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I know the more resolution the better. But I have a limited budget. Will 1366x768 resolution on a 15.6 inch screen look granny, and gray and washed out and give headaches? I purchase a hp 15 dy 100 and it is 15.6 with 1366x768. It giving me a headache and looks granny and gray.

So for 15.6 in does it have to be 1080p or does 768 work? Because I can't tell if this laptop screen is bad or all 15.6 with this resolution be bad.

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  • A 15 inch screen with low resolution will look grainy. The only machine I have (have seen) with 1366x768 resolution is a 12 to 13 inch screen (much smaller). Can you return the laptop for one with a smaller screen (less expensive)?
    – John
    Dec 27, 2020 at 19:47
  • Can you not change the resolution to 1920x1080, 1366x768 sounds way too low.
    – vssher
    Dec 27, 2020 at 19:52
  • Will a 14 inch screen be fine? Also if the company does not say what nit it has does that mean below 250? The one I got said 218 and others say 250 but most don't on hp website. Not sure if I can return it without paying s restocking fee. It was built to spec bu hp. Do you have any experience with their returns? Honestly I never had to return any of their built to order ones.
    – Vick
    Dec 27, 2020 at 19:55
  • The 1366x768 screen I have is 300 NIT (Lenovo datasheet for this model) and the low NIT of your screen means low brightness which is part of the issue.
    – John
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:07

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This question - particularly the bit about headaches - is subjective.

If you find your current 15 inch laptop grainy - which is likely & all 15 inch ones at 1366*768 will be. The grey and washed out would depend on the model of screen built in.

The reason for headaches is likely subjective. I am not expert here, but it is most likely caused by eye strain and/or the way your brain is working to determine the images. You possibly want to speak to an optomitrist. I am not convinced eyestrain is correlated with screen resolution. More likely its the lighting or your eyes having difficulty focusing.

I would suggest to you if you have a non-ancient system with a 1366*768 screen it is a budget model and its likely price has been prioritised over robustness.

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  • I have a 1366x768 high quality screen right beside me. 13 inch screen (much smaller) and very crisp. It is the large screen with low resolution that is the real issue - or at least so i think.
    – John
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:00
  • If you find your current 15 inch laptop grainy - which is likely & all 15 inch ones at 1366*768. So all in this resolution and screen size are. Is it washed out because its 218 nits? Yes it is a budget laptop. My older one was same resolution but 14.1 so I did not think this one would be bad. I can't change the resolution because its internal display.
    – Vick
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:03
  • My screen is 300 NIT which is decently good for brightness.
    – John
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:08
  • @john why would any manufacturer use a screen with a low resolution (ie low DPI) display other then for a low price point? How old is your laptop and how expensive was it new?
    – davidgo
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:21
  • @Vick Resolution measures number and size of pixels. Nits are the measure of brightness. Color quality doesn't depend on them - although screens with lower resolution and brightness will generally have worse color reproduction.
    – gronostaj
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:32
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No advice given here can substitute to a visit to an optometrist. You may discuss with him the points that are raised here, but remember that we are not eye-specialists.

You may be sensitive to the back-light, the monitor may be too bright or maybe uses too much blue tint that doesn't agree with your eyes. You may check this by getting blue-light filters for your eyes (if you don't wear glasses, there are special glasses that filter blue light, or such filters can be added to the monitor screen, or Windows itself could be set to filter blue light.)

Also, some monitors use PWM to adjust the brightness (the leds generating light are turned on and off tens of thousands of times a second), and it could happen that your eyes are particularly sensitive to a particular ratio of on and off switches. In this case, just reducing the brightness a bit may alter that ratio of on/off switching enough to reduce the strain on your eyes.

Whatever you try and whatever helps or not, should be concluded by a visit to the optometrist.

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  • +1 for the PWM thing, but AFAIK reducing the brightness won't work if that's the case. Actually @Vick you should try the opposite: set screen brightness to max in a well lit room. At max screen brightness the PWM is effectively disabled and the screen doesn't flicker, so if your headaches are gone then the PWM dimming is the culprit. You'd need to look for a laptop that uses DC dimming rather than PWM. Unfortunately it's usually not listed anywhere in the datasheet, but IIRC Notebookcheck reviewers sometimes checked for PWM flickering.
    – gronostaj
    Dec 27, 2020 at 20:37
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    @harrymc the blue light thing is (largely) a well known scam (that optometrists are sometimes complicit in to sell lucrative blue light blockers). It does NOT hurt or strain your eyes. (It can affect your sleep/wake cycles because of the destruction of melonin)
    – davidgo
    Dec 28, 2020 at 1:02
  • If PWM of the backlight is the problem (which is unlikely) then lowering brightness will only make it worse.
    – MacGuffin
    Dec 31, 2020 at 0:32

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