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What do you really want from a computer monitor?
2 points by prajwalshetty 1709 days ago
Software engineer here, all I want from a good monitor is the ability to render crisp text (rest is bonus for me personally)
10 comments

I've been using a 27" 4k monitor for the past couple of years at 125% and I'm completely sold that my next monitor will be 4k or above (can fit so much on the screen and everything is so crisp).

Though 125% is pretty rough on integrated graphics in both windows and linux, so I'll likely be looking to get a bigger 4k monitor (32"?) that I can just run at 100% in the near future.

60hz is fine for text editing and web browsing (and the extremely light gaming that I do 2-3 times a year with friends).

Fast power up and switching between sources (which also should be automatic, if configured so)

Good color profile

The more bits, the better (no banding, please)

DP daisy-chaining support

Adjustability, pivot

Some form of cable management

Good points, https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-32UN880-B comes to my mind.
A good size to resolution ratio. My MacBook drives a 27 inch 4K in scaled mode that looks like 2560 x 1440 pixels. What the OS actually does is it renders a 5K image and then scales it down. The scaling is x 0,75 which can be a resource hog. I guess it would be better to downscale by 0,5 which would happen if you’d run an actual 5K monitor like the LG Ultrafine. This would still give you a sane scaling, anything else is either too large or too small on a 27 inch. The culprit is that there’s almost no 5K monitors on the market and the LG model is way too expensive. At this point I could just get a newer computer to iron out the scaling issue.
Great viewing angle. My 27" 4k looks "dark" in the corners from a center position.

I'd also prefer a display with integrated speakers so that a Chromecast could easily turn it into something useful when it gets replaced.

(I would probably try a Ultrawide next time, since its not a big difference in veritcal space with this monitor (scaled) compared to my old 22" display)

I'm really happy with the 32" 1920x1080 HP monitor I bought on special, because everyone wants 4k or more now.

Fun fact: I called my spouse to see if she was cool with me getting one, she said "No... get 2", and my child has the other. 2 months later, the current health crisis hit, and you couldn't get anything at any price for quite a while.

a good inbuilt KVM switch, and decent (not necessarily spectacular) color reproduction. VESA mount compatibility.
4:3 aspect ratio (widescreen isn't that useful for coding, data analysis, etc. in my opinion)

fast power up

energy efficiency

Add me to the want 4:3 club. Still looking for an economical way to replace the two 25" CRTs in my side by side arcade game. Vertically mounting a wider monitor doesn't work in this case, because it's a sit down cabinet and there's no extra vertical space like there can be in standups, super ultra wide isn't wide enough to do 8:3. Putting the biggest monitor that fits into the horizontal space leaves a lot of vertical space :(
Nothing but a monitor - no smart anything inside, no companion software, no manufacturer contact whatsoever, nothing but the slot for a standard cable and a plug for a standard power cord.
LG Ultrafine 5K does everything I need. I guess if it was 100hz or 120hz that’d be neat but I don’t think DP over TB3 has enough bandwidth.
I’d like a monitor with the following specs:

4096x2160 true 4K resolution 24 or 27” 120 or 144hz refresh rate Under $1000

Too difficult to make happen?