Hi everyone
My XP computer stopped working and I have been forced to use a windows 7 computer.
I was using XP with luna royale and it looked great and the text was clear.
I have tried basic, aero, and classic in windows 7 and they don’t seem to be as good.
The issue I have is im sure that the text/fonts aren’t as sharp as in xp. (XP had cleartype and smooth edges enabled.)
However. In windows 7 especially in word and libreoffice the text just doesn’t seem to be as crisp as in XP and I cant work out why. (Might be my imagination) seems less well defined and almost a little bit blurry, and annoying on the eyes. Given a choice I would prefer using XP…
The resolution is native to the monitor
I’ve tried –
2 different graphics cards (certified for windows 7)
Setting the options on the monitor
Setting cleartype on and off
Setting smooth edges of screen fonts
Im really not sure what to do to improve it? I see plenty of posts online with people asking this question…but no answers
Has anyone else experienced this, or got a solution to improve it?
It has got to the stage where im contemplating buying another secondhand XP computer so I can get some work done!!!!………?
Thanks for your help.
Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
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BlueRover
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Are you using the same input to the monitor ? VGA won't be as good as DVI and that may be the reason. Also, are you using the same font ? Win7 uses a custom font, it's Segoe UI, for most things and I think XP used Arial or Tahoma (incidentally my favourite).
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Hi yeah I'm using the same monitor and it is VGA
Ive changed the fonts under appearance under the theme settings back to XP type ones.
As I say I can live with the windows system fonts.
The worst are when browsing in firefox or when using word or libreoffice.... I cant quite work out
why it doesn't look as good as in XP, but it just doesn't.
Ive no idea how to solve it, and it makes the computer unusable really.
Ive changed the fonts under appearance under the theme settings back to XP type ones.
As I say I can live with the windows system fonts.
The worst are when browsing in firefox or when using word or libreoffice.... I cant quite work out
why it doesn't look as good as in XP, but it just doesn't.
Ive no idea how to solve it, and it makes the computer unusable really.
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Neilbaker86
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
VGA (being analogue) is awful when using a digital (LCD) monitor. Does your monitor and graphics card have a digital input/output? Like HDMI or DVI, if so use these you will get a much better picture anyway.
Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Hi the card is VGA/HDMI/DVI and the monitor is only VGA.
So do you think getting another monitor with DVI input and lead will improve the image quality so the text clarity will make it usable?...
So do you think getting another monitor with DVI input and lead will improve the image quality so the text clarity will make it usable?...
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Neilbaker86
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Well put it this way, my LCD monitor has a VGA and DVI input, the difference between the two is chalk and cheese.LondonMX wrote:Hi the card is VGA/HDMI/DVI and the monitor is only VGA.
So do you think getting another monitor with DVI input and lead will improve the image quality so the text clarity will make it usable?...
More reading for you:
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/hdmi-vs-dis ... to-choose/
Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Okay then thanks for your help, I have just bought a monitor on ebay that has a dvi input and a lead... so ill let you know how i get on with it when it arrives in the next couple of days...
Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
You say you were forced to use Windows 7? I didn't move to Windows XP until Service Pack 2 (2000 SP4 was just so good)... and Windows 7 is absolutely superb compared to XP SP2. Try using Vista!! 
With all due respect I think you're blowing things a little out of proportion here.
I've used probably 50 different models of monitors on both Windows XP and 7, using a variety of different connectivity methods and have never really had any problems reading any text on either OS.
I wear glasses for VDU use, but even without I can read text on my 21" Acer (DVI), 19" Dell (VGA) - [home], 24" BenQ (HDMI) and 24" BenQ (VGA) - [work] without any real difficulty at all. Certainly not bad enough to warrant going back to a previous version of Windows due to an issue that's probably related to hardware rather than software.
Sure, cheap graphics cards over VGA will give worse image quality than a high end card over DVI. What cards are you using? What are the specs of your hardware?
Do you have any decent photos to show us what you're seeing? I doubt this is an OS issue at all. If it was, it would have been posted everywhere, just like Windows 8 and the missing start button.
With all due respect I think you're blowing things a little out of proportion here.
I've used probably 50 different models of monitors on both Windows XP and 7, using a variety of different connectivity methods and have never really had any problems reading any text on either OS.
