best monitor to minimize eye strain - text based work

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FarmerJohn

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Oct 31, 2006
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I'm going to buy 2 monitors in 20" to 26" range. Most important factor is minimizing eye strain. I do a lot of reading of text on white background, but switch frequently to other applications that have a darker background.

Are there any monitors that reduce the brightness / contrast automatically when the background is white?
 
I presently have a dell 2007WFP and I wanted to buy a second, but it seems to be no longer available on the Dell site. I like the dell, but white backgrounds are sparkly and there is also screen door effect. When I began to research buying another 20" to go next to the 2007WFP, I read that the new H-IPS panels have a lot less noise & sparkle compared to S-IPS panels, but I haven't found any at 20"

If I were to buy another 20" widescreen, what would you recommend?
 
FarmerJohn said:
I presently have a dell 2007WFP and I wanted to buy a second, but it seems to be no longer available on the Dell site. I like the dell, but white backgrounds are sparkly and there is also screen door effect. When I began to research buying another 20" to go next to the 2007WFP, I read that the new H-IPS panels have a lot less noise & sparkle compared to S-IPS panels, but I haven't found any at 20"

If I were to buy another 20" widescreen, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have no recommendation for anything less than 24" 1920x1200.
 
Dell monitors are great for less eye straining try the 24" dell LCDS.
 
FarmerJohn said:
ok. any thoughts on the DoubleSight DS-263N? Would the quality of this monitor surpass my 2007wfp? thanks.
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I wouldn't say so.
Generally it's a budget monitor with some interesting features.
But there is no indication that it offers anything towards your goal - "to minimize eye strain - text based work".
 
rsatx said:
Take a look at the recommendations from the Anandtech forums:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

fwiw the Doublesight 263N is included among the recommended monitors for office work.
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Yes, It's there.
Technically 26" dot pitch /1920x1200 is a plus.
Lack of any equipment to reduce eye strain is another technical fact.
My further concern is about the level of brightness which seems excessive. Complaints about "retina burning" are noted but nothing opposite. No tests to indicate satisfactory brightness control so far.
Please correct me if I am mistaking.
 
I have owned panels of each type. TN, PVA, IPS.

The major factors in eyestrain for me have been (in order of how bad they are):
1) Brightness: Most big screens have over bright back lights. When they do have powerful back lights, turning them down often still results in poor color rendition and the contrast looks hideous if you are further forced to use the LCD itself to limit the light coming through even more. Solution: Avoid anything with a back light rated over 300cd/m2.

2) PVA panel angular gamma shift. Most people aren't bothered by this, but this affects me quite a bit. The gamma shift with small viewing angle changes is strongest with *VA screens. This can cause each eye to see a slightly different image which can be perceived as 3D cues, your eyes tend to work harder trying to pull out the 3D object (like a magic 3d picture) and hence eyestrain. I stress this is rare. Solution: Get and TN or IPS screen.

3) Neon Colors. I have a Dell 3007-HC in front of me right now. HC stands for Hi-Color or some such nonsense. Basically it is in the trend of "wide Gamut" monitors which will tend to give you neon Reds and Greens. These colors can actually hurt to look at and represent significant problems trying to correct. Solution: Get a non-neon standard gamut panel

4) Excess strong AG (Anti-glare) treatment that looks like dust on your screen. Mainly noticeably as a blotchy/sparkly looking dust over white text. Annoying and probably increases eyestrain. Solution: Looks for smoother AG coatings.


Recommendations: (Controlled brightness, Non VA, Less sparkly, non-neon):

Dim to fairly bright environment: Benq G2400 (nice low powered back light) <$400
Fairly bright to very bright environment: NEC 2490 (more powerful back light ) >$1000
 
FarmerJohn said:
I presently have a dell 2007WFP and I wanted to buy a second, but it seems to be no longer available on the Dell site. I like the dell, but white backgrounds are sparkly and there is also screen door effect. When I began to research buying another 20" to go next to the 2007WFP, I read that the new H-IPS panels have a lot less noise & sparkle compared to S-IPS panels, but I haven't found any at 20"

If I were to buy another 20" widescreen, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

NEC LCD20WGX2 http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review-nec-20wgx2.html

Althou it has glossy screen, which I don't like.
 
god i want a NEC 2490 or 2690 they are so sex.. but so expensive.. u get what u pay for :D

they look like a panel that is worthy of replacing my FW900 CRT.. just one other thing im worried about is input lag for twitch games like cs1.6.
 
snowdog - great post - the brighness of most monitors bothers me the most as well. I'm going to cancel my backorder at buy.com for the DoubleSight and go with the Benq G2400.
 
