Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

I've been using a 32" 16:9 4K monitor (BenQ BL3201PH) for years. The biggest improvement I've made recently was putting it on a proper monitor arm. OMG, what a sea change being able to raise, lower, bring forward, push back the monitor throughout the day.

I have a fixed standing desk with a tall bar-stool type chair I use for resting at times. I'm 50, but even with glasses I use just for editing (they are optimized for bringing into focus things at arms distance) I have the monitor relatively close to use it at the resolution and font-sizes I like. This means if I'm working on editing something toward the bottom or top of the monitor I'll often have to adjust its height so that I'm not tilting my head too far down or up. The monitor arm just makes that so easy.

After a couple tries, I found a knock-off of the Fully Jarvis arm that works well, the WALI GSM001XL:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NLMLLT6/

Anyway, this LG is neat, but my 32" is already at the height limit I'd want for a monitor. I feel like this LG dual setup I'd need to have too far way to see the full view comfortably, which would mean running everything at larger font sizes, so I'm not sure it makes sense.

Do you run your 32" 4k monitor at 100% native scaling? If so how far away do you keep the monitor from your eyes?

I do. I keep it about 2.5 feet away.

I don't run it 100%. I run it at 3360 x 1890, once click down in the Mac display preference pane from native. It's apparently 114%/122ppi according to [1] (not my monitor, but it's an equivalent size/resolution).

The front of the monitor is 24" from my nose.

1. https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/dpi_scaling...

> The front of the monitor is 24" from my nose

Isn't that a bit too close? Can you see all of it at once, and is there anything but it in your field of view? I'm asking because i had a 60cm (24'' is 61cm) desk with a 24'' screen and i found that too close and too straining on my eyes.

It's as close as it needs to be for the size fonts and resolution I want to run it at, and still be able to read comfortably with my 50 year-old eyes. Yes, it's a bit on the close side so I do have to pan my head a bit. As I mentioned, I do push it back and bring it forward throughout the day, but I just measured where I'd left it at after coding yesterday and it was at 24" away.

I don't really have any issues with eye strain though.

I did need to get dedicated glasses that I use when using the monitor or when I'm on my laptop. I'm a bit near-sighted, even after Lasik a decade ago, and now I'm also dealing with presbyopia the last few years. I've worn glasses all my life, but they never bothered me at all till I started dealing with the presbyopia and needing task-specific glasses. :-(

I tried progressive glasses (modern versions of bifocals) but found them extremely annoying with their fishbowl effect and only providing enough magnification at the bottom and gave up on them after two weeks. So I now have my regular glasses that are adjusted for normal activities and I just take them off or read below them for near work. My near-sightedness here is providing me some temporary respite from the presbyopia. But at arm's length distances, it's uncomfortable to read text through them because my eyes can't focus that close with them on, yet if I take them off it's just a bit too blurry.

So I basically have my work glasses that make things from ~ 18" - 36" comfortable for viewing.

Presbyopia really sucks and it's the only thing so far about aging that's a constant irritation in my day. :-(

p.s. typing this on an iPad 12.9" that's about 16" from my face, w/o wearing my glasses. Further away and it's too blurry and I'd need my middle-distance glasses. With my regular glasses, there's no distance at which I can read it.

> I tried progressive glasses (modern versions of bifocals) but found them extremely annoying with their fishbowl effect

Lord you aren't kidding about that - I tried these after a doctor recommended, and it was so jarring and disorienting I thought something had to be wrong. Apparently that's just how they are.

I thought I was the clumsiest person in the world until I stopped wearing mine. I was tripping on everything constantly.

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