best lcd monitors for lapop work use on eye sight manufacturer

The best monitors for eye strain those that are easy on the eyes, so an easy way to counter the harmful effects of staring at your computer all day is to switch to using a curved monitor. Curved monitors provide less distortion, a wider field of view, and better viewing angles to prevent you from tiring out your eyes.

Bottom Line: If your eyes hurt from staring at computers all day, consider getting a curved monitor that lets you take in the whole picture at once without straining your eyes. We recommend the ViewSonic® VP3881 or VP3481.

If you’re one of the millions of people who spend long hours in front of the computer, chances are you’ve probably experienced eye strain. Digital eye strain (also known as computer vision syndrome) occurs when your eyes become “tired” from staring at digital devices for an extended period of time.

In this article, we’ll cover what digital eye strain is and how it’s harming both employees and businesses, the best type of monitor for eye strain, and our top three choices for monitors that prevent eye strain.

According to the American Optometric Association, digital eye strain encompasses a wide range of symptoms. In addition to visual fatigue, digital eye strain also includes symptoms such as:

Digital eye strain also costs businesses thousands of dollars in lost productivity every year. According to the Optometry Times, eye-focusing problems cost businesses more than $2000 annually per employee.

While people normally blink an average of 12 times a minute, when staring at a computer screen, blinking drops down to five times a minute. This lowered rate of blinking can cause discomfort and lead to dry eyes.

One often-cited anecdote for reducing eye strain is to limit screen time. While this is a sound tip, it’s also impractical for the millions of people that use computers daily for work.

According to research performed by Harvard Medical School, participants who used curved monitors reported experiencing less eye strain than subjects who used flat monitors. Blurred vision was also 4x less common in users of curved monitors than users of flat monitors.

Curved monitors are monitors that come with a curved screen to provide users with a more immersive experience and a wider field of view. These monitors help relieve eye strain by enabling viewers to take in the entire monitor display at once without straining.

Curved monitors minimize the image distortion that traditionally occurs on the edges of flat panel screens. Due to the unique nature of their curvature, they also improve depth perception and cover a larger portion of a user’s field of view, resulting in images that appear larger and are easier to see.

When searching for a curved monitor, you’ll notice that certain monitors have deeper curves than others. These curvature ratings are measured in terms of “r” or radius.

This means that the lower the rating, the more pronounced the curve. For example, a monitor with a 1800R curvature rating will have a sharper curve than a monitor with a 3000R rating.

As long as you’re using a curved monitor, and your eyes are easily able to take in the entire display without straining, curvature rating is more of a personal preference rather than a health-related one.

Using ergonomic monitors is critical to maintaining your health as non-ergonomic monitors can lead to eye strain, stiff necks, sore backs, and a host of other ailments.

Rather than craning your neck and straining your eyes to look up at the monitor, ergonomic monitors can be easily adjusted to your ideal viewing angle. When searching for an ergonomically curved monitor to help you fight off eye strain, try looking for a monitor with swivel, tilt, and height adjustment features.

Blue light is a type of short-wavelength, high-energy light emitted by computer monitors and other digital screens. Studies have shown that in addition to exacerbating eye strain, blue light can also have a negative effect on sleep.

Blue light is most disruptive at night, where it can suppress the secretion of melatonin – the hormone responsible for making us tired and sleepy. When looking for a monitor to combat eye strain, try searching for monitors that come with a blue light filter to preserve your circadian rhythm and ease the burden on your eyes.

In contrast with other types of panels, the liquid crystals in IPS monitors shift horizontally in order to create better viewing angles, impressive image quality, and precise color accuracy.

Though ViewSonic’s curved monitors are optimized for a wide array of uses from gaming to business, these monitors can help relieve digital eye strain no matter what task you’re performing.

The VP3881 monitor is perfect for workers who spend long hours in front of the screen. It comes with a stunning 3840 x 1600 resolution and provides an unprecedented level of immersion.

Its 2300R curvature and anti-glare coating enable you to comfortably view the entire screen from up to two meters away without straining your eyes, while its ergonomic design empowers you to adjust it to your preferred viewing level. Give your eyes a break and use the VP3881 to quickly finish your day-to-day tasks.

Created to provide all-day comfort for office workers looking at their computer screens, the 34” VP3481 monitor comes with an impressive 3440 x 1440p resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio.

With its incredibly precise color accuracy, the VP3481 is perfect for professionals such as video editors, graphic designers, photographers, and others for whom color accuracy is critical.

The VP3481 lets users take in the big picture in one visual sweep, while its ergonomic mount enables users to adjust the monitor to their preferred height.

This high-performance monitor also comes with optimized viewing presets, so you can choose between categories such as games, movies, web surfing, or text to achieve the ideal viewing experience.

In this post, we went over the causes and symptoms of eye strain and covered why curved monitors are essentially one of the best defenses you can have against digital eye strain. We broke down the key elements to look for in a curved monitor and highlighted some of our top choices. To learn more about ViewSonic’s monitors, click here.

If you spend any time working in an office (home or otherwise) you’re likely going to spend long periods of time staring at a screen, which can leave you feeling extra worn down at the end of a day. You can help to mitigate this by investing in a monitor that helps actively reduce the amount of strain your eyes have to endure. Increasingly, companies offer monitors designed to help you end your workday without feeling like a zombie. As with all monitors, trying to find a selection amongst the various offerings can be difficult, so we’re here to help you make the most informed selection. This list of the best monitors for eye strain reduction could improve how you feel in front of and away from your desk.

As monitor technology has progressed over the last decade or so, the screens have only gotten more impressive. That leads to a slew of options to consider. I’ve covered consumer technology products for more than three years, and the PopSci editors have decades of experience writing about displays and other gadgets.

In order to source our selections, we leveraged our monitor testing program, consulted opinions from pundits at various outlets and compiled consumer feedback across the web. We also drew heavily upon our own informed knowledge of monitors to compare hard specs. We selected monitors to fulfill a handful of critically important categories. While these monitors can get expensive, the options on this list top out around $800.

No matter if you choose to go big or small, gaming or non-gaming, trusted brand or scrappy newcomer, you’ve got plenty of strong options to consider with our selections. After doing the work and research, we strongly believe these six options to be the best you can get right now across a handful of options. Dive into our choices below.

