5 ms·

I got a 2K monitor (4K was too expensive) for this very reason. Standard 1080p monitors seem so bad with text, and once you plop them next to an MBP Retina scr

I got a 2K monitor (4K was too expensive) for this very reason. Standard 1080p monitors seem so bad with text, and once you plop them next to an MBP Retina screen the difference is extremely pronounced,

jacquesm 8y ago
I can't look into your wallet but the price difference between 4K and 2K is now so small that for our new office I bought 4K screens for everybody. Skimping on tools that you use every day for 8 hours is tough on the system in the longer run.
- dzek69 8y ago
  It depends a lot on where are you from and how experienced you are (which translates to how much money do you earn). A tip from country where the price difference matters: Look for a TV, not PC monitor. They're often cheaper while having the same ports to connect it to a computer. But beware - some of them have always-on overscan which means you will get blurry effect and cropped picture. Make sure you can disable that (look for overscan, PC mode or something like that) before buying. Testing it on laptop before buying seems to be a good idea too - my mother's TV has option to disable overscan, but only on old VGA input. On HDMI it is always on anyway.
  - ansible 8y ago
    I'm not angry at you, but at the TV manufacturers... Why the hell do we need overscan for anything that isn't an actual analog TV signal?
    - yellowapple 8y ago
      IIRC even digital streams sometimes include extra stuff on the edges for various technical reasons, with the assumption that the TV will hide it.
      - rbanffy 8y ago
        There is a circle of hell waiting for people who do that.
  - kbenson 8y ago
    I picked up a 4k TV (Vizio D40u-D1) as a monitor after quite a bit of research a year ago and I'm quite happy with it. It's a bit large at 40", but all I had to do was adapt to thinking of it as multiple floating screens, and treat it as such, given I have the equivalent of four 1080p screens... using almost the same amount of area. My browser always occupies the lower left quadrant, and event at 1/4 of the total screen it's still 1080p, or maybe a little more since I eyeballed it and didn't dock it there. It's easy enough to make any terminal larger and then I'm essentially gaining the same benefit of high pixel density. I wanted to make sure the TV I got supported 60Hz at 4k, and had low input lag (for when I play games occasionally), so I found rtings.com[1] to be invaluable. Using a TV as a monitor has it's quirks (I turn it on separately with the remote on the desk because it's easiest), but at just over $400 when I bought it on sale ($500 now[2]) for a 40" 4k monitor that has 13ms input lag, I'm not sure how I could have done better. Edit: Had the amazon price wrong, was looking at the 1080p one. 1: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-4k-2016 https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-4k-2016 2: https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-D40-D1-Class-Array-Smart/dp/B01A0LGV06/ https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-D40-D1-Class-Array-Smart/dp/B01...
- kitsunesoba 8y ago
  Personally I’ve been opting for 2560x1440 for 27” and will continue to do so until 5k 27” has become the standard. 4K feels like an awkward compromise with its inability to render at 2x 2560x1440.
  - chupasaurus 8y ago
    1440p is an awkward compromise with it's inability to render at 2x the dominant 1080p content. 5K if ever will become standart resolution wouldn't last long as "the next big thing" will be 8K and it's not so far in the future. edit: typo
beagle3 8y ago
1080p IS 2K, though; 1080p is 1920x1080, and 1920 is 5% less than 2K (and the 4K screens are actually 3840, which is 5% less than 4K)
- wjoe 8y ago
  "2K" is usually used to describe 2560x1440 or similar monitors. I find these ideal personally. I don't notice much difference much from higher resolution than that, gaming at 4K requires high end hardware, and scaling between different resolution monitors is a pain. 1440p seems like a good sweet spot between the two. But yes, 2K is a silly name for it.
  - dagw 8y ago
    The term "2K" came from the film industry and meant 2048x1080 (cropped to 1998x1080 for a 1.85:1 aspect ratio) . When 1920x1080 started to show up these where generally grouped in under the "2K" banner. I've never heard anyone use the term 2K when discussing 2560x1440 monitors.
    - FranOntanaya 8y ago
      I'd personally just avoid using film spec terms for TV and computers and just stick to the old FullHD, Ultra Wide, UltraHD terms. Film tech is always a bit of an island doing their own thing for encoding, captions, hardware, etc. Attaching terms like "2K" to a computer screen invokes legacy compatibility horror feelings for me.
    - da_chicken 8y ago
      Neither have I. For displays, <value>i and <value>p are used to indicate vertical resolution. For displays, <value>k is used to indicate approximate horizontal resolution. I've not seen any other usage. For projectors, especially theater projectors, I have seen 2K used to refer to 2048 horizontal resolution, and 4K used to indicate 4096 horizontal resolution. Projectors do not have the same aspect ratio as monitors, however. DCI 2K is 2048x1080, while "2K" Full HD is 1920x1080. DCI 4K is 4096x2160, while UHD 4K is 3840x2160.

