4 ms·

On a similar note, I once again wish more displays were 3:2, and more people knew about it. The human central (not peripheral) vision’s ratio is very close to 3

On a similar note, I once again wish more displays were 3:2, and more people knew about it. The human central (not peripheral) vision’s ratio is very close to 3:2, yet due to economics of scale 16:9 is marginally cheaper and much more common. And if someone is wondering, no, rotating 16:9 vertically for more vertical space doesn’t help because it makes it very narrow - for me IMO a square display would be the best. (There are also minor subpixel rendering issues, along with viewing angle issues if using a TN panel but those are still more minor.)

mgoetzke 3y ago
A reason why i liked the SurfaceBook so much. Their aspect ratio was near perfect. Now I am back to MBP which comes second
kookamamie 3y ago
Yawn. Get on with the times. I've been using ultrawide (21:9) for years, and would definitely not want to go back to peeking through a square'ish hole.
- user_7832 3y ago
  UW is fine if you’ve got a 28” or more desktop (or maybe larger even), but I’d take a 28” 3:2 like the Huawei Mateview over a 28” UW any day of the week. The UW probably has 20 or 30% lesser screen area.
  - wtallis 3y ago
    Ultrawides only start to make sense at about 34" and up, corresponding to 1440 pixels vertically. Anything less than that would be worthless for productivity (ie. not movies or first-person gaming) given today's UI trends of massive horizontal bars/ribbons sized for small touchscreens. Likewise, a monitor in portrait usually needs to be at least 1200(w)x1920(h) (ie. a 24" 16:10) to be usable for browsing today's web without getting served up a mobile-specific layout too often. A reasonably-sized 1080p display in portrait can be great for stuff like text editors and terminal windows.
- misterS 3y ago
  Starting a comment with «yawn» immediately shows dismissal of and disrespect for the person you're replying to. You might want to refresh your memory of HN's guidelines. Link at the bottom.
- Wytwwww 3y ago
  Imagine how useless a 21:9 laptop would be.. It all comes down screen size.
  - LegitShady 3y ago
    I only use 32:9 laptops for exactly that reason.
supersrdjan 3y ago
yesss... I discovered how wrong the widescreen displays are after I had found an old IBM Thinkpad in my basement and tried it. To add to what you said, I will also point out that it's the vertical space that often gets pinched by toolbars and such, effectively squishing your working area to an even wider ratio. And when working with text (reading, writing), the left and right edges of my screen are just slabs of emptiness. Given all that, a taller display feels more roomy for the same surface area. The only disadvantage though is that putting two windows/panes/buffers of anything side by side would no longer be as convenient? Do you have a 3:2 screen yourself, which one?
- sveitly 3y ago
  That's also part why I love the Firefox vertical tree-style tabs addon.
- spockz 3y ago
  This is why and how I use a 5k ultra wide. It allows me to make two more-or-less square windows in the same monitor.
- user_7832 3y ago
  > the vertical space that often gets pinched by toolbars and such, effectively squishing your working area to an even wider ratio. And when working with text (reading, writing), the left and right edges of my screen are just slabs of emptiness. Absolutely agree, and it’s amazing/infuriating when people/companies don’t realise it. My mom’s old Asus could barely fit a few lines of text on its small screen after all its toolbars in chrome. You shouldn’t need to scroll multiple times to read a 3-paragraph email on a display where it fits if it were the only text! (And of course about 60% of the space on the sides was wasted.) I don’t have a 3:2 display yet, though I do have an old 16:10 21” monitor which is alright. My ipad (10.9”) is okayish as well, but I’m planning to buy a 16” 3:2 portable monitor soon. Do you have an 3:2 screens?
  - supersrdjan 3y ago
    No, I was only aware of the Eizo models, too expensive for me, but am at this moment looking at various recommendations people are sharing in this thread.
cylinder714 3y ago
Eizo made a 1920x1920 display that I think has been discontinued; a very good review: https://youtu.be/gJG9HOQITrg https://youtu.be/gJG9HOQITrg The LG DualUp is an almost-square 16:18 monitor, higher resolution than the Eizo and almost half the price.
- user_7832 3y ago
  Thanks for the review link of the monitor, don’t think I’d seen one yet! I’ve got my eye out the LG one, but unfortunately it’s still a little out of my student budget. I hope to get it soon, fingers crossed!
  - cylinder714 3y ago
    I checked this morning, and LG is selling it for USD$600, $100 off: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq780-b-dualup-monitor https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq780-b-dualup-monitor And Google is showing prices from other retailers as low as $500.
- dr_kiszonka 3y ago
  This LG looks great for a dual setup and has a decent PPI. Thanks!
- JoshTriplett 3y ago
  Unfortunately, unusual screen sizes and OLED aren't as available in combination. And since I spend all day in a terminal, having the black background be off is wonderful. I would love 3:2, but I get more value from OLED.
- Keyframe 3y ago
  Oh nice, thanks for this! I was disappointed when I went to buy EIZO one, only to find it was discontinued. 1:1 and OLED would be awesome, if such a thing existed of course. Not only for writing, but also for emulation purposes - close enough to 4:3 and 3:4 (yoko/tate modes) not to have to rotate the screen, just a bit of black on the sides.
Wytwwww 3y ago
For laptops definitely. Screen above ~24"? I don't really think this is that relevant and if have multiple windows open side by side it's the opposite (16:9 is more ergonomic than 3:2,).
okasaki 3y ago
Huawei makes a 3:2 28" monitor - https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/monitors/mateview/specs/ https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/monitors/mateview/specs/ It's 3840*2560
- user_7832 3y ago
  I’m aware about this monitor but unfortunately it seems that production has either stopped or slowed down, while it was available to buy some months/a year ago, now it’s not.
crazygringo 3y ago
> The human central (not peripheral) vision’s ratio is very close to 3:2 That's irrelevant, though, when monitor size is much larger than our central vision. What does matter is neck strain. The reality is that you want to keep your head level while moving it right/left. Right/left doesn't have to work against gravity, while up/down does. This is why wider is better than taller for something monitor-sized.
bdavbdav 3y ago
I have a Huawei MateView 3:2 4k(+) monitor. It’s gorgeous.

