Will a 13.3 inch notebook screen give me eyestrain

August 4, 2009 4:46 AM

Will a 13.3 inch notebook screen give me eyestrain?

I've been thinking about getting a notebook and have been looking at a model with a 13.3 inch screen and a resolution of 1280x800. Considering I'll be staring at this screen for most of the day will it kill my eyes with eyestrain?

I'm not doing any graphics eye straining intensive work, I'm a Ruby developer and most of the time I'll be staring at a Vim window with some XTerms and a copy of Firefox. I am however shortsighted and wear glasses for this the whole day and at my last eye exam 2 years ago I was diagnosed with an astigmatism and had a new prescription given for that.

I have an external monitor at my home office I can use when I'm there but when I'm out at clients or just want to get out and work from the nearest coffee shop this probably won't be an option.

posted by PenDevil to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Assuming you can adjust font sizes in your applications (You certainly can in Firefox and VIM), there shouldn't be a problem. I'm short-sighted and have no trouble with the 10" screen on my MSI Wind.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 5:00 AM on August 4

As a developer, do you really have to work with a laptop screen all day?

I work on a notbeook with a 12" screen, but I do most of my work in my office (26" monitor, external trackball & keyboard) or in other places where there's at least a 19" monitor within grabbing reach. Working on the laptop all day is unimaginable to me since the font size to fit usual amounts of code on the screen is tiny and the wrist rest fries my hands with CPU waste heat.
posted by themel at 5:12 AM on August 4

Guess it depends on what the DPI is set at. I have a 15" screen that's 1650 X 1080 and I had to kick the DPI up because it was too small for my eyes. And I'm not normally prone to eye strain.
posted by gjc at 6:16 AM on August 4

1200x800 is a perfectly reasonable DPI. Eyestrain comes from having to squint at/focus on tiny pixels; a normal DPI means no squinting (at least, any more than you would on any other display.) You'll be fine.
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:20 AM on August 4

I have a 13.3" macbook. For developing work I have all my text editors set to use Monaco 12pt instead of the default 8-10 point that squinting geeks seem to prefer. Looks great, even if I have to scroll a little more.
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:31 AM on August 4

Go to an Apple store and look at the 13 inch Macbook. That is the resolution you will be working with.

It really isn't that small. Most people are just fine with it.

My eyesight is really, really bad (I correct it with contacts or glasses) and I use small resolutions without any problems. Astigmatism does not matter at all if your glasses adjust for it.
posted by twblalock at 7:41 AM on August 4

I have the 13" macbook and it does seem rather small at times. I'm nearsighted with astigmatism (glasses help but not 100%). I only use mine casually (in the evenings and a little bit on weekends) which is why I got the small/cheap one...I would have gotten the 15" if I was going to be using it a lot.
posted by radioamy at 10:08 AM on August 4

For me at least, neck and back strain is a bigger problem when staring at a tiny laptop screen for hours.
posted by miyabo at 10:35 AM on August 4

About a year ago I switched from a 17" MacBook Pro to a 12.1" Toshiba Portege, and miyabo is right, the problem with a small laptop is likelier to be neckstrain more than eyestrain -- at least, that's my problem. (And I am myopic with astigmatism too.) The keyboard and the screen are just too close together in tiny laptops, and since people normally position the keyboard appropriately, we end up hunching over and neck-jutting, peering into the tiny, too-low screen. This results in what I think is called "programmers' hunch," plus pain.

For portability, my solution is to have an external keyboard rather than external monitor. I put the laptop itself up on a pile of books or whatever's handy, and keep the keyboard at desk height. Otherwise, if I work solely from the laptop for more than ~six hours, I get a gruesome headache.

Good luck!
posted by Susan PG at 8:34 PM on August 4 [1 favorite]

People look at me like I'm a weirdo for using an external keyboard and putting my laptop on a cardboard box when I'm working. I thought I was the only one.
posted by miyabo at 10:37 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]