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Question

saving my eyesight, using laptop many hours a day

by Jul 5, 2016 7:21AM PDT

This year in particular, I have been having eyesight trouble. While certainly age is a factor, the chief culprit is my frequent 10-14 hr days in front of my laptop undertaking my work.

It is now to the point that I am no longer able to read 11 point text in the morning when I first get up, & in the evening after a full day in front of the screen.

To assist me, I now use the text enlarger on documents & increase to 16 point. This then becomes comfortable for me to read. I now also regularly use the screen enlarger function, to 150-200%. This is also more comfortable for me.

Not being so tech savvy, I have both a external desktop flat screen, and also a larger flat TV screen sitting idle in my apartment. I wish to use either of these with my laptop, and so 'retire' my laptop screen, which I think is seriously contributing to my vision problem (otherwise, eyesight is ok). No, I don't have or use glasses.

Can I hook any of these screens (external monitors) up to my laptop? My laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad E431 6277 model. My OS is Windows 7. My configuration is i3-3110 4G 500G 1G NVIDIA GeForce GT 710M. I basically use if for light use eg. surfing, word processing, watching dvds.

Am I able to connect either my PC external monitor or the flat TV screen to my laptop? Would it be difficult to do? Would I need other equipment to assist with this?

Thanks very much.

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Answer
Shouldn't Be A Problem...
by Jul 5, 2016 7:36AM PDT
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Answer
Re: hdmi
by Forum moderator Jul 5, 2016 7:41AM PDT

You might need to press Winkey+P to tell the laptop to start using that external keyboard.

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External keyboard...?
by ATP-1 Jul 5, 2016 9:41PM PDT

Did I read this correctly..? External keyboard? Or do you actually mean external monitor?

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Re: keyboard.
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jul 6, 2016 12:10AM PDT

Sorry, I actually meant monitor, of course.

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Answer
need to see an eye doctor
by Jul 5, 2016 10:33AM PDT

you need to see an eye doctor about the problem. I have a coworker who had to get a prescription for computer work for just about the same reason. rest of the time, he dont wear glasses. as long as the laptop has a vga or hdmi port, you should be able to connect it to a monitor or tv.

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Answer
monitor display with higher refresh frequency
by Jul 8, 2016 5:21AM PDT

other than all these suggestion, I know higher refresh frequency of the display or laptop panel should help ease the discomfort. There are 30 and 60 hertz in the market, and I heard few are with 120 hertz. the higher the better to protect the eyes.

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Another surprise...
by ATP-1 Jul 11, 2016 3:29AM PDT

in the attempt to solve my problem. I didn't know about this technical aspect for monitors helping prevent vision problems arising.

Rather than answer each one individually, I will answer to all here. Thanks very much, all helpful.

I was motivated enough to drag myself well into town to a relevant IT mall and get what I needed. Both pieces of kit actually have a vga port, and I had this cable with the PC monitor. Just as well I didn't buy the HDMI cable, as it seems the TV monitor may 'have given up the ghost'. The large PC monitor (21" or 25") is a pleasure, and relaxing for the eyes. I had forgotten what it was like. Pressures of 'larger' as well more immediate work is really no excuse--but in some ways it is; I should have done this much sooner. I am still attempting to organise a visit to an optometrist/eye doctor.

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