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Addicted to High DPI

While desktop LCD monitors are excellent for playing movies and games, I am not too happy with them for regular uses.

First, they are just too bright.  Most applications I work with consist of mostly white background and, instead of typing on paper-like ambient white background, I feel like I am typing on the surface of florecent lamp.   because LCD monitors radiate white background regularly which usually involves a lot of white background.  To get around the problem, I reduced brightness all the way down but it was not enough.  So I changed the window background color to a light shade of gray and I can now stare at the monitor without seeing ghosts everytime I look away.

Second, pixel density is too low for me.  I got used to my laptop's 15-inch 1600x1480 LCD monitor which supported 130 DPI.  ClearType simply rocks at 130 DPI!  Maximum resolution of my desktop's 17-inch LCD monitor is 1280x1024 and 96 DPI is the highest I can use it at.  At 96 DPI, fonts are ugly even with ClearType on.  Larger LCD monitors don't improve the DPI much either.

Whew.  I feel much better after this rant.  Hopefully, LCD manufacturers will make LCD monitors for business use that is less blinding and more dense.  Until then, I'll just have to suffer.

Comments
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keith ray   at 2004/10/13 07:57:28 AM
The Dell LCD that I use at work isn't bright enough, though I can dim it quite a bit. Doesn't yours have a brightness control?
It does, but it doesn't dim enough. I got the FP1701 model and it's still brighter than my laptop at the lowest dim setting. Maybe my eyes are going faster than the rest of my body.
I totally agree with you, Don. My Dell Inspiron from five years ago has a 15" 1600x1200 screen, and I LOVE it. I simply can't figure out what business model is keeping these off of the desktop. Does everyone in America have such poor eyesight that a high-DPI monitor is impractical to sell in volume?
I've always been a HIRES freak. First it was the GDM900 (HiDEF CRT), and now I've got my eye on the IBM T221. It runs 23" with 3840x2400. List price started out at $36k a few years back, but has been dropping ever since. Right now its about $7k new, $6k for the viewsonic version, and $3k for a refurb. As soon as my checkbook stops laughing at me, I plan on getting one.
"Does everyone in America have such poor eyesight that a high-DPI monitor is impractical to sell in volume?"

I don't know if you noticed, but Windows XP sucks ass at font scaling. Large Fonts = Screwed Up Applications. Basically developers hard code apps to the standard bitmap font sizes. And I don't really blame them, since Windows is a bitmapped world.

Until we have a completely vector based GUI, I won't be buying any 1600x1200 15" LCDs, thanks very much.
Well at least with LCD's its safe to have your face 6" from the screen. Actually just to be absurd I turn some of the settings down even smaller. I like really thin scroll bars. Its fun to watch some applications have a fit with the non-standard settings.
Don,

See if this can help tweakclarity...

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Wow. Thanks, James. Reducing ClearType contrast made it less painful to read.
"I don't know if you noticed, but Windows XP sucks ass at font scaling. Large Fonts = Screwed Up Applications."

Sure I noticed, and it had nothing to do with what I was talking about. I like my fonts small. I like to pack as much information on a screen as possible. That's why I got a 1600x1200 screen on my laptop to begin with. I keep all my fonts at normal size. That was the entire reason for my eyesight comment.
Hermann Klinke   at 2004/11/23 11:01:20 PM
Hi Don,
I am really interested in a high resolution LCD monitor. The highest resolution I can get with my Dell Inspiron 1100 is 1024x768. I've seen 1280x??? and it's incredible. I'd like to have this too. Is there a way to tweak it or do I have to buy a new laptop? Could you please post a screenshot of your desktop, because I can't really imagine a 1600x1480 resolution since I haven't seen one in action. Thank you in advance.

Best regards

Hermann Klinke
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