Monitor for reading text with progressive lenses

[shmu26]

My primary monitor is a 27’‘ ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ1A.
I wear progressive lenses.
I work as a translator, so I eyeball text on the monitor for hours on end. Gaming is not my thing.
I run Windows 11 and sometimes Linux.
Is this TUF monitor serving my purposes well, or could I do better? If the latter, what would you suggest?27’‘ or 32’‘? 4K or not? What specific models might be good for me?

 

[Nobu]

If you are leaning in, get a larger monitor with the same resolution. If you are straining but not leaning in, maybe try a monitor with a higher refresh rate or bigger resolution, or maybe adjust the angle of the monitor.

I can't suggest specific monitors, as I have no experience with progressive lenses or newer monitors.

It may also just need to be lower or higher in your vision, so you aren't looking through the part of your lens between near and far.

 

[LukeTbk]

That monitor is 170hz I doubt there is much gain to be made in that regard, you can make sure that it is in 170hz mode in your setting to see if it feel different (),

If you have a chance to look at text on an Apple studio display or other apple monitor (someone or in store, costco, bestbuy, etc... could have in laptop or iMac form some you can test) that could be one way to see, Apple focus a lot of text quality/comfort over gaming performance and is among the top usually in that regard on anything they do.

That kind of thing is quite person by person ( a bit like refresh rate on CRT back in the days, some did not mind 60hz, others were ok at 75 and diminishing return after 85 others had an hard time below 120...)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-c8ea729e-0678-015c-c415-f806f04aae5a

Change the refresh rate on your monitor in Windows​

Applies To


Windows 11Windows 10

Summary​

The refresh rate of a display is the number of times per second that the image refreshes on the screen. For example, a 60Hz display will update the screen 60 times per second.

What are the benefits of changing the display refresh rate?​

The benefits of changing the display refresh rate depend on the type of content you are viewing and the capabilities of your display. Some of the benefits are:

• Gaming: A higher refresh rate can improve your gaming experience by reducing motion blur and screen tearing. It can give you a competitive edge in fast-paced games by reducing input lag and increasing responsiveness.
• Browsing and Inking: A higher refresh rate can make scrolling and using a digital pen more fluid and natural. It can also reduce eye strain and fatigue by minimizing flicker and ghosting.
• Battery Life: Lowering your refresh rate can save battery power by reducing the amount of energy your display consumes. This can be useful when you are using a laptop or tablet and want to extend your battery life.

To change the refresh rate​

Display refresh rate changes can be made from the Advanced display settings:

• Select Start >Settings > System > Display > Advanced display .

The Display information panel shows the current resolution and refresh rate for the selected display, and whether the display supports variable refresh rate (VRR).
If your motivation for changing the display refresh rate is to improve your gaming experience, you may find this unnecessary if your display supports VRR, as many popular game titles automatically use VRR to dynamically adapt the refresh rate to provide the best gaming experience.
To change the refresh rate from the Advanced display settings page:

• Select the rate you want next to Choose a refresh rate.

 

[shmu26]

I don't feel I am straining or leaning in, but I am wondering whether I could get crisper and clearer fonts that would reduce eye stress

 

[Nobu]

If text isn't clear, either the resolution you are using isn't optimal for that monitor (it's stretching/scaling the image), or your eyes aren't focusing properly (poor lighting, incorrect distance, wrong prescription, tired eye muscles), or the font is bad or hinting is setup wrong.

 

[Nobu]

Try increasing the font size one or two pts, that may be all you need.

 

[shmu26]

I have the resolution at 1920 X 1080, because the recommended 2560 X 1440 makes everything too small, and I need to scale. Will I get better fonts at a high res with scaling, or a medium res without scaling?

 

[pendragon1]

since you have it, try it.
if youre still not happy with it, look at a dell ultra sharp

 

[DogsofJune]

I wear progressives, never thought it made everything "too small". I have a few 2560x1440's at 28", and spend most of my time in front of a 5120x1440 and 32" 4k's at work.

When was the last time you updated your prescription? What was the screen size of the 2560x1440's?

 

[LukeTbk]

I have the resolution at 1920 X 1080, because the recommended 2560 X 1440 makes everything too small, and I need to scale. Will I get better fonts at a high res with scaling, or a medium res without scaling?

with LCD in general native resolution is significantly better (unlike the CRT of the past that did not had one) it is not only that 1440p would be clearer than 1080p but also that native tend to look better as it let the monitor to the upscaling and they are not necessarily equiped has well as an OS to do it for the fonts/in general.