jacquesm 8y ago

I can't look into your wallet but the price difference between 4K and 2K is now so small that for our new office I bought 4K screens for everybody. Skimping on tools that you use every day for 8 hours is tough on the system in the longer run.

dzek69 8y ago
It depends a lot on where are you from and how experienced you are (which translates to how much money do you earn). A tip from country where the price difference matters: Look for a TV, not PC monitor. They're often cheaper while having the same ports to connect it to a computer. But beware - some of them have always-on overscan which means you will get blurry effect and cropped picture. Make sure you can disable that (look for overscan, PC mode or something like that) before buying. Testing it on laptop before buying seems to be a good idea too - my mother's TV has option to disable overscan, but only on old VGA input. On HDMI it is always on anyway.
- ansible 8y ago
  I'm not angry at you, but at the TV manufacturers... Why the hell do we need overscan for anything that isn't an actual analog TV signal?
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    IIRC even digital streams sometimes include extra stuff on the edges for various technical reasons, with the assumption that the TV will hide it.
    - rbanffy 8y ago
      There is a circle of hell waiting for people who do that.
- kbenson 8y ago
  I picked up a 4k TV (Vizio D40u-D1) as a monitor after quite a bit of research a year ago and I'm quite happy with it. It's a bit large at 40", but all I had to do was adapt to thinking of it as multiple floating screens, and treat it as such, given I have the equivalent of four 1080p screens... using almost the same amount of area. My browser always occupies the lower left quadrant, and event at 1/4 of the total screen it's still 1080p, or maybe a little more since I eyeballed it and didn't dock it there. It's easy enough to make any terminal larger and then I'm essentially gaining the same benefit of high pixel density. I wanted to make sure the TV I got supported 60Hz at 4k, and had low input lag (for when I play games occasionally), so I found rtings.com[1] to be invaluable. Using a TV as a monitor has it's quirks (I turn it on separately with the remote on the desk because it's easiest), but at just over $400 when I bought it on sale ($500 now[2]) for a 40" 4k monitor that has 13ms input lag, I'm not sure how I could have done better. Edit: Had the amazon price wrong, was looking at the 1080p one. 1: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-4k-2016 https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-4k-2016 2: https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-D40-D1-Class-Array-Smart/dp/B01A0LGV06/ https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-D40-D1-Class-Array-Smart/dp/B01...
kitsunesoba 8y ago
Personally I’ve been opting for 2560x1440 for 27” and will continue to do so until 5k 27” has become the standard. 4K feels like an awkward compromise with its inability to render at 2x 2560x1440.
- chupasaurus 8y ago
  1440p is an awkward compromise with it's inability to render at 2x the dominant 1080p content. 5K if ever will become standart resolution wouldn't last long as "the next big thing" will be 8K and it's not so far in the future. edit: typo

beagle3 8y ago

1080p IS 2K, though; 1080p is 1920x1080, and 1920 is 5% less than 2K (and the 4K screens are actually 3840, which is 5% less than 4K)

wjoe 8y ago
"2K" is usually used to describe 2560x1440 or similar monitors. I find these ideal personally. I don't notice much difference much from higher resolution than that, gaming at 4K requires high end hardware, and scaling between different resolution monitors is a pain. 1440p seems like a good sweet spot between the two. But yes, 2K is a silly name for it.
- dagw 8y ago
  The term "2K" came from the film industry and meant 2048x1080 (cropped to 1998x1080 for a 1.85:1 aspect ratio) . When 1920x1080 started to show up these where generally grouped in under the "2K" banner. I've never heard anyone use the term 2K when discussing 2560x1440 monitors.
  - FranOntanaya 8y ago
    I'd personally just avoid using film spec terms for TV and computers and just stick to the old FullHD, Ultra Wide, UltraHD terms. Film tech is always a bit of an island doing their own thing for encoding, captions, hardware, etc. Attaching terms like "2K" to a computer screen invokes legacy compatibility horror feelings for me.
  - da_chicken 8y ago
    Neither have I. For displays, <value>i and <value>p are used to indicate vertical resolution. For displays, <value>k is used to indicate approximate horizontal resolution. I've not seen any other usage. For projectors, especially theater projectors, I have seen 2K used to refer to 2048 horizontal resolution, and 4K used to indicate 4096 horizontal resolution. Projectors do not have the same aspect ratio as monitors, however. DCI 2K is 2048x1080, while "2K" Full HD is 1920x1080. DCI 4K is 4096x2160, while UHD 4K is 3840x2160.