You won’t find a monitor with more eye health features than this one. At first glance, it’s a typical 27-inch 1440p screen with thin bezels and a 60Hz refresh rate. But, there’s a lot of eyeball-friendly tech hiding under the surface. As you’d expect from a monitor on this list, it offers both blue light reduction and a completely flicker-free display. Beyond that, BenQ has added some more advanced protections. An infrared sensor knows how long you’ve been staring at your screen and can suggest occasional breaks to let your peepers rest.

BenQ’s adaptive brightness technology senses the ambient light in your room and automatically adjusts the brightness in order to keep viewing and eye health in the optimal range. A screen that’s too bright in a dark room can be just as bad for your eyes as a screen that’s too dim in a bright room. They both cause strain.

This display even offers a simulated e-paper mode, which emphasizes contrast for text without cranking up the brightness on the white paper. It makes the screen easy to read, but it won’t bombard your eyeballs with unnecessary photons for the entirety of your reading session. If you’re truly worried about eye health, this is the monitor to get.

The sheer largeness of the Samsung Odyssey G7 Series 32-inch WQHD extends to just about everything in this monitor. The extensive curve on it makes it feel as if you’re surrounding yourself with whatever content is on screen. While the G7 doesn’t have any dedicated eye strain features, having a large and curved monitor such as this is a considerable upgrade over any sort of existing monitor you may have already. The G7’s curve is 1000R, which actively matches the curvature of the human eye, which not only helps to pull you further into the screen but helps to ensure minimal eye strain along the way. Samsung was one of the pioneers of screens with this much curvature.

Where the real value comes from is in just how many other features the monitor manages to pack into its frame. Gamers will likely love the G7, as its 240Hz refresh rate renders images with lightning-fast precision, while the 1ms response time ensures you don’t miss anything coming from the graphics card. With G-Sync and FreeSync, the images from your graphics card will perfectly match the monitor, providing a perfect mix between frames. The 32-inch display, bolstered by Samsung’s WQHD resolution, ties everything together in a beautiful package. So while you may miss dedicated eye strain features like flicker-free and blue light reduction, the Samsung Odyssey G7 Series 32-Inch WQHD ties everything together in a stunning package that’s nearly out of this world and is a monitor you can buy and be set for the future with.

As the name would suggest, the 27-inch Full HD ASUS Eye Care+ monitor packs in features specifically focused on reducing eye strain and improving your monitor viewing experience. An ergonomic design, anti-glare surface, and 75Hz refresh rate with AMD Sync technology ensure crisp, comfortable, flicker-free playback within the 178-degree viewing angle. Customizable Color Augmentation mode can help those with color-vision deficiency, while adjustable TÜV Rheinland-certified and Low Blue Light technologies make sure high-energy blue-violet emissions are kept in check and viewing is comfortable no matter your vision. And a Rest Reminder helps users manage screen time.

Why it made the cut:The LG 29WNG600-W’s ultrawide display comes with strong eye-strain reduction features, including a dedicated reader mode that will be handy for desk job workers.

The LG 29WN600-W 29-inch ultrawide monitor certainly lives up to its name, as it has handily earned a spot on this list for being the best ultrawide monitor. At 29 inches, there’s plenty of real estate for you to watch your favorite show, work on a variety of different documents, see all of your colleagues on a Zoom call, and more. The nearly borderless design allows you to take full advantage of that sizable 29-inch display, so there’s no wasted space like you may find on other monitors. The back of the monitor also includes pretty much every port you could want, including two HDMI ports, an audio jack, and one standard display port.

The other thing about the LG 29WN600-W 29-inch ultrawide monitor that we like is its dedicated reader mode, which provides “optimal conditions” for reading by not only reducing blue light but incorporating flicker-free technology as well. The flicker-free isn’t as strong as it is on other models, but you can easily switch over to reader mode whenever you’re settling in for a long day’s worth of work. Additional features worth mentioning are the ability to split your screen into different workspaces with the click of a mouse from the toolbar, AMD FreeSync to end any framerate choppiness, see rich black tones in your media content thanks to LG’s Black Stabilizers ability, and much more.

Why it made the cut:A high resolution with HDR and built-in eye care features make this gaming monitor as fun as dropping into your favorite battle royale game.

When it comes to gaming, most players will want to follow the Daft Punk philosophy: harder, better, faster, stronger. The ASUS Rog Strix XG27AQ 27-inch monitor fulfills every single one of those pillars, providing fantastic value for gamers who might also use that monitor for work as well. Diving into the gaming-oriented specs and you’ll see there’s pretty much everything they’d want here; the 27-inch screen size is just slightly larger than the monitor pro gamers use while the 1ms response rate yields crispy visuals at extensively high framerates. Additionally, G-Sync functionality makes it so you won’t see any screen tears from dropped frames. HDR allows for even richer and more vivid colors while providing richly textured blacks.

On the eye strain side of things, the Rog Strix is missing any sort of blue light filter (a filter would reduce the overall image color) but does include flicker-free technology and a wide viewing angle to better translate the full image. Additionally, that HDR can reduce how bright you need the monitor to be overall in order to get a punchy image. With plenty of ports, an eye strain feature that won’t alter your display, and plenty of other features to ensure you don’t miss a second of your favorite game, this is a monitor that’s worthy of your beefy gaming tower—and one primed to make Daft Punk proud.

Priced under $200, the ViewSonic VX2257-MHD 22-inch eye strain monitor is a little on the smaller side but it’s still a great option for work or as a secondary display. While the flicker-free and blue light filter technology is a critically important feature for an eye strain monitor, there are also plenty of other bonuses here which further serve its overall impressiveness. The 75Hz refresh rate represents a slight improvement over the typical 60Hz number. Plus, it offers AMD FreeSync to ensure the monitor isn’t dropping any frames, a feature you’ll find in many of the best gaming monitors. Additionally, the 170-degree viewing angle provides plenty of real estate for whatever activity you might be doing, whether it’s for work or for play.

As a budget pick, however, there are some drawbacks. The monitor is just a standard 1080p output, the build is a little on the chunkier side relative to most other monitors on this list. Additionally, there isn’t much in the way of ergonomics, which may require you to get creative with how and where you place the monitor in order to get the best eye line on it, as that will be important to also help in the reduction of overall eye strain. However, if you’re on a tight budget and just want to give your eyes some relief, the VX2257 is well, well worth it.

