8K monitor sounded ridiculous until I realized that's basically Retina @ 32-34"
Meanwhile, Linux has made the lives of 4k display owners unlivable due to the lack of non-integer scaling. A 5k display with 200% scaling at 27" would help the situation, but we don't have that option.
Many times I have considered jumping on to the MacOS boat, just for the high dpi display availability & scaling support advantage.
I used one of them for a few years.
A colleague of mine uses 2 HP Z27q 5K displays and is happy with them: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04591534
The bad thing about the 8K is needing a $500 video card which also means it's not an option for laptop users (I guess you could with an eGPU
It is doable, but it is expensive, and it may or may not work properly. One example that I remember is one where some users who attempted the above setup reported that they need to unplug & re-plug the monitor after it sleeps.
Today a <$200 GTX 1650 can output 7680x4320@120Hz, or 60Hz over a single DP link.
And I don't see why a laptop with a proper GPU and TB3 dock couldn't drive it either.
I'm reading this thread using the LG 5K monitor with Linux, mostly working fine.
Personally, I prefer the 5K2K 34" screens though like LG 34WK95U or MSI Prestige PS341WU.
Newer 5K displays like the two I mentioned (including LG) do support Windows. You don't need any hacks as long as you have TB3 support.
There is also the ProLite XB2779QQS-S1 and Planar IX2790 if you want full 5K at 27".
I had no problems at all setting 1.3 scaling in monitor settings (Fedora/Gnome 3)
- Chrome which you need to pass a command line arg with your (not necessarily integer) scaling factor
- emacs which just reads the dpi from xresources
- xmonad/xmobar which barely have user interfaces but where you can specify pixel sizes for fonts if they get it wrong.
- terminal emulator which I think just looks at xresources for dpi.
Maybe other programs don’t work so well.
If you sit really close to your monitor then whatever. Can't imagine it's good for posture or your eyes to be focusing so close so often.
I don't need high performance or gaming or 3D, just full resolution at 60hz - as he is using his - but three of them ...
Again, retina refers to the minimum resolution, at a given viewing distance, where individual pixels are not recognizable.
The part about the viewing distance is essential. As I sit at my desk, my monitor is about a full arms length away from me. When I use my phone, it's distance from my eyes is about 1/3 that of the monitor (ish).
Thus, the DPI required for my phone to have its pixels indistinguishable is a lot higher than what my monitor needs to achieve the same. So in reality, DPI is a fuzzier description of experience than 'retina' is, even if it is an annoying, trademarked, marketing buzzword (which it is, no arguments there).