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Headaches with new 27"

B

beerglass007

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 13, 2008
566
111
Been on my new 27" imac tonight and now have a banging headache.
Never had anything like this on my 21.5"

I have noticed I look up more because the 27" is so much taller than the 21.5"

I might cut the legs on my desk 8)

But if this continues I might have to return it. Would be gutted because the i5 and video card is card.

But whats the i5 upgrade like for the 21.5" its not a quad core ? Also the video card isn't a 5750 but a 5670 ? Whats that like compare to the 5750 in the 27" I currently have ?
 
I've had mine for a few days and already got used to the screen (I come from a 24" though)

just make sure that you jack up the font (command +)
 
sit in a appropriate distance to a 27 inch screen which is between 7 and 10 feet away depending on viewing angle , its also the distance where you get most out of the high resolution /size of display, remember your parents words ..dont sit so close in front of the screen , it was a good advise in crt days and still is with lcd's , to close you get pixalation to far away and it will become unsharp , and you can even get motionsickness , but you can read about these things on scientific sites from doctors who try to cure office workers

i sit about 5 feet away and i only have a 17 inch screen and never have any trouble with red eyes or headaches , even after days of sitting in front , but i see lot of people with their noses just a couple inch from the screen and always complain about headaches and hurting eyes

and if you cant read from the safe distance then its time to go to a optician to get some glasses or contact lenses
 
If you can, set your seat a bit higher. The best viewing position is when you have to look a little bit down when viewing the screen.
 
I have the same problem. I'm selling the 27" on ebay, and replacing it with a 21.5". I would have preferred the quad core, but i5 is probably all I need.
 
I guess headache while looking at the 27 inch screen is not an uncommon problem. That's good to know, because the headaches were so bad I thought I had a brain tumor or something terrible. I did figure out that I had to look up at the big screen all the time, that caused tensions in back and shoulder muscles, and that resulted in a terrible headache.

As a solution, I got a monitor arm so I can set the screen lower, so the bottom of the iMac is almost touching the top of the desk. This way, I can look down on the screen work area. That promptly, instantly, and immediately got rid of my headaches.

This seems to be a common problem for people who are short (I am small size Asian). Rather than getting a monitor arm, some people place the iMac on a low table and set it behind the desk to lower it.
 
I believe this is a common problem because my friend was using a 21.5" as well and it took him about a week to get use to his 27" iMac. His wife still get headaches so she just uses her 15" MBP.
 
Whats the recommend distance for a 27"

10 feet is a long long way. Surely people don't sit that far away.

Thats like watching a TV
 
i said between 7 and 10 feed would be the ideal "save" distance ,as there is no difference between a iMac 27 inch and a tv with the same display type and same size , yes most people sit far to close in front of their screens and think its normal and a appropriate distance but that is causing problems for some for example with more sensible eyes , necks......
dimming the display might help too, or adjusting the viewing angle
if you sit to close in front of such a big srenn you just have to move your head up down sidways all the time as you cant see the whole display so if you move a bit back without moving your head at all , keeping your eyes focused on the centre of the display until you can see clearly all four corners of the display without moving your head or eyeballs
 
I always make sure to have a lot of light around me and my iMac as well. I think people who sit in the dark with that giant display would easily get headaches.
 
ProstheticHead said:
I sit about 2.5 feet back from my 27" and haven't had any headaches. The screen is huge though. It can be pretty overwhelming whilst playing WoW.
Click to expand...

yes some can even sit closer without issues , but some are just more sensible so they need to make adjustments in order to sit there all day compared with a smaller screen , just you as a example your distance to the 27 inch is 2.5 feet
so it would be the same distance on a smaller screen as most of us will have their monitor no matter if small or big in the rear 3rd of the desk and the keyboard in the 1st 3rd as thats where people usually put these things but ideal is if you can without moving your head see the whole display and with a little move of your eyeballs the keyboard , so you don't need to do headbanging all day
 
MacHamster68 said:
yes some can even sit closer without issues , but some are just more sensible so they need to make adjustments in order to sit there all day compared with a smaller screen , just you as a example your distance to the 27 inch is 2.5 feet
so it would be the same distance on a smaller screen as most of us will have their monitor no matter if small or big in the rear 3rd of the desk and the keyboard in the 1st 3rd as thats where people usually put these things but ideal is if you can without moving your head see the whole display and with a little move of your eyeballs the keyboard , so you don't need to do headbanging all day
Click to expand...

My eyes are shot as it is. That's what we have Lasik for, right? :p
 
Surely sitting that far away you can't see all the icons and fonts within the apps.

It weird I felt my MBP 15" was perfect for browsing and typing. Then I sold that and got a ipad and 21.5" imac. The imac felt great and much quicker than the MBP. I then felt upgrading to the 27" would be the next step and would feel great for gaming and stuff.

Its almost too big, something like a 24" would feel better.

But after 4 days of using the 27" I used the 21" this mornining and its already feeling small.

But using my works 14" laptop now it feels fine.
 
I have removed 2inches off my desk legs and my head is now level with the top of the 27". This has helped a lot.

It does feel like everything time I enter a new URL into a browser I was looking up and made my neck and eyes/head hurt
 
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