Age-related macular degeneration / pc build

eeepaulo

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has any experience building for AMD.

Relative in the uk, built/repaired his own pcs for 15-20 years asked me to look into buying one for him, eyesight gone really bad, he has wet amd in one eye, dry amd in the other.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Macular-degeneration/pages/symptoms.aspx

He can use his PC but needs a magnifying glass / light (20", 1600x900), its not comfortable missed lots on the screen unless he moves his head a lot, plus he's looking to set up an IP (CCTV) cam so he can read normal books on the screen.

He has plenty of money, always built low end PCs because never needed anything better, but i'll convince him to spend more if needed.

Heres my thinking, 4k monitor, ive asked him to go into local pcworld and compare.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/s_action/compare/21401708-10134828-10132611-10109333.html

The first is roughly what he has now, he uses a 20" screen with 125% magnifying but finds that text is blurred.

The other 3 are larger monitors using 4k (well the 3rd one isnt, his local store isnt showing as having mid sized 4k monitors in stock, might be on display though)

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

The actual pc

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400
RAM: 4GB Crucial 2133mhz DDR4 (1x4GB)
Graphics card: Onboard Video
Motherboard: Gigabyte H110M-S2H
Operating System: Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Hard Drive: Kingston 120GB SSD
Case: Aerocool QC-203
PSU: 450W Corsair VS

about £300 (sterling) built and delivered

the new socket (1151?) so upgradeable
he can stick an extra stick in if he wants
no wifi card needed, only lan
ssd as he has a 500gb hd to put in and a qnap nas for everything else, sort of person who runs open office off a portable apps USB because he doesnt want it on the hard drive
has his own optical drive

Im also having a look at things like browser options, increase text size and contrast settings.

Any comments welcome

ED E

Windows can zoom around the mouse, makes a big difference. A family friend is in a similar situation. She uses a magnifying glass on the screen still (32" at approx 1280x720).

IMO the best possible solution is a 40" QHD panel running at 1080p, possibly a Korean. Display scaling in windows is pretty poor so best to just drop the native res.

eeepaulo

Thanks ed, can I just check I have the terminology correct, by qhd you mean 3440x1440?

Or is qhd just the term for any high res monitor?

eeepaulo

Oops

Capt'n Midnight

No point in getting a 4K monitor if you can't use the resolution.
Old 32" TV with a VGA input would be a lot more cost-effective.

+1 on windows being waste of time on scaling, just change the resolution to a lower one.

eeepaulo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

No point in getting a 4K monitor if you can't use the resolution.
Old 32" TV with a VGA input would be a lot more cost-effective.

+1 on windows being waste of time on scaling, just change the resolution to a lower one.

Does using a higher resolution monitor, even if it is at a lower windows resolution than it could be, allow you to sit closer and it be sharper?

ED E

QHD normally refers to 2560x1440.

I don't think text sharpness is his issue really, he should be scaling text from 8 or 12pt up to 20pt vs trying to use higher resolution to get sharper edges then blowing it up with a magnifying glass.

First step is to set his browser to default of 150% zoom.

riclad

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000779.htm

A high res monitor allows more text to be onscreen and to be readable
by someone with normal vision .
my advice is set resolution at 1024x768 ,
and adjust the text size in the browser to say 150-180 per cent ,or more
so he can easily read it .
a 4k monitor will not help .
Most tvs, i see have only 3 resolutions that work properly in vga mode .




http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/255-screen-resolution-display-settings.html

i have very good vision ,
i prefer 1024x768 resolution for reading text in a browser .
Also i set the screen brightness to less than 3 per cent in settings ,
control panel, power settings .
http://www.wikihow.com/Change-the-Default-Font-on-Windows-7

IE Change os menu fonts to a larger size .


A higher resolution allows you to show more data onscreen,
and allows text to be shown clearly
small text that is still sharp with no distortion ,easy to read .
eg 6 browser ,windows with 2 ms word windows vs 3 browser windows at low resolution .

For many casual users browsing the web at 1024 x768 resolution is fine ,
unless they wish to view hd films in 1080p mode .

i can use the web in 1080 x800 mode but i find a lower resolution more comfortable for reading text.

eeepaulo

Lovely, thanks for all the responses.

riclad

This app allows you to change ,contrast, to any setting
you want.
i set brightness to 1 per cent .gamma is brightness in the menu.
IT allows you to make custom resolution ,
eg 1000x700 .
It Allows you to change display settings which are not usually avaidable to a standard windows user .

http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm