How to make Windows easier to use for people with poor vision

I work for a university and do quite a lot of travelling. I need reading glasses for small fonts, and consequently struggle with small laptop screens. I would like a large-screen laptop and wonder if you could recommend one. My priorities are a large good-quality screen and portability. George

You are correct in thinking that if you display the same image on a bigger screen, everything will look bigger, though it won’t be quite as sharp. (There will be fewer pixels per inch.) Unfortunately, the bigger the screen, the less portable the laptop.

Happily, there are several ways to make Windows laptop screens more readable – see below. All of them can be used with screens of all sizes. Try them on laptops around your home or university to see if you really need a bigger screen. Do the experiments under new accounts, so your changes won’t affect anybody else. You can delete the test accounts when you have finished.

Hardware choices

The biggest normal laptops have 17.3in screens, and are not very portable. The HP Pavilion 17-f254na (£449) and Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series (£514.80) are reasonably-priced options – both have 1600 x 900 pixel screens – but I’d go for the HP Envy 17-k251na (£799.95), which has a 1920 x 1080 screen. I’d still recommend against travelling with anything that big, unless it only has to be transported from the boot of a car to a desk.

Fortunately, there are plenty of portable Windows laptops with screens from 13.3in to 15.6in. The 13.3in models are generally designed for mobile use while the 15.6in ones are not. I think a 14in screen could be an attractive compromise between size and portability. The Lenovo U330 Ultrabook (£599.95) might be a good option. The Lenovo Flex 2 (£349.99 with 500GB or £379.85 with 1TB) is a cheaper but less robust alternative. Both have 14in 1366 x 768 screens. There are lots of alternatives if you shop around.

If you feel you need a bigger 15.6in laptop with a 1366 x 768 screen, the hundreds of options include the Asus X555LA (£469.11), and the Acer Aspire V3-572PG (£599.99). But the HP Envy 15-k250na (£649.95) might be worth a look, even though the screen resolution is 1920 x 1080.

Nowadays, most PCs on sale run Windows 8.1, though Windows 7 may offer more control for users with poor vision and other disabilities. However, it should be worth upgrading to Windows 10.

Screen resolution and scaling

The most common screen resolution on Windows laptops is 1366 x 768 pixels. In theory, you could buy a better (very high resolution) screen and set it to a lower resolution, but this doesn’t work well. LCDs work best at their “native” resolution. Other resolutions can result in fuzzier text, which is harder to read.

Also, a higher-resolution screen should make everything look sharper. However, this depends on programs being able to stretch or “scale” to fit. Apple’s iPad does this better than anything else I know. But while things are improving, Windows and quite a few Windows programs still don’t scale that well.

Either way, you can still make Windows’ elements bigger by using its built-in scaling. To do this, right click on the desktop background in Windows 7 and choose “Screen resolution” from the menu. Next, click on the text that says “Make text or other items larger or smaller”. This brings up a screen that lets you set scaling. Typical options are smaller - 100% (default); medium - 125%; and larger - 150%. Set the one you like best. In Windows 8.1, right-click and select “Personalise” and then “Display”.

Zooming

Another good way to make text larger or smaller is to use the Control key with the plus and minus keys – or hold down the CTRL key and use a mouse’s scroll wheel to get the same effect. This very useful feature is common in web browsers and some related programs. It’s not a standard feature in Windows.

Microsoft Word and other programs also have their own zoom controls. You can type in a magnification factor, such as 127%, to make text look larger, or use a slide control. Optical zooming is easy if you don’t have to reflow the content to fit the screen.

You can also zoom text using Windows’ built-in magnifier. Run it by hitting WinKey+ or by typing mag into Windows 7’s Start menu or the Windows 8.x Start screen. The Windows 7 Magnifier is more convenient as a rectangular magnifying glass that follows the cursor. You can also dock it to one of the four sides of your screen. The Windows 8.x Magnifier is different enough to confuse people: the whole screen becomes a magnified version of a much larger desktop. (In the default 200% Magnifier view, your Windows 8 screen becomes four times as big, but you can only see a quarter of it at once.)

Of course, in Windows 8 you can use “pinch to zoom” with a touch screen, and you can add even more features with TouchZoomDesktop (which I have not tried myself).

Many touchpads offer multi-touch zooming, too. You can enable or disable these features via the mouse or touchpad utility in the taskbar’s notification area, or in the control panel. You can find the settings by typing mouse into Windows 7’s start menu or the Windows 8.x start screen.

If you get stuck, Windows has an Ease of Access Center, summoned by WinKey-U in both Windows 7 and 8. This provides Magnifier, Narrator (screen reader), on-screen keyboard and High Contrast controls. Microsoft also has a help page for Accessibility in Windows 7 and a Guide for Individuals with Vision Impairments in Windows 8.

Tougher problems

For users with very poor vision, AiSquared offers ZoomText, which is sold by a number of European dealers, including Sight & Sound Technology. It costs £375. Dolphin offers the rival SuperNova Magnifier, “from £295”.

There are many other add-ons and utilities for people who are more than just a bit short-sighted, but in these cases, it’s best to get professional advice. For UK readers, the RNIB is the obvious place to start, and it has a helpline on 0303 123 9999.

Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com