Ask HN: What is your Monitor setup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is your Monitor setup?

6 pointsGBiT13 comments

I’m planning to upgrade my current monitor setup (Philips 271S, 27-inch 16:9, and LG 29UM68, 29-inch 21:9) and am considering a few models:

- Dell UltraSharp 43 4K USB-C Hub Monitor (U4323QE) - Dell UltraSharp 49 Curved USB-C Hub Monitor (U4924DW) - LG 45" UltraGear™ OLED (45GS96QB)

I’m unsure if the 49" ultrawide would be comfortable for work, productivity and watching movies. Compared to the LG 45", which is taller, the LG might be better for coding and can fit three windows more easily. However, as a gaming monitor, the LG has a lower pixel density and I almost don't play.

On the other hand, the Dell 43" offers better pixel density, but it has a lower refresh rate, and I’m not sure if it can comfortably fit three windows.

What is your monitor setup, and what’s your experience?

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I'm using an Alienware 34 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor for both work and gaming. Work wise, I'm using a Mac with the Rectangle app to set my window layout. I'm able to get 3 windows, although the left and right windows are a little more narrow compared to the centre window. I typically have my browser or vscode in the centre, and a terminal and Obsidian at the sides, which works well for me. If you're going for 43" at a minimum, I can't see why you would have an issue with this. On some of my workspaces, I also like to have a window that is centre aligned, with the desktop showing at the sides, for a less cluttered look.

The only thing I do miss is 'zen mode' when reading online articles. Going full screen and removing all task/menu bars doesn't always work if the website left aligns everything, but it's really not a show stopper.

which type of articles do you usually read, I ask because I was hoping to integrate articles and zen mode in my app - unlace.app, because I feel the same on my ultrawide

I would have typically used zen mode for long blog articles, or when reading lengthy documentation.

I have a 38" LG curved monitor (LG 38WN95C-W). I personally feel like anything larger than what I have would be too big. I'm also not sold on it being curved, even after 4 years. It doesn't really add much value and becomes annoying if I need it to be a more standard aspect ratio. If I were to choose between the 3 I would get the Dell 43". I switch between PC and Mac pretty regularly so the built-in KVM would definitely be a nice thing to have. On a 38" screen I have two windows side by side that are more than big enough, but if you seriously need 3 windows up then get the 49". Just be prepared for a comically large monitor.

Lots of games still have issues with ultra wide.

If you ever plan to do any screensharing for fun, support, or any purpose. It's all terrible. I screenshare with people daily and those with ultrawide are unusable. Most switched off for this reason alone.

Movies and productive they are just fine. But I'm not a fan but know lots of people who love. I'm just a regular 3 27" monitor person.

Only time I'd consider ultrawide for gaming is for sim games. Racing or flying but I don't play those games enough to justify.

I have the Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt™ Hub Monitor (U4025QW). It's very expensive, but the 5120x2160 resolution with the 120hz refresh rate is absolutely worth the cost for me over the long run considering how long I spend looking at the screen while coding.

I pair this with my tiling window manager[1] which treats ultrawides as a first class citizen (not all twms do this unfortunately) and I'm very happy with this setup.

[1]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komorebi

Single 24" 4k monitor that I bought because the mac didn't like the 27" QHD (Apple scales the whole display, instead of scaling text and other elements separately, so it's either tiny text or blurry icons). I'm back on Linux, but I'm still using it with 2x scaling and it's pretty great. Using it with a tiling windows manager though.

Samsung 43" 4K (Width:3840 Height:2160 Depth:24bpp) smart TV fed via HDMI

"Works for Me".

just want to point out that ultrawides are bad for movies and games(at least currently), even though they're great for coding and other research related tasks from experience

I'm curious why you say ultra wides are not so good for games? I feel it's more immersive, and the wider viewing angle can be helpful in some games. The only negative I have experienced is the need for a beefy graphics card to power the extra pixels.

I have VGA 1280x1024.

Yamaha HS4’s.

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