When looking to purchase the best monitor for eye strain reduction, you’ll want to keep a few different things in mind. If you’re having eye problems that include itching or blurring, headaches, discomfort, or just overall tiredness, you’re likely in the space to consider one of these monitors after talking to a healthcare professional. And while the harm-reduction features are important, you still want a well-performing screen. These variables and features are worth considering when you make your choice.

Eye strain reduction monitors are going to leverage a handful of different technologies in order to help your eyes feel less impacted. The key ones to look for include automatic brightness adjustment, blue light filters, and flicker-free abilities.

If you’ve used an Amazon Kindle or iPad before, you’re likely used to seeing automatic brightness adjustment work in real-time. Light sensors built into a device, in this case, your monitor, help to better regulate the brightness of your monitor screen by scaling up the brightness of the screen relative to the ambient light around you. So if it’s darker inside your room, the monitor will automatically brighten up, or if it’s too bright. It will tone it down if it’s dark in the room. Not only does it save you from having to make that adjustment on your own, but your eyes also won’t have to constantly strain to adjust to the lighting in a given space.

Blue light has gotten increased attention in the last half-decade or so as we’ve spent more and more time with technology in our lives. For those not familiar, however, a monitor can produce blue light, a short-wavelength but high-energy light that some people believe can make your eyes more prone to strain. Exposure to it at the wrong times can affect your sleep schedule. Blue light filters are now being built into a lot of monitors to actively block out that specific type of light and reduce the overall strain on your eyes.

Typical monitors adjust their brightness by flickering or cycling through its light sources. As this occurs, the screen actually flickers at a very rapid rate. This, in turn, causes your eyes to do the same, as your pupils move from large to small or vice versa. If this is happening multiple times throughout the day, imagine all the muscles that are working overtime to support that bodily function. By opting for flicker-free functionality, your monitor maintains a single, steady stream of light to avoid having to cycle through those brightness levels.

Ergonomic design allows you to move and adjust the monitor as you see fit, so it’s positioned at your eye level. After all, not having to strain your neck is important too. If you’re trying to really dial in your ergonomic setting, consider getting a monitor with VESA mounting capabilities and an adjustable monitor armso you can arrange your screen comfortable in front of you without the need to tilt your neck up or down.

When it comes to the actual display on the monitor, having a high-resolution panel (at least 1080p, if not 4K), along with strong RGB color accuracy settings, and a non-LED panel help to ensure your eyes are seeing everything clearly, without having to squint to do so. Sharper edges on text make it physically easier for your eyes to read, which can really add up over time.

You’ll also want to consider the display panel the monitor is using. We recommend looking for either IPS or VA panels. IPS (in-plane switching) panels focus on the liquid crystals inside the display. These crystals move and shift horizontally, which results in better viewing angles, more realistic colors, and improved overall quality. VA panels use those same liquid crystals but align them between panes of glass to create a darker display with higher contrast.

Curved monitors can also be helpful here. While expensive, a curved monitor helps to reduce the overall image distortion that can sometimes happen at the ends and edges of a flat-screen monitor. The curve can also help to improve depth perception by covering a larger area of your field of view. That translates to seeing images that are, overall, larger and therefore easier to see and look at for extended periods of time.

You’ll also want to consider how and when you’re using your monitor. If you’re primarily working a desk job in an office, your needs will be different than if you’re a Twitch streamer who is gaming all day long. For the majority of users looking to purchase an eye strain monitor, you’ll want to select a monitor with key features like flicker-free, a blue light filter, and a decent display resolution. For gamers, you may want to forgo the blue light filter so you can see the full richness of the game worlds you’re in and will also want to reach for a monitor that’s got a high refresh rate and a high (ideally) 4K resolution.

In this particular circumstance, there’s no limit to size. Most desktop monitors aren’t any bigger than about 24 to 30 inches (with the latter being on the upper side of that), so these displays all fall into that range. Just keep in mind you’ll need the desk space to warrant it, but these monitors come with stands, so you should be able to accommodate them accordingly. Plus, the bigger the monitor, the more likely it is to prevent you from squinting all the time.

A general rule of thumb for screen positioning suggests you should extend your arm and hand straight out from your shoulder and place the screen right at the end of your fingertips. This will reduce strain caused by focusing on objects that are too close to you without requiring you to squint or struggle to read small text on the display. Of course, everyone is different and you may find that a little closer or farther away more comfortable for your specific biology.

If you’re using a smaller screen with very high resolution, on-screen text can appear very small, which taxes your eyes when reading. If you’re using a smaller screen, you may want to enlarge the text on the display, which may require more scrolling, but less squinting.

The best monitors for eye strain reduction may require an investment up-front—depending upon what features you’re looking for—but the long-term benefits could be well worth it. With more and more of us working from home (and working longer hours) that extra bit of recovery makes all the difference. While no one product is ever a perfect fit, we’re confident our selections are about as perfect as you can ask for—but if something isn’t quite up to what you imagined, it’s better off to save for something that is. If you’re having eye issues, don’t assume these displays will fix it and absolutely consult a medical professional.

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It’s more important than ever to reduce exposure to high-energy blue light. Eyesafe® Displays provide blue light protection at the source and maintain vivid color.

It’s more important than ever to reduce exposure to high-energy blue light. Eyesafe® Displays provide blue light protection at the source and maintain vivid color.

Dell XPS led the industry as the first high performance laptop line with Eyesafe® Display blue light reduction. Dell continues to innovate with a first-of-its-kind discount program for UnitedHealthcare Members.

Screen time and over-exposure to blue light may contribute to digital eye strain. According to the Vision Council, many people experience eye discomfort and vision problems when using digital devices for extended periods. As many as 60% of Americans report experiencing symptoms of digital eye strain2 which may include:

Eyesafe® Display intelligently manages light energy at the LED source – selectively reducing blue light and dispersing across the light spectrum. Eyesafe® products are certified by TÜV Rheinland, a global leader in independent product testing, to meet industry-leading requirements for blue light emissions and color integrity.

Other solutions adjust the blue light by shifting color to warmer hues. Eyesafe® Displays reduce high-energy blue light while maintaining color performance.

The next generation in low blue light is here. Where LED solutions are limited, Eyesafe® DTX multiplies display performance in the backlight unit. Reduce blue light, improve color and battery life.

Developed with the Eyesafe® Vision Health Advisory Board, a group of leading optometrists and ophthalmologists from across the globe. Eyesafe industry-leading low blue light certification is based on optical testing and research.

Who this is for: A dual-monitor setup is usually the best option if you want to have a bunch of app windows open at once. But an ultrawide model might be a better choice if you need a ton of unbroken horizontal space, or you don’t want monitor bezels in between windows.

Why we like it: The Dell P3421W has a sturdy adjustable stand, lots of ports (including a USB-C port that can handle power, display, and data over a single cable), and a three-year warranty. And it has a built-in KVM switch that allows you to easily swap your keyboard, mouse, and video between two computers. The 1440p display has a 60 Hz refresh rate, which is great for typical office work, web browsing, and casual gaming.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: If you use your display in direct sunlight, this monitor might not be bright enough for you. It can also provide 65 W of power over USB-C, but some laptops require more. If you have a laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU or an Intel Core i7 processor, you might need to keep the laptop plugged in to a separate charger or use a Thunderbolt dock that can provide the extra power.

Most ultrawide monitors are also curved. This design helps minimize viewing-angle problems—when you’re sitting centered, things on the far edges of the screen won’t look as washed out as they would on a flat display of a similar width. But this also makes ultrawide monitors inaccurate for precision tasks requiring straight lines, such as drawing, photo editing, or similar design work.

Resolution:2560×1440 | Refresh rate: 75 Hz with FreeSync | Ports: HDMI, DisplayPort in, DisplayPort out, USB-C | USB-C charging:65 W | USB hub:four USB 3.0 Type-A ports

The Asus ProArt Display PA278CV has a great-looking screen with good enough color accuracy for most people and all the ports you need to hook up desktop or laptop PCs. The PA278CV’s stand can tilt, swivel, and pivot the screen and raise and lower its height, its USB-C port can provide enough power to charge most 13-inch laptops, and it comes with a three-year warranty and a good dead-pixel policy. Its QHD resolution (2560×1440) means it isn’t as sharp as a 4K screen, but it’s also hundreds of dollars cheaper than comparable 4K monitors.

The MD271QP has a USB-C connection, making it easy to connect a modern laptop without the need for an HDMI cable or extra dongle. However, you’ll still need to plug in your laptop’s charging cable.

The MSI Modern MD271QP is a simple, streamlined 1440p monitor that’s perfect for laptop users. If you have a laptop with a USB-C port, a single cable will send the image to the monitor and slowly charge your laptop with 15 watts of power. However, you’ll still need to plug in a power cable as well to keep your laptop fully charged. The MD271QP lacks features we liked in the Asus ProArt PA278CV,including a built-in USB hub, granular color calibration controls, and blue-light filtering modes for reading. But if you don’t need to tinker with color settings or those extra USB connections, the MSI Modern MD271QP is a great monitor for $100 less than our top pick.

Resolution:3840×2160 | Refresh rate: 60 Hz with FreeSync | Ports: HDMI, DisplayPort in, USB-C in | USB-C charging:65 W | USB hub:two USB 3.0 Type-A ports

The Dell S2722QC is a 3840×2160 display that’s great for anyone who watches 4K content or casually edits photos or video. However, if most of your time is spent on general office work or browsing the internet, you don’t really need to spend the extra cash. The S2722QC has a USB-C port with 65 watts of charging, so it can power most laptops except higher-end devices like the Dell XPS 15-inch or the 16-inch MacBook Pros (which are picks in our guide to the best laptops for video and photo editing). For more powerful 4K displays, check out our guide for the best 4K monitors.

Resolution:2560×1440 | Refresh rate: 144 Hz with Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, up to 170 Hz overclocked | Ports: two HDMI in, DisplayPort in | USB-C charging:none | USB hub:two USB-A

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is a full-featured gaming monitor with HDR, a USB hub, and a robust menu system. The XG27AQ can reach a 170 Hz refresh rate, meaning the picture is updated 170 times per second, making motion in games look smoother and more realistic. We think this monitor is a nice balance between price and premium features like HDR, an overclockable refresh rate, a USB hub, good build quality, and a sturdy stand.

Eye fatigue, eye strain, tired eyes—Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) affects up to 90% of office workers according to Vision Source, an independent optometrist network in the U.S.

What can you do about tired eyes when you have a screen heavy job? I talked to several optometrists specializing in CVS to draw up a course of action. Topics include:

“Vision and computers go together like oil and water,” says optometrist Dave Kading, owner of Specialty Eyecare Group in Seattle. This is due to the way the eye muscles work.

Ocular muscles contract and engage for viewing objects close up, and relax when looking into the distance. It is human nature to hone in on what stimulates the brain; this is why it is easy to ignore eye fatigue symptoms during the work day. “Our focusing system can get very locked in place,” Dr. Kading explains. If you stare at a screen all day, he says, “it’s like standing on one leg with your knee bent in a squat position—I don’t care who you are, you will fatigue with time.”

Worse, we blink 50-75% less when engaged in screen work. Use a web cam to record yourself looking at a computer monitor. “You’d be surprised how horrible your blinking is,” he says, noting in particular the tendency to half-blink when gazing at a screen. “Our eyes are not able to release the proper oil components into the tear film, and like a car engine, this can lead to friction and irritation.”

Almost all eye doctors recommend using the 20 20 20 rule—for every 20 minutes of work, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. The break frees the eyes from the locked position and lets them relax.

During the break, slow and mindful blinking of the eyes helps. “Blink hard nine times in a row before or after gazing into the distance,” recommends optometrist Bryan Holman, an Alabama-based specialist. “It helps the oil glands and stabilizes tear production.”

Position the center of your monitor 4-5 inches below eye level, at about an arm’s distance away, advises optometrist Shazeen Ali, an Austin, Texas-based practitioner.

The lighting around your monitor is just as critical. “Excessive bright light either from overhead lighting or sunlight from windows can also cause eyestrain,” she says. “Position your computer screen to minimize glare from these sources and avoid using high-intensity ambient lighting.”

At night, a full-sized floor lamp is a better option than a spotlight desk lamp. Placing an inexpensive LED bias lighting strip behind a monitor reduces eye strain when working in a dark room.

There are applications that automatically manipulate screen lighting so it fits best with the time or day other lighting factors. A few good ones to try out:

Discomfort from tired eyes pales in comparison to the long term risks posed by excessive screen time. Certain kinds of light can harm the eyes if overexposed. The blue-violet and ultraviolet wavelengths that electronic devices emit can potentially cause cataracts and retinal disease.

