Ultrawide monitors are overrated, here's why I use a 4K TV instead
androidauthority.com
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Multiple displays is just a physical solution to the core issue: desktop window managers and software and hardware suck. You can’t have an event-transparent overlay of a compiler/runtime output over your ui testing area, you can’t have windows that slide in from the side on a hotkey or a click, showing quick status when “holstered”. You can’t reveal/popup a window when text in it matches a regex. You can’t assign a hotkey to a browser tab. You can’t custom-dpi a specific window. You can’t have drawers with links in them that are already preloaded and ready to refer to. You can’t have a special set of keys to launch, raise or shift windows temporarily. You can’t scroll on a keyboard. It’s all stupid and fixed even with advanced WMs, or requires programming comparable with creating a new WM and most apps from scratch. And it’s always arcane combination of two-three-four keys, most of which live in rural areas of your keyboard.
Funny thing is, 3d games figured it out with huds, OSD messages, consoles, choice wheels, trivial panning, zooming and movement, “physical” buttons and switches, and 3d itself.
I guess you could write a window manager to move that primary window every 20 minutes to a new location in the 3x2 grid so you aren't fixated in one place.
The other issue is are 6 windows really useful? I could find 3 or maybe 4 useful but then your windows get huge and it's kind of overwhelming to concentrate on them. Either way you slice it I think it's hard to manage such a large screen if you're not constantly selling yourself on the imagined productivity of it.
Both the pixel density and refresh rate, coupled with a backlight onto the wall, reduce the eye strain so much. I can't imagine sitting a foot away from a TV.
I'm still waiting for one who doesn't have a fan in it.
Which o e do you have?
Some monitors have fans? That's news to me, I've never had a monitor that did. Didn't know they were common enough to make it an explicit deal breaker.
The first displays were just super expensive and the second generation consumer gamer displays have fans in it.
I also was surprised that a display can have a fan but was a no go for me as displays normally live very long.
I will have a look at yours and the LG one :-)
No fan, includes a wall backlight. Surprisingly cheap for a G-Sync 4k @ 144Hz - $699 not on sale.
- requires lots of wasted processing power - hard to see without messing with fonts (again, more processing power) - have to zoom in to work with pixel precision - not many programs/games actually support 4K resolution - older games look terrible - only good for LOOKING at photos, rarely actually editing (again, because of constant zooming) - probably good for 4K movies, but 4K BDs are almost impossible to watch on a PCs I'd move to 2K CRT.
Ultrawides don't play as nice with OS workspace management and can't provide physical partitioning/prioritization (e.g. primary windows on main screen virtual desktops, auxiliary windows on secondary screen virtual desktops). They also tend to not measure up to regular monitors in terms of specs.
4k TVs put heavy constraints on desk arrangement to get satisfactory perceived sharpness and UI scale and come with all sorts of extraneous TV junk (unless you go with an ultra-basic or signage model, which are anemic in terms of panel capabilities).
My preferred setup would be 2x 16:10 30-32" monitor or a single 16:10 30-32" monitor accompanied by a 1:1 or 5:4 secondary monitor that's height-matched to the primary monitor, but that's not practical so I go with the pretty-standard setup of 2x 16:9 27" monitors. If I absolutely had to go with a TV-like setup though, I think it'd be with a BFGD (big format gaming display), because the panels on those are more monitor-like and they don't have all the cruft that TVs tend to come with.
The dual 16:10 you get two "prime" windows in the center and 2 aux windows out wide. where as with a 34" 1200p ultra wide you get 2 prime left and right or 1 prime and 2 aux with Fancy Zones, or 3 "aux". If you consistently find yourself needing 3 or 4 full size windows then the ultra wide is not ideal unfortunately.
The large 4k is just miserable because there's no ideal natural prime window location like I top posted further down.
https://github.com/peddamat/PowerToys/releases/tag/v0.58.7-m...
The Power Toys devs have an issue open regarding this feature, and we're figuring out next steps: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/279
I'm using Magnet on MacOS so I don't know how easy a 1/3 split would be in other operating systems. If you get an ultrawide or a large TV, setting up some kind of window management tool is probably required.
For snap functionality on the rare occasion it's needed, I use Moom because it's probably the most unobtrusive of those types of utilities. No Aero Snap to unintentionally activate or draw spurious rectangles and no extra key shortcuts, just a little bubble that pops up when hovering over the green traffic light. macOS also has very similar snapping functionality built in so when working on a stock configuration system I'm still mostly at home.
It also means you have a far wider selection of models at your disposal for both screens – in my case I like my primary monitor to be HiDPI while the secondary monitor can be a more run of the mill 1440p 27" monitor that you might find at a yard sale.
Both are driven via a single (each) USB-C --> DP cable. The Predator doubles as a gaming monitor for my desktop. I couldn't be happier with my setup.
One mode I find useful for casual gaming is the 2560x1440 @59.9 Hz which uses native pixels and results in a very usable gaming view with huge distraction-free black matte border.
Being able to just make one window full screen really helps me concentrate. Having a second screen constantly doing stuff just broke my focus.
When I need multiple Windows I can just tile with a window manager.
My minimum is 150 PPI (which is ~ 4k @ 28"). If I wasn't so cheap I'd probably just get the LG ultrafine/Apple studio display, but might compromise and get a 5k2k 34".
I’m not doing a bunch of photo, video, or design work where I need the pixels to vanish, and while I’ve never looked for pixels, I’ve never noticed them either. The screen isn’t nearly as sharp as on my MacBook Pro, but I don’t need it to be.
Being able to make a window tall or wide (or both) without having to have a complicated monitor setup and move windows around is very nice. I use both of these options on a daily basis and can’t imagine being without them now.
My only issue is that when I share my screen I need to use the laptop display, so people can actually read what I’m showing. When I do that everything feels very cramped and I can’t see much at once. I honestly don’t know how people live with small screens.
I think if I want to up the PPI, I would have to start looking for an 8K display. Maybe once they come down in price that will be in my future. This actually gives me a reason to pay attention to that market, because as a television, sitting 10+ feet away, I don’t see much of a point to 8K.
Anything else has required some substantial modification to how I work or forced a less-than-ideal ergonomic situation.
[1] https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/ergonomics/office/monitor_po...
I would wish for a higher refresh rate but they released one with that about a year after I got mine, so if you’re in the market, get that one.
For me, the 32” is not wide enough (I use a Mac) and the 43” 4K tv is too tall (neck strain). The Samsung 49” is too wide and not enough vertical space. The Dell 40” is great—-it as tall as a 32” 4K but has 50% more horizontal space. Combined with Rectangle I can split it into 3x2 or 4x2 or 1/4,1/2,1/4 easily. It’s pricy but imo it’s worth it.
This will protect you from the consequences of burn-in and more for 5 years.
(Assuming the terms haven't changed since I last bought one in 2020.)
Maybe it would have worked better with some more tuning and good window manager. For example keep Slack in corner, bring it center for chatting, put back to corner.
- it's curved
- it can do 1920x1080 at 120 hz
- it does 4:4:4 color