Is my old Dell 3007 monitor giving me headaches and eye strain?

Chevy-SS

Chevy-SS

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Messages
265
I have been using a Dell 3007WFP 2560x1600 30" monitor (at 60hz) for a long time. It cost me almost $1,500, and that was about 15 years ago. I use it for business and general browsing, probably about 4-6 hours per day. I think it's giving me headaches and eye strain, because if I deliberately try to reduce usage, my headaches diminish.

The 2560x1600 resolution gives a nice, sharp image. But it's not doing me much good in the headache department. I'm wondering if I should switch to something else, but am kinda lost with all the different specs. I don't know if I should go bigger, smaller, curved, blue light reduction, etc, etc. I've been researching the topic, and there's lots of info.

However, there are a lot of really smart computer geeks on this forum 🙇‍♂️ , so I thought I'd ask for some advice and feedback before I buy something.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
That thing is so old, it still uses a CCFL backlight. Can you imagine staring at a fluorescent light all day? It doesn't surprise me at all that you are getting headaches. Pretty much any modern monitor with an LED backlight (or OLED) will be easier on the eyes.
 
If I was near you, I'd say it's really bad, I'll take care of it for you. I've got one and it's fine for me. But yeah. CCFL can be terrible. Aging ccfl doesn't make it better.

Get your eyes checked if you haven't in a while. And then grab a different monitor and see. You can get a nice monitor for a lot less today. Probably won't have component in though; but it also probably won't force you to use dual-link dvi or displayport to get full resolution.
 
GotNoRice said:
That thing is so old, it still uses a CCFL backlight. Can you imagine staring at a fluorescent light all day? It doesn't surprise me at all that you are getting headaches. Pretty much any modern monitor with an LED backlight (or OLED) will be easier on the eyes.
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I disagree.
LCD monitors didn't exactly get easier on eyes after switch from CCFL lamps to W-LED.

Then even after most monitors became "flicker free" (with LED flickering being much more offensive to eyes than PWM brightness control of CCFL lamps ever was) it only helped some of the eyestrain or more precisely for some people as some of us were never really affected by flickering. There are still better and worse monitors in terms of eye strain.

For example I had Acer XB271HK and I had to use it with very low brightness in desktop because it just didn't agree with my eyes. In games I raised brightness but not by much. Setting backlight brightness to 100% caused immediate pain. Then I switched to LG 27GP950 and this one didn't really bother me nearly as much and I can notabli use it at much higher brightness levels. Imho the difference is in light spectrum. Even when still using that Acer with AUO panel I had HP LP2480zx next to it and I could have it much brighter without much eye strain and that is despite it having very strong noticeable in movement PWM flickering. So some "LED" monitors can be worse while being flicker free than others flickering!

CCFL lamps similarly to W-LED differed in quality and some were more agreeable with my eyes than others. Differences weren't however nearly as big as with LED monitors. I would say best W-LEDs are better than best CCFLs and worst W-LEDs are worse than worst CCFLs.
 
Chevy-SS said:
I have been using a Dell 3007WFP 2560x1600 30" monitor (at 60hz) for a long time. It cost me almost $1,500, and that was about 15 years ago. I use it for business and general browsing, probably about 4-6 hours per day. I think it's giving me headaches and eye strain, because if I deliberately try to reduce usage, my headaches diminish.
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You had 15 years of experience with this monitor so was it always giving you eye strain or is this development recent?
s.
 
XoR_ said:
You had 15 years of experience with this monitor so was it always giving you eye strain or is this development recent?
s.
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I've had headaches (on right side) for many years, coincidentally about as long as I've owned the Dell 3007. They vary in intensity and duration. May go for week or two feeling fine. Actually had an MRI done couple of years back. Also have been removing some suspect teeth, replacing with implants (ridiculously expensive).

It's been quite a journey, but I am at the point now where I seem to notice a correlation between computer use and headaches. I know correlation is not necessarily causation, but I am at my wits end. If it costs me $1,000 to buy a new monitor, I am ecstatic to pay if it cures headache issue. I think I would literally pay almost any price if a monitor was guaranteed to be good for this issue. Thanks.... ;)
 
Just get a 27" LG Oled or the Asus that was just released if you want bigger get the 34" Alienware Oled I'm really sensitive to light I couldn't even use a Modern IPS panel I was using a VA panel for the past 4-5 years but switched to LG 27" Oled I still use a 21.5" Asus TN for my daily driver just because it's small and doesn't give me much of a problem.


https://tftcentral.co.uk/
 
I have the same monitor and no problems. IMHO it is a good unit. I spend more and more time on my Macbook, though.
 
Interesting seeing this thread pop up, I'm actually in the process of planning to replace the CCFL/Inverter in my Dell 2007WFP monitors with LEDs but these monitors are pretty complicated.. Maybe that's an avenue to explore to get away from the CCFLs and pwm flicker
 
Mode13 said:
Interesting seeing this thread pop up, I'm actually in the process of planning to replace the CCFL/Inverter in my Dell 2007WFP monitors with LEDs but these monitors are pretty complicated.. Maybe that's an avenue to explore to get away from the CCFLs and pwm flicker
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I know the 2007WFP was a great monitor, but is it really worth all that trouble?
 
Zinn said:
I know the 2007WFP was a great monitor, but is it really worth all that trouble?
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Definitely not worth it for any practical reason. I just like having a screen with analog (s-video/composite) inputs for my ancient games.. sure I could just buy scalers but meh... More of a hobby mixed with some nostalgia for me.
 
Chevy-SS said:
I've had headaches (on right side) for many years, coincidentally about as long as I've owned the Dell 3007. They vary in intensity and duration. May go for week or two feeling fine. Actually had an MRI done couple of years back. Also have been removing some suspect teeth, replacing with implants (ridiculously expensive).

It's been quite a journey, but I am at the point now where I seem to notice a correlation between computer use and headaches. I know correlation is not necessarily causation, but I am at my wits end. If it costs me $1,000 to buy a new monitor, I am ecstatic to pay if it cures headache issue. I think I would literally pay almost any price if a monitor was guaranteed to be good for this issue. Thanks.... ;)
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I can tell you're at your wit's end and probably rightfully so after years of this. Picking the right display for your eyes is as critical as the right input devices for your hands, or you're in for a world of pain (as you may have experienced).

That being said, I have a couple of the 3007wfp as well as a U3014 and the HP versions the zr30 (I've been using 2560x1600 since my CRT days so when these finally came down to <$200 used, I started picking them up). They all are slightly different on my eyes, especially depending on the ambient light. The 3007wfp is actually the easiest on my eyes, followed by the zr30 and then the u3014, and I'm spending probably 6-12hrs on these every day for the last decade+ now. The brightness and contrast adjustments might help or even the gamut/white balance. But after you've exhausted all that, I'd try out the other models of the 2560x1600 16:10 30" monitors out there (even Apple made one) as they're usually easy to find on CL if you're in a larger metro. I've actually picked up my HP ones for well under $100.
 
I have terrible eyestrain with certain monitors, and it does definitely lead to headaches. For me, its more about the finish than the backlight type. The further away from glossy it goes, the worse my reaction to it gets. I can sit in front of a 20 year old 1280x1024 glossy pixelated piece of crap with a CCFL backlight at work for hours with no problem, but my nice new Dell 1440p IPS panel hurts my eyes so bad I only use it when I'm testing a second system and I don't have to look at it for more than a couple of minutes at a time. The shimmery, oily, nasty matte coating is like looking through glasses that are all smudged up with fingerprints.
 
GotNoRice said:
That thing is so old, it still uses a CCFL backlight. Can you imagine staring at a fluorescent light all day? It doesn't surprise me at all that you are getting headaches. Pretty much any modern monitor with an LED backlight (or OLED) will be easier on the eyes.
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Going to have to disagree with you on this one. Work just got me a p3421w for home, hate it. picture even on the lowest brightness is way harder on my eyes than the CCFL of my U2311h. Maybe I'm getting old, but I can do without these LED IPS panels.
 
The 3007WFP might had its flaws, but it was the pinnacle of IPS during the late 2000s.

U3011 was basically the GDM-FW900 of IPS before FALD and Quantum-Dots being in used.
 
Xar said:
The 3007WFP might had its flaws, but it was the pinnacle of IPS during the late 2000s.

U3011 was basically the GDM-FW900 of IPS before FALD and Quantum-Dots being in used.
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Very cool as I think I have both of those--what changed on the U3014? I think I have one of those and 2x hp zr30w, which remind me of the 3007wfp in terms of their performance.
 
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