CRT, TFT? Don't go blind!

How often do you sit in front of the computer screen? Is it too bright? It is surprising how many people don't adjust the monitor they use.

Take my AOC 17" TFT as an example. When I first powered it up, I was blinded. It was too bright. A simple adjustment of the brightness and contrast soon fixed that, but it's not brilliant. I'll tell you why it's not.

TFT screens are no different to laptop screens really. They have 'backlights' which enable you to see what is on the screen. These backlights are the offender with TFT screens being too bright. There is another problem too. Resolution. Newer ones and better, you can have a higher resolution now but you still cannot beat the good old CRT.

CRT monitors have more control over how bright they get due to the Cathode tube which does not need any backlighting. These are far better suited for the likes of CAD, 3D modelling, video editing and gaming. It is possible to get a resolution of over 3000 pixels per inch where the TFT's are maxing out at 1680.

So what can you do about the TFT brightness? Apart from adjusting the brightness and contrast to the lowest settings, not a lot. Just sit back far enough, adjust the 'white' in the display settings and change it to a grey for document useage. The only advantage they have really is the smaller footprint over CRT's.

4 steps.

1, Reduce the brightness.

2,Reduce the Contrast.

3, Sit back.

4, Change the white to grey in the display settings.