Which monitors fullfill my wish list?

[SimonHF]

I've got a couple of Dell U3011 monitors which I have used for years as external monitors on my laptops. I love the resolution and the quality of the display. I not a gamer but a software developer. However, there are a bunch of things which annoy me about these monitors:

• The bezel around the screen is quite thick -- about an inch -- so putting monitors side by side means a ~ 2 inch 'gap' between displays.
• The touch sensitive buttons on the front don't work very well. Sometimes I press and press and nothing happens.
• When the buttons work then you have to access a sub menu to change the display to a different input, which is fiddly.
• Once the new input is selected then there's a small but significant delay before the new image appears which is annoying.

Since these monitors are 'old' I'm thinking of replacing them with newer technology. Ideally the newer monitors (or single monitor if it's possible to have one monitor with the similar total resolution?) would offer at least the same screen size, total resolution, and picture quality, but also fix the above list of annoying things. Ideally I'd like to be able to have at least two laptops connection to the monitors and 'flick' between them quickly if necessary. At the moment it's a chore to switch between the connected laptops... so I don't do it very often even though it's possibly.

 

I'm posting this message in the forum because reviews and blurb don't often talk about the input switching ability of monitors, so I'm looking for buying opinions of people in the know :-)

 

Thanks,

Simon

 

[1] https://www.dell.com/hr/business/p/dell-u3011/pd

[CharminUltraStrong]

21 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

I've got a couple of Dell U3011 monitors which I have used for years as external monitors on my laptops. I love the resolution and the quality of the display. I not a gamer but a software developer. However, there are a bunch of things which annoy me about these monitors:

• The bezel around the screen is quite thick -- about an inch -- so putting monitors side by side means a ~ 2 inch 'gap' between displays.
• The touch sensitive buttons on the front don't work very well. Sometimes I press and press and nothing happens.
• When the buttons work then you have to access a sub menu to change the display to a different input, which is fiddly.
• Once the new input is selected then there's a small but significant delay before the new image appears which is annoying.

Since these monitors are 'old' I'm thinking of replacing them with newer technology. Ideally the newer monitors (or single monitor if it's possible to have one monitor with the similar total resolution?) would offer at least the same screen size, total resolution, and picture quality, but also fix the above list of annoying things. Ideally I'd like to be able to have at least two laptops connection to the monitors and 'flick' between them quickly if necessary. At the moment it's a chore to switch between the connected laptops... so I don't do it very often even though it's possibly.

 

I'm posting this message in the forum because reviews and blurb don't often talk about the input switching ability of monitors, so I'm looking for buying opinions of people in the know

 

Thanks,

Simon

 

[1] https://www.dell.com/hr/business/p/dell-u3011/pd

What's your budget?

[bellabichon]

Here are a couple options for you. High-quality monitors are actually quite cheap now, so none of these exceed $1000 USD. You didn't give us a budget, so I just had to guess.

 

DELL U2719D:

-27"

-2560 x 1440

-IPS

-Very thin bezel

-16:9

-5ms response time

-60hz

$449.99 USD

 

DELL P3418HW

-34"

-2560 x 1080

-IPS

-Thin bezel

-Curved

-21:9

-5ms response time

-60hz

$499.99 USD

 

DELL U3417W

-34"

-3440 x 1440

-IPS

-Very thin bezel

-21:9

-5ms response time

-60hz

$819.99 USD

 

Hope these are some good options! I'd recommend looking around on Dell's website for a bit. They usually have some decent sales on.

[bellabichon]

2 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

What's your budget?

(You don't have to quote the original post. When you make a post, it automatically subscribes you to notifications from the thread. OP got a notification without you having to quote them.)

[mxk]

1 minute ago, bellabichon said:

(You don't have to quote the original post. When you make a post, it automatically subscribes you to notifications from the thread. OP got a notification without you having to quote them.)

He knows, it's just something people do.

[bellabichon]

1 minute ago, mxk. said:

He knows, it's just something people do.

Just making sure.

[SimonHF]

4 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

What's your budget?

