Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Will Flat Screens Save Your Eyes?

Posted by timothy on from the the-human-body dept.

An unnamed corrrespondent asks: "Are LCD flatscreen monitors better for your eyes than CRT's? Have studies shown that LCD's reduce eyestrain, red-eye, or other eye fatigue compared to CRT monitors due to less radiation, no flicker, or other differences in the technology?" Studies aside, I certainly find it more comfortable when working for hours at a time to be staring at a nice TFT LCD than even a high-quality CRT, which is one reason that I'm growing resigned to laptop keyboards.

6 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Re:May save your eyes but... by Detritus · · Score: 3
    It is theoretically possible. Apple uses the ATI Rage 128 and Radeon AGP cards. These are OEM versions that include the Apple Display Connector (ADC). The problem is how to get one without ripping it out of a Macintosh. Another question is whether or not the drivers for the PC versions of the cards are compatible with the Mac versions of the cards.

    It would be nice if PC vendors adopted the ADC. I'm not sure if there are any patent or licensing issues. When I got my Apple LCD display, I took it out of the box, put it on the desk and attached a single cable to the Mac. Turned on the Mac and everything worked perfectly.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  2. Re:Bring back monochrome. by lizrd · · Score: 3
    My eyes were never as bad when we used monochrome monitors and text only apps.

    And my eyes were never as bad when I was 15 years younger either. What's your point?

    Black on white displays...just another thing that we have Mr. Jobs to thank for. Yet another Apple innovation that looks looks cool and really doesn't serve much purpose [especially now that screens don't burn in so easily].
    _____________

    --
    I don't want free as in beer. I just want free beer.
  3. EMP Scream by Aceticon · · Score: 3
    What worries me about CRTs is the ammount of Electro-Magnetic, non-visible spectrum energy they emit.

    The basic principle of CRTs is to produce light by firing high speed electrons against a "brick wall" (actually lead and glass if i'm not mistaken). The problem is that, when a high speed electron is quickly decelerated (as in hitting a solid surface), it will release energy across the whole Electro-Magnetic spectrum (what i call an EMP Scream).

    Guess what - i'm siting just behind one of those brick walls, getting bombarded by thousands of bilions of electrons per minute. The tought is not very conforting ...

  4. lcd's are a so-so compromise by fatmantis · · Score: 3
    let's look at some bad points for each type of display:
    1. tft:
      • still has a limited angle-of-view
      • frequent dead/broken pixels
      • artificial looking crispness of each pixels
      • wildly expensive

    2. crt:
      • flickers noticably when refresh rate is set too low
      • ghosting and pincushioning with age
      • fragile, yet large and heavy
      • eats up power.

    but what really matters most to me is the fidelity/luminence of a given display's ability to show red. this is where tfts fall short.
    --

    ::I will not moderate my opinions for your stinking karma

  5. Re:May save your eyes but... by snellac · · Score: 3
    I don't know what OS you use, but if you use Windows, you should try out Microsoft Reader and see if you see a significant improvement in readability of your fonts within the application with its ClearType technology, which really improves fonts on LCD screens. I have also heard that ClearType will be included in Windows XP when that is released.

    If you use Windows and don't want to download Microsoft Reader, I suggest trying out Steve Gibson's ClearType Sub-Pixel Font Rendering Demo, available here, which is a small application to demonstrate ClearType technology.

    Also, Slashdot (last year) ran an article on ClearType technology here.

  6. Are LCDs better for you? by snellac · · Score: 4
    There is a great page of Health & Safety Monitor FAQs at http://www.csf.org.uk/csf/monitors/monitorsfaqs.ht m.

    Quoted directly:
    21. Are LCDs better for you?

    There is some research work that has been carried out that suggests that LCDs should be easier on the eye than CRT monitors, because the eye finds it easier to focus on the sharply-defined pixel edge. One or two small research projects have found evidence to support faster reading speeds on LCDs. Anecdotal evidence also points to users being happier to spend longer periods looking at LCDs. There are also reports from users that they can find it difficult to constantly switch between the two technologies.

    In the future, LCDs are likely to run at higher resolutions than CRTs, with consequent improvements in reading speed and accuracy.

    -snellac