Help Select Computer for a Vision Impaired Friend

BendBridge on 16/08/2021 - 22:29
Last edited 16/08/2021 - 23:51 by 1 other user

A vision impaired friend of mine is looking for a computer that can run ZoomText and browse the Internet.

We have done some research and come to the conclusion that a touchscreen AIO is the way to go. So far the following three systems look promising:

1. HP Pavilion 9EG81AA 27" FHD Touchscreen All-In-One PC (512GB) Intel i5
2. Dell Inspiron 24 5000 23.8" Full HD All-in-One PC (512GB) Intel i5
3. HP 400 ProOne G6 23.8" Touch i7-10700T All-In-One

If you have any experience with computer systems for the vision impaired, could you please share your experience and help us out? Thanks you!

/W.T.

• 

  Platinumtelecom on 17/08/2021 - 08:00

  +2

  No experience with vision impaired hardware, however a quick look at my Macbook's accessibility features I can see the following

  • VoiceOver
    Provides spoken and brailed descriptions of items on the computer screen and provides control of the computer through the use of the keyboard

  • Spoken content (speak announcements, speak selection, speak items under the pointer, speak typing feedback)

  • Description
    Audio descriptions provide a spoken description of visual content media

  And of course on top of this, Siri can do a lot

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  timmypete on 17/08/2021 - 08:59

  I don't know any of these specific units personally, but would probably recommend the Pavilion #1. First and foremost, because it has 16gb RAM (compared with 8gb in the other two models) and the equal highest SSD capacity. It is more expensive than the others, but seems relative value for money: #2 would be my budget pick, and #3 seems relatively poor value for money in comparison.

  It also has the worst pixel density of any of the displays (a measure of resolution in relation to the screen's physical size). This is normally a downside, but paradoxically is often better when vision impairment is involved. Put simply, everything will be larger on screen but slightly less sharp, or it becomes slightly more difficult to have more than three windows open concurrently.

  If testing in person I'd be checking what the speakers feel like subjectively, as this will profoundly affect the screen reader experience and is hard to tell by reading spec sheets. Having said this, #1 has the most obvious front facing speaker grill, which is a positive (but not definite) signal that sound will be above average for the class. All the same, you probably want to buy external speakers or use headphones, as my experience is that AIO sound usually is only moderately better than a laptop's.

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  CrispyChrispy on 17/08/2021 - 10:08

  looking for a computer that can run ZoomText and browse the Internet.

  I believe any device running Windows can use ZoomText. Browsing the internet is obviously a given. If your friend isn't doing much more than browsing the web or doing emails, you don't need a super expensive one. I would probably go for the Dell Inspiron model.