Going to 1440p with 125-150% scaling (or 200-300% you can go as big as you want for bigger text) is something to absolutely try, https://www.windowscentral.com/how-adjust-display-scale-settings-windows-11

 

[Nobu]

Better to pick native res and scale UI larger. It sucks and it's buggy in some programs, but it'll be 100% better than a lower resolution scaled up (especially if it's not integer scaling).

 

[Sycraft]

Aside from monitor considerations, I would recommend looking at getting computer glasses. Instead of the progressive view, they are close-vision only. Anything far, or even medium, distance will be blurry but your entire FOV is good for close viewing. It is how I like to computer these days. It does mean you have to switch glasses when you get up, but it can help with eye strain a lot.

You can also look at trying different fonts. Two that are specifically designed for people with vision impairments are the APHont Font and Atkinson Hyperlegible. They are basic sans-serif fonts but with spacing and weighting specifically designed to make them as easy to read as possible.

For monitors in general bigger is better than smaller and high rez is better when used with upscaling. The higher the resolution, and the scaling factor, the less you rely on things like subpixel AA and hinting and the more you just get clean curves on the font. So like a Dell 32" 6k monitor would be great, though expensive. Here you'd set the scaling to 200-250% depending on your specific needs and the pixels would be so small as to be invisible, giving you extremely smooth text. That said a 32" 4k monitor at 125-150% will still be quite smooth and much cheaper.

The only way I wouldn't do scaling is if your software just doesn't work with it. High resolution with scaling looks cleaner and easier to read than low resolution without scaling. Most software these days is DPI aware and scales without error. All the MS Office apps and all the browsers scale great.

 

[elvn]

Aside from monitor considerations, I would recommend looking at getting computer glasses. Instead of the progressive view, they are close-vision only. Anything far, or even medium, distance will be blurry but your entire FOV is good for close viewing. It is how I like to computer these days. It does mean you have to switch glasses when you get up, but it can help with eye strain a lot.

100%. I have a pair of glasses I use just for my pc that have a different focal distance than my other glasses I use for reading, or progressives I wear around everywhere so I can read my phone, or bifocal sunglasses I wear driving so I can read the vehicles smart screen better.

Even if you can focus well enough using a certain focal length pair of glasses that you already have, it may not be the best focal length glasses to be using vs strain at your pc. A different focal length use specifically for that setup might be less strenuous.

. . . . .

If I was getting headaches at my pc, I'd probably try out some blue blocker ones, too, but I've never used those. Redesigning your direct and ambient lighting as necessary, and using bias lighting behind your screen, can also help because we view everything relatively. Some of my old LCD monitors from a very long time ago had a specific "reading" picture mode with lower contrast/brightness, so setting up a color profile for that when doing 100% text based stuff for hours on end might help, too ("kindle mode" so to speak).

There an app called f.lux that adjust screen parameters for you, which might help. There are a few others with similar functionality:

Windows apps to automatically control screen warmth and brightness based on the time of day are f.lux (specializes in warmth) and Twinkle Tray (specializes in brightness). They adjust to natural lighting cycles, reducing blue light at night to improve sleep and optimizing brightness for productivity.
Top Recommended Apps:

• f.lux (Free): The industry standard for adjusting color temperature (warmth) based on your local sunrise and sunset. It makes your screen look like sunlight during the day and warm at night.
• Twinkle Tray (Free): Excellent for managing brightness on single or multiple monitors, allowing you to set schedules for automatic adjustments.
• Auto Screen Brightness (Free/Store): Ideal for granular control over brightness, including setting specific schedules to shift screen intensity throughout the day.
• CareUEyes (Freemium): Combines blue light filtering (warmth) with screen dimming (brightness) and offers preset modes (Reading, Movie).

Key Considerations:

• f.lux is better if your primary goal is to reduce eye strain and manage color warmth at night.
• Twinkle Tray or Auto Screen Brightness is better if you have multiple monitors and want to control their backlight brightness without using physical buttons

. . . .

The only thing I can think of that might not work for him with full-frame glasses is that he said he is doing translations. If he's translating from physical books and paperwork, he may need to use bifocals instead, like the kind with a small window area at the bottom rather than 1/2 or 1/3 frame. Transitional lenses are good for daywear moving around, but they can cause eyestrain because there is no cutoff, and I find they can be a little disorienting on stairs, etc at times if you aren't used to wearing them every day for that reason, too. If he's translating from on screen material to on-screen translation, then he might benefit from two screens or an ultrawide for a more comfortable side by side view.