The original Dell U3011 monitors cost over $1,000 each. I'd even consider doubling that per monitor if there was a very good reason. Going higher then they'd have to be a very, very good reason

[CharminUltraStrong]

3 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

(You don't have to quote the original post. When you make a post, it automatically subscribes you to notifications from the thread. OP got a notification without you having to quote them.)

I'm aware, I just make it a habit to quote. Been using this forum for a longgggggg time.

[SimonHF]

4 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

Hope these are some good options! I'd recommend looking around on Dell's website for a bit.

Thanks for the tips. I currently have Dell U3011s which are frustrating when switching monitor inputs. Have Dell improved this in recent years? Or are there fancy ways to switch inputs? My fantasy would be some kind of feature where I could 'glance' at the other laptop displays to see what's happening and then switch back... say, all in 1 or 2 seconds...  Does something like that exist these days?

[CharminUltraStrong]

7 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

The original Dell U3011 monitors cost over $1,000 each. I'd even consider doubling that per monitor if there was a very good reason. Going higher then they'd have to be a very, very good reason

Dell UltraSharp UP3216Q this is an extremely color accurate display, among the best of the best from last year from what I recall. I'm not sure what kind of development you work with regarding software but since gaming isn't a priority, a high quality easy on the eyes color accurate screen should do you wonders. If you find that it's not modern looking enough then perhaps this would suit your fancy more, https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-32-4k-usb-c-monitor-u3219q/apd/210-aqzz/monitors-monitor-accessories.

[SimonHF]

9 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

3440 x 1440

Also, what I like about the old Dell U3011 is that it has a higher vertical resolution of 2560 x 1600 which is great for developers who don't what to rotate their monitors  I remember that 1600 pixels vertically was fairly uncommon when I bought the U3011s way back when... presumably it's still uncommon? Is it still around?

[CharminUltraStrong]

2 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

Also, what I like about the old Dell U3011 is that it has a higher vertical resolution of 2560 x 1600 which is great for developers who don't what to rotate their monitors  I remember that 1600 pixels vertically was fairly uncommon when I bought the U3011s way back when... presumably it's still uncommon? Is it still around?

The monitors I linked above have 2160 pixels vertically, each. 2560 x 1600 is an awkward size, I think. It's not something I've seen often, it might exist mostly in the professional space, of which my priorities don't exist within since I no longer have a job that requires color accuracy/computer design work unfortunately.

[SimonHF]

8 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

Dell UltraSharp UP3216Q

Thanks for the suggestion! I did the math and one of those monitors with 3840 x 2160 has slightly double the combined resolution of my existing dual Dell U3011s... And I like the sound of having only 1 monitor instead of 2. But this raises some further questions:

• I think 32" for that higher resolution is going to be too many PPI for me. Are there 3840 x 2160 monitors with more inches?
• I have a high end Dell XPS laptop and an older 2014 MacBook Pro. Is it a given that laptops like this will drive that higher resolution?
• Do any displays with 3840 x 2160 accept multiple inputs from the outside world, e.g. advertise themselves as dual monitors but display a single picture?

Also, have you any personal experience with these monitors regarding switching input signals?

 

Thanks!

[SimonHF]

I found this older thread [1] suggesting that at least at one time software running on the PC could manipulate the monitor settings. In theory if one had two laptops then you could have something like a hot key on each laptop to switch to the other one  Has anybody done anything like this? And do any newer monitors have this kind of fancy remote control features?

 

[1] https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3014-Is-there-a-shortcut-to-quickly-switch-inputs/td-p/4401157

[CharminUltraStrong]

2 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

I found this older thread [1] suggesting that at least at one time software running on the PC could manipulate the monitor settings. In theory if one had two laptops then you could have something like a hot key on each laptop to switch to the other one  Has anybody done anything like this? And do any newer monitors have this kind of fancy remote control features?

 

[1] https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3014-Is-there-a-shortcut-to-quickly-switch-inputs/td-p/4401157

Darn, if only your macbook pro had thunderbolt C, that'd make your life a lot easier with that XPS since type C displays exist. I mean if you're going to want a hotkey for switching between 2 laptops then use a streaming service to stream from the macbook to your XPS. Crazy thought but if you're willing to spend 2 grand between 2 monitors why not build a lower tier ITX machine and put the rest of that money towards a large display? 