For more severe cases of eyestrain, each doctor recommends special computer eyewear with amber-tinted lenses that guard eyes from bad light wavelengths.

Doctors recommend using flat-paneled LCD screens which usually have an anti-reflective surface and tend not to flicker like old CRT monitors. “Even when flicker is imperceptible, it still can contribute to eye strain and fatigue during computer work,” Dr. Ali warns. “When choosing a new flat panel display, select a screen with the highest resolution possible and relatively large screen display size.”

This comes with a caveat—obviously a huge 4K monitor does not suit basic office use. For eye health, you will be fine with a computer monitor over 19 inches corner-to-corner, and capable of Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels).

With LED backlit computer monitors, you will find research that shows screen dimming features can induce detectable flicker. This occurs more often with monitors that use pulse width modulation (PWM) for brightness control. To address this, LED monitor manufacturers have developed flicker free technology with buzzword-sounding names that vary by vendor.

A few examples: ASUS Commercial Series uses a proprietary technology called ASUS EyeCare. Certain ViewSonic LED monitors use a different dimming technology called direct current (DC) to control flicker. BenQ monitors with ZeroFlickerTM achieve similar ends.

A combination of behavioral techniques and simple applications and tools can help reduce tired eyes from prolonged computer monitor usage—let me know in the comments what works for your eye fatigue.

Eye fatigue, eye strain, tired eyes—Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) affects up to 90% of office workers. Optometrists specializing in CVS draw up a course of action.

Working from home has become the new normal for many people, so finding the best computer monitor is more important than ever. After all, you want to see the best visual quality from your coworkers" best webcams, right? And while many PC components are still enduring depressing shortages, performing a screen upgrade is one of the most accessible and impactful changes you can make to your gaming rig at the moment.

Why you can trust Tom"s HardwareOur expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.What’s your monitor’s purpose?If it’s gaming, you’ll generally want something with a high refresh rate (ideally 100Hz or more), low response time and AMD FreeSyncor Nvidia G-Sync for fighting screen tears at low framerates. For general use, look for high contrast, and for creative work prioritize color accuracy.What resolution do you want? More pixels means a sharper image. No one should be buying anything under 1080p/FHD (1920 x 1080) these days. But if your budget can handle it, 4K is as sharp as it gets at a reasonable price. Many gamers find 1440p/QHD (2560 x 1440) a good compromise between price and high-refresh-rate performance.Contrast and color.We consider contrast the most important factor in image quality, with 1,000:1 being solid. Color errors are particularly important avoid for content creators, and anything with a Delta E (dE) greater than 3 may show visible errors.Panel tech:When it comes to image quality, TN< IPS< VA. VA monitors typically still have better contrast than even the best IPS panels, although IPS panels are also known to be very colorful.What size do you want?These days, 24-inches is on the small side and 27 inches is mainstream, while 32-inches is a good large size for those on a budget. Anything bigger than 43 inches probably won’t fit on a regular desktop. For portable monitors, stay in the 17-inch range or under. Anything bigger isn"t really all that portable.sRGB or DCI-P3? In most cases, you’ll either be getting a monitor made for the sRGBcolor space or the more colorful DCI-P3 one. Technically, Windows, the web and non-HDR games and video all use sRGB, but if you want an extra colorful screen, an accurate DCI-P3 monitor is more appropriate.

Before we get into our primary list of picks, here is an amazing deal on one of our favorite tested monitors below. Sure, it"s more of a TV than a monitor, but it"s hard to pass up a big OLED screen for $600 (after an admittedly annoying $200 mail-in rebate).

This excellent 48-inch 4K OLED monitor/TV with 120Hz Refresh Rate, 1ms (GTG) Response Time, HDMI 2.1, and support for FreeSync Premium has had an amazing $900 cut from its original price.

Just know that to get the last $200 off, you"ll have to deal with an old-school rebate (where you have to mail in the original UPC). Other features include 10-bit color / 98% DCI-P3 / 130% sRGB, and a KVM feature with USB Type-C to control multiple devices. Check out our Aorus FO48U review to see why we gave it our Editor"s choice award.

Earning a 5-star rating from Tom"s Hardware, the Samsung Odyssey G7 32-inch is the best computer monitor. For gamers, it boasts the strongest curve currently available, 1000R, for incredible immersion, along with speedy gaming numbers. The 240Hz monitor has a 1ms (GTG) response time and put up a 5ms response time score in our testing, beating some 165Hz screens by 2ms. In addition, benchmarking showed input lag at 20ms, a full 6 to 10ms faster than some 165Hz screens we’ve tested, including the Dell S3220DGF also on this page.

This is also a strong work monitor. Its 32-inch panel offers plenty of height for productivity, like working on long spreadsheets in a way that’s easier than on a 32-inch ultrawide. And at a 2 to 3-foot viewing distance, we don"t have any distortion issues with that dramatic curve. Just be sure to bring your own audio because, despite the price, there are no speakers here.

The Dell S3222DGM is the best gaming monitor for many gamers. This follow-up to the highly-rated S3220DGF(opens in new tab) boasts a 32-inch VA(opens in new tab) panel, QHD resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate with Adaptive-Sync(opens in new tab) support. Other perks in its favor are 85 percent coverage of DCI-P3 and a display curve with an 1800mm radius.

However, Dell really knocks it out of the park with the S3222DGM"s contrast ratio(opens in new tab). VA panels are known for their excellent contrast, but the S3222DGM is rated at an impressive 3,000:1, easily blowing away IPS competitors. But our sample managed to better that figure by a third, coming in at 4,000:1 in instrumented tests.

This 32-inch monitor offers plenty of vertical screen real estate without the need for scrolling and 1440p resolution(opens in new tab), the current sweet spot between image quality and gaming performance. And while the S3222DGM is targeted primarily at gamers, we found that it is also great for general productivity and anything in between.

While the S3222DGM lacks HDR(opens in new tab) support, its excellent contrast doesn"t detract from that missing "bullet point" and its overall performance is hard to beat at this price point. Throw in Dell"s usual solid build quality, and this represents a great monitor for enthusiasts looking to build out a mid to high-budget gaming PC.

With a 1ms (GTG) response time and 144Hz refresh rate, the LG 27GN950-B is the best computer monitor for 4K gaming. If you’ve got the graphics card, ideally one of the best graphics cards, you need to handle 144 frames per second (fps) at 4K; this monitor will ensure that power doesn’t go to waste. In our testing, the monitor showed a 7ms response time, keeping up with pricier 4K, 144Hz screens, like the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ, and even beating some when it came to input lag. Plus, FreeSync Premium Pro and G-Sync Compatibility will fight screen tears for those times when framerates drop below 48 fps.

Although VA panels are known for their high contrast, this IPS monitor can hold its own, hitting 1,034.7 before calibration and 8,475.3:1 with HDR, based on our benchmarks. Those who want the most accurate color may find the sRGB mode too saturated, but the 27GN950-B proved accurate when it came to the more colorful DCI-P3 space.

eSports players and hopefuls rely on the fastest peripherals available to attenuate the delay between deciding on in-game action and when that action happens on screen. 360 Hz is the fastest refresh rate PC monitors have today, and the MSI Oculux NXG253R is the fastest of them all. Yes, the NXG253R is the fastest display we’ve ever tested, making it the best computer monitor for eSports you can buy.

The NXG253R outperformed other 360 Hz monitors by 1-3ms (depending on the rival screen) in our absolute input lag test. It also matched all its 360 Hz rivals in our response time test with a 3ms score. The monitor also fights screen tears down to a 1 Hz refresh rate with G-Sync and includes the Nvidia Reflex latency analyzer to help fine-tune your eSports performance further.

If you want an affordable screen with many pixels, the Samsung UR59C is the best budget 4K monitor for you. The VA panel delivers contrast (2590.5:1 after calibration), making everything from photos to videos to games look better. This is clearly not a high-end gaming monitor with a 60 Hz refresh rate, 4ms (GTG) response, and noFreeSync or G-Sync. But casual gamers can make do, thanks to the combination of high pixel density and high contrast, keeping games looking realistic.

Curves are generally more effective on ultrawide screens, but the UR59C’s 1500R curvature was effective and beneficial for this 32-incher, such as when multitasking with multiple windows. And if you don’t mind calibrating, you can get rid of the UR59C pesky color errors, which, unfortunately, were visible out of the box. Our calibration settings reduced the error from 4.3dE to 0.9dE.

Making HDR pop over SDR is all about contrast, and for the ultimate contrast, there’s nothing better than OLED. The Aorus FO48U’s massive OLED panel not only delivers immeasurably high contrast, but we recorded 107.7% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and near-flawless grayscale tracking. As a result, you get a rich image that’s also accurate out of the box. However, it’s not as bright as a premium LCD (399 nits with HDR, according to our testing).

Aorus’ OLED monitor is fit for high-speed HDR gaming on both PCs and consoles, thanks to DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression (DSC) and HDMI 2.1, respectively. The monitor held its own against 120Hz and 144Hz rivals in our speed tests, only falling 4ms behind its OLED gaming rival, the Alienware AW5520QF. Unfortunately, you don’t get Dolby Vision or support for the 50p and 24p TV formats, but the monitor has two 15W speakers and one 20w speaker for outstanding audio quality.

Asus has gone all out with the ProArt PA32UCG, combining 1152 dimming zones in its full-array Mini-LED backlight. A quantum dot film covers a considerable color gamut, almost 78% of Rec.2020. And it is the brightest monitor we’ve ever tested at over 1700 nits peak. To that, it adds precise out-of-box accuracy for every color mode in use today. Though it includes many calibration options and a bundled colorimeter, it’s ready for work or play, with no tweaking necessary.

A lot of us are finding ourselves working in tight spaces these days. If you’re looking to add another screen to your space, the Lenovo ThinkVision M14 is the best portable monitor. Its most standout feature is a critical one: a reliable, strong kickstand that’s easy to use, thanks to two flip-out feet. While many portable monitors are stuck with flimsy sleeves that double as stands, you can intuitively prop up the ThinkVision M14 at a -5 to 90-degree tilt or even in portrait mode. Unfortunately, its travel case isn’t as tough.

According to our benchmarks, with 244 nits max brightness and 98% coverage of the sRGB color space, the ThinkVision M14 is perfect for surfing the web or watching a movie in SDR. USB-C connectivity, meanwhile, means it won’t run out of battery when plugged into a laptop. It can also deliver as much as 65W of power to a device if plugged into a wall adapter. But those whose PC or device, such as a Raspberry Pi, doesn’t have a USB-C port with DisplayPort 1.2 Alt Mode and USB PD 2.0 or better will be out of luck.

With a 240Hz refresh rate, 3ms (GTG) response time, and even FreeSync, the Asus ROG XG17AHPE stands high above the competition and easily snags the best portable gaming monitor crown.

However, the XG17AHPE is as expensive as it is unique. In fact, you can buy a much larger desktop-sized monitor with the same amount of speed for cheaper than this, over $400 17.3-incher. And the origami-style cover Asus includes isn’t sufficient for protecting this expensive piece of hardware or providing a reliable stand.

The HP Omen X 65 Emperium is the best computer monitor to replace your living room TV. First, it’s massive. It also comes with a remote and powerful audio that’ll fill your space, thanks to four 4-inch woofers, two 1-inch tweeters and a pair of passive radiators. The inclusion of Nvidia Shield means access to the apps you’d want on a smart TV, including Netflix and YouTube, plus access to hundreds of free games.

This is also a top-of-the-line gaming monitor. It fell just 1ms behind smaller 144Hz rivals in our response time test and even beat a 144Hz alternative during input lag testing.

Image quality, whether enjoying SDR or HDR, is also impressive. Contrast is an impressive 4,463 but can go higher with a variable backlight and hit 52,141:1 with HDR.

If you want something a little smaller and cheaper, theAlienware AW5520QF is excellent and offers even higher contrast with its OLED panel but is much dimmer than the Omen X 65 Emperium.Round up of today"s best deals

In the modern world, our eyes are constantly bombarded with information from displays. Whether it be from a laptop, smartphone, or some other device, many of us spend a significant portion of our day staring at some kind of display. As such, it is paramount that we should understand the strain placed on our vision and some steps we can take to improve and protect the health of our eyes.

Our vision is perhaps the most valuable tool at our disposal. While we learn about the world through its various sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, it is our sight that feeds the most information to our brains. Because of this, protecting our vision is one of the most important things we can do for our overall health. That"s easier said than done in the modern world.