Some kind of cam setup or pre-scanning to project physical media onto a screen might be better vs physical documents if possible, since that would keep your focus on the same screen distance instead of switching back and forth between nearer physical documents constantly.

. . .

As a side note - VR tech development is working on something called "varifocal lenses". They originally used a mechanical actuator to just move a lens forward and back to change the focal distance, but modern in-house development uses different screen layers that are activated, where each layer has a different focal point. As far as I know there are no "regular" daily glasses incorporating this tech yet, but it would be great if it became small enough and was a thing in the future, combined with something like rayban meta style integrated AI, it could even identify what you are looking at and focus automatically rather than just using distance sensing, and learn your usage patterns over time so it would improve.

. . .

Varifocal VR lenses using stacked, independently activated screen layers, such as liquid crystal (LC) lens layers, solve the vergence-accommodation conflict by dynamically adjusting the focus to match where the user is looking. This technology allows virtual objects to appear at various distances (from 25 cm to infinity) rather than a fixed plane, improving comfort.
Key Aspects of Layer-Based Varifocal Technology:

• Active Lens Stacks: Prototypes like Meta's Half Dome 3 utilize a stack of liquid crystal lens layers, applying voltage to individual layers to change the focus.
• Variable Focus: These layers can be activated in combinations to provide a smooth, rapid change of focus across a wide range.
• Benefits: By enabling the human eye to focus correctly on objects at different depths, it eliminates the eye strain and blurred near-object issues associated with traditional fixed-focus VR.
• Components: This approach often works alongside eye-tracking to determine the gaze point and adjust the focus accordingly.

While some systems use physical mechanical actuators to move displays, this layered liquid crystal approach offers a more compact and solid-state solution

It's been in development for a long time and is taking a long time to come to market in VR, but there's hope for it someday. I hope it comes to regular glasses or daywear smart glasses / XR glasses in the long run, too.

https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-retinal-resolution-varifocal-prototype/ (2023 article)

In 2019, Facebook described Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3. Half Dome 2 used more reliable actuators and a more compact (but lower field of view) design. Half Dome 3, however, took a completely new approach with no moving parts. Instead of moving the displays, Half Dome 3 uses a stack of liquid crystal lens layers with voltage applied to activate them in different combinations for varying focus distances.

Meta says the varifocal prototype being shown at SIGGRAPH 2023 is capable of supporting accommodation from 25 cm to infinity, so you could focus on objects up close or in the far distance. It hasn't yet confirmed how the new prototype's varifocal technology works, though.

In 2020, Facebook's Director of Display Systems Research described varifocal optics as "almost ready for primetime", but when showing the Mirror Lake compact varifocal concept last year Mark Zuckerberg suggested its technology won't be seen in products until “the second half of the decade”.

.

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Vergence-Accommodation Conflict: Facebook Research Explains Why Varifocal Matters For Future VR

View: https://youtu.be/YWA4gVibKJE?t=165

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. . .

 

[shmu26]

Interesting you guys brought up the subject of glasses, because I had cataract surgery on my left eye about 6 years ago, and in a few days, I am going in for it on my right eye.
So after the healing period, I will be looking to buy new eyeglasses.
I always shied away from middle range "computer" glasses because I so often get up and do something, or someone walks in to talk to me, or I want to look in a physical book. So it always seemed to make more sense to just wear progressive lenses, rather than switching glasses so much. Even though my source text when translating is on the screen, not in a physical book, 99% of the time. Not sure which way to go.

AFAIK, VR glasses are not yet at the point where they are a viable alternative to a traditional monitor for productivity. Correct?

 

[elvn]

Interesting you guys brought up the subject of glasses, because I had cataract surgery on my left eye about 6 years ago, and in a few days, I am going in for it on my right eye.
So after the healing period, I will be looking to buy new eyeglasses.
I always shied away from middle range "computer" glasses because I so often get up and do something, or someone walks in to talk to me, or I want to look in a physical book. So it always seemed to make more sense to just wear progressive lenses, rather than switching glasses so much. Even though my source text when translating is on the screen, not in a physical book, 99% of the time. Not sure which way to go.

AFAIK, VR glasses are not yet at the point where they are a viable alternative to a traditional monitor for productivity. Correct?

