Monitor choice

[Anthonyexmouth]

Putting the final pieces of my new processing/light gaming PC together and wondering if I need a new monitor. I'm not really into photo editing scene and not sure what makes a good monitor. I've been using an old HP w2207h for years. It's a nice responsive monitor for games and looks nice to my eye but I want to start printing some of my images so would like a monitor that calibrates well for photo editing. Is my current monitor ok or can anyone recommend a wallet friendly replacement. 

[vlaiv]

If I was in a market for a new monitor - I'd look at this one:

DELL U2422H

(I already have DELL UltraSharp model - but quite a bit older one). Might not be wallet friendly, though? Not sure what constitutes that in a monitor .

It is 24" and that is big step from 22" that you now have. It also has very good color gamut.

[Anthonyexmouth]

7 hours ago, vlaiv said:

If I was in a market for a new monitor - I'd look at this one:

DELL U2422H

(I already have DELL UltraSharp model - but quite a bit older one). Might not be wallet friendly, though? Not sure what constitutes that in a monitor .

It is 24" and that is big step from 22" that you now have. It also has very good color gamut.

this one? https://www.box.co.uk/DELL-U2422H-Dell-Ultrasharp-U2422H-24-Full-HD-Monit_3628402.html?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=14747522053&cq_con=129260083122&cq_term=&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=u&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9ZGYBhCEARIsAEUXITWixO1CYxQsgiEzkPYZ7x7ESZaSmPcQ4bO3IDiNec1UhCu7tJptVFUaAmIDEALw_wcB

[vlaiv]

29 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

this one? https://www.box.co.uk/DELL-U2422H-Dell-Ultrasharp-U2422H-24-Full-HD-Monit_3628402.html?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=14747522053&cq_con=129260083122&cq_term=&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=u&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9ZGYBhCEARIsAEUXITWixO1CYxQsgiEzkPYZ7x7ESZaSmPcQ4bO3IDiNec1UhCu7tJptVFUaAmIDEALw_wcB

Yep, that's the one.

Only "drawback" might be 8ms refresh time. I personally never had any issues with game play on 8ms gray-to-gray monitors, but then again, I'm not much of a gamer (used to enjoy FPSs and flight/driving sims back in the day).

[Anthonyexmouth]

7 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Yep, that's the one.

Only "drawback" might be 8ms refresh time. I personally never had any issues with game play on 8ms gray-to-gray monitors, but then again, I'm not much of a gamer (used to enjoy FPSs and flight/driving sims back in the day).

refresh isn't that important to me really, I'm more of a Rimworld/colony manager player with a bit of Starcraft and Homeworld. 

[Shibby]

I would say if you're after something more future-proof, go with a 4k monitor. I find that my monitor stays with me much longer than any of my other PC hardware and I therefore go for one that will last.

[vlaiv]

50 minutes ago, Shibby said:

I would say if you're after something more future-proof, go with a 4k monitor. I find that my monitor stays with me much longer than any of my other PC hardware and I therefore go for one that will last.

I'd say that 4K monitor only makes sense as a larger screen at closer viewing distances.

At normal working distances, 92ppi is right about there at the edge of human capability to resolve detail, so any addition of pixels is just waste of resources (as far as I see it).

[Adam J]

10 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I'd say that 4K monitor only makes sense as a larger screen at closer viewing distances.

At normal working distances, 92ppi is right about there at the edge of human capability to resolve detail, so any addition of pixels is just waste of resources (as far as I see it).

Yes I would want something 4x the area of my laptop monitor to make 4k worth while so that means a 32 inch monitor at about 2.5 feet viewing distace. 

Adam 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Adam J

[scotty38]

I bought a 32" monitor a short while back and I'm glad I didn't get 4k, it would have been a miserable experience in my opinion so as above do make sure it's really what you need if you go down that route....

[ONIKKINEN]

As a compromise, a 27 inch 2560x1440p monitor is a great choice too.

A bit more resolution to work with, but not overly so as with a 4K display. Its basically like a 24" 1080p monitor but with a little extra sharpness and screen real estate. Also getting to be big enough that you can comfortably have a few windows on one screen. I have 2 such monitors and its been great, but not cheap of course.

Edited August 25, 2022 by ONIKKINEN

[Felias]

On 23/08/2022 at 10:41, vlaiv said:

It also has very good color gamut.

+1 for this: the colour gamut is the most important thing if you are going to process astro pictures. HP monitors tend to be good, I bought an HP laptop that had a fantastic display, but I had to return it for other reasons, and got a Lenovo Legion instead -good processing power, but lacking on the range of colour/brightness with respect to the HP.  I don't know about yours particularly, but have you tried to calibrate it (there's a tool in Windows display settings, and plenty of apps in the web) and test printing before you buy a new one?

[Alien 13]

Have been looking at monitors myself for a while now and can pass on a few thoughts.

Productivity and gaming don't mix very well unless you have good graphics capabilities, for example a  2560x1440p monitor hits the sweet spot at around 27 inch for productivity but could look awful if it had to downscale to 1080p for games.

IPS panels are generally the best all rounders, giving vibrant accurate colours and good viewing angles.

Make sure the display has the correct input ports, modern PCs use HDMI, Display port and in some cases Thunderbolt ports for video. Its worth checking too on the monitors menu interface, generally those that include a "joystick" work best (my acer monitor has a terrible interface).

Alan

Edited August 25, 2022 by Alien 13

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I recently bought myself a new monitor too (to replace something like a 15 year old 24" 1080p one!) and settled on a 27" 1440p as well. For me, it was definitely the right comprise between cost, size, and resolution.  I'm not really a big gamer (occasional FPS use), my aging graphics card just about coped at full screen resolution and I was happy enough. I still find I want a little bit more space with image processing, but PI can be very greedy with screen space!

