Ask HN: Best 4K IPS monitor for an array of three displays? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best 4K IPS monitor for an array of three displays?

10 pointsdecentrality13 comments

Lately 4x1920x1080 hasn't been cutting it. With four HD displays, it feels crowded and fragmented. So I've started changing over to 4K displays on a GeForce GTX 960 with 3 displayport interfaces.

The 4K world is still expensive, but the on-screen real estate and seamless environment is worth it to me. And after trying my luck with TN displays, I'm ready to pay the extra money for IPS to have a viewing angle that isn't so confined and high-glare.

I want to have three 4K IPS displays in portrait orientation side-by-side. I've been seeing more and more of that setup, and it seems to work best for what I do.

I'm looking for an affordable IPS ( In-Plane Switching ) display with an optimal resolution of 3840x2160@60hz.

Does anyone have any pointers on brands, models, and vendors for this sort of thing?

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I use 2 Benq BL3201PT for a few months now (side by side), I like them. Pixel pitch is still usable without HiDPI mode, and there is a lot of real estate.

The screen itself has very nice reviews, and I understand why; it's well made, has a nice external control panel with presets etc..

I do have a couple of 'nags' tho; it /requires/ a very good quality DP cable to work. The miniDP won't cut it, it's quite hard to get a 'lock' with the miniDP. Of course with DVI and HDMI you don't get 60p so it's not really a choice.

Also, there are occasional tiny glitches where a half of one screen will 'blink' for a fraction of a second (like, a frame) -- it's very very rare, like once every 3 or 4 days for both my screens, but it's noticeable. I suspect borderline clocking.

But overall, zero bad pixels, very nice colors, external control panel, excellent connectivity and it was the cheapest of the 'big' 4K's I could find, so I'm not complaining :-)

Second the Benq. I'm using one with my macbook pro via miniDP. Great experience.

Here's the best I've come up with so far, not focusing on pricing, but capabilities:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE...

I'm considering moving from an Acer B286HK to a B276HK. Very curious if anyone has recommendations of different displays. Any suggestions are very much appreciated. I'm thinking in terms of which display I can buy three of and not regret it.

with two dp ports on the monitor can you daisy chain them together or do they require a separate line per monitor ?

With the Acer displays, it takes one DP port per monitor. So I got a multi-headed graphics card... 3xDP, 1xDVI, 1xHDMI2 ... expecting to use the DP ports for 4K displays, and the HDMI for a TV... all without daisy chaining.

I have two Dell P2715Qs and love them. The killer feature for me was one mDP and one regular DP input so I can just change inputs to switch from work (MBP) to play (desktop). Most other similar displays only have one DP input.

I'm happy to hear this. This is the display I've actually been considering if I don't stay with Acer. The coating on the screen and general sense of quality is attractive. Any drawbacks you've seen?

The only drawback I've encountered is one that seems quite common to DP displays: when I turn a monitor off or switch inputs, both my OSX and Win8 machine behave as if I just physically disconnected and reconnected the cable. Haven't found a way around this yet, but it's a pretty minor inconvenience.

That's what that is! Thanks for mentioning this. With Linux also, when I turn my monitor off, it does seem to treat it as though the display was removed. That's interesting. Glad to know it's not an OS thing.

Two comments:

1. There is large variation in TN displays. I'm very happy with the Acer TN panels I have at home. I find good TN gives me less eye strain than a lot of the IPS panels. IPS is the way to go for photo editing and similar tasks which require color calibration, but for coding, I actually prefer a good TN panel. Again, the trick is to find the right one. Try them at a store, for example.

2. Consider getting one 4k, and keeping the 1080p monitors. I have a 5 display setup like that. It works pretty well, actually. The 4k is great as a main display, and all the auxiliary stuff lives on the 1080p panels.

Thanks for your thoughts...

Right now I have an Acer 4K TN as my primary screen and it's extremely difficult to work with. And keeping the three HD displays I have around it is also problematic... the resolution difference always destroys the illusion of working on one seamless desktop... and the viewing angle has me need to turn the HD displays around and rotate their output so I'm "viewing them from above" ..

What's a "good TN" in your experience?

Related question, but has anyone succesfully used a 55 inch 4k screen for development purposes?

My ASUS PB287Q is PLS and not IPS, but I just love it.

Not a single glitch in the last 8 month.

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