mgoetzke 3y ago

A reason why i liked the SurfaceBook so much. Their aspect ratio was near perfect. Now I am back to MBP which comes second

kookamamie 3y ago

Yawn. Get on with the times. I've been using ultrawide (21:9) for years, and would definitely not want to go back to peeking through a square'ish hole.

user_7832 3y ago
UW is fine if you’ve got a 28” or more desktop (or maybe larger even), but I’d take a 28” 3:2 like the Huawei Mateview over a 28” UW any day of the week. The UW probably has 20 or 30% lesser screen area.
- wtallis 3y ago
  Ultrawides only start to make sense at about 34" and up, corresponding to 1440 pixels vertically. Anything less than that would be worthless for productivity (ie. not movies or first-person gaming) given today's UI trends of massive horizontal bars/ribbons sized for small touchscreens. Likewise, a monitor in portrait usually needs to be at least 1200(w)x1920(h) (ie. a 24" 16:10) to be usable for browsing today's web without getting served up a mobile-specific layout too often. A reasonably-sized 1080p display in portrait can be great for stuff like text editors and terminal windows.
misterS 3y ago
Starting a comment with «yawn» immediately shows dismissal of and disrespect for the person you're replying to. You might want to refresh your memory of HN's guidelines. Link at the bottom.
Wytwwww 3y ago
Imagine how useless a 21:9 laptop would be.. It all comes down screen size.
- LegitShady 3y ago
  I only use 32:9 laptops for exactly that reason.

