Is it a good time to buy pc monitor?

Tech Talk Hardware
#1

Hello everyone

As you may know It’s been awhile that I’m trying to justify if I need to buy a monitor for my home laptop setup
As at office i got used to have 3 monitors and a laptop, now whenever im home doing my personal stuff like surfing web/youtube/videos/photo editing/a little game etc…
I trick myself to add a monitor as a dual setup to my 17” windows 4k laptop and/or add a second screen when im using my MacBook Pro 13”

1-So first of all do you suggest doing so?
2- i want a 27” and wont ever think of getting a cheapy 1080, im thinking if 4k is to go as i want to be able to use it for a time and no beed to replace it fast?
In terms of elegance and appearance and quality Dell is really cool for me it has thin bezels hidden under glass and not reflective screen
(And i dont think high refresh rate for me would be more important than resolution)
Do you have any suggestions on:
If to buy?
What to buy?
What generation to buy?(17?18?19?20?)
When to buy?(for a chance of lower price)
4k/1440?
Brand?

#2

anybody have opinion on samsung UR55 (LU28R55OUQNXZA)?
Bestbuy has a deal on ot wondering if is it good at all

#3

Any time you need a monitor is a good time to buy, what is your budget?

5 Likes
#4

I have one of the Dell UltraSharp UW models, a 34" with 3480x1440. This is as wide as 2 24" monitors (resolution wise) or 4K wide, but more vertical resolution than a normal 1080p display, but not as much as a 4K. For me, it made a good trade-off between width and height and resolution. 4K would be nice, but I’d still want 2 displays and, even at 27", I’d probably be scaling slightly (125%).

For me, the 34" UW made a nice trade-off at the time (2.5 years ago). I’m not sure if I’d take a 32"-34" 4K instead, if I bought a new monitor today.

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#5

Actually it’s a”nice to have” “better for my use and eyes” as small glossy 17”4k got me board

I don’t want to put a big budget on that but as they say “I’m bot too rich to buy cheap”
So around 300 to $400 might be good enough
On the other hand I don’t want to upgrade it every year so I m worried to buy 1440 as it may go out of date soon, preferably dual screen is a go for me so ultra wide , I’m not sure, im not comfortable going for off brands or low quality ones
And i was thinking what generation or series is better to go for ( p vs u vs s or 18 vs 19 vs 20)
Please help decide and choose
So far i came across a couple of Dell 4k or 1440 around $400-$450 or this ur55 samsung$350 ( it has a fixed stand no tilt no height adjustment and 2 hdmi2.0 +1 dp
I don’t have docking and wanna connect it directly via hdmi or dongle(if thats good enough)

#6

Is ultra sharp series way much better than p or s series in your opinion?as you have seen the quality yourself
For now i can stand 1440 well enough but im thinking in a year or so would it be as bad as 1080 these days

#7

4K back then was either too expensive or the quality too poor. I’d seriously look at 4K these days, but having a single UW monitor is nice, you can maximise a spreadsheet over the whole desktop, not have to manually drag the window size over both monitors and you don’t have a bar in the middle, where the bezels are.

I have used some UltraSharp and non-US Dell monitors. For a bit of word processing or Excel, the non-US models are fine. If you are going to be doing video or photo work or spend a long time in front of the monitor, I’d go for the US model, if it was my money. But at work, the cheaper options have the same resolution, so that extra for a US model is “wasted”, because you don’t get anything for it (bigger size, better resolution). I currently have to P 24" FullHD monitors at work and the quality to my 34" US UW is night and day, but the extra resolution also helps make the 24" Ps look grainy, but the colours are also a bit washed out in comparison.

If you can stretch to it, I’d say go with an UltraSharp, given the choice, but even the non-US models are “good enough”, if money is tight.

2 Likes
#8

Exactly i have dell27”1440+Hp 24”1440+dell21”1080 at work and they’re really different
So if i have to choose between
4k
1440
And UW
Based on my budget what would be the first to choose (4k I guess)

#9

Great question! I am a bit picky about monitors and just went though a replacement of devices going from a Dell U4919DW (5120x1440, double-27 inch) to a Dell U3219Q (4K, 32 inch) going via a Benq (1440p, 32 inch). My learnings from that process are:

  • 4K works optimally on 32 inch with little or no scaling. That equates to 139 pixels per inch, ppi. 100% is perfectly fine to me - and I don’t have eagle eyes.
  • 1440p or 2K is too pixelated on 32 inch (92 ppi).
  • 1440p is optimal for 27 inch with no scaling (109 ppi).
  • 4K is more resolution than I could use sensibly on a 27 inch without scaling (163 ppi).

