. He ended up running it in 1680x1050 mode - that had some scaling smudge but better than the mega high rez. First time I saw a resolution that I actually found too high.

I find wide screens very useful - the additional space on the right holds my instant messenger program and I tend to want to have tons of open windows on the screen, they are easier to arrange on a wide screen.

[jdinasia]

Small text is no problem on browsing the internet. Just hold down the control key and press the + bar to increase the text size or - to make it smaller. Works for the current versions of Firefox an internet explorer but I like Firefox best. I use 1280X1024 on my desktop 17 inch monitor with some adjustments for large text in application windows. Plan to upgrade to LCD screen but haven't taken time to shop for it yet.

Thanks for that shortcut .... it will be useful with Thai font pages

[Tywais]

Small text is no problem on browsing the internet. Just hold down the control key and press the + bar to increase the text size or - to make it smaller. Works for the current versions of Firefox an internet explorer but I like Firefox best. I use 1280X1024 on my desktop 17 inch monitor with some adjustments for large text in application windows. Plan to upgrade to LCD screen but haven't taken time to shop for it yet.

Thanks for that shortcut .... it will be useful with Thai font pages

If you have a scroll wheel mouse you can also hold the CTRL key down and move the wheel forward/backward to zoom in/out. Works on FF, not sure with IE.

[jdinasia]

Small text is no problem on browsing the internet. Just hold down the control key and press the + bar to increase the text size or - to make it smaller. Works for the current versions of Firefox an internet explorer but I like Firefox best. I use 1280X1024 on my desktop 17 inch monitor with some adjustments for large text in application windows. Plan to upgrade to LCD screen but haven't taken time to shop for it yet.

Thanks for that shortcut .... it will be useful with Thai font pages

If you have a scroll wheel mouse you can also hold the CTRL key down and move the wheel forward/backward to zoom in/out. Works on FF, not sure with IE.

cool! that works too but seems to lose some resolution

BTW both work with Safari as well

[jdinasia]

btw ... my imac is set at 1440X900