Chilling out with a bigger obsy monitor?

[Rusted]

An unlikely subject for DIY obs. but bear with me and all with be revealed. 

I'm thinking of buying a 28" PC monitor to replace the 15.6" laptop screen for the obs. dome for Solar and Lunar imaging.
I really can't cope with tiny text even with the 4k laptop set to 1080 and sitting on a 4" high riser.
Constantly fitting and removing stronger reading glasses just for the laptop screen is wearing me thin.  Grr?
My indoor PC has a Samsung T28C570 1920 x 1080P x 125%. Which is perfect for sitting comfortably at arm's length all day long.

My previous, pier mounted laptop shelf is to become a "proper" DIY, L-shaped desk.
Wrapped around the pier, but isolated from it, with a nice drawer cabinet, all resting on the floor.
I'll wall mount the monitor on my huge timber pier to gain some useful desk space and lift it to a heads-up position.
Now I can have a proper white keyboard and room for my mouse mat and the essential AWR paddles and other junk.
The laptop will return indoors overnight but I'm more concerned about the monitor:

Dos anybody here have any direct, hands-on experience of the survival rates of observatory monitors?
Any suggestions on choice for such a task? My W10 i7 2x SSD laptop can run a 4k screen and has all the right sockets.
But do I really need 4k if some of the astro apps still aren't happy with 4k? Will paying more buy me greater reliability?
Should I knit the monitor a woolly jumper? Or make it a smart polystyrene, evening jacket?

Thanks for your infinite patience and [always constructive] thoughts.

[DaveS]

I currently have two monitors on my platform computer in its box, both are 15" 1080p. For the obsy I'm planning a single 28" 4k monitor which would be cheaper and have a bigger desktop.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what others think.

[Rusted]

Thanks Dave,

My 28" Samsung knocked the socks off all my previous 1080P monitors for picture quality and readability of fine text.

The problem with 4k is that not all popular astro softwares can cope with 4k yet.
That's okay if you can adjust screen resolution to match but then it's an absolute pain when you return to another software.
FireCap is one I really struggled with on my 4k laptop. You need the on-screen instructions to know which sub-atomic symbol to press.
Then you can't read any of the vital text without an electron microscope.
And yes, I know the software is free but everybody kept telling me to use FireCap instead of [broken] SharpCap.
But I couldn't. Not without days of experimentation and endless research.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Personally, I see 4k monitors\televisions as just marketing.....  As you say, there are very few signal sources that will produce a 4k image, I'm not even sure a lot of the software\systems produce a 'true' 1080 image.....

After doing a little research (get anything but Samsung), I bought a pair of LG 24" IPS monitors (https://www.lg.com/hk_en/monitor/lg-24MK600M) they are superb, and can be put side by side with a very small gap between.

They may not be suitable for you as they are desk mounted, but there are other models in the range that can be 'arm' mounted.

[Rusted]

Hi Julian

LG came top of several online, monitor comparison reviews.
I'll definitely do more research on your LG suggestion.  

BTW: Your suggested LG monitors have a 3" VESA wall mounting fitting.
I only need to fix it flat onto a 3/4" plywood panel. I don't have room for two.
I could even make my own fixing plate with "keyhole" screw holes.

Thanks.

[Rusted]

After endless reading of online reviews I finally settled on a 27" AOC 2560x1440. [Q2790PQU/BT]
Stunning PQ when driven via HDMI by the 4K laptop using the screen's native resolution settings.
Ideal for focusing, capturing and processing on an easily visible, image scale.
Thanks to all those who responded. 

[Rusted]

Just a heads up after some hands-on practice: The 27" screen makes imaging far easier.
I could have used a 24" but was glad for the extra acreage of the 27" at my normal viewing distance.
The bigger screen can be split down into separate areas with different input signals if you like.

Huge image scale makes focusing an absolute doddle. Either manually, at arm's length, or motor focuser.
You would not believe how tiny a change in focuser drawtube position alters the critical sharpness.
I was never aware of this on the 15.6" screen! In retrospect: Most of the focusing was complete guesswork.

You can examine the seeing conditions directly on the live image on the monitor before and during capture.
This raises an interest point about visual observation and choosing your moments of clarity.
Here you can see those moments directly on the screen. Or not, if there aren't any.

A bigger screen is highly recommended if you are still struggling with a small laptop screen for your imaging.
The 2560 x 1440 resolution allows content enlargement to suit your personal taste.
FireCapture was legible from the first attempt compared with my frustrating trials with 4k on the smaller 15.6" laptop screen.

I have attached a couple of digital snaps I took of the screen yesterday to show the sheer scale of things.
BTW: The sun was far more evenly lit on the screen but the digital camera couldn't cope.
The seeing for Jupiter was the worst ever but it was huge!

Thanks to those who responded.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Rusted