CCFL vs. LED in regards to eye strain?

[Sylfaen]

I have a rare eye condition. To spare you the details, I am in pain when looking at my monitor. It wasn't always this bad, however. The only transition I've made is from a laptop to desktop. Previously, I had an Asus laptop. I've read that their dispalys have CCFL LCD Monitors. I am now using an LED LCD monitor. I've read that some people have less eye strain with CCFL.

Long story short I'm wanting to try switching to CCFL. However, I see nothing about *buying* a CCFL Monitor, but instead have seen information on switching out the LED bulbs with CCFL ones. I don't know how to do this, though. And I've only seen tutorials in regards to Laptop monitors.

So, the ultimate question: Do you think it's worth me trying CCFL? Do you think it will help? Am I even on the right track with this, or am I misinformed?

Additionally, if I should proceed, can anyone give me any tips on which bulbs I should get, and a general guide on how to swap them?

 

[mrmez]

Without knowing your condition, or anything about eyes really, its hard to say.

I guess the first thing is, once looking at a screen, how quickly do you know it's going to be bad?
If it takes a minute or two, you can go to a shop and spend a bit of time looking at different monitors to see how they effect you.

I CBF looking up details on CCFL, but normal fluro lights AND LED's don't 'glow' like a filament bulb, they pulse or flash on and off.
Fluro's flash ~60 times a sec I think, led's maybe faster.
They flash quickly enough so we don't notice, but fluro's especially are known to give some people headaches.

Unfortunately pretty much every LCD will have LED backlighting these days. You might find a few current models here and there, otherwise you might have to start looking at 2nd hand displays.

 

[Max Bee II]

CCFLs are also known to cause some strain, but interestingly they are a lot less intrusive compared to LEDs. I remember I'd have to sit day and night in front of a CCFL monitor to get fatigue. With LED's it only takes a few hours and you are almost disabled. Horror really. LEDs are nasty in many ways. 1) blue light peaks that damage eye retina 2) Flicker is more intense - it is called PWM modulation. Basically strobing induced artificially to control brightness /contrast 3) always really low refresh rates at 60Khz or even lower - total nightmare. With CCFLs I remember I could just switch to 75Khz and it would sort out most of the issues there and then. Most CCFL monitors would support 75Khz with good graphics card. With LEDs you will have to spend £300 on special graphics card and it would only address part of the LED problem, not all of it. A real nightmare.

 

[Max Bee II]

Before you start DIY bulb replacements. Why do you even bother with something like that? Can you not order specifically a CCFL lit monitor. They do sell them. You just need to look specifically for CCFL lit monitor. The panel is usually a little ticker. I know HP has one. And ASUS has a CCFL monitor. I in fact ordered one recently , but the supplier auto-upgraded me to a ""NEWER"" model and got me an LED model again! I cannot believe this. Specifically ordered older CCFL model - they send me new LED edition!!!