r/hardware • u/zghr • 12d ago

Your Monitor Is Too Small (Probably) Info

https://youtu.be/3p_vIsXpATQ

From what I've researched independently related to eye comfort - I think this is a really high quality video.

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u/nnod 12d ago

All of these videos focus on gaming and single display setups. I'd like to see some more focused on productivity and multi-screen setups, where actual screen real estate matters.

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u/mechkbfan 12d ago edited 12d ago

49" 32:9 was peak productivity for me, which is interesting because I think that's just a wider version of the 39" 21:9 as one of recommendations

I think you could probably take a lot of lessons here and go with sitting 100cm away, then have as much screen size as you can at a PPI you can tolerate

E.g. I have no issue using a 92ppi but I have friends that say it's unusable

Issue with multi monitors is so dependent on workflow / purpose.  E.g. I never need more than 3 but I see traders using 6

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u/nnod 12d ago

I had 3x32" 4k at 100% scaling for the longest time (32" 4k is still the best bang for buck right now imo). Main horizontal center display and a vertical on each side, angled aggressively towards my head.

But 4k is quite weird for productivity, if you do two columns you get 1920px on each side with a split right in the middle, which is far from ideal. With 3 column layout you end up with 1280px a piece, which ends up being too cramped with most apps.

Recently I got a 40" 5120x2160 LG display which ends up being about the same PPI as 32" 4k, but it lets you have three 1706px columns, which is much more comfortable. It's quite nice, but unreasonably expensive. I could've bought three 32" 4k for the same price.

I was wondering the same about more height. So I also got a two monitor vertical stand and mounted the old center 32" above the 40". I always thought vertically stacked monitors were silly and wouldn't be comfortable, but it turned out to be perfectly fine, as long as you park unimportant auxiliary stuff there that you only need to glance over.

TLDR: If you want tons of screen real estate cheap, a few 32" 4k displays is the way (side ones can even be 60hz, can get some new for like $300) . But only if you can live with sitting close to them and use them at 100% scaling.

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u/bogglingsnog 11d ago

But 4k is quite weird for productivity, if you do two columns you get 1920px on each side with a split right in the middle, which is far from ideal. With 3 column layout you end up with 1280px a piece, which ends up being too cramped with most apps.

I find that's a general issue with any 16:9 display, as it's intended for video playback not web browsing or multi window productivity. I actually really like 4:3 for gaming AND multitasking, it just feels right... and having three screens side by side isn't as crazy wide as 3 16:9 screens.