# Most eye-friendly 27-30" monitor for a lot of text reading under $500/€400/£325



## MTB125 (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi,

I'm looking for a new 27-30" monitor and I'd welcome your advice and recommendation. I spend most of my time (8-16 hours a day) in front of a monitor so I'd like to go with one that is real easy on eyes when reading (and typing) lots of text. I made my own research and what I've got so far is:
- to avoid both glossy and anti-glare screens and go with regular matte ones,
- VA will probably be the best choice, IPS can have blurry text,
- higher refresh rate is better.

I don't need it for games, video, graphic design or anything else, so response times, precise colors etc. don't matter. Just office work that includes lots and lots of reading.

Also, as long as it has VESA, it doesn't matter how well it's adjustable.

I prefer monitors that allow to go really low with brigthness, although of course that can mean something different for everyone and I don't know whether it's possible to find this in technical details. If I'm not mistaken, the cd/m2 value is about the maximum brightness and doesn't tell much about the minimum (unless of course the higher the maximum, the higher the minimum).

Could you please recommend models that cause the least possible eye strain when reading text? Feel free to recommend more models as it's possible not all of them will be sold in my country.

These are most of the VA panels which I could choose from (all model names link to their technical specs):

Acer V276HLbmdp
Acer V275HLAbid
AOC m2752Vh
AOC e2752V
AOC m2752Pqu
BenQ EW2730
BenQ GW2750HE
BenQ GW2750HM
BenQ GW2760HM
BenQ GW2760HS
iiyama ProLite XB2780HSU
LG Flatron M2933D
Philips 273E3QHSB
Philips Brilliance 271P4QPJKEB
Samsung S27C750PS

Thank you very much in advance.


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## Frag_Maniac (Jul 28, 2013)

You list no budget, you don't mention what size displays you're used to, you give no desired resolution, and you don't even mention what country you're in.

On size, even 27" could present some problems if you're used to a smaller display, esp the new 1440p ones. At native res a 27" display (esp with 1440p res) will have much smaller fonts than a smaller display. Using a less than native res will make the fonts larger at the expense of some image quality. Setting fonts to a larger size in Windows can also cause some degradation of clarity.

You're also wrongly assuming all IPS panels produce poor text. Some are quite good at it, like the Dell Ultrasharps. I'm not going to waste time making any suggestions until you clarify the above things left out though, esp budget and country.


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## Frick (Jul 28, 2013)

The budget is in the title: $500/€400/£325

I do support matte though. That glossy sh1t has got to go man.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jul 28, 2013)

I have a Shimian 1440p monitor and sit probably 20 inches from it, to read text comfortably on it I have set the DPI to 120% in Windows, this doesn't make things look too big but makes the text just about right for my eyes without me having to strain. 

If you're not keen on the Korean monitors you could always grab an Asus 27" I believe they have 1440p for your budget (maybe?). 

I personally wouldn't want a 1080p 27"+ screen coming from 1440p though it might not be an issue for you.


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## erocker (Jul 28, 2013)

You can't go wrong with Dell due to their awesome warranty. Plus, it's on sale:
Dell UltraSharp U2713HM Black & Silver 27" 8ms (GT...

Use code: EMCYTZT3899 for $100 off.

I've used a few IPS panels and never had blurry text. There must of been an issue with what you were using.


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## Frag_Maniac (Jul 28, 2013)

Frick said:


> The budget is in the title: $500/€400/£325
> 
> I do support matte though. That glossy sh1t has got to go man.



Ah, missed that, still have no clue what country though, which obviously affects brands available.


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## MTB125 (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your replies.



Frag Maniac said:


> You list no budget, you don't mention what size displays you're used to, you give no desired resolution, and you don't even mention what country you're in.



Sorry. I tried to be brief as usually I have a tendency to write way too long posts. 

I'm currently using a 24" Lenovo panel at 1920x1200 and I could definitely use those few extra inches.

I live in the Czech Republic and although it's possible of course to order the monitor from abroad, I'd prefer to buy it in here.

As for the resolution, I have no idea what I should be looking for to be honest. Whether higher or lower, I don't know. All the monitors I listed are 1920x1080 so that doesn't give me much space although there will probably be one or two that have higher resolution. The question is if that would help in my case and if so, how much. Would I even notice? (apart from everything being smaller and then having to enlarge it in Windows )



Frag Maniac said:


> On size, even 27" could present some problems if you're used to a smaller display, esp the new 1440p ones. At native res a 27" display (esp with 1440p res) will have much smaller fonts than a smaller display. Using a less than native res will make the fonts larger at the expense of some image quality. Setting fonts to a larger size in Windows can also cause some degradation of clarity.



Yep, this is more or less what I'm hinting at above. I guess the best action would be to get one 1920x1080 panel and one 2560x1440 panel, compare them and keep the one that is better. The question is which panel type and which models.



Frag Maniac said:


> You're also wrongly assuming all IPS panels produce poor text. Some are quite good at it, like the Dell Ultrasharps. I'm not going to waste time making any suggestions until you clarify the above things left out though, esp budget and country.



