Looking for advise on buying a new monitor

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

Greetings folks!

I have not been in this forum in a while.
I am looking for advise to buy a new monitor to replace my current 24" calibrated Dell U2410:
http://www1.la.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/snp/topics/monitor-dell-u2410?c=pr&l=en&cs=prbsdt1
This is a great old monitor with 96% coverage of Adobe RGB and 100% sRGB coverage.

The use case is for working from home editing word documents and reviewing Excel spreadsheets, and of course for photo editing!

I have narrowed down my choices to these two ViewSonic 2K res. monitors based on my budget of approx. 300 GBP.
Which one would you get if it were you? Would a 32" screen be too big for reading?

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/comparison/6a331cab8b

Thanks,
Si

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Geez, I'm growing cross-eyed looking at all those specs.

As for your question about a 32" monitor, I can tell you this: I own a 34" super-wide LG, which has a 2560 by 1080 screen size. It's great for watching widescreen movies. Only downside is it's HDMI only. My PC's original motherboard had an HDMI out, but it didn't support that high of a resolution, so first I bought a video card for it, which worked until I upgraded the motherboard, which does support the higher resolution. I love this monitor!

When I use it for photo editing, I have so much room now to position images, there's no way I could imagine going back to a smaller monitor. I feel almost claustrophobic when I'm using my 17" laptop now.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

I'm using a 32" 4K screen (EIZO EV3237) and would never change back to anything smaller.
However, I wouldn't recommend a 32" 2K screen for photo editing/computer working as the pixels might be too big; i.e. the resolution too low.
For TV watching from distance it might be OK but not for closer viewing when doing computer work.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Well, mine's about a 2.5k screen and, honestly, I do fine with screen resolution. I have to get my face about a foot away from the screen before I even see individual pixels. And that's too close of a working distance for me. With my aging eyes, a working distance of about 2-1/2 feet is most comfortable for me, and at that distance, I can't resolve the pixels.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

Well, my wife doesn't have troubles with her 2K screen as well and for me it would be a problem as I'm used to sit rather near the screen, definitely closer than 2,5 feet.
I just wanted to mention the resolution issue.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

My old Acer R271 27" HD 1920x1080 has 0.311mm pixel pitch.

Computer viewing distance is arm's length; movies are viewed from 8'; I don't notice pixels.

A larger 32" HD 1920x1080 HD monitor pixels would be noticed at arm's length, imho; movies from 8' would be no different.

Pixel pitch for VX3276-2k-mhd is 0.211 so I would not notice pixels at arm's length.

The ultimate EIZO 4K monitors are 4 to 5 times more expensive than either Viewsonic...however there are way less pricey 4K monitors. My next monitor will be 4K at least, or larger if not too expensive then, just to get more display real estate. For now what I have is plenty for my needs.

Now, I would buy least expensive 4K monitor; I don't game, however, which would be the only reason to buy a more expensive model.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

The AOC U32E2N (actually 31.5" like my EIZO) is offered for â‚¬ 250,- here in Europe. It's 4K UHD.
I see absolutely no reason to buy a 2K screen any longer if you can get a 4K at the same price.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

Just ordered for my wife the LG 32UN550-W 32" 4K UHD screen, slightly above Euro 300,- here in Europe.

If anybody is interested I will report about the differences between this "low end" and my existing "high end" Eizo monitor; i.e. if it's worth to spend that much for a new monitor or if a budget one is good enough. Street price difference apprx. Euro 1.000,-.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

I bought an AOC monitor on spec alone and must admit, using a lesser spec monitor for work I find much better.

Try before you buy.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

kiddo · Joined: 29 Jun 2018 Posts: 1266

Any updates on 4k monitors? What's it about the AOC or other similar options? Currently I'm in the same Dell as the first post, so I'm looking further for some improvements

RokkorDoctor · Expire: 2025-05-01

I've been quite happy with the EIZO EV2730Q.

An unusual beast (outside the world of air traffic control hardware that is) as it is exactly square (1920 x 1920 pixels).

I shoot a lot of both landscape and portrait format photos, and not having the one format squeezed smaller onto the screen than the other is a real boon, especially when viewing some as a slide show.

As for productivity (Word/Excel) I have not had a more productive monitor experience than when working with those square EIZOs. Really efficient use of screen estate.

I have another calibrated AdobeRGB EIZO as well but in practice I don't find the 100% sRGB gamut limitation of the EV2730Q to be an issue. I have 2 of them and both came out of the factory darn near perfectly calibrated when I checked and re-calibrated them myself.