Just by reading those few lines, you see that I focus on the ppi side of things. But this really is the basis of everything: can I read what’s written there and can I get over the monitor’s artifacts. Before, I always thought rather to avoid scaling than some pixelation, but the number of super high resolution phones and tablets seem to have made my eyes more discerning.

As for high refresh rates, I could not for the life of me tell the difference. Indeed, the Benq 32 inch 1440p with a VA panel was fast with its 144 Hz, but it had terrible ghosting (which I never really took notice of before) and thus the whole idea is moot.

Last not least, USB-C with power delivery matters to me. My laptop and my Surface Go 2 have USB C ports and plugging in just one plug for the monitor, power, and all monitor-connected USB devices is just splendid. There are monitors - like Benq - that offer USB C for monitor and data only, no power. That’s not useful. I believe the DELL delivers up to 90 Watt - that’s excellent.

Surprisingly unimporant: brightness, if you are working in an office that is not excruciatingly bright. 350 nits is plenty. HDR 600 oder 1000 is overkill for work. I turn down the brightness and contrast to 75% for work anyways to avoid eye strain. Interestingly, it’s an entirely different matter when working mobile: even sitting in the same office, my Surface Go 2 is always set to maximum brightness. Wonder why that is. Maybe screen size.

Other than that: DELL never disappointed me in displays for 15 years now. The 3219Q is a beautiful business screen.

My 2 cents - have fun! :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#10

I totally agree with @carbonga , the 32" 4K looks like the right choice today. The 34" UW is deceptive, because it isn’t the same 34" as a 32" or 34" 4K model, it is comparable to 2 smaller displays.

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#11

That’s really helpful
I definitely avoid anything than ips for now as an elegant smooth experience is more important to me
Wish we had more low proce choices of backlit vs edgelit that’s unfortunate although local dimming is not a good option for mouse ghosting
As for usb c I really am a fan of usb c with pd however i have a dongle that supports power/hdmi/ethernet/sd/usb
Dell has a good usb c model But! It is 1440

1 Like
#12

Sorry for the mess here
I found a Lenovo L28u-30
With a really low price deal
Does anyone have any idea on how the performance and quality would be
I’m a little afraid of Lenovo in term of service

#13

I personally find Lenovo anything to be a work horse and well built though I don’t have any experience with that specific monitor.

4 Likes
#14

:grimacing: :open_mouth: :confused: :zipper_mouth_face:
so i found out LG ku850 has the best matching features and as LG is the IPS king, so that might be the best choice
it is 4K (resolution is more important than refresh rate)
it has USB-C input
it has adjustable stand
it has IPS panel
price is acceptable
(I don’t know about the quality though)
and :dizzy_face: :woozy_face: i’m still trying to justify myself whether to buy now or wait for further even newer models come and makes it cheaper or better deal :grimacing:

1 Like
#15

Ok so finally i had to choose between 27” flat with usb c or 32 curve for my budget
And I paid $50 more for 350 brightness & 60 w power delivery

I bought lg 27uk850 and it’s nice

But 2 issues I’m facing out of the box:
It came with usb c/ dp1.2 / HDMI 2 high speed cable
It works fine on my MacBook Pro with usb c cable

But

My 17” laptop with 4k screen can only push HDMI
And i cant manage to have more than 30 hz in 4k on this monitor
I even tried a4-1usb c to HDMI adaptor but couldn’t get picture at all
Is there any way that I could get more than 30hz out of GeForce 940/intel 7th generation out of my 4k laptop?( not sure how can i get video from usb c of laptop.it’s not thunderbolt)

And

I have a feeling that the picture is not that crisp (1440p)
I don’t know if was that my eyes or any adjustments i need to make on the monitor beside brightness and contast or basically not to compare it with glossy 17”4k on my laptop side to side
PS: connecting MacBook Pro seems to have a better picture quality as well
Thank you