Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Recommendation for magnifying laptop screen (self.Blind)
submitted by iFr4g
I'm an IT purchaser in the healthcare field, and one of my users who has a visual impairment needs to magnify their laptop screen.
We originally purchased the user a larger laptop 17" vs. 14" however they have complained that it is too heavy (I agree).
The laptop is having some issues that require us to take it out of the field for a short period, so, in the meantime, we have issued a 14" laptop and provided a 24" monitor to view the content on.
The user has advised they would like to keep the 14" laptop and have a magnifier issued that they could use instead. They are fine carrying the magnifier around as the total weight would be less than the 17" laptop.
Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations of what I can supply, please?
We originally purchased the user a larger laptop 17" vs. 14" however they have complained that it is too heavy (I agree).
The laptop is having some issues that require us to take it out of the field for a short period, so, in the meantime, we have issued a 14" laptop and provided a 24" monitor to view the content on.
The user has advised they would like to keep the 14" laptop and have a magnifier issued that they could use instead. They are fine carrying the magnifier around as the total weight would be less than the 17" laptop.
Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations of what I can supply, please?
LilacRose32 6 points 1y ago
Have they considered magnification software? The inbuilt windows magnifier is ok and easy to use
iFr4g [OP] 5 points 1y ago
Thank you, u/blazblu82 and u/wnolan1992 . I just tested the Windows 10 magnifier, it is so much better than the old magnifier that I knew of. I will present the solution to our field tech so he can work with the end user. I really appreciate it :)
AutomaticChair9 4 points 1y ago
"$1" from Freedom Scientific is another magnification software. Are they thinking there is some kind of magnifier that could be put ON the laptop (some kind of physical device)? I don't have any suggestions for that. Built in magnification (either to the operating system or a separate program or even increasing the font size depending on the machine) is probably the best way to go.
VI_Shepherd 3 points 1y ago
Windows magnifier is free. It's ON windows. Heck, even Apple has one built in to their OS. They're very handy and awesome.
I don't know the keyboard shortcuts for Mac, but for windows it is hold Windows Key and then press plus on nun pad or the + key next to backspace.
You can have a few different views for it too. It's very nice.
I don't know the keyboard shortcuts for Mac, but for windows it is hold Windows Key and then press plus on nun pad or the + key next to backspace.
You can have a few different views for it too. It's very nice.
JaymeJammer 2 points 1y ago
blazblu82 2 points 1y ago
If the laptop uses Windows 10 or newer, use this key combo: WinKey + Plus Symbol or =/+ key
It can magnify a lot and the mouse cursor moves the magnified screen around so user can access all parts of the screen. I use this function quite a bit. It will take pressing the key combo twice before it works. First press starts the software.
It can magnify a lot and the mouse cursor moves the magnified screen around so user can access all parts of the screen. I use this function quite a bit. It will take pressing the key combo twice before it works. First press starts the software.
wnolan1992 2 points 1y ago
I'm just going to add on to this.
Since OP's user sounds like they have a level of vision which means they don't need to magnify everything on the screen, it's worth noting that the inbuilt magnifier has three modes.
- Fullscreen is what was described above. Zooms in, your entire screen is essentially a magnifying glass and you move around, only ever seeing the zoomed in area of the desktop.
- Lens mode makes your mouse cursor a magnifying glass. Move this around the screen to the area you need to zoom in on, but you still have the overall desktop on screen.
- Docked mode puts a stationary lens on screen (usually docked to the top of the screen. You move around the screen normally, but you'll see a zoomed in image in that lens.
Windows Magnifier is great. I'm VI, and before Magnifier became decent in Windows 7, I relied on ZoomText, which is expensive. I now exclusively use Magnifier, and it's liberating because I can now use any Windows machine without needing to install specialist software.
Since OP's user sounds like they have a level of vision which means they don't need to magnify everything on the screen, it's worth noting that the inbuilt magnifier has three modes.
- Fullscreen is what was described above. Zooms in, your entire screen is essentially a magnifying glass and you move around, only ever seeing the zoomed in area of the desktop.
- Lens mode makes your mouse cursor a magnifying glass. Move this around the screen to the area you need to zoom in on, but you still have the overall desktop on screen.
- Docked mode puts a stationary lens on screen (usually docked to the top of the screen. You move around the screen normally, but you'll see a zoomed in image in that lens.
Windows Magnifier is great. I'm VI, and before Magnifier became decent in Windows 7, I relied on ZoomText, which is expensive. I now exclusively use Magnifier, and it's liberating because I can now use any Windows machine without needing to install specialist software.
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