They daily wear "XR" glasses that are more of a sunglasses format are the way forward, but they are still in their infancy and stuck at 1080p, so no, not good enough yet.

The apple vision pro are higher rez but they are like wearing ski goggles, (and they don't do passthrough, only video feed of your room) so not great either. Someyear the smaller tech will get more like those in resolution and polish though I suspect.

I always shied away from middle range "computer" glasses because I so often get up and do something, or someone walks in to talk to me, or I want to look in a physical book.

The vision comfort it worth the annoyance of taking the glasses off for me. I just drop them onto my keyboard or near to it upside down when walking away.

At work, I've used zip/slide cable style behind the head connectors, on transition/photochromic (darkening) wrap around safety bifocal glasses (that look kind of like something bono from U2 would wear) . They quickly slide a fitting on the back to loosen and hang at your chest. Old guy problems ..

. .

The varifocal tech that isn't available yet is a high tech version of multi-focal points/lenses, made in-house for vr development, but hopefully some version of it will make it to eyeglasses in the long run.

 

[Sycraft]

I always shied away from middle range "computer" glasses because I so often get up and do something, or someone walks in to talk to me, or I want to look in a physical book. So it always seemed to make more sense to just wear progressive lenses, rather than switching glasses so much. Even though my source text when translating is on the screen, not in a physical book, 99% of the time. Not sure which way to go.

I mean, I'd give them a try if you can afford it. For a book, they'd be fine. They basically are good for anything around arm's length and a little longer. It isn't like they are fixed on just the monitor. As for other activities, it depends on how your vision is uncorrected. For me, it is ok enough that if someone comes to talk to me, I generally either just keep them on, as someone at mid-range is just a little fuzzy, or I push them down on my nose and look over them. For getting up I often just take them off and don't switch to my other glasses, since I can get around fine with none, and put them back on when I sit down.

It may not work out, everyone is different, I just find I really like it because it means the whole screen is nice and crisp no matter where I look.

 

[tordogs]

Interesting you guys brought up the subject of glasses, because I had cataract surgery on my left eye about 6 years ago, and in a few days, I am going in for it on my right eye.
So after the healing period, I will be looking to buy new eyeglasses.
I always shied away from middle range "computer" glasses because I so often get up and do something, or someone walks in to talk to me, or I want to look in a physical book. So it always seemed to make more sense to just wear progressive lenses, rather than switching glasses so much. Even though my source text when translating is on the screen, not in a physical book, 99% of the time. Not sure which way to go.

AFAIK, VR glasses are not yet at the point where they are a viable alternative to a traditional monitor for productivity. Correct?

I've had for years a pair of glasses strictly for computer use. The upper part is "mid-distance" I guess you'd call it for viewing the monitors. The lower part is bifocal for close reading and such. That way I can look at the monitor in focus and then look down to read an article or write while using the bifocal part. Only need to change the glasses prescription if I change the distance I sit from the monitors--doc measures the distance from my eyes to the screen. That is about to happen as just got a third monitor so the focal length is a bit off. Have had a couple of really good friends who were optometrists and they never suggested progressive lenses, especially for technical work. The progressive lenses can hide the fact that one needs differing lenses but I never cared. Prefer the sharp distinction in focal lengths.

Actually I have four different pairs of glasses. Two are trifocal for driving, seeing instrument cluster and reading a map or something up close --one pair clear, the other sunglasses. Then the computer glasses with the two different focal lengths (basically the bottom two diopters from my driving glasses; mid and close), then a pair just for close work (instrument repair and calibration), that uses the bottom diopter or focal length for close vision and even stronger diopter for really close. The driving glasses pretty much stay in the car, the computer glasses stay home and the work glasses never leave work.

The driving lenses are full size. The monitor glasses are a little larger than half size and the work glasses about half-size lenses so I can look over them or push up onto my forehead if I don't need them for a bit--or a strap and they can just fall down over my chest. A co-worker has frames that come apart in the middle then can be put back together when needed--they hang on a strap when not in use.

It just made more sense than trying to use one pair of "do it all" lenses. That way the monitor doesn't matter nearly as much as the corrective lenses. I use 32" 4K monitors of varying types. Can get the different glasses for less than the cost of a bunch of new monitors or even one really good one.

There's also these:

https://www.en-flexfocus.com/

Tried them but also a "one size fits all" solution. Also, no correction for astigmatism that I have.

Good for you on the cataract surgery. Need to get that done one of these days.