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Is an IPS monitor better for translation work?
Thread poster: Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Chinese to English
Nov 14, 2016

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a new monitor for my PC and looking at the different options available. As I only do translation work and web browsing on this machine, is an IPS monitor really necessary? My budget only stretches to either a 27" LCD monitor or a 24" IPS monitor. Would the smaller IPS be worth it?

Anyone here made the switch to an IPS monitor?

Many thanks,

Mark


 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 18:06
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
No Nov 14, 2016

Unless sunlight is a significant issue in your room.

 
Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Sunlight Nov 14, 2016

Lincoln Hui wrote:

Unless sunlight is a significant issue in your room.


No, I've got loads of sunlight coming in through a big bay window.

Thanks for your reply.


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:06
Member (2013)
English to Russian
No Nov 14, 2016

But what is noticeably better is a 144 Hz monitor. It reduces your eye strain quite a bit compared to a 60 Hz one.

 
PAS
PAS  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:06
Polish to English
+ ...
IPS Nov 14, 2016

Probably not worth it. Get more monitor for less money and tweak the settings to suit your preferences. Most "office type" monitors have a multitude of settings that you can tweak so that you're comfortable.
What I do to reduce eye strain is to make all my backgrounds as dark as possible. My temperature setting is 6500 K (warm) and I have brightness reduced to about 40%.

I'm not an expert on this, but 144 Hz monitors ar mostly for gaming, aren't they? Thus, they won't be neces
... See more
Probably not worth it. Get more monitor for less money and tweak the settings to suit your preferences. Most "office type" monitors have a multitude of settings that you can tweak so that you're comfortable.
What I do to reduce eye strain is to make all my backgrounds as dark as possible. My temperature setting is 6500 K (warm) and I have brightness reduced to about 40%.

I'm not an expert on this, but 144 Hz monitors ar mostly for gaming, aren't they? Thus, they won't be necessarily cost-effective...

Incidentally, surely you meant LED? LCD is on its way out, except maybe in the cheapest stuff.

And, to answer your last question - I do have an IPS monitor, but I use it for my amateur photography dabbling - it has slightly better blacks than a typical office monitor.
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Reduce eye strain Nov 14, 2016

1. Use a matte monitor that doesn't reflect anything back in your eyes. I bought this one about 2 years ago. It was cheap and it works perfectly. http://tinyurl.com/odoazcy

Techie know-alls will pooh-pooh it with figures and sneers about "scaling" etc. but for what I do, I've never had a better monitor and that includes very expensive Apple displays.

2. Adjust your seating position so
... See more
1. Use a matte monitor that doesn't reflect anything back in your eyes. I bought this one about 2 years ago. It was cheap and it works perfectly. http://tinyurl.com/odoazcy

Techie know-alls will pooh-pooh it with figures and sneers about "scaling" etc. but for what I do, I've never had a better monitor and that includes very expensive Apple displays.

2. Adjust your seating position so that your eyes are in line with the top of the screen.

3. Place your workstation so that occasionally you can turn your head away from the screen and look at something far away (e.g. through a window). This will reduce eye strain by changing your focal length from short to long, frequently.

4. Set the background colour of your screen to somewhere in the greenish-blue spectrum, like this:

Screen Shot

[Edited at 2016-11-14 10:06 GMT]
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PAS
PAS  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:06
Polish to English
+ ...
Greenish-blue Nov 14, 2016

Tom, this has to be the ugliest Windows 98 3 week-old bologna colour on the planet

I prefer warmer brown-yellows. Any reason for greenish blue? (Apart from the fact that the eye is most sensitive to this range of wavlengths?


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Sneering Nov 14, 2016

I did say that people would sneer. I have never used Windows and have no idea what you are talking about. Colours do not go out of date and are neither ugly nor beautiful.

Computer Eye Strain: 10 Steps For Relief

http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/irritated.htm

[Edited at 2016-11-14 10:07 GMT]


 
PAS
PAS  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:06
Polish to English
+ ...
Greenish-blue 2 Nov 14, 2016

But still you don't say why you use that particular colour.
(I'm only joking, Tom, really).

p.s. Stand-alone monitors are mostly matte anyway. Laptop monitors tend to come with the reflective displays to make the colours seem nicer.

[Edited at 2016-11-14 10:09 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Funny Nov 14, 2016

PAS wrote:

But still you don't say why you use that particular colour.
(I'm only joking, Tom, really).


Yes, you're hilarious. What's next?


 
PAS
PAS  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:06
Polish to English
+ ...
Grrenish-blue 3 Nov 14, 2016

Tom in London wrote:
What's next?


Your answer to my question, perhaps?
TIA


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Funny Nov 14, 2016

PAS wrote:

Tom in London wrote:
What's next?


Your answer to my question, perhaps?
TIA



Yes- that was funny too. More!

Returning to the topic: I have always found the creamy yellow background used by Proz on its website to be very hard on the eyes. I keep hoping it will be changed.

[Edited at 2016-11-14 10:14 GMT]


 
PAS
PAS  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:06
Polish to English
+ ...
G-B 3 Nov 14, 2016

Have a nice day, Tom. Happy translating.

[Mods, feel free to cut ut my boring, humourless banter]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Nice Nov 14, 2016

PAS wrote:

Have a nice day, Tom. Happy translating.

[Mods, feel free to cut ut my boring, humourless banter]


Thanks, but I have different plans for today.


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 11:06
English to German
No need for 144 Hz Nov 14, 2016

Max Deryagin wrote:

But what is noticeably better is a 144 Hz monitor. It reduces your eye strain quite a bit compared to a 60 Hz one.


I disagree. The "Hz" number was significant for analog monitors only: Lower values meant headache because the screen flickered. It was the flickering only that caused eye strain. 50 Hz was bad, 60 Hz was good, and 70 Hz was excellent. More than 70 Hz wasn't noticeable.

But today we use digital flat-screen monitors only. On principle digital monitors do not flicker at all. With such monitors a higher Hz number means that very fast movements (sports, action games, ...) can be rendered more precisely. But the text you translate does not move. Even if your source is a video (for dubbing or subtitling taks) you will not need more than 60 Hz for lip-reading. Don't belive the smart sales persons who try to sell 144 Hz monitors for standard use.

BUT: There are people who use modern digital monitors in a wrong manner, i. e. they operate them in a analog-compatible mode. Wrong settings, wrong plugs, wrong cables ... Don't do that!


 
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Is an IPS monitor better for translation work?






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