From what I have experienced with my eyes is that the cheaper the monitor the more their hurt me. No need for fancy explanations. Its elementary: Cheap monitor = pain High quality 30" = no pain. Saving couple hundred $$$ = inconsequential in this equation.
I have a relatively large LCD TV with surround etc. I love watching movies on that screen, experience is awesome. For my type trading I simply do not need such a big screen, so why spend the extra $? If I needed a larger screen, then it would have been a different matter. I mean, how many instruments is this guy thinking of trading? 1?10?50? There has to be a valid reason to invest $1300 instead of $500. If you want to also watch TV and play games, then I would have done the same. Also, you've been using a 17" CRT until now when LCDs have been available for a while now AND are concerned about health issues?
I also possess a nice laptop with 17" high quality screen, and majority of the work would be done using it. Also my old 17" had a special screen made by 3M and was top of the line monitor made by Sony when I bought it. Cost me over a $1000 a couple of years ago. Like I mentioned it before, this is not exclusively for trading. The monitor would also be used for my regular work, and entertainment purposes (video editing, ect)
Cheaper = TN Panel... though not necessarily a cause of eye strain. (Eye strain is due to (1) some lighting/refresh issue, or (2) a focus issue... eyes trying to smooth-out an image which apears out of focus/fuzzy. If your issue is #2, MOVE YOUR FRICKIN' FACE BACK 6"...) All of the 30" (24"ers, too) have "high quality panels"... some form of "VA"... AND they have tighter/smaller pixels
Could be that my eye strain is more psychological than physical. Every time I am forced to work using one of those cheap 15" LCD monitors, my eyes go nuts.
One thing to keep in mind with these large monitors is that the text becomes smaller and smaller (more pixels per square inch). I find the 19 inch the largest I want to work with for text, and still use my 19 inch as my main monitor even though I have a nice 24 inch right next to it. Also, the high contrast can cause eye strain; I always turn the contrast down on my 24 inch, especially at night.
Agreed, saxon22. I spend between 8 and 16 hours a day staring at computer screens, and I used to get migraine headaches on crappy monitors (usually provided by work). It got to the point where I'd bring in my own expensive monitors because my health was obviously more important to me than to my employers. Anyway, what I've noticed that make a big difference in how long I can go in front of a given monitor are: 1) LCD over CRT (duh) 2) digital DVI input over analog VGA input 3) super-low response times (<8ms) if on a LCD 4) matching native resolution of LCD if using analog VGA input (this would seem like a no-brainer, but I know lots of traders who aren't computer-saavy that drive their low-res LCDs at much higher resolutions). 5) super-high refresh rates if using analog VGA input on a CRT 6) highest possible number of colors 7) least amount of distortion/ghosting at edges of screen if using analog VGA #3, 5, 6, and 7 are highly dependent on having a high-quality video card to drive your high-quality monitor. At my retail "prop" firm, they've provided me with a crappy PC with an ancient GeForce2 MX-200 video card. I brought in my own gorgeous Samsung 225BW 22" widescreen. The video card is wholly responsible for the fuzzy, four-times-ghosted image that results. I've purchased a laptop with widescreen DVI output to replace the machine they provided me with. One other thing that matters: your eyes' distance from the screen. I've noticed that with the larger screens, I have to move towards and away from the screen as I "zoom" in on sections of the screen and out to see the big picture. Considering that it's easy to not move and try to accomplish the zoom by changing my eyes' focal length--thereby creating eye strain--you might want to try out a 30" screen before buying one. Many people report having to sit further back away from a 30" or 24" widescreen than from a 21" or 22" widescreen. And there's an all-important source of eye strain that has nothing to do with the quality of the monitor: lighting and glare. Of course, some monitors have shinier, more reflective surfaces that increase perceived glare, but it's mostly the placement and intensity of nearby lighting that causes this.