Our eyes are constantly fed information through screens. Most of us have jobs that require us to look at a computer display of some kind for several hours a day. After work, we head home and stare at screens throughout the evening and well into the night. It"s no wonder, then, that many people complain of eye strain, blurred vision, or headaches after a long day of work. These symptoms and others, collectively known as computer vision syndrome (CVS), may affect as many as 90% of people who use a computer monitor, tablet, or other electronic display during the workday.

So what can we do about CVS? There"s no escaping the fact that many jobs require computers and, thus, require staring at a screen. In this article, we will discuss a few things you can do to reduce eye strain and alleviate some symptoms of CVS. We will also offer a list of laptop features that may adversely affect our eyes and what facets of notebooks may lighten the ocular load. Finally, we will offer a short list of some recommended laptops with high-quality screens that have some of these vision-saving features.

The good news is that there are several steps you can take to minimize or outright prevent symptoms of CVS. Our eyes work like biological cameras; they are constantly focusing on an image, taking in light, and transmitting visual data to our brain for interpretation. By understanding how our eyes look at electronic displays, we can better control the stress placed upon them. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but these tips should help you if you consistently suffer from headaches, blurry vision, eye strain, or other common problems associated with CVS. Best of all, these are simple solutions that shouldn"t require you to buy new equipment or change your working situation.

Refocus your eyes periodically. Perhaps the best way to protect your vision is to give your eyes a break. If you spend an extended period of time in front of a computer monitor or other display, look away from the screen every 20-30 minutes. Pick out a distant object or spot on a faraway wall and focus on it for about 30 seconds. This refocusing removes the immediate strain placed on your eyes, and focusing on a distant object will help relax the muscles that control your eye.

Blink often. Blinking coats our eyes with tears and helps clear out any dust or particles that have found their way past our eyelashes. While blinking is an automatic reflex, some studies show that blinking rate is significantly reduced when we actively process information, such as when we are working at a computer monitor. This can lead to our eyes feeling dried out and may damage them over time. Like above, take a break every 20-30 minutes and intentionally blink your eyes very slowly 10 or more times. This will spread new tears over your eyes. You may also want to purchase lubricating eye drops if you suffer from very dry eyes.

Adjust your lighting. Some lighting situations can actively damage our eyes, particularly bright environments. There"s a reason why we squint when we step outdoors on a sunny day; our pupils contract, which requires some muscles in our eyes to stay flexed. If you can, turn down the lights in your office and partially block any ambient light coming in from outdoors. Turning off overhead lights or fluorescent bulbs can also help. Incandescent and halogen bulbs are easier on our eyes, and placing them lower down to offer indirect light can help reduce strain.

Adjust your display"s settings. Most modern LCD monitors and laptop displays allow the user to edit some settings. Lowering the brightness of your computer"s display will reduce ocular stress, similar to turning down ambient lighting. There is a threshold, though; if the computer screen is too dim, it can actually cause worse eye strain. Find a good sweet spot by incrementally stepping down the display"s brightness until your eyes aren"t squinting or straining too much to read text or view images. You can also download software to filter out blue light. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light and thus can cause greater eye strain, particularly if viewed at night. Blue-light filtering software shifts the color gradient of your computer"s display toward the red end of the light spectrum, increasing the wavelength of emitted light and reducing stress. A good app for this is f.lux, which can be set to automatically shift your display throughout the day. F.lux is free for personal use and is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS (jailbreak required).

In addition to the tips listed above, there are some laptop-specific factors that can directly affect our vision. Laptop screens vary widely from model to model, and there is no one perfect laptop screen when it comes to eye health. Still, here are a few things to keep in mind when you purchase your next laptop.

Matte screens are easier on the eyes. Perhaps the most noticeable facet of a laptop"s screen is the finish across the panel. Laptop displays have either a glossy or matte finish to them. Glossy panels allow more light to pass through from the LCD backlight and are typically brighter and more color accurate. However, glossy displays have a major weakness: reflections. A glossy finish will typically show reflections at lower brightness levels, which can distract our eyes and cause them to constantly shift focus, resulting in increased fatigue. Matte finishes, on the other hand, are made specifically to cut reflections. Matte displays typically show no reflections, making them highly usable in almost any lighting condition (provided the backlight is bright enough). Matte screens do sacrifice some color accuracy and brightness, but most are more than good enough for users that don"t routinely work with color.

Higher resolutions make everything sharper. Most modern laptops come with either a 1366x768 or 1920x1080 resolution screen, which is acceptable for most work. However, users that suffer from eye fatigue may want to consider getting a higher resolution display. A higher resolution means a higher pixel density, which can make text and images look much sharper. While a high-resolution screen will make icons and other UI elements smaller at the display"s native resolution, both Windows 10 and Mac OS X have excellent scaling options. Text on a 4K screen set to 200% scaling will look much crisper than text on a 1080p screen at native resolution.

Screen size affects pixel density. Related to point #2 is screen size. Obviously, a smaller laptop screen will subsequently be harder to see from a normal viewing distance than a larger laptop screen. That being said, a larger laptop screen will have a smaller pixel density than a smaller screen of the same resolution. For reference, a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 1920x1080 has a pixel density of 141 pixels per inch (PPI). Choose a laptop with a screen large enough for comfortable viewing from your desk chair. A larger screen would need a higher resolution to match this pixel density. It should be noted that Apple"s "Retina Display" moniker is a classification used by the company to describe a pixel density high enough such that individual pixels are not visible at a normal viewing distance. The iPhone 4 had the first "Retina Display" with a PPI of 326. Apple"s Retina MacBook Pros typically have a lower pixel density (~220 PPI) but are viewed from farther away than a smartphone.

Backlight brightness matters. While it"s important to control the intensity of light coming out of a laptop screen, making sure that the LCD backlight is bright enough to remain visible is equally as important. A screen with too dim a backlight can be hard to see in some lighting conditions, causing our eyes to strain to view the display. A backlight that can climb to 300-350 nits should be sufficient for most environments.

Poor contrast muddies up the display. Also worth considering is the contrast ratio and black levels of a display. Poor contrast can result in blurry or muddy images with ill-defined boundaries. This can subsequently force our eyes to constantly refocus in order to make sense of the boundaries of an on-screen picture or text. A contrast ratio of 1000:1 or higher will be adequate for most users.

