[PCM2]

Well I did say my previous post. So naturally it would be on page 29 (I post a lot you see) – https://forum.pcmonitors.info/topic/easiest-monitor-on-eyes-for-daily-usage/page/29/#post-37783. 🙂

[toddreg]

So, you are saying the 27’s settings are acceptable for the 24″ also??

[PCM2]

No, I made some specific recommendations but note what I also said about inter-unit variation.

[toddreg]

Well one difference is the Gamma adjustment is greyed out and can not be changed on the 24″ model for starters.

[PCM2]

Then you must have the monitor set to an inflexible preset mode such as sRGB. Again; refer to the calibration section of the EW2750ZL review because that will show you what presets will allow you to activate or adjust which settings.

[bryan89]

I have had major problems with computer eyestrain all my life and have struggled to find solutions. Nothing I have tried has ever worked. I am able to read from paper without problems.

The latest thing I am thinking about trying is the Dasung e-ink monitor.
My understanding is that this is an e-ink display, similar to Amazon’s Paperwhite Kindle e-book reader.
I have tried the Paperwhite Kindle, and I love the display. It is almost like reading from paper.

I heard about the company Dasung only a few months ago. Dasung made a “pre-production” batch of 100 units of this e-ink monitor about a year ago. Now they are building another 100 unit batch of these monitors and offering them for sale. Their e-ink monitor has a 13.3″ display and costs about $1,000. Dasung is a Chinese company, and they only take payments by Paypal. I am nervous about buying from them, but I am also desperate to find a solution to my eyestrain.

A year ago I researched computer eyestrain, and I thought going with a high resolution display would help my problem. So I bought the iMac with 5K 27″ display. It does not flicker, and the text is super crisp. But unfortunately, it has not helped my eyestrain. In the past I even tried using a projection display on a wall, but I still had eyestrain with that.

Any opinions?

Thank you very much!!

[PCM2]

Hi bryan89 and welcome.

I’m sorry to hear that you’re having such a tough time with monitors. As this thread demonstrates there are many factors that could be contributing towards your eye strain. The iMac 5K display uses a wide colour gamut (GB-LED or similar) backlight, so that rules out spectral sensitivity to the usual WLED. There is still the possibility of spectral sensitivity to the GB-LED or similar backlight, although I think I’d try to rule out other possibilities first. What brightness were you using on the iMac 5K display and how was the room lit? It is potentially an extremely bright display. It apparently verges on cool white as well, so overall blue light output could be an issue for you. Have you tried using F.lux and if so does this help at all with discomfort?

[bryan89]

Hi PCM2. Thank you very much for your help.

I still use the iMac with 5K display. I normally use it with fairly low brightness (3 out of 16 tick marks). I use it in all different lighting conditions. From natural to artificial lighting and bright to fairly dark.
I also do use F.lux. F.lux might be providing some help, it is difficult to be sure. Because eyestrain is something that is so difficult to quantify. I just know that I still have major trouble.

The only eye problems that I have ever been diagnosed with are near sightedness and dry eyes. I wear glasses; I think it’s a moderate prescription. I have tried many types of artificial tears, and they never have really helped; they seem to actually cause irritation, even the preservative-free types. When I don’t look at the computer I don’t have eye trouble and don’t need artificial tears.
There was one period in my life when the eyestrain actually went away. I had taken some time off, and I got a lot of rest and exercise. Low and behold when I went back to the computer I had no eyestrain! But after several months the problem eventually came back.

Thank you very much again for all the information and any suggestions.

[annie]

Hi.

I’m looking for a monitor to replace my iiyama Prolite E1900WS as it seems to be playing up. I tried an NEC MultiSync E201W display but I found I couldn’t get on with it. My eyes were really hurting and I just couldn’t seem to adjust it so that viewing became more comfortable. I don’t know whether it’s different technology to my iiyama or not. I also found that towards the edges of the NEC, the colour would be different even when I was viewing it straight on, most noticable with white backgrounds.

I run a dual monitor setup for desktop work, browsing, email, web design, etc. My other monitor is a very old 15 inch L5AK5 which I seem to get on with fine.