I only read the thing about IPS inclarity somewhere else during my research, not sticking to it at all.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check those Dells out.



NdMk2o1o said:


> I have a Shimian 1440p monitor and sit probably 20 inches from it, to read text comfortably on it I have set the DPI to 120% in Windows, this doesn't make things look too big but makes the text just about right for my eyes without me having to strain.
> 
> If you're not keen on the Korean monitors you could always grab an Asus 27" I believe they have 1440p for your budget (maybe?).
> 
> I personally wouldn't want a 1080p 27"+ screen coming from 1440p though it might not be an issue for you.



Thanks, I'll check both Asus and Shimian but haven't seen either here as VA.



erocker said:


> You can't go wrong with Dell due to their awesome warranty. Plus, it's on sale:
> Dell UltraSharp U2713HM Black & Silver 27" 8ms (GT...
> 
> Use code: EMCYTZT3899 for $100 off.
> ...



Thank you for the code but I'll probably be buying it in the Czech Rep.

I only read the thing about blurry text on IPS somewhere on the internet so I'm glad to hear it's nothing standard with them.

Also thank you for the recommendation, I have heard good things about UltraSharps in the past as well. Will look into them.



*My main questions now are:
1. In your opinion, with my budget, what would be the best technology for a lot of text reading: VA, IPS, PLS, or possibly TN?
2. Which specific models (or brands, other than Dell) should I look at?*

Thank you.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jul 28, 2013)

In your situation I'd try get a deal on a 1440p PLS panel since they have very mild coatings. I'd also then look into DPI scaling. Larger font plus the fine dot pitch should be easy reading.


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## Black Panther (Jul 28, 2013)

Frag Maniac said:


> You're also wrongly assuming all IPS panels produce poor text. Some are quite good at it, like the Dell Ultrasharps.



Agreed. As a Dell U2711 owner (27" @ 2560x1440)  I can't complain about text quality. It's just great, as is the rest of the image quality.


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## radrok (Jul 28, 2013)

I own a good number of Ultrasharp monitors, they are awesome, SPVA and IPS.

Can't go wrong with them. Also the warranty seals the deal, zeropixel and 3-5 year (depends if you buy it extended).



Frick said:


> The budget is in the title: $500/€400/£325
> 
> I do support matte though. That glossy sh1t has got to go man.



Semi-glossy is good too


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## MTB125 (Jul 29, 2013)

Thank you all for the UltraSharp recommendations.

The least expensive (but still a bit out of my budget, but oh well, it's a longterm investment) 27" 2560x1440 UltraSharp here is the AH-IPS U2713HM. It has a 350 cd/m2 typical and 50 cd/m2 minimum brightness (is that low enough?), 1 000:1 typical and 2 000 000:1 maximum contrast, 178°/178° viewing angles, 8ms response time, 0.23 pixel pitch. However, it has the anti-glare hard coating (3H), won't it make text blurry as I've read somewhere else?

Read a several reviews on this monitor and all more or less praise him, although I'm a bit sceptical considering it's the cheapest out of all 2560x1440 panels here, not just Dells.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jul 29, 2013)

MTB125 said:


> Thank you all for the UltraSharp recommendations.
> 
> The least expensive (but still a bit out of my budget, but oh well, it's a longterm investment) 27" 2560x1440 UltraSharp here is the AH-IPS U2713HM. It has a 350 cd/m2 typical and 50 cd/m2 minimum brightness (is that low enough?), 1 000:1 typical and 2 000 000:1 maximum contrast, 178°/178° viewing angles, 8ms response time, 0.23 pixel pitch. However, it has the anti-glare hard coating (3H), won't it make text blurry as I've read somewhere else?
> 
> Read a several reviews on this monitor and all more or less praise him, although I'm a bit sceptical considering it's the cheapest out of all 2560x1440 panels here, not just Dells.



Ebay has many Korean branded monitors that have the same LG IPS 1440 panels as the likes of Dell etc for much cheaper prices, the Shimian I mentioned is one. If you don't mind ordering from Korea then for 1440p and your budget that's your best bet, otherwise 1080p 27" should be more in your price range


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## Frick (Jul 29, 2013)

NdMk2o1o said:


> Ebay has many Korean branded monitors that have the same LG IPS 1440 panels as the likes of Dell etc for much cheaper prices, the Shimian I mentioned is one. If you don't mind ordering from Korea then for 1440p and your budget that's your best bet, otherwise 1080p 27" should be more in your price range



The problem with that is warranty and RMA, imo. That Dell is €430 now, the Philips 272C4QPJKAB €397, to me that would be worth it, if I didn't want one for €250.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jul 29, 2013)

Frick said:


> The problem with that is warranty and RMA, imo. That Dell is €430 now, the Philips 272C4QPJKAB €397, to me that would be worth it, if I didn't want one for €250.



That's the risk you take I guess though of all the people on here and other forums who have ordered one hardly any had any issues (luckily), infact in one case I recall someone did. the seller shipped out a new motherboard and PSU for one that was defective rather than having them send the whole thing back. Granted not ideal, but like I said that's the risk people need to be aware of when buying them.


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