[Shibby]

17 hours ago, vlaiv said:

I'd say that 4K monitor only makes sense as a larger screen at closer viewing distances.

At normal working distances, 92ppi is right about there at the edge of human capability to resolve detail, so any addition of pixels is just waste of resources (as far as I see it).

This is true, a 24" 4k probably wouldn't be a great idea (although my work laptop strangely has a 16" 4k monitor!?)

For home, I like to game and edit photos/astrophotos, so I've been considering the G70A, which is a 28" 4k monitor, which is good for playing games at 1080p. For image editing, it gives around 150ppi.

[Alien 13]

1 hour ago, Shibby said:

This is true, a 24" 4k probably wouldn't be a great idea (although my work laptop strangely has a 16" 4k monitor!?)

For home, I like to game and edit photos/astrophotos, so I've been considering the G70A, which is a 28" 4k monitor, which is good for playing games at 1080p. For image editing, it gives around 150ppi.

The G70A is on my wish-list 😀

Alan

[yuklop]

I recently replaced my monitors. Got a 34'' ultrawide at 1440p. Its very good indeed, especially for astro editing. Can always make use of the extra screen real estate. 4k at that size would require a better graphics card, and that gets expensive.

Specifically, this one:

https://www.cclonline.com/90lm06f0-b01170-asus-tuf-gaming-vg34vql1b-curved-gaming-monitor-34-inch-3440-x-1440-uwqhd-va-panel-amd-freesync-black/?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=13175109251&cq_con=125042006760&cq_term=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gclid=CjwKCAjw3qGYBhBSEiwAcnTRLnM3dXBpo2ihMqOcscI8VMeGvo3ibcADK1Ujlqj4T_x6KLkUN6K-ehoCOkMQAvD_BwE

Although of course, I spend too much spare change on Astro stuff... so got mine second hand for a lot less than that.

Defo consider an ultrawide if you have space though.... highly recommended.

[Second Time Around]

There's another recent thread on monitors at https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/398008-new-monitor-time/#comment-4272712

Here's one of the posts I made:

Rtings has a huge number of in-depth monitor reviews.  These are totally independent and not biased by accepting ads.

Rather than look at every review, what I found most useful was their tools section that allows you to filter all your requirements to draw up a shortlist.  These also highlight what features are important for the use you'll put the monitor to.

Almost certainly you'll find a combination of the features you're looking for.  Go to https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools

 

[Pompey Monkey]

I have a BenQ PD2700Q, which is a 2k 27" beastie.

It also supports 10 bit colour, whatever that really means...

I think it hits the sweet spot.

Btw, i find that a smaller second monitor is great for viewng tutorials with interrupting the flow of actually using whatever software I'm grappling with at the time. 😀

[malc-c]

This looks cool !!

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/xeneon-flex-bendable-ultra-wide-gaming-display

 

https://youtu.be/HbxPGoIPUzE

Edited September 5, 2022 by malc-c

[Stuart1971]

On 25/08/2022 at 17:49, scotty38 said:

I bought a 32" monitor a short while back and I'm glad I didn't get 4k, it would have been a miserable experience in my opinion so as above do make sure it's really what you need if you go down that route....

Really, I use a 28” 4k monitor all the time with RDP to my mount PC, it’s superb, and as windows always scales up to 150% anyway, why don’t you like…??

oh, and I do all my editing on it too….I really find it perfect…

Edited September 5, 2022 by Stuart1971

[scotty38]

13 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Really, I use a 28” 4k monitor all the time with RDP to my mount PC, it’s superb, and as windows always scales up to 150% anyway, why don’t you like…??

oh, and I do all my editing on it too….I really find it perfect…

I didn't know about the auto scaling so maybe wouldn't have been too much of an issue. I use it for work too so I didn't want to end up with ridiculously small text. If it was just for say PI and RDP to my imaging PC it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. I should have been clearer for sure but the scaling you mention is possibly the answer, thanks.

[Alien 13]

25 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I didn't know about the auto scaling so maybe wouldn't have been too much of an issue. I use it for work too so I didn't want to end up with ridiculously small text. If it was just for say PI and RDP to my imaging PC it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. I should have been clearer for sure but the scaling you mention is possibly the answer, thanks.

Windows scaling is very handy as is the ability to scale web pages but it might not work with some legacy software like older versions of PS for example where you are stuck with tiny unreadable text in places.

Alan

[Stuart1971]

53 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I didn't know about the auto scaling so maybe wouldn't have been too much of an issue. I use it for work too so I didn't want to end up with ridiculously small text. If it was just for say PI and RDP to my imaging PC it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. I should have been clearer for sure but the scaling you mention is possibly the answer, thanks.

Yes the scaling works just like that, the text is readable perfectly fine, but you still get plenty on the screen, it’s perfect for PI and NINA, and the text is the perfect size…

Scaling is automatic in windows but can be manually changed if needed, and it’s also available as an option in Linux, not sure about MAC, but I guess it would be…👍🏻

[Stuart1971]

26 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Windows scaling is very handy as is the ability to scale web pages but it might not work with some legacy software like older versions of PS for example where you are stuck with tiny unreadable text in places.

Alan

You are correct, it does not work with older PS, I used to have CS6 and it was a nightmare to read….👍🏻

[Alien 13]

58 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

You are correct, it does not work with older PS, I used to have CS6 and it was a nightmare to read….👍🏻

My CS6 got progressively worse over the years with improvements to laptop and monitor resolutions and in the end switched to Affinity 😀

Alan