I wear glasses for VDU use, but even without I can read text on my 21" Acer (DVI), 19" Dell (VGA) - [home], 24" BenQ (HDMI) and 24" BenQ (VGA) - [work] without any real difficulty at all. Certainly not bad enough to warrant going back to a previous version of Windows due to an issue that's probably related to hardware rather than software.
Sure, cheap graphics cards over VGA will give worse image quality than a high end card over DVI. What cards are you using? What are the specs of your hardware?
Do you have any decent photos to show us what you're seeing? I doubt this is an OS issue at all. If it was, it would have been posted everywhere, just like Windows 8 and the missing start button.
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Dell Optiplex GX270 + XP Pro + 128mb Nvidia Graphics Card + Sharp 15" LCD VGA Monitor = Text looked fine.
Dell Optiplex 755 + Windows 7 Prem + MSI Nvidia 210 1GB Graphics Card + Sharp 15" LCD VGA Monitor = text doesnt look as good.
I dont think that it really shows up much in a screenshot.
Ill see if the newer monitor improves it at all (it should be here in a couple of days.)
Thanks for your help.
Dell Optiplex 755 + Windows 7 Prem + MSI Nvidia 210 1GB Graphics Card + Sharp 15" LCD VGA Monitor = text doesnt look as good.
I dont think that it really shows up much in a screenshot.
Ill see if the newer monitor improves it at all (it should be here in a couple of days.)
Thanks for your help.
Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
I meant a photograph, not a print screen/screenshot.
That 128MB card in the old machine was probably a decent card for the time and had a decent quality chipset. The nVidia 210 (despite having 1GB of RAM) is a really cheap card and won't be helping, especially over VGA.
What was the other card you tried?
This is definitely a card or monitor issue. Interested to hear if there's a difference when you try a new monitor. Which did you go for?
That 128MB card in the old machine was probably a decent card for the time and had a decent quality chipset. The nVidia 210 (despite having 1GB of RAM) is a really cheap card and won't be helping, especially over VGA.
What was the other card you tried?
This is definitely a card or monitor issue. Interested to hear if there's a difference when you try a new monitor. Which did you go for?
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Re: Fonts in Windows 7 don’t seem to be as sharp as in XP?
Hi, the other card I tried was another Geforce 210 (palit one with a fan) and the MSI one is fanless, so the same as each other really.
I bought a cheap used monitor on ebay (NEC 175VXM+) and used DVI and the image quality is dramatically improved now so it is usable (in firefox and word etc) which is excellent so problem solved really. So thanks for your help. (Why XP looked better on much older hardware but 7 didnt Im not sure?)...
Its 17" as opposed to 15" and it has an upped native resolution than I was used to so it feels a bit weird viewing webpages or word documents as I have to zoom in now, and one program I use is called 'digita organiser' (ive never found a diary program that is as good and the resolution for that is too small now. I dont get why you cant just have one program running in a lower resolution that other programs.... there is probably some way of doing it... (I could drop the resolution to 1024x768 as opposed to 1280x1024 i guess)
...anyway I am getting along fine now with windows 7 just as well as XP. there have been a few niggles along the way. one thing that annoys me is if I have 3 word documents open in aeropeek I cant seem to shift the order of them,, its just little niggles like that.
I have been using XP for years and it was configured to the tiniest detail to my liking and there were zero issues and it was rock solid day to day,,,, I guess changing to another operating system does take a while to get used to until it is fully tweaked again...
I bought a cheap used monitor on ebay (NEC 175VXM+) and used DVI and the image quality is dramatically improved now so it is usable (in firefox and word etc) which is excellent so problem solved really. So thanks for your help. (Why XP looked better on much older hardware but 7 didnt Im not sure?)...
Its 17" as opposed to 15" and it has an upped native resolution than I was used to so it feels a bit weird viewing webpages or word documents as I have to zoom in now, and one program I use is called 'digita organiser' (ive never found a diary program that is as good and the resolution for that is too small now. I dont get why you cant just have one program running in a lower resolution that other programs.... there is probably some way of doing it... (I could drop the resolution to 1024x768 as opposed to 1280x1024 i guess)
...anyway I am getting along fine now with windows 7 just as well as XP. there have been a few niggles along the way. one thing that annoys me is if I have 3 word documents open in aeropeek I cant seem to shift the order of them,, its just little niggles like that.
I have been using XP for years and it was configured to the tiniest detail to my liking and there were zero issues and it was rock solid day to day,,,, I guess changing to another operating system does take a while to get used to until it is fully tweaked again...