GoofyFoot said:
FarmerJohn--Did you get the BenQ G2400? If so, what are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have another two weeks to evaluate, but I'lll probably return it (amazon). It sits next to my dell 2007wfp and there is no comparison. the g2400 has significant backlight bleed. In addition it is still way too bright, but when I dial down the settings (brightness & contrast - 15 & 60 respectively), the clarity suffers significantly and the colors are very washed out. I also can't adjust the color on this monitor (grayed out item in OSD) .

The only way I could justify keeping it is if I were to restrict its use to just applications that have very dark backgrounds with light colored text - keep in mind that I'm using this monitor for 2d only and mostly text based apps.

I'm sure this monitor is great for gaming.
 
Wow. Sorry to hear that.

AFAIK, this is the dimmest 24" on the market. I wouldn't touch contrast, default usually means it isn't interfering with panel blocking Though I would drop the backlight right to zero, that shouldn't be too negative an impact. Usually that comes from messing with graphics card settings or contrast.
 
Snowdog said:
Wow. Sorry to hear that.

AFAIK, this is the dimmest 24" on the market. I wouldn't touch contrast, default usually means it isn't interfering with panel blocking Though I would drop the backlight right to zero, that shouldn't be too negative an impact. Usually that comes from messing with graphics card settings or contrast.
Click to expand...

There's very little difference between 0 - 15 on brightness. I'm using an nvidia NVS 290 card.

personal preference is such a big factor in choosing a monitor. Thanks for all your contributions.
 
Snowdog said:
I have owned panels of each type. TN, PVA, IPS.

The major factors in eyestrain for me have been (in order of how bad they are):
1) Brightness: Most big screens have over bright back lights. When they do have powerful back lights, turning them down often still results in poor color rendition and the contrast looks hideous if you are further forced to use the LCD itself to limit the light coming through even more. Solution: Avoid anything with a back light rated over 300cd/m2.

2) PVA panel angular gamma shift. Most people aren't bothered by this, but this affects me quite a bit. The gamma shift with small viewing angle changes is strongest with *VA screens. This can cause each eye to see a slightly different image which can be perceived as 3D cues, your eyes tend to work harder trying to pull out the 3D object (like a magic 3d picture) and hence eyestrain. I stress this is rare. Solution: Get and TN or IPS screen.

3) Neon Colors. I have a Dell 3007-HC in front of me right now. HC stands for Hi-Color or some such nonsense. Basically it is in the trend of "wide Gamut" monitors which will tend to give you neon Reds and Greens. These colors can actually hurt to look at and represent significant problems trying to correct. Solution: Get a non-neon standard gamut panel

4) Excess strong AG (Anti-glare) treatment that looks like dust on your screen. Mainly noticeably as a blotchy/sparkly looking dust over white text. Annoying and probably increases eyestrain. Solution: Looks for smoother AG coatings.


Recommendations: (Controlled brightness, Non VA, Less sparkly, non-neon):

Dim to fairly bright environment: Benq G2400 (nice low powered back light) <$400
Fairly bright to very bright environment: NEC 2490 (more powerful back light ) >$1000
Click to expand...
Hi Snowdog,
I've read your post in this forum http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1303943 #10
I' 100% agree with you, and I've the same problem at this moment.
I've buy a Dell U2410, and I can&#8217;t calibrate it to read comfortably. Now I use the Cool mode, brightness 0 and contrast 30.
But the horrible is the dust on my screen, like you said, and the white is not with, is a light blue due to a zero brightness.
I&#8217;ve my old screen and sheep, HP Pavillion w1907h with a glossy TN panel, who is as a perfect and comfortable image.
Now, I'll have to sell Dell (bought a month ago).
I do not know where to find a screen with the features of the HP Pavilion w2408h that is no longer manufactured. It is the one with the same features like Dell U2410 but Glossy.