Check the underlying display technology. The manufacturing process behind a display can heavily impact its quality. Twisted nematic (TN) panels are typically cheaper and offer faster response times but suffer from poor color accuracy, low contrast, and off-angle color shift/inversion. Panels that use in-plane switching (IPS) remedy these issues at the cost of slower response times. IPS panels are commonly found in most TVs and smartphones and are widely available in mid-range and high-end laptops. There are other display technologies, such as IGZO and OLED (Organic LED) that have their own advantages and disadvantages, but these are rare in the laptop world. For example, Aorus is one of the only laptop manufacturers that regularly uses IGZO displays, and one of the only laptops with an OLED display is the now-retired 2017 Alienware 13. It should be noted that IPS displays are significantly more expensive than TN panels, but the benefits may be worth the extra cost.

PWM can be a headache. Many laptops rely on pulse-width modulation to dim the LCD backlight. We have written a detailed article on the issue, so suffice it to say that higher PWM causes less strain on the eyes. Laptops with low PWM (<500 Hz) can cause eye fatigue, headaches, and other adverse symptoms in some users. We measure the PWM (or lack thereof) of almost every device that crosses our test bench, so be sure to check a specific laptop review before buying to see if PWM is problematic.

Now that we know what to look for in a laptop, here is a list of some suggested devices that meet most of the criteria listed above. Again, there is not one "perfect" laptop when it comes to eye health. Still, the following devices come close and should help alleviate eye strain. Remember, the best way to protect your eyes is to take action yourself.

The laptop display that ticks the most boxes perhaps belongs to the 14-inch HP EliteBook 840 G5. The FHD panel is reasonably pixel-dense (157 PPI), has a good contrast ratio (1170:1), and is fairly color-accurate. What really sets the EliteBook 840 G5 apart is its backlight, which is one of (if not the) brightest on the market right now. The screen shines at an insane 630 nits on average, and the backlight is very evenly distributed (93%). In addition, the matte finish across the panel eliminates reflections and allows for use in all but the brightest conditions. While the 14-inch display may be too small for comfortable viewing from a distance, the EliteBook 840 G5 offers one of the best displays for eye health on the market today.

The Dell XPS 15 has long been touted as the Windows alternative to Apple"s MacBook Pro line for many reasons, but the display is often one of them. While Dell offers an alternative SKU of the XPS 15 9570, its glossy panel readily shows reflections and is thus not as conducive to eye health as its FHD matte sibling. While PPI could be higher on the FHD panel, the screen is pixel dense enough for most users. What makes the FHD XPS 15 9570 a good choice is its bright and relatively even backlight, its excellent contrast ratio, and matte finish. PWM is high enough that it will not bother most users, although some very sensitive eyes may be affected. Despite these small compromises, the FHD XPS 9570 is perhaps the best balanced display when it comes to eye health.

For those that want a larger screen, it"s hard to beat the 4K Lenovo ThinkPad P71. The 17.3-inch display is large enough to be easily viewed from a normal working distance, and the 4K resolution packs 255 pixels into every square inch. The 4K P71 offers a good contrast ratio (1155:1), good viewing angles, great color accuracy, and a matte finish. Its main weakness lies in the display backlight, which is somewhat dim (~330 nits) and uneven, making outdoor use more difficult than with the EliteBook 840 G5 or the XPS 15. The P71 is perhaps the best large display and one of the best for eye health.

There"s a reason why Apple"s MacBook Pro devices are often praised for their displays. The panel on the MacBook Pro 15, in particular, is one of the brightest screens in the industry (~520 nits). The pixel-dense (~220 PPI), color-accurate screen has an excellent contrast ratio (1333:1). The device"s "Retina" display can be set to a wide variety of brightness levels for almost any lighting situation and has almost imperceptible PWM (>20,000 Hz). The one flaw in the display is its glossy finish. While the backlight gets bright enough to help reduce reflections in most lighting conditions, bright days outdoors turn the screen into a mirror, which can be highly distracting and fatiguing. If you rarely or never work outdoors or under bright lights, though, the MacBook Pro 15 should offer easy viewing.

Our eyes are one of our greatest resources, and keeping them healthy is important. As our lives focus more and more on electronic displays, the task of protecting our vision becomes increasingly difficult. Still, there are some laptop displays that are noticeably easier on the eyes than others. That being said, the most important thing to remember when it comes to keeping your eyes healthy is to take action yourself. Look away from your screen periodically and give your eyes a rest. This is the best way to ensure your eyes keeping looking good (pun intended) for years to come.

I"ve been a computer geek my entire life. After graduating college with a degree in Mathematics, I worked in finance and banking a few years before taking a job as a database administrator. I started working with Notebookcheck in October of 2016 and have enjoyed writing news and reviews. I"ve also written for other outlets including UltrabookReview and GeeksWorldWide, focusing on consumer guidance and video gaming. My areas of interest include the business side of technology, retro gaming, Linux, and innovative gadgets. When I"m not writing on electronics or tinkering with a device, I"m either outside with my family, enjoying a decade-old video game, or playing drums or piano.

For home use, would a 17in Full HD laptop screen be better or worse than a 13in or 14in model? Will the clarity and crispness be better for my pensioner eyes? Chris

According to my pensioner eyes, clarity and crispness are less important than size. And in one of life’s little ironies, increasing the resolution of a screen, to make things look crisper, leads directly to a decrease in size.

Go back a few years and most of us were using PCs with VGA (Video Graphics Array) screens, which had a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. VGA was a major advance in 1987, and some feature phones and laptops still have cameras with VGA resolution.

Screens kept improving and the next major standard was XGA (Extended Graphics Array), with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and the same 4:3 aspect ratio, like a TV set. Now your 640 x 480 photo no longer filled the screen and if the screen was the same size, it would be smaller.

Windows laptops moved on to widescreens with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which sounds odd but isn’t. Manufacturers simply retained the depth from XGA (768 pixels) and extended the width to fill a flat panel with an aspect ratio of 16:9, which was efficient for manufacturing. The result was W-XGA (Wide Extended Graphics Array). Now you could fit two of your 640 x 480 pixel images on screen side by side with room to spare, but again, each image was smaller.

The same thing happened each time screen resolutions increased. A 1920 x 1080 pixel Full HD screen can display two rows of three 640 x 480 images. A 3840 x 2160 (4K) screen can display 4.5 rows of six 640 x 480 images. What used to fill the screen now occupies only 3.7% of it.

If you buy a PC with a 10