[bellabichon]

12 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

Thanks for the suggestion! I did the math and one of those monitors with 3840 x 2160 has slightly double the combined resolution of my existing dual Dell U3011s... And I like the sound of having only 1 monitor instead of 2. But this raises some further questions:

• I think 32" for that higher resolution is going to be too many PPI for me. Are there 3840 x 2160 monitors with more inches?
• I have a high end Dell XPS laptop and an older 2014 MacBook Pro. Is it a given that laptops like this will drive that higher resolution?
• Do any displays with 3840 x 2160 accept multiple inputs from the outside world, e.g. advertise themselves as dual monitors but display a single picture?

Also, have you any personal experience with these monitors regarding switching input signals?

 

Thanks!

First off, what do you mean by to many PPI? Having higher PPI just measn a better image quality. It's not ever a bad thing, in my experience. 

 

The 2014 MacBook pro probably only has an Intel integrated GPU, and while this means you won't be running games in 4k, driving the display during web browsing and programming shouldn't be a problem. The same goes for the Dell XPS. If it has a dedicated Nvidia or AMD GPU, it's  more than enough. If it has an integrated Intel GPU, it won't be as powerful, but it should still work fine. 

 

Finally, I have heard of several displays that can be split into two smaller monitors digitally with two computers, but I haven't done any research on it yet. 

 

Hope you find what you're looking for!

 

[SimonHF]

21 minutes ago, SimonHF said:

Are there 3840 x 2160 monitors with more inches?

So I discovered the U3818DW [1] but the resolution is only 3840 x 1600... which might be okay as a compromise. It also weighs 19.95 lbs which is under 20 lbs and will work with my human scale monitor arm. Can't find any info on how easy and fast it is to switch between inputs though... anybody have any info on this?

 

What looks much sexier though is the LG 43UD79-B [2] which has the full 3840 x 2160 resolution *and* more inches at 43 inches. But it weighs in at 22.1 lbs and I guess that won't work with my existing human scale monitor arm rated for max 20 lbs. But will I need the human scale monitor arm with a single monitor? Maybe not? Also the screen split and multi monitor support look 'off the charts' with this monitor. And it even comes with a remote for switching etc including PIP.

 

So the LG 43UHD79-B is almost half the price of the Dell U3818DW but appears to offer many attractive extra qualities... so what is the gotcha with the LG? Will I regret buying it? And are there any alternatives to these larger monitors?

 

[1] https://www.dell.com/hr/business/p/dell-u3818dw-monitor/pd

[2] https://www.lg.com/ca_en/desktop-monitors/lg-43UD79-B-4k-uhd-led-monitor

[SimonHF]

5 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

what do you mean by to many PPI?

Hehe... I agree with you that in general higher PPI is never a bad thing  But it can be a bad thing, e.g. I can't run my MacBook Pro at its highest native resolution for its built in flat panel because all the text and everything becomes too small to read. Sure you can make it bigger in some apps but not all, and the rest are fiddly. As a 51 year old then my eyes are not the same as when I was 20  If possible I'd like to have the higher resolution but at a PPI where I can run the monitor at its native resolution *and* see the text on the screen without reconfiguring the whole desktop to use bigger fonts etc. On a side note, I ordered my Dell XPS laptop with the smaller HD display so I'd get more battery life but that has nothing to do with this monitor buying decision

[SimonHF]

On 1/23/2019 at 11:04 AM, SimonHF said:

LG 43UD79-B

Had a look at this monitor in the store. The good news: It's really cool to have one laptop on the left of the screen and have the other laptop on the right of the screen. The bad news: If you have one laptop full screen and the other full screen, and switch between them, there's literally a 10+ second pause which is worse than my current monitors, except the switching is easier due to the remote control and shallower menu structure.

How quick and easy is it to switch on other monitors? Does anybody make use of that feature on a regular basis?