TVs Ultra Wide vs triple monitor

Hey Everyone,

Second of three monitors (All Acer XZ271) has developed vertical banding making it completely unusable. The first displays (pun intended) the same behaviour but recovers after a couple of minutes and runs normally.
EDIT: After switching the refresh rate to 60Hz from 144Hz in Windows display driver the vertical banding stops and is now faint white horizontal banding.

I have my work laptop (Macbook), main PC and sometimes another device hooked up to the inputs so can rule out individual devices, cables, input ports etc.

Since I use them for work as well as play I have a few options

1. Look to get them repaired (price and if I can find somewhere to do it).
2. Request a monitor from work (Will be able to replace 1 but not both)
3. Go Ultrawide

Seems more and more people are going Ultrawide and it seems pretty useful but I was wondering if anyone here could provide their experiences going from a dual or triple setup to an ultrawide. I work in software development so often make use of 3 monitors although I probably could manage with an Ultrawide and laptop screen.
The other scenario would be gaming. While in the past I might have thrown a video on one screen I just don't have the level of multitasking. Now it's mainly the game, maybe a guide and chat program on a second screen. I could easily get away with one monitor with occasional second monitor use.

All three options have their pros and cons but since I've never used an ultra wide I can't tell if it's the way to go or is the grass actually greener?

Any and all advice welcome

 

I have a u3818dw (I got it on eBay a few years back for about £300 if I remember, absolute steal, looked brand new, still even had the protective sticker on the dell logo).

I love it, working on anything else just seems so restricted nowadays. Even 1440p ultrawides do to be honest. I have always preferred the extra height of 16:10 and so this 1600p fits right in with that preference.

But then I had issues with some games, particularly older ones not playing nice in that resolution, so I got a Dell S2721dgfa (99% sure that's what it is, 165hz gsync) as a second monitor, and that just made things so much better for work and play.

Then I thought, well, if 2 made such a big difference, why not 3! So picked up a Dell S2721QS 4k screen.

However, I barely use the third if I'm honest. It has come in handy a few times but I rarely need that much space.

So, my 50p's worth, from personal experience and viewpoint, an ultra wide with a second screen is the sweet point.

And open world games on the ultra wide are a different level. Can take a few weeks to get used to, but once you do, you will never go back. RDR2 always goes on the ultrawide, sod the extra fps the other monitor can offer.

 

This is what I was thinking.

While work two monitors are a must and the third is nice to have but not essential. It was mostly just chat, email, calendar or youtueb/music player. With an ultrawide, it will essentially allow me to have two things side by side anyway. I can always use the laptop screen as a second (or third) monitor anyway.

Gaming wise I found I rarely used multi monitor gaming. Either it was PITA with the bezels or the game wouldn't play nice or I wanted a guide, discord, youtube or something on a second monitor.

I guess I'm talking myself into an ultrawide but not 100% sure if one large monitor is a direct replacement for 2/3 smaller monitors

 

I get it. For me my 27" gaming monitor gets the most gaming use, and the ultrawide gets all the productivity use. Both do each so much better than the other (discounting open world games, but saying that I am playing fallout 4 again on the 27", but that's mostly due to fallout 4 being an ass of a game to change monitors with, fix the mouse to the screen etc).

Depending on your budget, I do strongly recommend 3840x1600 if going for ultrawide. The 1440p are just a little too narrow I find.

Maybe you could get your work to replace yours with an ultrawide (I'm guessing it would be an easier sell) and get a 27 inch too, desk space considering. For the 2 I have spoken about here, it was £450 for the two.)

 

I guess another requirement is that I have my current setup wall mounted with Vesa mounts. Would be ideal to use to be able to use that. A desktop monitor isn't an option and I really don't fancy the job of removing and putting up a new mount if I can avoid it.

 

Jammy git!

Personally I reckon a 38" 3840 x 1600 is spot on - big but not insanely so, good vertical resolution, but not too many pixels to drive. For me it's far superior to 3440 x 1440. Just a real shame that a) there are hardly any panels of that size & res available and b) they're bloody expensive as a result. The current Dell equivalent (U3824DW) is £1,200 which is the only thing stopping me from buying one (well, that and it's 60Hz only)

That said, I have recently also been eyeing up the new Dell U4025QW, which is 5120 x 2160 and 120Hz (not that I'd be driving that res at high refresh rates anyway...) but it's £1,600. Can't justify that sort of cash really, particularly when my current monitor (U2412M) is still going strong at 12+ years old.

 

I prefer single screen personally but it all depends on how things work in you work flow, for somethings having multiple screen for segmentation is ideal, I have 43 inch 4k TV and the Dell 3840x1600, both work well for me for CAD and gaming in their respective locations, my CAD software doesn't spread well across multiple screens, neither do games.

My missus uses 4 screens and can't be convinced with a SINGLE UW as she has different corporate systems in each.

 

Saw some of the Samsung Odyssey support multi input for Picture in picture and the monitor is split in half. Can see plenty of use for that alone

I can see the appeal. We use Macbooks in work and I tended to use a desktop for each individual item using multimonitor for each desktop. That was more in response to not having snap feature for windows and swiping between desktops was pretty easy.

