Anyone's eye strain linked to low pixel density?

Monie

I seem to have no eyestrain problems on high pixel density (retina) displays, such as iPads, MacBooks and iMacs. OLED phones present a slight problem but not to a great degree.

But I seem to get great eye strain on 1080p and 1440p computer monitors, even when I can't physically discern the pixels. Can't use them for more than 30 minutes at a time without major eye strain.

I temporarily used a 32 inch 4K monitor and that seemed to greatly reduce my eye strain but still not totally ideal.

I'm now thinking of getting a 27 inch 4K monitor and hoping that it will permanently fix my eyestrain problem because of its super high pixel density.

AGI

Hi there,
That is interesting, because in my case I seem to have problems with high resolution displays. As described in previous posts, in the past I turned unusable screens (laptop's or monitor) into smooth on my eyes by reducing the resolution from native. Someone proposed it could be that lower resolution "cancels off" temporal dithering effects.

When in 2013-14 I looked at the first retina displays, I was amazed at their perfection and how I would not feel any strain (normally, I can spot a "bad" device nearly instantaneously). However, the last MacBook Pros I looked at in 2018sh were piercing my eyes. That is why I never wanted to upgrade from my MacBook Air 2014 when all my colleagues bought the latest Mac models. I should also mention that I have been on Safari Version 11.1 since I began using my Mac in January 2018. Just to avoid complicating my life. As you may know, there are a lot of reports of people who could not use their device any longer without pain after a software upgrade (OS or browser). The pain would fade after reverting to old software versions. Hence, sadly it is not just a hardware thing. It is a pretty intricate problem.

Seagull

Have you tried sitting further away from a lower dpi monitor as a test?

My best guess is that you are bothered by either dithering or lcd inversion. Both of which create flicker from individual, but on a well implemented design the effect will be less obvious with smaller pixels, or if you are further away, as the pixels will be harder to see individually.

How are you with normal lcd smartphones? a 1080p 6" smartphone has a dpi of ₄₀₀ which, though mediocre for a smartphone will be very high compared to any monitor.

Monie

Seagull I will try this with the 32 inch 4K monitor, playing some games while sitting more than 65cm away.

Monie

Seagull I do fine with my OLED OnePlus 6 with more than 400 ppi. It’s not as good as my iPad, but I suspect this might be due to PWM on the OLED, which the LCD iPad wouldn’t have.

K-Moss

I have seen many workstations where the monitor doesn't have enough distance from the eyes, which is going to be amplified with lower pixel densities. I used comfortably a 19" 800 x 600 CRT for several years. I simply sat a good distance away from the screen. In those days computers still were somewhat of a novelty and I wanted to preserve my eyes as best I could, so I put the refresh rate at 100 Hz and I sat far away from the screen.

The desk I am using now is fairly deep, but depending on how low is your pixel density and your visual strength, it may not be deep enough for lower pixel densities unless you were to use one monitor at a far corner of the desk and sit at an angle, which is how I used to do it with my CRT.

Seagull

Monie

Cool, you might need to sit quite far away - like as far as possible, for it have any chance of helping though. I'm going to try one of sony's 4k phones soon and see if it helps me. I've never been able to use IPS LCD screens without getting migraines, but I have noticed over the years that as resolutions increased, the intensity of the migraines they give me has decreased. That could just be me getting older though.

Seagull

Monie

technicalitch

i have same. i bought hp omen 25i mo iror 24.5 onch with full hd. low pixel density makes my eyes hurt and migrains, hard to describe. any solution for this or should i seel my monitor?

AGI

It has always been the opposite for me. For years I used a ThinkPad T60 on XP at 1024x768 resolution. Super-smooth. Native resolution would immediately fry my eyes. Afterwards I used the same trick with a Dell Latitude on Windows 7. Since I moved to Windows 10 three years ago I have used native resolution. Rough at the start but maybe because of Windows 10 rather than the high resolution. Unfortunately, because of the continuous forced updates it has been a roller-coaster but hopefully I am making progress after three weeks on Windows 22H2.
I have also bought a low resolution TV after 10 years without. It took me a while and I had to change to night mode because the colors were too vivid, but now I am alright. Low resolution Chromecast also okay to my surprise!
Looks like we all have different symptoms and triggers :-(