supersrdjan 3y ago

yesss... I discovered how wrong the widescreen displays are after I had found an old IBM Thinkpad in my basement and tried it. To add to what you said, I will also point out that it's the vertical space that often gets pinched by toolbars and such, effectively squishing your working area to an even wider ratio. And when working with text (reading, writing), the left and right edges of my screen are just slabs of emptiness. Given all that, a taller display feels more roomy for the same surface area. The only disadvantage though is that putting two windows/panes/buffers of anything side by side would no longer be as convenient? Do you have a 3:2 screen yourself, which one?

sveitly 3y ago
That's also part why I love the Firefox vertical tree-style tabs addon.
spockz 3y ago
This is why and how I use a 5k ultra wide. It allows me to make two more-or-less square windows in the same monitor.
user_7832 3y ago
> the vertical space that often gets pinched by toolbars and such, effectively squishing your working area to an even wider ratio. And when working with text (reading, writing), the left and right edges of my screen are just slabs of emptiness. Absolutely agree, and it’s amazing/infuriating when people/companies don’t realise it. My mom’s old Asus could barely fit a few lines of text on its small screen after all its toolbars in chrome. You shouldn’t need to scroll multiple times to read a 3-paragraph email on a display where it fits if it were the only text! (And of course about 60% of the space on the sides was wasted.) I don’t have a 3:2 display yet, though I do have an old 16:10 21” monitor which is alright. My ipad (10.9”) is okayish as well, but I’m planning to buy a 16” 3:2 portable monitor soon. Do you have an 3:2 screens?
- supersrdjan 3y ago
  No, I was only aware of the Eizo models, too expensive for me, but am at this moment looking at various recommendations people are sharing in this thread.

cylinder714 3y ago

Eizo made a 1920x1920 display that I think has been discontinued; a very good review: https://youtu.be/gJG9HOQITrg https://youtu.be/gJG9HOQITrg The LG DualUp is an almost-square 16:18 monitor, higher resolution than the Eizo and almost half the price.

user_7832 3y ago
Thanks for the review link of the monitor, don’t think I’d seen one yet! I’ve got my eye out the LG one, but unfortunately it’s still a little out of my student budget. I hope to get it soon, fingers crossed!
- cylinder714 3y ago
  I checked this morning, and LG is selling it for USD$600, $100 off: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq780-b-dualup-monitor https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq780-b-dualup-monitor And Google is showing prices from other retailers as low as $500.
dr_kiszonka 3y ago
This LG looks great for a dual setup and has a decent PPI. Thanks!
JoshTriplett 3y ago
Unfortunately, unusual screen sizes and OLED aren't as available in combination. And since I spend all day in a terminal, having the black background be off is wonderful. I would love 3:2, but I get more value from OLED.
Keyframe 3y ago
Oh nice, thanks for this! I was disappointed when I went to buy EIZO one, only to find it was discontinued. 1:1 and OLED would be awesome, if such a thing existed of course. Not only for writing, but also for emulation purposes - close enough to 4:3 and 3:4 (yoko/tate modes) not to have to rotate the screen, just a bit of black on the sides.

Wytwwww 3y ago

For laptops definitely. Screen above ~24"? I don't really think this is that relevant and if have multiple windows open side by side it's the opposite (16:9 is more ergonomic than 3:2,).

okasaki 3y ago

Huawei makes a 3:2 28" monitor - https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/monitors/mateview/specs/ https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/monitors/mateview/specs/ It's 3840*2560

user_7832 3y ago
I’m aware about this monitor but unfortunately it seems that production has either stopped or slowed down, while it was available to buy some months/a year ago, now it’s not.

crazygringo 3y ago

> The human central (not peripheral) vision’s ratio is very close to 3:2 That's irrelevant, though, when monitor size is much larger than our central vision. What does matter is neck strain. The reality is that you want to keep your head level while moving it right/left. Right/left doesn't have to work against gravity, while up/down does. This is why wider is better than taller for something monitor-sized.

bdavbdav 3y ago

I have a Huawei MateView 3:2 4k(+) monitor. It’s gorgeous.