Acer Aspire S3-951 screen eye strain problem

Hello. I'm new here and my problem is this:

I've bought an Aspire S3 ultrabook which seemed fine at first. Then in a couple of weeks (apparently after overusing) I noticed that my eyes strain too fast and get blurry (typical strain symptoms I know). The thing is I have an Asus EeePC 1005HA netbook and can use it for like 12 hours non stop and have almost no to very mild strain even though my eyes are quite sensitive. Is there anything I can do?
1. I installed f.lux and it's great, the reduction of blue color helped alot, but my eyes still hurt (probably cause they still haven't calmed down so maybe I should stop using it for a couple of days and then try again with f.lux)
2. Thinking about buying anti-glare filters. Are they of any help? I do get reflections on the glossy screen so maybe that will help even though my EeePC is glossy as well.

Some info so we can skip obvious answers - the screen resolution is native, the brightness is adjusted, the refresh rate is 60.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

P.S. I'm not sure if this is a right place to start a thread so I'm sorry if it's not

 

Nothing?

 

Nobody, huh?


What you have to understand is that we all see and/or are affected differently by the exact same (physical) thing. In your case, you have found a sensitivity with the screen in question.

Only thing to do is replace with a system that is better suited to 'you'.


I have run across big $$$$ monitors that I wouldn't hook up to my systems for free - and, I have also seen sub $100 monitors that were better than monitors at 10x the price.

Nothing to do with 'specs' mind you - just simply the 'feeling' you have from using them anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours (store demo... client's offices...).


If it really bothers/affects you like this with no relief after properly resting your eyes for a few days (and then not over using them either...) - sell it.


Your eye health is much more important than losing a few dollars trading the tools we use.


Good luck.

 

12 hours continuous use, jeez you are asking for trouble and take that from a gamer that is blind in one eye.

if you are getting headaches or blurred vision go and get your eyes tested.

 

Thanks for the replies! I guess I have to rest my eyes indeed and try again with less time on it. I don't use the screen for 12hr every day, I just meant that my netbook is THAT calm on the eyes And i'm not gaming, so not too much strain. My eyes have been tested numerous times, I do have astigmatism, but it's not the thing here. I don't expect perfect screens, I just wanted to understand why the same 60hz led screens differ so much, but I guess it's really random.
P.S. so absolutely no chance of it getting better with anti-glare screen?

 

i know nothing about acer but most newer models now use led backlight which are much brighter.

 

the thing is that setting brightness to low doesn't help much..)

 

I would wager that running the screen dimmer will make your problem worse, not better.

Most modern screens use something called "Pulse Width Modulation" (PWM) to control brightness. Basically, the backlight (LED in this case) is turned on and off rapidly to give the perception of dimness or brightness; the lower you set your screen brightness, the less time the LED lighting is actually on.

This method "tricks" most peoples eyes. They cannot perceive the flicker, only the overall brightness of the screen. Your eyes, however, while not directly noticing the screen turning on and off, can percieve it on a level that eventually causes eye strain. LED lights are worse than CCFL in this regard - not because CCFL monitors don't use PWM (they do), but because CCFL lighting is slower to turn off than LEDs; so even between pulses when a CCFL light is technically off, the light is still glowing. This gives a smoother transition than LEDs, which are capable of instant on-and-off with no cool-down or warm-up period required.

See it for yourself: set your desktop background to solid white. Turn your screen brightness all the way up and wave your hand in front of the screen. You should see nothing out of the ordinary. Now begin turning the brightness down while still waving your hand...you will notice a "strobe light" effect on your hand.

Or point your cellphone camera at the screen and do the same test. When watching the laptop display through the cellphone, the image will begin to crawl at anything but max brightness.

Things to try:

- Run the screen at max brightness. This "should" disable PWM entirely - unless Acer set max brightness to still make use of PWM. Then, run a screen dimmer that makes use of an overlay rather than dimming at the hardware level. Screenshades for the Mac comes to mind. F.lux is great for changing your color temperature, but not brightness.

- Try a privacy filter to help reduce brightness. Again, a hack to increase comfort at max display brightness.

- Sell the computer for something that works with your eyes. This is what I would do...and have had to do with several laptops over the years.


Lastly, check out this page: Flicker Free Monitor Database and consider picking one of those monitors up for home use.

And of course consider buying a laptop similar to your Asus; you already know their display implementation is compatible with your eyes, so it's a strong bet that their other models will work well for you.