Hi All, My wife has decided that she wants to buy some monitors for her new office so not for gaming, and colour reproduction is important, so looking for a bit of advice and suggestions... She has narrowed it down to a 27" curved QHD (2560x1440) with integrated speakers and including a stand! She's not fussed by the flexibility/versatility of the stand doesn't matter i.e. tilt, raise, rotate, etc. But is wondering about the curvature - what's better 1000R, 1500R or 1800R? Current shortlist is: Acer AOC Samsung Gigabyte [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VG27WQ1B-2560x1440-Adaptive-sync-FreeSync/dp/B089SQ5L6T"]Asus[/url] EDIT: Budget is ~£300 per monitor (she's buying two!)
We have two 32" curved 1440p (1800R) monitors in the house, as well as a flat 30" and 27". I honestly don't think a curve should be a driving factor when short-listing monitors, unless it's an aesthetic thing i.e. the look of having a pair side by side. If models that meet other requirements happen to be curved then fair enough, but that's as far as I'd take it. I certainly wouldn't base decisions on the inclusion of integrated speakers, as they are universally crap and will not compare to an inexpensive soundbar or desktop pair. I understand it's probably for little more than system sounds, but a cheapo usb speaker tucked away behind something would do a comparable job.
If you can stretch the budget £50, there's the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ1B. It reviewed very well on rtings for colour, although black uniformity was a bit off on the one they tested and that's often a problem with VA panels, but if you want a 27" curved 1440p monitor for under £300, it's probably going to have to be a VA. For non curved, try a Dell U/S2719D for IPS goodness.
The "curved" requirement comes from the existing setup, she currently has 2x 19" 4:3 dell displays; 1 IPS, 1 LCD; so she us used to the curve/corner.. Agree on speakers, she's just concerned about desk space so integrated saves a smidge (possibly). Having looked at her existing setup, her primary display is IPS so she likes the idea of sticking with that; but really likes the curve. Ignoring budget, does anyone know of a curved IPS screen <30"?
for size you are looking at 27" there is no benefit to a curve beyond styling, as you get wider the curve becomes more useful if you sit close, but I have used both 1-1.2m wide screens curved and non curved you adjust to a flat one that large but poorer large flat panels you see a colour shift in the corners you don't get with the curve when you are less than a metre from the screen but bare in mind my smallest screen I sit in front of is 38" and largest 48". Not that colour shift can also happen due to curve. If she is running 19" 4:3 these are probably very old large bezel screens, what is the width of the two together side by side and what are the resolutions, you can probably fit something much bigger in the same footprint with nicer resolution just because modern screens have bugger all bezel. Also if the screens are that old, what is the hardware running on it, can it drive a higher resolution from a single cable? (just making assumptions about age due to old screen form factor) .
Thats my take on the curve to, but its SWMBO's decision/choice... The graphics card that would be driving it is a Radeon HD7870 - old but not incapable (google gives a max resolution of 2560x1600) - but if a sticking point then can always be added to the upgrade list!
Thats cool, looking at the standard 19" 4:3 business monitor from Dell you are looking at just over 400mm wide per monitor and probably a little gap in between which suggests to me in the same width footprint you could be looking at up to a 34" 3440x1440 screen assuming you could take the smidge 1-2cm extra, perhaps quite a bit of spec/price increase @350 but its quite a bit more screen in the same footprint. MSI Optix 34" Quad HD 100Hz Curved Ultrawide FreeSync Gaming Monitor LN96623 - MAG341CQ | SCAN UK ▷ Iiyama PROLITE XUB3493WQSU 34" 3440x1440 IPS … | OcUK (overclockers.co.uk) As mention though curved does cost you more for a lesser panel, they are still decent mind you, just depends how critical colour reproduction is, some one working on older 19" screens, particularly non matched lcd and ips is probably going to find most new things a step up.
space-wise if it were the one setup, but she needs to get two on the desk, alongside a franking machine, phones. I think she did look at that size, but it was very tight on space with two screens and the franking machine; leaving basically no space for anything else.... That screen would also necessitate a new graphics card! Think shes currently looking at the Dell S2721DS
Measure up I reckon those 34s will be less wide than the current two screens. far as I can tell a 7870 can drive it via Display port. She would not be loosing out with any of the 27" screens you posted mind you, it is the same width in pixels at 2560 as two 19s and she'd get a bit more y, so it all good, just highlighting you could fit bigger in the same footprint,
I should also highlight having been through this with my missus, the pixel pitch of either a 27" 2560x1440 or 34" 3440x1440 is significantly lower than the 19" at 0.23 vs 0.29 and my missus prefers her blocky **** screens to my nice smaller pixel screens, so she uses scaling on my screen (uuurgh) so you might want to test her on something similar to ensure she won't require a step up a size because if she has to scale she is effectively ending up with lower useful screen real estate. Next size up at 2560x1440 is 32" for 0.27 pixel pitch, still smaller but only ~7% rather than ~25% not so big a drop. I perhaps am misunderstanding, is she replacing 2 for 1 big one, or she actually wants 2 higher resolution screens on the same desk? You can run two machines on one of these wide screen is side by side mode.
A 34" has a horizontal visible area of 80cm (not counting bezels). A 19" is 40 - 45cm horizontally (including bezels) So in terms of width 1x 34" is about equal to 2x 19".
Yes, measuring indicates that she could fit bigger screens, but as i mentioned previously there would be no space for anything else, and would push the screens to the ends of the desk, making the seating positions awkward due to the desk legs... She is replacing 2 19" for 1 bigger monitor, but also buying a matched monitor to plug into a laptop at the other work position on the desk... Interesting point on the pixel pitch; she dislikes her laptop screen as everything on it is "too small", and when compared to the 2x 19" screens she was adamant that she didnt want to "lose" any horizontal pixels - hence looking at the 2560x####. She's now ordered the Dell i linked previously, but they wont be here 'til Feb! (madness) - but all the others she looked at were considerably more expensive, and didn't offer any better features (that she wants/needs based on usage); if anything they lost features - i.e. height and rotation adjustment. All i've got to deal with now is my home office envy She's got a brand new office all kitted out with new desk, shelves and chairs, and now monitors, (total focus on the form, and no consideration for storage - "oh we'll just put stuff under the desk") whilst i have the "old" office, with a knackered old desk i bought in 2006 and a piece of cheap worktop balanced across two ebay special filing cabinet/drawer combos and two mismatched 24" screens (U2412m & U2417H) - i 'spose at least i got a new chair as my old one was killing my back working from home...
laptops have significantly higher dpi it won't be as bad as those but can still be a struggle, with my aging eyes my laptop 1080p/14" is pretty much my limit of my comfort range these days at 160dpi/0.16 pixel but for extended long term use for it is better for me in the 110-130 range with a 0.23-0.2 pixel without scaling. Rather than a separate monitor for the laptop have you consider using remote desktop/desktop sharing from one machine to the other and not having to have two screens at all, then you can have the nice big monitor for it all?
The setup is, and i apologise if i haven't made this clear, a single long desk for two people to work at, one using the laptop plugged into a docking station with a new screen; the other using a desktop PC (that had previously had the 2x 19" screens) with another of the new screens. She will nominally be using the laptop 'station' and her admin assistant will use the desktop; but there will be occasions where she will end up using the desktop so she wants consistency between the screens...
*sigh* in the future when covid restrictions etc are not a thing, but she wants to get the screens now so that the office space can be set up and used without the cruddy 19" LCD screen which has been slowly getting worse.
