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Comment by user_7832 | Hacker News Reader

On a similar note, does anyone know of a squarish monitor that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and preferably has a good color gamut coverage?

There was an 1920*1920 monitor (https://www.inputmag.com/reviews/square-monitor-eizo-flexsca...) but that's over 1k USD :(

There are other nice displays like Huawei's Mateview at 3000*2000 but nothing costs less than ~550-600$/€. It's a bit of a pity because you can get a decent 1080p or even 1440p monitor for much less.

Fyi I had written a comment some time back on how to make your own monitor, using Panelook but that also isn't very cheap (edit here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30422163)

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I run the EIZO you linked and love it... since I'm such a fan of this monitor I've always kept an eye out for anything more affordable.

Unfortunately, this LG is the first and only thing that I've seen that comes close with a <$1k price tag... I'm considering picking this up to have as a backup when my EIZO finally dies.

My specs are 1:1 or as-close as I can get.

I also have this Eizo 1:1 (1920x1920) monitor and I use it in quadrants for status/monitoring.

I wouldn't want it on my actual workstation ...

100% not for everyone, and I have to run it along side of traditional monitors (gaming etc). That being said, it's the #1 thing I value out of my setup just by personal preference.

When I'm traveling + using a traditional setup I really miss it.

I much prefer 2560 x 1440 to the standard issue 1080p and there are lots of inexpensive options.

If what you value is vertical space/resolution why not run a 4K monitor vertically? You can either use the full resolution or crop at whatever vertical space you prefer.

This is terrific advice. I run one monitor in the standard horizontal configuration and one horizontal. Everybody who sees it falls in love. I can get 100 lines of code on the monitor and rarely does a line wrap. PDFs and other documents look terrific.

I just switched to this setup and it’s great. Windows unfortunately doesn’t natively support “snap to left/right” on a horizontal monitor and “snap to bottom/top” on a vertical monitor at the same time.

Windows 11 does.

I do but 9:16 is too tall and skinny, would like it a bit more square.

This is where the vertically curved displays used for video slots would shine as a general purpose monitor. You'd have less vertical range to scan and refocus on.

It's a little bit better but it's still a crap aspect ratio, and turning it vertical doesn't fix all of the problem. Now it's too tall and not wide enough.

The Huawei Mateview is exceptional. I was bothered by the price but eventually got one on sale. It’s so good I’m buying another at full price. (Unless it comes on sale again!)

It does look really nice, but unfortunately it's 60hz

Can you comment a bit more on it? I heard some criticism about bleeding.

It's reasonably easy to buy it in EU, and price is not too far from usual suspects like Dell UltraSharp or cheap Eizo/Nec models.

Not sure what you mean by bleeding - can you be more specific?

I find it an absolute joy to use. When I am at my desk I spend a lot of time in front of the screen and compared to the Samsung 4k I was using previously I find far less eye strain, much crisper image, and just generally more pleasant. I feel the investment was very worthwhile.

It’s also very beautifully designed which was definitely a consideration for me, as my office has a very cheaper defined aesthetic.

Happy to answer specific questions but understand that I’m not a monitor expert :)

Apologies for the ambiguity. I meant backlight bleeding, i.e. some bright spots on the edge of the screen. It's a very common issue.

I’ve not noticed this. I’ll have a closer look though and report back.

Having looked out for this since you mentioned it it is not something I noticed. Meanwhile I’m really annoyed because this was on a “lightning deal” on Amazon recently for £389 and I missed picking another one up by about 40 minutes!

Thanks for reporting back!

I have one as well and definitely can recommend it. The only thing is that if you are running macOS you really need to have SwitchResX for it to not look terrible.

I have it next to my studio display and it honestly does not even compare in terms of clarity. I’m sure it’ll run better on windows.

I was planning to use this on Linux (X11). Perhaps not a good idea given that I'd need scaling.

> I have it next to my studio display and it honestly does not even compare in terms of clarity.

Could you clarify a bit by what you mean? The studio display has a higher resolution if I'm not mistaken (4500*3000), do you mean the display is more vivid or has a better color space (DCI P3 etc) coverage? Thanks!

> Could you clarify a bit by what you mean?

I’m referring to the scaling of the display. The reason that I say that macOS looks better is because it uses integer scaling on the studio display. While even after setting a custom resolution, (the defaults macOS chose for the Mateview were either really small or really large for my taste) the Mateview still has a bit of a blur to it in small fonts it is most noticeable. Whereas the studio display shows well because it was made with integer scaling in mind

Last time i looked you can still pick up the odd 4:3 1280*1024 dell ips on ebay, i have one as a secondary and it works quite well.

That is 5:4. The 4:3 1600x1200 IPS one are quite decent but they are getting bulky by todays standards. Also require a lot more power and they are starting to die. (I think last model is from 2005).

So I'd be prepared to do some repairs / get spares if you can+want.

I do actually have a Dell 4:3 monitor with me but unfortunately the resolution as well as the physical dimensions are nothing to write home about. I can make do with "smaller" (<~24") monitors fine as long as the resolution is good enough, but as you mentioned most old monitors aren't even 1080p. (Additionally with my shortsightedness I can/end up pixel-peep on 400ppi+ displays)

I guess a decent solution in my case would be to actually get a proper job (I'm still studying) and save up for a decent display, until which I'll just do some window shopping heh ;)

There are some NECs that go better, 1600x1200

https://th.nec.com/en_TH/product/display/multisync/lcd2090ux...

Manufactured as late as 2010, especially the MedView series.

Actually 5:4, I loved that format and wish it came in 2000x1600 or so.

I found that Eizo made a 2560x2048 medical monitor ... not sure how expensive that must be in color.

I've been using one for daily for 5 years now. $5 at a thrift store!

Dell 2007's (1600x1200) are in high demand. Only a few weeks back I set a watch on an ebay site selling over 100 of them, I see there's only 2 left new.

The 1280x1024's are good for older eyes--that's the size with the biggest pixels. Windows does a pretty good job of scaling fonts but icons don't scale so well. I have a 27" 2560x1440 that's absolutely wonderful for stuff that actually scales well, but I don't do much else with it because of the tiny icons.

Find an old Trinitron :)

I had a flat 17" Trinitron. So heavy! I still brought it to LAN parties.

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