Is screen res what determines ease of reading?

[Fifty]

I'm gonna have to read from a computer screen a lot, which I traditionally dislike because it is tough on my eyes.

If I buy a new laptop, would screen resolution be the stat to look for for determining what sort of computer would be easiest on the eyes?

I'm looking for a windows laptop.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I turn the font size up and put smoothing on the fonts (and ClearType helps for laptops and LCD screens).

A big hi res screen allows you to have smaller readable text but I like bigger text myself.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

On an LCD, doesnt the backlight matter somewhat? I find if its too bright it hurts.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

You might be able to turn down the gamma settings of the monitor (how bright it is).

EDIT: I've got XP and it's a graphics card setting there I think though.

 

[Speedo]

If you're talking about serious reading, like books and documents and so on, I'd seriously look into an e-reader like the Kindle. Their eink screens are fantastic with basically no eye strain compared to traditional LCD's. The Kindle is very reasonably priced, for $140.

 

[GenMarshall]

You can always get a magnifying glass program to use (The one I've linked to is a freeware version. Can also be suitable for use in a USB stick).

 

[Cutlass]

Try changing your screen colors. I find that when having trouble reading, one thing that seriously increases the problem is white backgrounds. Changing it to a medium gray is vastly better. That and large fonts.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I find that its not necessarily the one thing, the resolution, that matters, but a combination of panel size, resolution and quality.

A high-res small panel is hard to read, and a low-res large panel is too jaggy to read. Similarly, a crappy TFT panel with bad colors, below-avg backlight and bad viewing angles can also increase eye strain.

If you are talking about reading books, then Speedo's suggest is probably the best. A good e-reader such as the Kindle looks great for text.

 

[GoodGame]

I'm gonna have to read from a computer screen a lot, which I traditionally dislike because it is tough on my eyes.

If I buy a new laptop, would screen resolution be the stat to look for for determining what sort of computer would be easiest on the eyes?

I'm looking for a windows laptop.

The refresh rate of your monitor/screen is also important. 75 Hz or better for example, though not an issue if you don't use CRT. Which you aren't with a laptop, likely. But with LCD larger displays could reduce eyestrain, as could increasing the font size.

Also reflected room glare on your screen can cause it.

Also you can use "Cleartype fonts". Windows 7 has a "Cleartype tuner". In XP, you have to turn on the Cleartype fonts.

Other tips: http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/irritated.htm

 

[Zelig]

I find that its not necessarily the one thing, the resolution, that matters, but a combination of panel size, resolution and quality.

A high-res small panel is hard to read, and a low-res large panel is too jaggy to read. Similarly, a crappy TFT panel with bad colors, below-avg backlight and bad viewing angles can also increase eye strain.

If you are talking about reading books, then Speedo's suggest is probably the best. A good e-reader such as the Kindle looks great for text.

I endorse this post.

I have not tried it myself, but intuitively, I would think that for optimal ease-of-reading on an LCD screen, I would want to get as a large a screen as possible, turn up the font size, and sit well back.

 

[Perfection]

When I got my 1080p 15 inch laptop I had to go in and tweak all the font sizes for everything. It was barely readable. I still run into problems with programs that don't have text size controls.

I'd recommend 720p 15 inch.

 

[Furiey]

You want a good resolution and increase the font size. This will give good quality fonts (as others have said use font smoothing) but make them large enough to read without getting blocky. A lower resolution but the same font size will not be as smooth.

Pick your panel size so that you get enough on the screen for the font size that you want, then a higher resolution at the same panel size will give you clearer fonts.

You may also want to experiement with colour, both of the background and the font itself.

Sans serif fonts are usually easier to read as are left aligned rather than fully justified paragraphs as it makes it easier to read from one line to the next.

Like everything though, personal preference stands for a lot. As suggested, if it's books, an e-book reader would be better as they are optimised for reading text.

 

[Narnia]

I go to an online school so I am reading off a laptop screen all day long. Turn the brightness on the screen down to the lowest possible setting, sit back and make the font bigger, and read in a well lit room. Finally, I asked an eye doctor about this a while ago and he said looking at something at least 30 feet away for a few seconds every 15mins or so would do wonders at preventing eyestrain. However I can't remember exactly what he said as this advice was given several years ago.


Edit: MS Word has a mode that makes it easier to read text. Just copy paste the text into a word doc and turn on this mode. Sorry I can't remember what it's name is however.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Turn brightness up. 80% or so on most laptop screens is good -- bright but not garish. You do not want to make it less than that. There is less contrast and thus more eyestrain.

 

[Zelig]

Turn brightness up. 80% or so on most laptop screens is good -- bright but not garish. You do not want to make it less than that. There is less contrast and thus more eyestrain.

Hm, this is generally the opposite of what I've noticed with desktop monitors.

My main monitor is blinding at default settings; I've used a hardware calibrator on it, and generally run it at 35% brightness for comfortable use.

 

[Narnia]

Hm, this is generally the opposite of what I've noticed with desktop monitors.

My main monitor is blinding at default settings; I've used a hardware calibrator on it, and generally run it at 35% brightness for comfortable use.

I turn my brightness settings down all the way and my contrast settings up.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Hm, this is generally the opposite of what I've noticed with desktop monitors.

My main monitor is blinding at default settings; I've used a hardware calibrator on it, and generally run it at 35% brightness for comfortable use.

I guess all my laptops may have been biased towards decent brightness settings then. My desktop monitor was much too bright as well. At 80% its pretty much the most I can take without having to squint. I generally keep it at 50% though.

My laptop screen on the other hand has a sharp dropoff between 70 and 80%, so much that 70% becomes too dark while 80% is just fine and 90% is washed-out bright.

 

[B-29 Bomber]

somewhat. I found that when I changed to a 23 inch wide screen and changed it to 1920x1080 it made the print smaller but I did get used to it.

 

[civ_king]

Hm, this is generally the opposite of what I've noticed with desktop monitors.

My main monitor is blinding at default settings; I've used a hardware calibrator on it, and generally run it at 35% brightness for comfortable use.

It's probably because energy use in a laptop is constrained, my uncle's ACD OTOH will sear your eyes at max brightness

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

make sure youre also a comfortable distance from your monitor. I read an arms length but I dunno how true it is. You dont want it up in your face. And make your chair go up or down so its level. Stretch your neck makes that hurt.