24" eye strain?

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I am looking at purchasing a 20 or 24" mac. I am concerned that the 24" will strain my eyes and neck as I am on a computer between 3-10 hours a day. I do like the look of the 24, and I will be using it to watch TV/Movies.

I am also concerned about graphic performance for gaming. I will be going with the 256mg card and 2.33ghz CPU for both models. Anyone have any opinions on my purchase?
 
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why would it strain your eyes. surely it would make it easier ?

i play games via bootcamp (such as bf2, flight sim 04) and they run great on my 17" imac.

i would go for as much as you can afford. but weigh up what you want more.
 
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I forget the rule in photography but there is an optimal spot where one should stand to get the clearest view of a photo. If you're going to be sitting two inches from your monitor, getting a really large monitor will look like crap because you will be focusing on pixels and you will not get a full edge to edge view of the monitor.
I sit 2ft away from the monitor of my 20" iMac and can't imagine needing anything bigger. But needing is different than wanting.
Hope this helps.
Peace,
Bryan

Oh yea, I've ran NFS: Carbon through bootcamp and turned the setting on full and it was pretty sweet. My Mac has the 128MB card.
The video cards in these new macs are monsters and you shouldn't have a problem with gaming. As for DVD resolution, I really don't care for it. I'd rather sit in front of an standard def. tv instead of this monitor because it seems kinda fuzzy. I've never found a monitor that can display movies well so maybe it's me. I'd rather sit on my futon and watch my movies in 5.1 audio and displayed in 1080i any day of the week.
 
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I have a 22 inch monitor hooked up to a Mac Mini at present.

Some of the fonts are way too small and it is an eye strain. This is at 1680x1050 resolution. There are some applications where no matter how hard you try you can't change one of the fonts.

A 24 inch iMac is even higher resolution so you may struggle until Leopard is released as that has resolution independance which may help.
 

bobtomay

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Think if you get a lot of responses to this, you will get opinions on both sides. On this one, I like bigger is better up to a point. Between work and home I sit in front of a computer screen 8-12+ hours a day. I work in excel 6-10 hours a day with a 21" and if I could get them to buy a 30-32" screen, I would take it in a heart beat. The 32" I had at home was great, for most everything, particularly for watching HDTV and movies. Was not so good for gaming while sitting only 2-3' from the screen. With games that have info at the sides, top, bottom that you need to be aware of, found myself having to push my chair back to about 5-6' from the screen to avoid having to spend time moving my eyes and head to get this info. This was time spent that could cost you in some shooters and racing games - the difference between winning/losing. Have found the 24"-26" which I now have is just about right for sitting at 3' away. Am above the age where I now need glasses for reading. Have found that with the larger screen sizes, I can once again sit in front of my computer without glasses most of the time with only minimal to no adjustment of font sizes.

You really should go to the nearest Apple store and sit in front of each one with the primary apps you will be using. But, I don't believe I've ever heard any comments related to wishing they had gotten a smaller screen.
 
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You really should go to the nearest Apple store and sit in front of each one with the primary apps you will be using. But, I don't believe I've ever heard any comments related to wishing they had gotten a smaller screen.

Couldn't have put it better myself!
Peace,
Bryan
 
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I am looking at buying a monitor for my laptop. I willbe doing a mix of things on it such as word, excel, editing photos and surfing the web. I want to buy widescreen but was wondering what is the largest i should realistically consider given that i will be sitting at a desk. My thought is 20-22" but would like some feedback. Also any recommendations on monitors apart from the apple cinema screens
 
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Unless something has drastically changed, using an external monitor isn't all that great with Macs. My cuz would try it with his G4 12" 800MHz and it wasn't a high quality picture with his 19" widescreen. The video card would let him max out at 1040x768 or something and didn't have any widescreen resolutions so it looked distorted that way.
If your laptop is newer (what is it btw) you might achieve something crisper and cleaner. As for Apple displays, they're expensive for a reason. They're beautiful. If you have enough money for one, get it. Any LCD is nice in my opinion. Just go to a computer store and look at them all.
If you haven't shopped for a LCD screen before, a faster seek time is best (measured in miliseconds), a higher contrast ratio is better, and brightness.
Peace,
Bryan
 
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I think te 24" was done with 'Spaces' (Leopard) in mind..

that would make some sense. I like my 20" - it's plenty big
 

bobtomay

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We have 2 Apple Cinema displays at work. 1I bought the small 24" first. It looks great and no strain at all for video and photo editing. Then I bought a 30" to go along side it in two screen mode. Make the 24" look small now, but once again, does not cause eye strain. We even do spread sheets etc on them when the need arises. All good.
I think it all depends on how you set them up and how far from the screen you sit. There is obviously and optimal distance, font size ratio. It is the quality of the screen that will probably be most important. Its ability to display witha quality picture...I think it is dot pitch or similar.
 
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The mind receives messages from sensory cells. The mind can focus on sensory signals from the eye. Eyes that have become strained do not always deliver a clear signal. Inattention to eyestrain symptoms deprives the brain of meaningful signals.
 

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