I really want to keep to a smaller monitor similar to my 19 inch as I found the 20 inch was wider and my neck was getting strained. It was also very odd to read web pages such as Wikipedia where the text goes right across the whole screen when the monitor was so wide.

My old 19 inch was 1440 x 900 resolution and, ideally I’d like this again but I’m rather anxious about the eye strain factor having tried and failed with the NEC.

Having read a bit about monitors recently I have to admit to being completely bamboozled about what to buy. I was looking at the Dell P2016 but I don’t know whether this has the technology to counter the flicker and the blue light issue. IS IPS better than TN for eye strain?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Annie

[PCM2]

Hi Annie,

Unfortunately manufacturers have shifted their focus onto larger screens. Anything under 21.5″ is quite rare for modern monitors, and even then 23″+ is far more common. I appreciate that you’re used to much smaller screens, but you would probably have an easier time in your quest for viewing comfort and the sort of features you’re after if you’re willing to accept a larger screen. Plus having a slightly higher resolution is nice. We all used smaller monitors at some point in our lives (well I certainly have), but it’s quite easy to adapt to larger screens as long as you have the desk space. It would be very unusual to have ‘neck strain’ on a 20″ 16:9 monitor simply because of its width – it’s still very small by today’s standards and that might suggest a postural or screen positioning problem rather than the monitor itself being too wide physically. You don’t have to go crazy and get a 32″ model or anything like that, but perhaps even bumping up to 21.5″ would be helpful. You could also move the model further back, at least initially (if your desk is deep enough) until you get used to the size. It does take time to adapt, but having experienced standalone monitors ranging in size from ~17″ to ~40″ and having recommended larger and larger screens to users used to smaller models over the years, know adaptation is very possible.

IPS is generally superior to TN for eye strain simply because they are usually set up better out of the box. There are also a broader range of options with ‘useful features’ for reduced eyestrain (such as Low Blue Light type settings, low minimum luminances and less aggressive and grainy matte screen surfaces) in IPS flavour than TN. It’s simply the more ubiqituous technology these days, especially outside of high refresh rate monitors designed primarily for gaming. I certainly wouldn’t discount VA models, either. These are favoured by some users for the ‘inky’ look they give text, relative lack of ‘glow’, fairly light to light screen surfaces which are common on them and the fact they rarely use dithering. Not that most users would be sensitive to that when it comes to eye strain, however.

My lack of experience with smaller monitors (to me, even 23″ is small) means that it’s very difficult to recommend any particular model. I certainly feel having a flicker-free backlight is an advantage, but that’s not always openly advertised on a model and sometimes it is advertised but turns out not to be the case. For example, I can’t say whether this applies to the Dell P2016. If you want a model guaranteed to be flicker-free in this sort of size with ‘Low Blue Light’ settings to boot, you’d best look towards BenQ as these are standard features on all of their new models. They have a reasonable range of 19-20″ screens to choose from as well. And a good range of 21.5″ models, including those with superior panel types and resolutions.

[annie]

Many thanks PCM2 for your detailed reply. I contacted Dell today via online chat and the person was hopeless, he didn’t even know about low blue light technology so I had no confidence in anything I was being told.

The reason I struggled with the NEC monitor ergonomically is because the widescreen monitor sits on my right and, I think because I hold my mouse in the right hand, I tend to be turned more towards the left monitor. This meant I had to turn my head further to the right to view the furthest part of the NEC monitor. I’m a creature of habit and don’t want to switch my setup.

I have come across a 19 inch Asus BE209QLB on the web and it looks as though it may fulfill my needs which I agree are quite particular. It talks about flicker-free and lbl. I would have liked a silver monitor as the black frame distracts me but at least it is a matte finish which is why I don’t think the Benq’s will be suitable. The downside is I can’t find a review of the BE209QLB and it doesn’t seem to be readily available.

I never thought buying a new monitor would be so fraught with problems.

[PCM2]

Oh yes, the world of monitors is an absolute minefield. Far less straightforward than other aspects of the computer! 🙂

I’m sure you know better than anybody else what you find comfortable and uncomfortable in your dual-monitor setup, so I can see that settling with a smaller model would be preferable. Whilst I haven’t used the ASUS BE209QLB, from my experience with ASUS models sharing such technologies I can say that you can take them for their word. This model will be flicker-free, whilst the ASUS implementation of the ‘Low Blue Light’ settings are also very good. And it also ticks that ‘IPS’ box, so at least you can expect that the default setup should be half decent.