As time has went on I've found myself focusing on one task and ignoring everything else. Chat and email are open on one monitor but completely ignored until the bar at the bottom pops up with a red dot telling me to look at that screen.

I can still see me fitting two primary windows on one monitor, maybe more and having everything I'm working on there anyway. When i am focusing on one thing then wouldn't feel two other monitors are going to waste

One downside to ultrawide would be presenting. The larger the monitor pixel count the more teams takes a brain fart, either that or my eyes really are declining. For that I could use the laptop screen and just present that or present the individual program depending on circumstance.

That's really good information. I went 1080p with my current monitors as they were cheaper, GPU would have an easier time and we used 1080p in work so thought it would be fine and kinda regretted it. Also had a VA panel so coming form the Dell WA2209 IPS it was disappointing. I can't remember if it was on her or customPC mag that I saw the quote that never cut corners on your monitors. They're the one thing you will spend your entire time on PC interacting with, probably across multiple builds. Since these will also be used for work I am willing to spend a bit to get it right. £1600 is a bit steep mind you lol
Kinda annoyed that the £200 Dell WA2209 is still going strong 15 years later and yet these Acers have lasted years on the dot before going bad.

 

Yeah, I've always subscribed to this philosophy. You spend 100% of your PC time using your monitor, and they are typically big purchases, so it makes sense to try to get the best you can.

 

My old 4k would do a 4 way split but 4 1080s, doesn't work as well, need more res, she likes all the size and res, can't remember what she has, 3x2560x1440 and a 1080 (laptop) I suggested that big samsung UW just to tidy things up, she is resistant, it's a funny thing as I was the one who suggested she move to multiple screens instead of a switcher , in fact I suggested she go 4k like me and she went Urgh too big, so she added a small screen, then another etc etc, I've created a multi screen monster, that along with her TV, looks like some trading desk

 

I know, right. I did look at the 49 inch one, but then I also looked at the price and came to the same conclusion you did.

The u3818dw seems to be going for about £300-400 on the old fleabay now and I don't think any of the upgrades in the newer version are worth the £500 odd extra. I love mine and even at 60hz looks amazing. To be honest though, perhaps it's my old eyes but I can't really see any difference on my165hz monitor outside of synthetic tests.

Strangely enough, my previous was a u2412m. 26:10 goodness right there. Served me well. Wife has it now and still going strong.

 

Yep, this. I have to conversation with my wife a lot, she sees price and not value. For example, she will buy a cheap pair of shoes that arent that comfortable and last a few months before she buys another pair, I buy a good pair that are life a second skin and last years.

I end up spending less and enjoying more. I get people can't always do that (the expense of being poor is a real economic issue) but if you can, do it. What's the phrase? Something like: the pleasure of use will remain long after the sting of cost has passed

 

This is something I struggle with. It's hard to measure value especially as the cost goes up and sometimes the law of diminishing returns kick in. It's impossible to know what your missing out on when the price to entry is so high, (not so much now) but Aircon in a car or heated seats, heated steering wheel.

The other side of it is the buyers remorse afterwards. After spending hours researching and eventually buying the exact thing that meets the need, I still have that doubt that maybe there was something better or cheaper that I should have went with instead rather than enjoying the purchase. I replaced the laptop bag from work with a backback with better back support and for roughly the same size it had space for laptop, tablet and a change of clothes for cycling into work. Only as I've got older have I looked back and finally understood the value in spending what is required and trying to carry that forward into everything and not just buy the cheapest

 

I have learnt to have the mindset of "am I happy with what I got for the price". If yes, I forget and move on. If no, well, then I moan about it until I forget.

 

So the discussion has pushed me to just going Ultrawide

Instantly drawn to Samsung Odyssey G9. So many similar models with Amazon's wall of words making it impossible to spot the difference in the alphabet soup model naming scheme.

Any recommendations that I should also consider?

My requirements
- IPS/OLED or some variation (VA was disappointing)
- 120+Hz
- VESA mount
- preferably 3 inputs between HDMI 2.1 and display port
- Descent resolution for the size (5k by 1440 seems common)
- Gsync or Freesync
- HDR

I'll add more if I think of any

 

MSI just released a QD-OLED one which has been at the top of my list for a while as for the price it seems to be by far the best (I saw it pop on sale for £800 odd recently). Its basically the same screen as the G9's, but cheaper as far as I can tell. It'll be QD-OLED for me when I next upgrade for sure, anything aside from a flavour of OLED seems pointless having lived with my LG C2 for a year now!

 

I'm assuming this is the Samsung QD version of it Odyssey Neo AG95. Seems the MSI is £100 cheaper on Amazon so will hunt around a bit more for better pricing.

Saw some stuff about QD in TVs but glossed over it. Will take a look at QD Vs OLED.

EDIT: That MSI looks just the ticket. Saw the 341CQP is currently at 800 so checking it out too

 

Slight tangent, but I’ll dig out the name of the macOS utility I use for window snapping when I get to work. It’s been pretty helpful even on multiple screens.

 

I've seen a few mentioned in work but more the better. It's like playing whack-a-mole in work with security. Every time you get something working then security sweep in to lock it down.

Ended up using multiple desktops for each app and swiping between them depending on the task.

Done quite a bit of research yesterday so will post an update after this.