4K computer monitors

[schurchill39]

Figured I would bump this thread as opposed to starting a new one.

I was thinking of maybe switching from 2x 24" monitors and 1x lap top screen to 1x 40" or 50" 4k TV screen. One of the guys I work with has a 40" set up at home and loves it as essentially he runs the equivalent of 4x screens. With how cheap some of the TCL or Hisense 4K TVs can be had from Costco its something I am considering. Does anyone else run a big tv in lieu of smaller monitors? What are pros or cons? I am a full screen kind of guy and open and close windows often so I can see myself getting annoyed with not having the "snap to fill" feature and having to manually make the windows to how big I want them.

I'd be using it with a Surface Book with an Intel HD Graphics 520 card. I don't do any gaming at all this would be for spreadsheets, PDFs, watching live data stream on websites (similar to stock tickers I guess?), and of course funny you tube videos.

[killramos]

Something to consider is a lot of TV’s look like absolute trash when used as a computer monitor. I’m not sure why that is.

[Thaco]

i just got 2x32" 2.5k monitors i find it is pretty easy to use, i feel it'd be frustrating to use a single large screen

[taemo]

for productivity, the more screens the better easier to snap windows on separate screens.
in my office I have 2x24" 1080p screens and for what I do is more than enough

coders/developers seems to like big screens, same with image/video creators.
at home I have a 27" 1440p and 24" 1080p, I would like to upgrade to 32" 4k and 27" 1440p but not critical as I'm happy with what I have.

one thing to consider is going 40"-50" is viewing distance. you'll want atleast 3 feet distance

[Xtrema]

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I'd be using it with a Surface Book with an Intel HD Graphics 520 card. I don't do any gaming at all this would be for spreadsheets, PDFs, watching live data stream on websites (similar to stock tickers I guess?), and of course funny you tube videos.

if you are buying cheap TV, make sure you can turn off all processing like sharpness and such (or PC Mode) to see if you like the quality. Text can look weird and sometime scaling is off, a very old Windows issue.

Also, if you are happen with a 24" 1080p screen at current distance, then you are definitely look at a 49-50" 4K TV to replicate 4x 1080p screen experience.

[2Legit2Quit]

What's the max resolution on the graphics card? Lower resolutions on big screens is ugly, and everything is huge, not beneficial.

If you're looking to go single monitor on a large display then Power Toys fancy zones feature is super handy/needed: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases

[jwslam]

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Figured I would bump this thread as opposed to starting a new one.

I was thinking of maybe switching from 2x 24" monitors and 1x lap top screen to 1x 40" or 50" 4k TV screen. One of the guys I work with has a 40" set up at home and loves it as essentially he runs the equivalent of 4x screens. With how cheap some of the TCL or Hisense 4K TVs can be had from Costco its something I am considering. Does anyone else run a big tv in lieu of smaller monitors? What are pros or cons? I am a full screen kind of guy and open and close windows often so I can see myself getting annoyed with not having the "snap to fill" feature and having to manually make the windows to how big I want them.

I'd be using it with a Surface Book with an Intel HD Graphics 520 card. I don't do any gaming at all this would be for spreadsheets, PDFs, watching live data stream on websites (similar to stock tickers I guess?), and of course funny you tube videos.

• I use a cheapo TCL 43" as my main https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• The 4K I get is 30Hz so you do notice it specifically with mouse movement. Otherwise for productivity purposes it really doesn't make a difference to me.
• Definitely have moved away from maximized anything; browsing looks stupid when maximized with so much blank bar space on both sides of the web page. My current use is just windows stacked all over the place and I've become pretty accustomed to it. I actually kinda prefer it now instead of having to look down the taskbar and find which of the 5 word documents I am jumping between.
• This guy has some good tips

[jacky4566]

Wow. Crazy reading old comments haha.

So 4K IPS have been available for almost a decade now and no OLED monitors yet? What gives.

[The_Rural_Juror]

There are reviews of using the LG Oled tvs but burn in is still a concern.

[firebane]

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• I use a cheapo TCL 43" as my main https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• The 4K I get is 30Hz so you do notice it specifically with mouse movement. Otherwise for productivity purposes it really doesn't make a difference to me.
• Definitely have moved away from maximized anything; browsing looks stupid when maximized with so much blank bar space on both sides of the web page. My current use is just windows stacked all over the place and I've become pretty accustomed to it. I actually kinda prefer it now instead of having to look down the taskbar and find which of the 5 word documents I am jumping between.
• This guy has some good tips

Anyone who runs full screen apps on a large monitor should have their monitor taken away.

[rage2]

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There are reviews of using the LG Oled tvs but burn in is still a concern.

ABL is still problematic, unless you lower the brightness considerably and use a pure black background, dark mode, etc. It works well if you like working in the dark.

For Mac users that have Apple TV 4K hooked up to their TV, you can use airplay/screen mirroring to turn the TV into an additional monitor. This is what I do around the house. It’s super convenient when you’re working around the house. Strangely enough, MacBooks with Intel processors can go 3k (2880x1620). M1 MacBooks can only do 1080p.



edit - looks like the built in Airplay works too for those without Apple TV's, except it's laggy as fuck. There's almost zero lag using Apple TV as the airplay receiver. Even 4K videos play smoothly on it.

[taemo]

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ABL is still problematic, unless you lower the brightness considerably and use a pure black background, dark mode, etc. It works well if you like working in the dark.

For Mac users that have Apple TV 4K hooked up to their TV, you can use airplay/screen mirroring to turn the TV into an additional monitor. This is what I do around the house. It’s super convenient when you’re working around the house. Strangely enough, MacBooks with Intel processors can go 3k (2880x1620). M1 MacBooks can only do 1080p.



edit - looks like the built in Airplay works too for those without Apple TV's, except it's laggy as fuck. There's almost zero lag using Apple TV as the airplay receiver. Even 4K videos play smoothly on it.

holy shit, there's a dark mode feature for beyond? I've enabled it now thanks!

[msommers]

I think if you typically use 4 screens it could be nice since snapping into a quads isn't too bad if you're quick with the windows shortcuts to resize (windows + <- or -> arrow keys).

[killramos]

I can only get air play mirroring to work when the tv is on a wired connection (Samsung Frame). Over wifi it doesn’t work worth a damn even though my wifi is good.

Haven’t tried the Sony yet.

Wired is king.

[schurchill39]

Is there anything in particular I should be looking at for specs on a TV that would make it a good monitor for productivity?

[rage2]

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Is there anything in particular I should be looking at for specs on a TV that would make it a good monitor for productivity?

Input lag. TVs with shitty lag in the lowest latency mode (PC or Game) is just fucking terrible to use. Mouse lagging even 0.2s behind is a PITA.

We have zoom rooms where we can extend monitor to TV, and there's 1/2 second lag. Refuse to use it.

[The_Rural_Juror]

So stick with monitors? Lag is no good for me.

[schurchill39]

Update: I bought a 50" Samsung TU7000 and am running fancy zones on it. My only complaint is I think I went a little too big, a 43" would probably be perfect but for the most part this works good. Its definitely way better for productivity and I appreciate not having to minimize screens. It would be cool to "full screen" a window to the fancy zone so I can watch a hockey game in 1/4 of the screen. I'm essentially running 30hz at 4k but I don't notice any lag for what I use it for plus having the TV speaker is way nicer than my lap top speaker.

Side benefit is my wife uses it as a TV when I'm not working and she's sewing.

[Ukyo8]

Here's a 3 month update after using the 48" OLED LG 4k TV as a monitor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPKrE26sDiM&t

[killramos]

OLED burn it HAS to be an issue using as a computer monitor...