If you know something says.

The features are ideal from my point of view:

Nínimo brightness - 60 cd/m2 brightness

Aspect Ratio - 16:10

Resolution - 1920 x 1200

Dot pitch:> 0.27

Panel type: TN or IPS Glossy (I doubt the advantage of the IPS to use text and internet, by comparison with my old HP TN)

Variation in height and rotation

If you don&#8217;t mind, I&#8217;d like to have your say 3 years later :D
Thanks
 
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Even a regular TN screen may be fine for you as they tend to have less aggressive coatings.

I don't really have anything new to add or specific recommendations.

What has changed in 3 years is that my monitor which was initially a little too bright has dimmed over time as all CCFL monitors do and today it is down to 70 cd/m2 brightness which is nice and dim.

All things are relative, you can compensate for a too bright screen buy increasing your room lighting.
 
Thanks,

The ambient light that I have is two lamps low power (11w each) because I am also concerned about the environment.

The problem of dust is the most annoying, white environments, especially when you move objects or menus.

Thanks for your answer
 
Ryle said:
god i want a NEC 2490 or 2690 they are so sex.. but so expensive.. u get what u pay for :D

they look like a panel that is worthy of replacing my FW900 CRT.. just one other thing im worried about is input lag for twitch games like cs1.6.
Click to expand...

The first gen 2490WUXi is next to impossible to find. The 2690WUXi is completely impossible to find.

Unfortunate because they are awesome displays.

I'd pay $700+ for a sealed 2490WUXi or 2690WUXi.
 
Luckily I have 2690 and I have one spare 2090, these old NEC beauties are awesome :)
 
Get a 30" monitor and increase the font size until it's comfortable for you.
 
Can somebody suggest me a 24 inch monitor that is easy for eyes. I'd like 16:10. I really can't decide, because of all this pwm flickering problems and agressive AG coatings.
 
I believe that VA is the best for text reading. VA LED backlit. LED will help with longer duration of reading and cause less eyestrain. VA helps with extremely accurate and sharp detail, better than TN or IPS
 
I've tried many displays that use LG panels and they all have a really bothersome antiglare coating. The effect is less noticeable though as the PPI of the monitor decreases. Maybe a 24" or 26" @ 1920x1200 wouldn't be as bothersome.

Whatever you finally decide on, make sure you buy it from a seller with a good return policy.
 
Just to add to this thread &#8211; I've plugged this monitor some time ago and I'm still delighted with it for text work as well as Quark, Photoshop, web design, etc.

It's the Eizo S2243W and it's a 22 inch PVA panel but with 1920x1200 resolution, so text is very good. The mild anti-glare is not an issue for me &#8211; I hated the AG on an HP panel I had though. The Eizo also has a low brightness text mode selectable from the front panel. The contrast and black are very good.

Eizo also does a 23 inch with 1920 x1080 resolution that is cheaper.

It is a bit expensive but if you're working in front of a screen all day then I'd say you owe it to yourself to get decent kit...
 
I use a Samsung 244t for text all day long. I think it is, because of the higher contrast of PVA displays, sharper than IPS. I owned an NEC LCD2490 until recently, so I have compared. I don't have a problem with the black crush or gamma shift of whatever you want to call it. So far as I know my eyes are not struggling to perceive a 3D image. This is said with complete respect to Snowdog, who has provided much intelligent advice here.

I do question whether the PVA displays are so contrasty that they overdo the contrast for image editing purposes. Images edited on the 244t seem to be less contrasty when seen elsewhere. That's why I hung onto the 2490, until the critical need disappeared. I have in reserve a couple of NEC LCD 2470WNX displays, a PVA model that seems to be quite close to the 2490 in terms of contrast.
 
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