Monitor Question?

Greg DAlessandro

What would you rather have for your PC/gaming setup: one large monitor (40"-50"+?) Or two (30"-32") monitors? Why?

I currently have an 6-or-so-year old 32" Samsung LED monitor (still running well), and a 8+ year-old-low-quality 19" monitor.

I'm not sure if I should buy a 40"-50"+, or a 2nd 30"-32". I plan on buying it on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, so I'm concerned about the quality of monitors that will be on sale for around $300-$400 or so.

The monitor(s) would serve 2 purposes:
More workspace, and also be used for gaming.

Thank you.

thomasp

for work: one big main screen, one smaller, preferably pivoted screen for reference, mail and such. two large widescreen displays sound like a neck problem in the making.

i don't really play games anymore but... a big TV in front of a comfy couch should work best for that purpose?

Synaesthesia

I use three 27" 1080p screens at home and at the office. I'm not sure what benefit there would be to having a single gigantic monitor since the screen's real-estate in resolution doesn't actually change. I really like having reference on one monitor, Photoshop on the other, and Max dead center.

Greg DAlessandro

So it's better/more preferable to have 2 monitors than 1 larger one? If I had one large monitor I figured that I would be able to share the screen with several windows/programs, but is that not the case?

throttlekitty

Yourname942 said:

So it's better/more preferable to have 2 monitors than 1 larger one? If I had one large monitor I figured that I would be able to share the screen with several windows/programs, but is that not the case?

You can split like that, or drag panels from one screen to the other. Some people work in Photoshop this way, leaving their painting screen clean and going off to the side for brushes/tools/whatever. I don't like to move around that much and prefer to keep apps and references to their own displays for the most part.

huffer

Having a 42 inch 4K monitor, you can snap 4 windows in the 4 corners easily, making it exactly like having FOUR 1080p monitors side by side..and without any bezels. So there's definitely an advantage there, but I'm not sure which config is best..one large one and two smaller on each side?

ZacD

I'd imagine, the cool thing about having a large 4k monitor instead of 3x 1080p, is you could easily switch between having your app half the screen vertically when working on a tall asset like a character or lamp post, and wider when working on something like a car. 

Greg DAlessandro

Having one large monitor would also benefit for games as well. But again, I'm weighing the pros and cons of both options.

Add3r

I personally prefer at least two 27" monitors, as I feel that is the sweet spot for size/resolution below 4k,  1440p and 1080p monitors read well at that size,.  A large monitor is pretty cool to game on, but like @Synaesthesia said, it doesnt necessarily mean its going to scale in the way you may think.  It is all 100% personal preference though, as I know some who actually prefer a very large, single monitor instead of two.  

ZacD

I'd definitely not get a 4k monitor smaller than 32". The DPI is too and and the resolution scaling in Windows and applications too poor. More and more it's seeming like you couldn't possibly get a monitor with every feature you'd want, especially at a decent price. With features like gsync/freesync, 10-12bit/HDR, high refresh rate, IPS, etc. It also seems best to have one color accurate art grade monitor for texturing and finishing projects, and a high refresh rate, gsync/freesync, IPS for gaming.

JedTheKrampus

Have one monitor that's got accurate color and that's been calibrated recently (ideally by your own self, or someone who knows what they're doing) and one monitor that's got typical inaccurate color (too blue, too blue with f.lux running making it too red and also gamut-limited, and so on. As cheap as possible, of course, and don't you dare touch the RGB gain controls on it.) Work on your good monitor and check your work on both to make sure it still holds up on a bad monitor.

I'd rather have a decent 1080p monitor and a color-calibration device than a 4k HDR monitor and no color-calibration device.

Bek

JedTheKrampus said:

 Work on your good monitor and check your work on both to make sure it still holds up on a bad monitor.

Not sure I see the logic there. I mean, what if it DOES look bad on the poor monitor? Do you adjust it so it looks good on the poor one, but not on the quality screen? If so, why bother with the high quality screen in the first place? And if you try to average it out so it looks okay on both, it won't look great on either. It's bad on the poor monitor because the monitor is poor, not because your colours are wrong. So disregard the poor monitor entirely (for colours). But having a 2nd cheaper screen for freesync/gsync / gaming or web/file browser/whatever,  makes sense.

ZacD

There are cases where there's a lot of light or dark detail in an image that can get lost in a poor monitor, but you could adjust it a bit to look good in both.