Please help! Free standing monitor equivalent of my laptop screen

[ithilien]

Hi all,

First of all hi everyone. This is my first post and it will be a long one (sorry, but thank you for reading to the end).

I'm quite desperate. I have very sensitive and pretty crap eyes (-8.00 if that rings a bell) and I get migraines at work EVERY SINGLE DAY because of the computer screens.

It first started a year or 2 ago; both at work as well as at home on all screens I used. Nothing can be done about it they told me - so I just had to bear it.
However a few months ago my Sony Vaio laptop died (after only 2 years - and completely just died one day - anyhow that's a different story). So I went and got a new Acer laptop.

You can imagine how surprised I was when I noticed after a while that I didn't seem to get migraines from that particular screen. I've been testing it since (used it on for hours on end during the weekend, both on dark and sunny days) and nope - no migraines!

I advised my HR manager of this (as it's really affecting my health - I go home and have to go lie in a dark chamber every day for an hour or 2, or spend the evening in pain). He said well great so we got our IT guy involved. However he can't find an equivalent of the screen as a stand alone monitor. I can request for them just to buy the same laptop as I have at home, but it's not the most comfortable to work from a laptop every day for 8 hours, nor do I want them to have to spend that amount of money.

So, my laptop is an Acer Aspire AS7741G-354G32Mnkk (7741G Series - model no. MS2309)
Screen's a HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD

I already called Acer and they told me they don't do that screen as a monitor.

Is there ANY make that does an equivalent of this screen as a stand alone monitor?

One of the issues of being able to find a similar screen seems to be that every singe make has given that type of screen a different name.

I am really really desperate 

Thank you!
Heleen

[Salmon Trout]

Laptops have LCD screens. That's the first thing you need to know. They work by shining light through the screen from behind, and there is a component called a "backlight" that does this. Earlier LCD screens used a thing called a "cold cathode lamp" or a number of them. These are a bit like fluorescent tubes in the way they work and some people can find the light they produce a bit flickery and glaring.  More recent LCD screens, both on portable computers and desktop monitors (and TVs) use a different kind of backlight - multiple LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). These give a different, more steady light and this may be why you find the LED screen in your Acer laptop better to work with.

My wife gets migraines from flickering and flashing lights. Just recently our main (cold cathode backlight) LCD monitor failed and we got a new LED backlight model. We both find it so much more pleasant to work with.

So I suggest you look at LED monitors. It seems that Acer's "CineCrystal" term is marketing-speak for "glossy". So that's another thing to consider. Also bear in mind all monitors of whatever type can be adjusted for brightness and contrast and if you don't set them up for your own preferences it won't be surprising if you get a headache. In my experience most monitors are left on the as-delivered settings which are usually very vibrant and contrasty and I always have to adjust them.

This is the one we got

Hanns.G HL231

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/monitors/363817/hanns-g-hl231

Despite stiff competition in the budget arena, Hanns.G's HL231 can hold its head high. If you really can't stretch to the extra outlay of Viewsonic's superlative VP2365wb, the HL231 guarantees good image quality at a very low price.

The Viewsonic one is not an LED monitor.

[ithilien]

Ok thanks for your reply.

Our IT guy is getting me a LED screen that I can test for a week. Hopefully it will work!

Heleen

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

Sorry to hear about the migraines. What is probably causing the migraines is the low refresh frequency on the computer at work as well as the need to have a low resolution for you to see the characters.

I would suggest that you increase the refresh frequency certainly to 72hz or higher if this is available. At the moment it is probably set to 60hz and if you are working under florescent lights there will be a visual heterodyne that is causing the migraines. Also the florescent back light could heterodyne with the lights in the office therefore changing to a LED back-lite monitor will stop this.

This blog may help  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/06/25/165762.aspx

Let us know what fixes it for you

[truenorth]

Lisa _maree, I have read the article you referred to in your post to see if it added to my understanding of the O/P's issue in regards to your suggested solution. It has been my understanding that changing the "refresh frequency" on an LCD is non effective. usually problems of eye strain are a result of a "flicker" issue and that is not a possibility with LCD monitors.Brightness and contrast may contribute to the problem however. This article may enlighten the O/P in that regard.
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2006/02/what-refresh-rate-should-you-use-with-an-lcd-monitor/.
Given that ithilien has related to a vision issue i would urge her to place emphasis on proper eye glasses for the instances of computer use.When i was having a similar problem and related it to my optometrist i was prescribed a pair of glasses that took into account the use of a computer and the varying distances that come into play under those circumstances. The resultant glasses i use now have made a huge difference to the eye strain and headaches.Best of luck,truenorth

[Salmon Trout]

usually problems of eye strain are a result of a "flicker" issue and that is not a possibility with LCD monitors.

I should have explained more fully or clearly. LCD monitors with cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlights do flicker, and the rate of flicker varies. At 100% brightness, the flicker rate will be at 15,000Hz to 20,000Hz, which is not detectable by any human eye. Variation of the brightness of a CCFL backlight is achieved by pulse width modulation (PWM), that is, one adjusts the brightness by varying the frequency of the CCFL's flicker rate. At low brightness settings, some monitors may approach or fall below 200Hz, which will cause problems to those people who are sensitive to flicker, possibly as Lisa_maree says, exacerbated by heterodyning with the flicker from any fluorescent lights nearby. Designers of large open plan offices or other spaces have known for a long time of the problem arising if banks of fluorescent lights on different phases of the AC supply are simultaneously in people's fields of vison, especially peripherally. Unfortunately, there is no communication from monitor manufacturers to consumers about how PWM switches operate in any given monitor, so it is left to the consumer to experiment with what monitors give them problems and which ones don't. LCD monitors with LED backlights remove this issue entirely, because their backlights don't flicker, or at any rate not in the same way.