NP5790 Screen refresh question

This is my first laptop. Just turned it on and within 2 minutes I had a headache from looking at the screen. Checked the refresh rate and its only 60hertz, on any monitor I have to run at least 70+ to keep from getting a headache. Now playing around with the settings I noticed I can do a custom screen with 70 or 80 hertz refresh. Now on a 1920x1200 screen, can I do this with w/o voiding my warranty? Or damaging the laptop screen?

thanks,
Woods

 

Is it glossy? I've heard stuff about how glossy may give headaches and matte may not, but this is all speculation and rumors, not quite scientific. I've heard Donald support matte more because his eyes were more comfortable with it, so maybe that may be the issue.

 

That refresh rate rule only applies to CRT monitors. LCD's work a little different. As long as you're looking at a stationary image (like your desktop), the pixels on the LCD don't change at all; there is no "refresh". The 60 Hz you see only applies to moving images, and even then, LCD's don't have the flickering problem (which is what causes the headaches) that CRT's have.

As for your headaches, as SyntaxError said, it might be because of the glossy screen. Sometimes if there is a light source behind you, the glare can give some people headaches. Try turning off the lights, or sitting in a position that minimizes screen glare.

Also, the WUXGA screen might be too small for you to read and giving you a headache. Try increasing the size of the text in your browser, and/or increasing the DPI in Windows (right click on the desktop -> Personalize -> "Adjust Font Size")

As for changing the refresh rate - I wouldn't recommend it. It probably won't hurt anything, but it might, and I guarantee that it won't solve your headache problems. Try the two things above and see if it helps.

 

Display: 17" WUXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear, this is the screen from xoticpc. I have this problem with any monitor. Doesn't matter if its CRT or LCD, if its 60hertz or below I get instant headache within 2 minutes of looking at one.

 

I would bet that the glossy WUXGA screen is the root cause of your headaches as folks above alluded to. It not, then the whole idea about 60Hz or below...sounds a l'bit supratentorial.

 

I have an HDTV that I use with my Desktop computer often in place of my CRT monitor. The HDTV requires that I do not go above a 60 hz refresh rate with it or else I will risk damaging the television. At first I got some headaches with it, but then they went away with one exception. I cannot run certain 256 color games without significant strain on me including headaches and bloodshort eyes. An example would be I cannot play Starcraft when it is hooked up to my HDTV without these issues.

I do not know if it has any connection to the issue you are having with the LCD in your 5790, but if it is recommended not to go above a certain rate I wouldn't recommend risking damage to the most difficult thing to replace on your laptop.

I prefer matte screens and do not get headaches with them. I have never tried a glossy so I cannot comment on whether or not I get headaches with them. I will again be using a matte screen when my new Sager NP2090 arrives and have also liked the matte.

 

LCDs are a complete different technology than CRTs. Refresh rate has no meaning for LCDs other than limiting the maximum frame rate that can be displayed (sorry for all those folks who truely believe they're viewing over 60FPS with their games... not possible to exceed the refresh rate physically).

LCD pixels are static. They do not decay in intensity like a CRT. Once a pixel is set, it doesn't change/flicker/etc. You cannot get a headache from refresh rate on an LCD. It doesn't flicker -- period. A CRT on the other hand must constantly refresh the pixels. The pixels are excited using an electron beam, the energy is released as light and the pixel intensity decays over time. The screen must be constantly redrawn.

The FPS for games refers to the render rate of a screen. It's how quickly a frame buffer is rendered. After a frame buffer is rendered it's activated and used for pixel clocking to the video hardware (i.e. eglSwapBuffer() for you OpenGL programmers). When you enable vertical sync, the frame is not truely activated until the previous frame is finished clocking to the display. If you disable vertical sync the frame is activated immediately... the video hardware starts clocking pixel data from the new frame buffer (i.e. memory) to the display regardless of current pixel position. You typically record higher frame rates with the vertical sync disabled because there's no delay when activating frame buffers -- eglSwapBuffer() returns immediately instead of waiting for the current frame to finish. At a 60Hz refresh rate, this delay could be as large as 16.7ms.

So a freshly rendered frame can only be shown as fast as the monitor refresh rate -- period. If you disable v-sync it will go a little faster but that's because you are viewing partial frames.

Btw, there's a Japanese study that suggests frame rates over 24 FPS are not detectible to the human eye... wish I could find the link to post it though.

I work in the Automotive Industry on an HMI Software Team. We're constantly battling with customers who request high frame rates for digital instrument clusters and infotainment devices. You're always limited by the rate at which the data can be clocked to the display hardware (i.e. the refresh rate). Doesn't matter how great a GPU you have after you've exceeded the refresh rate with the render rate.

Cheers!