Hacker News Reader

Comment by raingros | Hacker News Reader

Maybe it would be smarter to use one of the these?

Samsung 43" M70A 4K UHD Smart Monitor https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/smart-monitors...

+1 to that. Also get 120Hz if you can (but has it's own headaches to solve, including e.g. HDMI 2.1 isn't supported in open source drivers).

I recently started using a LG 42" C2. Coming from two 27" monitors at 2560x1440, the 42" 3840x2160 is about the same pixel density and only 12.5% more pixels total

  (3840*2160/(2*2560*1440))

The 42" screen is like portrait mode on demand. Whenever I tried portrait mode on the 27" screens, it was nice sometimes but usually felt limited in width. With the 42" a quick tile of a window to either side (Super+Left/Right) gives you the height of portrait mode, plus more width (and adjustable to your liking).

Also for those now spare 27" monitors kicking around, I grabbed a vertical monitor mount to stack them (both landscape, stacked vertically) next to the 42". This has proven to be even better and I love having the zones this creates.

> get 120Hz if you can

For reading static text? Why on earth would you care?

I found the increased smoothness scrolling with 144hz to be both noticeable and nice compared to 60hz.

I liked my Samsung ultra wide until it started to hurt my eyes from the terrible PWM modulation...

How do I check whether my display is having fine PWM modulation?

Look for an in-depth review of your display model. Just checked for my Asus VG278QR and I found out that the background illumination isn‘t reduced by PWM.

Yep, Asus is pretty good on that. I have their IPS gaming monitors - great for coding too.

It might be worth checking the modes available, perhaps cinema or eyecare modes may help if available. Not a monitor but on our Samsung TV some modes flicker visibly while others don’t. Fiddling around the settings accidentally turned it on for me.

That's what I do. Not with that specific product, but with a sub-$300 television from Amazon.

I've done the separate monitors thing, I've done the "portrait monitors for text" thing. Really the best solution is just a big flat plane that subtends ~60 degrees horizontally and just about (9/16)*60 vertically, which is enough to put the top just above eye level and the bottom just above the table. Plenty of space to put your windows where you need 'em without all the fussing about optimizing layout.

And it's dirt cheap.

Ever since I found out that many new monitors don't have an RGB subpixel layout, I've been paranoid. I can't find the layout for this one. any idea?

How do they layout their sub pixels?!

I think BGR is most popular. Which breaks (some) subpixel font rendering

At 4k, I've found grayscale antialiasing quite sufficient and don't miss the fringing effect of subpixel AA.

I worry about all the code I don't know about. Who knows what other software I can't control relies on RGB layout. Maybe irrational, but I don't want to risk it. Especially since you gain nothing in return.

OLED often isn't RGB, and you gain a great deal there.

I think it's completely orthogonal issues, no? You probably refer to OLEDs superior black levels etc. But this thread was about subpixel rendering. One can be bad while the other can not. It's unrelated.

They're related because many OLEDs use a non-RGB pixel layout, so it's necessary to turn off sub-pixel anti-aliasing, and the net result seems worth that tradeoff now that screens are high-resolution enough that sub-pixel anti-aliasing makes less of a difference.

But the high resolution is not a property of OLED displays. The tradeoff might be worth it, but it's still a tradeoff I'm not willing to risk.

I really wish that someone would make a 43" TV/monitor in 8k.

The smallest that I've seen is 55" and that just too big to be comfortably used as a monitor.

I used a 30hz 4k tv as a monitor back in the day, it was not enjoyable with substantial input lag making photoshop etc impossible to use. Be patient, it will happen eventually.

> I used a 30hz 4k tv as a monitor back in the day

I used that exact same monitor!

I'm hopeful, but I'm a little less sanguine than you.

A big part of the reason why 4k got so popular is because there was so much 4k content available. And because it was easy to see how much better 4k looks than 1080p.

Neither is true of 8k.

I'm curious about these, but I feel like it's too much vertical space, which would require a lot of head movement.

because its full of features I actively don't want (smart tv apps, integrated IoT hub, voice assistants, etc etc) and only a 60hz VA panel. Spending money on spyware while having a relatively low end panel.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com