[Qagak]

Alright. I've been pondering what I'm about to say for some time. I love the Mini 9.... However, it really hurts my neck! It makes me want to curse, but I will refrain. ~lol~

Okay. Well, I'm nearsighted. My eyes are bad enough & even though I wear glasses, sitting back with perfect posture is like asking an ostrich not to stick it's head in the ground. It takes a lot of focus/concentration to make out what I need to see, if I do that & then I can only do that for but so long.

If my glasses are too strong, then I'll get these bad headaches. I could increase the default font size, but the Mini 9's screen is only but so big. So the question is: What to do? What to do? Any suggestions?

Hhmm.... Oh yes, I forgot to mention it hurts my back as well, especially when used at a table. ~lol~ I guess it's my fault..... Maybe I need a harness that'll keep me in the perfect posture position at all times, so I can unlearn my bad habit. Humm....

The only solution I have so far to this is to use it in bed; I really don't have any problems there. Or maybe some kind of stand will help (like what I'm asking about in the Peripherals section).

[SkyWriter]

i use mine in bed all the time - bad back. an inexpensive external monitor may help you out if you want to sit up.

[Max_Carnage]

Sounds like you need a mini 9 with a 10.1" screen...

[erillanos]

I am a legally blind person and know that its hard reading
stuff on such a small screen.You might have way more vision then me though.
Things that help me out is.
-External monitor when you are at your desk.
-Speech program for reading long segments of words.
-Zoom in to screen.depending on your OS this might be natively supported or not.

You might only benefit from the external monitor when at home.

[bmcclure937]

Originally Posted by erillanos

I am a legally blind person and know that its hard reading
stuff on such a small screen.You might have way more vision then me though.
Things that help me out is.
-External monitor when you are at your desk.
-Speech program for reading long segments of words.
-Zoom in to screen.depending on your OS this might be natively supported or not.

You might only benefit from the external monitor when at home.

I was going to mention that you can hold "Ctrl" + Scroll on the trackpad to zoom when using OSX

[anguish]

There are two things that strike me: 1) maybe it might be time for a prescription change and 2) definitely in need of a posture change.

Now, I don't know what your budget is, so it may be easy to say that, but more difficult to do.

What I would do, at least initially, is see if I could find a dirt cheap monitor to plug it into. That would take some strain off of your eyes and allow also to potentially correct your posture.

The next would definitely be to get an updated eye exam, and probably new glasses. My eyesight isn't the greatest either, but sometimes a minor tweak in the prescription can make all the difference in the world.

Finally, once the above two have been accomplished, changing your posture is a conscious thing, but what you're sitting in may not be helping either. I have a bad back (funny considering the fact that I'm a runner too, despite it), and one of the best changes I made was in the chair in my office. It's helping me with my posture, and ultimately my back pain as well. Good office chairs aren't always cheap, but they are worth it when it comes to a bad back.

Another thought would be that getting up every little bit is very important too. It's been proven that you don't blink as much, and do strain eyes the longer you stare at a computer screen. Getting up, stretching, walking around, even for a few moments, can make all the difference in the world. I continually struggle with this one, but it does help.

Hope some of those suggestions might help, even though some of them may unfortunately cost money. I'm 6'8", bad back, bad eyes, poor posture and a variety of other lesser issues, and some of those changes make all the difference in the world.

---------- Post added at 08:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:31 AM ----------

One other thought.. You may need to adjust the position of how far away the Mini is from you as well as the angle. Recommendations that I have seen indicate that you should have proper posture, that it should be no more than roughly 18 inches away, feet flat on the floor, and you should be looking at a slight downward angle, but no enough to cause you to bend your neck.

[holmes4]

I'll also suggest that "computer glasses" may be appropriate. I don't need glasses for reading, but my regular glasses, which are progressive, don't focus well at typical computer monitor distances. I got "computer glasses" which takes my normal prescription and modifies it to give a wide area of "near" focus typical for a monitor. The first set of these I got from my optometrist, since Costco, where I normally get my glasses made, didn't know what to make of the instructions. It turns out, though, that Costco's "computer glasses" option is exactly what I wanted and MUCH cheaper.

I agree that if you're using the Mini at home a lot, a separate monitor, and perhaps a keyboard and mouse, would be in order.

[tismon]

Now I'm not sure what some of the other posters are referring to so this may only be echoing them, but from what I remember, most OSs have some sort of Magnifying Glass that allows you to zoom in on a particular area

I think this is what erillanos and bmcclure937 were getting at, but I wasn't too sure.

[bmcclure937]

Mac OSX is not really a "magnifying glass"... rather it will zoom your entire screen

Comes in handy if you want a close up / enlarged view of an area. Once you "zoom" you can move around the entire viewable screen area and scroll through with your mouse/trackpad.

[Qagak]

Thanks every one! ~lol~ I thought I would have gotten laughed off the forum for this thread....

Yes, I am actively trying to deal with my posture. I don't really have this problem on the desktop.

My trick so far is moving the chair all the way up to the table to help me keep my back as straight as I can. This has helped my back. No pain there....

I'm still working on my neck... It's less pain, but still there.

Holmes, can you tell me more about those computer glasses? I'll try to see if I can get some in the store. Are computer glasses different from reading glasses?

I might need a prescription change.... I don't know, but I've always had problems seeing the default print in Windows. Without glasses, the only thing I can see on the eye examination chart is the big E, without squinting. As far as I recall, my vision doesn't reach 20/20 ever. It should be around 20/30. The eye thing is hereditary.

The magnifying glass is helping. I didn't think about using it. I might have to try for a stand that will elevate the Mini to stop bending/craning my neck.... I have a USB keyboard + mouse, so that's not an issue.

Well, I'll keep trying.