Example: hdd to ssd (huge quantitative improvement if you measure speeds). As you rightly said.
To my eyes(bad eyes) 1080p is enough, 4k might look slightly better but no way near in the same ballpark as hdd to ssd. Maybe its the fonts, workflow or fontsize i use but 4k fonts does not not x5 or x10 better than 1080p fonts. I absolutely sure there are ppl that, that is true for though. YMMV shrug
Ironically, almost all phones I look at have more pixels than I need. Laptops are only recently easily available with reasonable pixel density. For a while, common phones had higher resolution (not just density) than laptops.
If you don't see the difference, it doesn't mean there's none.
I said the difference is not meaningful enough (for me and many other ppl, if i read the comments) and that stating that 1080p 'is simply a none starter' and it 'cannot' render text 'correctly' it not true. It can render it more correctly yes.
To be really annoying even 8k wont render text 100% correctly since if there is a circle like section example 'p' or 'b' no pixel based device would be able to give a 'true rendition' of the symbol since you need basically infinite precision to correctly display a circle like concept on gridbased scheme(i.e pixel based display)
Sure a 4k or 8k will approximate it better but(and this is really my point
4k or 8k wil be better(yes) but 1080p it sufficient for a good subset of ppl.
Not really sure how the blind man helps either side of this discussion ?
While higher resolutions look nicer, they provide no real value for a console. I've had 4x xterms on my desktop for 30+ years.
There is zero "extra space" with higher dpi. None.
One sad downside of things looking nicer, is the battery cost.
UHD vs HD means 4x the pixels, and a GPU rendering all those pixels. If you want a 14hr battery, and light weight, you won't be getting it with a UHD screen in 2022.