[annie]

Thanks again for getting back to me PCM2. I had difficulty finding the Asus so I’ve taken the plunge and ordered the Dell from Amazon. I’m hoping I’m happy with it when it comes but at least Amazon are pretty good at refunds so I don’t think I have too much to lose. I have no idea if it is flicker-free but it is an IPS monitor of the size and resolution I’m looking for. I’m not sure what the Anti-Glare with 3H hardness coating is going to be like. My husband has a Dell Touchscreen and I’m really hoping it’s not like that as his is like the anti-reflective glass you can get on pictures – sparkly and crystal-like.

Thanks for your help and advice.

[PCM2]

Out of interest, did you go to Amazon via our website?

[annie]

Sorry, PCM2, I didn’t spot it. I’ll bear it in mind when I come to replace my 15inch monitor.

[PCM2]

No worries. I hope you enjoy the monitor and find it comfortable for you. 🙂

[wg200]

Hello!

I’m trying to find easiest monitor for my eyes and really need your advice..

You recommended benq monitor with blue tech, so I found the latest one – ew2755zh, it is available in China, the main problem is that review on this monitor is saying that the most part of this monitor is marketing and the monitor is usual

https://kheresy.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/benq-ew2755zh-review/comment-page-1/
It is in Chinese, so used google translate – need your opinion

Second one is new Philips 241p6epjeb – it is also equipped with low blue light features.

And the third one is asus mx259 – all features included, it is recommended buy another forum.

So what do you think? Which one is better? (I understand that you didn’t tested this, but you can just tell me your opinion 🙂

Thank you in advance!

[PCM2]

Hi wg200 and welcome,

I read the review in Google Chrome (so it translates) but the translation wasn’t exactly great. As I understand it, though, they weren’t criticising the ‘Low Blue Light’ method by saying that it wasn’t working or wasn’t effective. Rather that there were other presets or settings on the monitor that achieve the same thing. That’s exactly what is explained and explored in this thread. Even though you can achieve similar results with other settings, it’s still nice to have a variety of easy to access ‘Low Blue Light’ settings.

As with the BenQ, the LBL (Low Blue Light) settings of the ASUS MX259H work by reducing the relative strength of the blue colour channel. The image looks warmer as a result and it is well suited to relaxing evening viewing where blue light output should be reduced (it is stimulating before bed, which is not a good thing). The Philips 241P6EPJEB uses a different approach, dubbed ‘SoftBlue’. This is exactly the same approach that closely allied AOC uses and calls ‘Anti-Blue Light technology’. This ‘shifts’ the spectral peak of blue light to a lower energy wavelength and therefore reduces the intensity of blue light.

The advantage of the ‘SoftBlue’ approach is that colours look the same (the screen doesn’t become ‘warmer’ in tone), which is good for colour critical work. The downside is that the ‘less intense’ blue light emitted is still just as stimulating to the body. So it does not have the same relaxing effect on the body as actually reducing the blue colour channel. I prefer the approach used by BenQ and ASUS, but it really depends what you want to do with the monitor. If you’re just wanting the monitor for overall viewing comfort (reading, browsing the internet etc.) then to me the EW2755ZH seems very well suited.

[wg200]

Thank you for your great and fast answer! I guess now my choice will be EW2755ZH 🙂

[Yxwagu]

Hi and sorry for my english, I thought to post here because I’m looking for a monitor that takes care of my eyes, this is the first necessity, infact I spend more of ten hours in front of my monitor.

Other requirements:
23-24 inch
1080p, even if I prefer 1200p for my type of use but look at the budget
budget: less than €200 but less is better
use: for the most part web navigation, secondly for gaming and possibly a few films per years

Now I have this monitor: http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-syncmaster-710mp-lcd-monitor-17-series/specs/

I also took a look to a minor resolution, but it is probably unhistorical (what do you think about?).

So, I’m thinking to buy an ips monitor, any idea?

Thanks

[Author]

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